Lift Fast To Get Fast?

Every athlete that trains at NX Level gets a postural assessment and movement screening.  This gives us a starting point as to where the athlete is physically.  It basically lets us know if there are any imbalances or pathologies that need to be addressed.  But before that begins we ask each athlete what their goals are as far as their athletic careers are concerned and what they would like to get out of training with us.  I would say at least 70% of our athletes say they want to get faster and be more explosive.

Assuming there are no overwhelming muscle imbalances (everyone has some to some degree) or other pathologies, this article is going to take a look at what things can be done in the weight room to increase speed and explosiveness.

But first let’s look at the things inside the body that are going to dictate that speed and explosiveness.  The way I see it, there are three things (maybe four but we’ll get to that) that are going to dictate how explosive an athlete is.  These are, in descending order, intramuscular coordination, intermuscular coordination, and overall muscular strength.

Intramuscular Coordination

Intramuscular coordination refers to how you muscle is activated when presented with a task.  Muscles are comprised of, depending on how specific you want to get, 3-7 different types of muscle fibers.  For the sake of brevity we’ll focus on the three main ones.  These are Type I, Type IIa, and Type IIb. 

Type I Fibers

Type I muscle fibers are what are commonly referred to as slow-twitch fibers.  These fibers are not very strong but are very fatigue resistant.  They are also much thinner than their Type II counterparts.  Type I muscle fibers are found predominantly in muscles that control human posture and fine motor control since they can easily be held in contraction without much effort.  Elite distance athletes will also generally have more Type I fibers throughout their body which gives them an advantage. 

When presented with a task, such as lifting something, these muscle fibers are recruited first.

Type II Fibers

Type II muscle fibers (a and b) are generally referred to as fast-twitch.  These fibers are the opposite of Type I fibers in that they can produce large amounts of force but fatigue rather quickly.  These muscle fibers are found in all skeletal muscle that requires large amounts of force to be produces.  Generally if you can see a certain muscle on a body builder, it has a high amount of Type II fibers.

Type II fibers are broken down into two classes.  Type IIa are intermediate fiber types.  They can use aerobic and anaerobic metabolism to produce energy.  Type IIb use only anaerobic metabolism.  Type IIb also have the fastest rate of firing which is why they can produce large and quick burst of power.

Muscle Fiber Recruitment and Rate Coding

When a muscle performs a certain motor task not every fiber is contracted.  We don’t need large bursts of energy to write our names or jog a few miles.  But when we need to pick 500 pounds up off the floor or need to escape a momma moose in full rut then we are going to need every single one of our muscle fibers working to get us the hell out of there.

One of the most interesting differences that humans have from our cousins, the chimpanzee, is this muscle fiber ramping up.  Chimpanzees have less grey matter in their spinal cords.  This grey matter controls fine movement, such as writing out name.  Without this grey matter chimps essentially recruit ALL of their muscle fibers for every movement.  This is why they appear to be so much stronger than humans even though they are much smaller than us.  So somewhere along our tine of evolution we humans gave up ten foot verticals, 500 pound bench presses, and 3.0 second 40-yard dashes so we could write in cursive and run marathons.  Awesome.

Rate coding refers to how many times per second the muscle receives an action potential from the nerve that innervates it.  Without getting into sliding filament theory this action potential tells the muscle to contract.  Generally the more times per second the muscle receives that stimulus the stronger it is going to get.

So where does intramuscular coordination play into all of this?  Well, some people are much more efficient at recruiting their Type II fibers than others.  And the quicker you can tap into those large fibers the higher rate of force you are going to produce.  Some people have a higher rate coding than others.  And not only does this rate coding start high, but it stays high throughout. 

Think of this as the difference between a sprinter and marathoner.  The sprinter taps into those Type II fibers (and has a higher percentage of them) quicker than his marathon counterpart.  The marathoner has a higher degree of Type I fibers and will not tire as fast as the sprinter when presented with a long distance run.  Some of this is due to genetics but a lot of it has to do with training principles, which we’ll get to later on.

Intermuscular Coordination

Intermuscular coordination is all about how your inidvidual muscles work together to produce movement.  

This coordination is going to be highly relevant when it comes to form and, more importantly, energy leaks.

Using the example of a vertical jump, when performing an explosive movement just about every muscle in the body works in unison to create as much force as possible in the direction you want to go.  The big movers, the muscles that do a lot of the work generating force, are going to be the quads, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, and calf muscles, but there are a lot of other muscles that come in to play that if not properly engaged will cause a less than 100% jump.  The core muscles transfer force from the leg muscles to the upper body, the arms swing forward to provide propulsion, the small muscles of the lower leg and ankle provide support for the joints, the muscles of the neck and shoulder girdle contract to support the head.  And on and on and on.

If any of those muscles groups fire late or not at all energy will be leaked all over the place.  In other words, it’s wasted.  It goes off into space, back to its own planet, never to be seen or heard from again.

Muscular Strength

Muscular strength is how much force a muscle can produce on the surrounding joint.  It is dictated by fiber type, fiber size, fiber density, recruitment efficiency, and rate coding.  As you can see, intramuscular coordination plays a big role in how strong a muscle is.  Two people with the same size muscles can have two totally different strength levels.  This is generally seen when comparing elite body builders with elite power lifters.  The body builder has large but not very dense muscles.  The power lifter may have smaller muscles, but they are much denser.  That is, there are more fibers per square inch of cross sectional area.

There is also a mental aspect that plays into how much force a person can generate.  This goes back to the concept of aggression in training.  A trainee that is going “balls-to-the-wall” is usually going to generate more force than someone going through the motions.  Both have their place in training but when trying to be as explosive as possible the balls-to-the-wall mentality is going to be your best bet.

The Need…The Need For Speed

So now that we know what dictates explosiveness how then do we train for it?  Short answer…get stronger.  Many studies have shown that A) the stronger the athlete, the higher correlation to higher performance.  In a study performed on elite soccer players in England the strongest athletes had the highest vertical jumps and fastest sprint times.  And B) when studied side by side groups that performed strength exercise with weights that were closer to their 1RM improved more than groups that performed the same exercises at lighter weights but faster.  A study performed on netball players showed that the group that strength trained had a greater improvement in throwing velocity than the group that performed velocity-specific exercises (kept weight lighter but moved it faster during training). 

But it’s not just about strength.  Strength is no good to an explosive athlete if that athlete can’t express that strength as an aspect of speed.  They still need to generate that high degree of force in an extremely short amount of time.  The best way to go about this is to train both concurrently. 

Strength sessions should include both basic strength exercises and explosive moves.  An example would be to perform squats and then box jumps right after.  All of the fibers should be turned on from the squats and ready to fire on a moment’s notice.  The jumps will take advantage of this improvement in motor recruitment.  Even if there is not an improvement in height during the session, the nervous system is being trained to tap into the strong and explosive Type II fibers right away instead of just relying on the weaker and slower Type I fibers.

Hmm.  Makes sense.

One other thing to consider when it comes to strength training for speed; there is this tricky thing called the “intent to accelerate”.  I’ve written a little bit about this before but it is essentially trying to move a weight fast even though it is too heavy to do so.  When I’m training I’m all about this.  Telling myself to move a weight as fast as possible is a great way to give myself a little boost.  I’m sometimes hesitant to do this with my athletes, however. 

Most of the kids I train are in high school and thus don’t have the experience to do this properly and safely.  Many times they will relax at the bottom of the movement in an attempt to “wind up” and move the weight fast.  This is never a good thing and leads to energy leaks at best and missing the weight and possibly getting hurt at worst. 

When training these athletes it’s important to pick loads that will allow them to move the weight with speed without any special focus on it.  Usually kids of this age are going to benefit from simple linear progression where weight is simply added to the bar each session.  This allows them to learn the lift, get some muscle-building volume, and stay safe while still get stronger.

This done in concert with more sport specific drills such as jumping, throwing, and sprinting is going to produce the desired effects of enhanced speed, explosiveness, power, and performance more so than focusing solely on velocity-specific exercises.

A Final Word

This article assumed the athlete had no pre-existing muscle imbalances or pathologies.  This is rarely the case in the realm of today’s youth athletics.  When kids only play their sport year round with no focus on training their bodies to handle the rigors of that activity imbalances are going to occur.  When an athlete develops these imbalances it becomes increasingly difficult and sometimes impossible for them to get into the proper positions to be as explosive as possible.

I’ll use the example of the vertical jump.  The proper jumping position is created by flexion at the hip, knee, and ankle.  When any one, or a combination of all three, of those areas are tight from muscular imbalances somewhere else picks up the slack.  For many athletes this is the lumbar spine.  So instead of using the big, powerful, Type II dominant muscles that surround those joints to push themselves up, they use the small postural muscles of the low back to throw themselves up.  Obviously their jump performance is highly diminished but more importantly the repeated stress to an area that wasn’t designed to handle such loads is going to lead to pain and possibly injury.

In conclusion, to become faster and more explosive on the field or court you must train for such activities.  Getting stronger on the basic lifts to better overcome your own inertia, along with performing more sport-specific drills is the tried and true way to run faster, jump higher, and deliver more powerful hits.  Lift, sprint, jump.  It’s as simple as that.

Sources:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm

Velocity specificity, combination training and sport specific tasks.  Cronin, J. et al.  Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Volume 4, Issue 2, June 2001, Pages 168–178.

Influence of Strength on Magnitude and Mechanisms of Adaptation to Power Training.  Cormie, P. et al.  Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: August 2010 - Volume 42 - Issue 8 - pp 1566-1581.

Is velocity-specific strength training important in improving functional performance?. Cronin, J.B., et al.  Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness 2002, vol. 42, no3, pp. 267-273.

The strength of great apes and the speed of humans. Walker, A. Curr Anthropol. 2009 Apr;50(2):229-34.

Drop jumping as a training method for jumping ability. Robert, M.  Sports Med. 1990 Jan;9(1):7-22.

Comparison of loaded and unloaded jump squat training on strength/power performance in college football players.  Hoffman, J., et al.  J Strength Cond Res. 2005 Nov;19(4):810-5.

Strong correlation of maximal squat strength with sprint performance and vertical jump height in elite soccer players.  Wisloff, U., et al. Br J Sports Med. 2004 Jun;38(3):285-8.

The effectiveness of resisted movement training on sprinting and jumping performance.  Hrysomallis C.  J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Jan;26(1):299-306.

Manthropology. McAllister, Peter. 2009 St. Martin Press New York.

Training, Injuries, and Record Setting

Monday

Fat Bar Push Press: 186x5

Wednesday

Trap Bar Dead Lift: 352x 15 singles w/ :30s rest

Gunz

Friday

Squat: 405x3, 425x3, 385x3, 340x3x3

RDLs

This was a pretty good week of training.  I was happy with the squats.  The 405 felt good and I had to decide if I wanted to call it there or bump up a bit.  I decided to bump.  The first rep of the set felt awesome.  Next two were a little slower than I would have liked.  Still, not bad after not heavy squatting for almost a month.

I cannot believe the awesome weather that Wisconsin and most of the country has been having.  70s and 80s when we are still technically in winter?  I’ll take that any day.  On a side note, why do I feel like I accomplished something whenever a record temperature happens?  I almost feel like I should high five everyone I see. 

Me: Hey did you hear about that record temp in Milwaukee?!

Random passer-by: Sure did!

*Jumping high-five a la 1980s Washington Redskins*

We also both yell, "YEAH BUDDY!" at the same time.

I talk a lot about resilience and not letting bullshit bring you down.  Recently I got to see the concept in action.  A client of mine, Joe Flick, is a firefighter in Milwaukee, plays DE for the Chicago FD football team, and plays semi-pro for one of the local teams near Milwaukee, tore his ACL in a freak play during the first CFD game two weeks ago.  He got pushed from behind, planted funny and there it went.  When he heard the news he was obviously down because he A. Loves his job and B. Just loves to play football.  Is he still down?  Has he been sulking like a baby the past two weeks?  Nope, dude has trained what’s trainable and has done a few upper body workouts and has plans to keep training until his knee gets better.  

An attitude like that makes all the difference.  You can either man up, accept the situation and do what you can to make the most of it or you sulk like a bitch, blame your shitty luck, and don’t get better.  An attitude like that is a choice.  Some have it as a natural ability and some have to make a conscious effort to do it but either way, no matter what, it’s a choice we all make.  Make the right one.

Speaking of ACL injuries, medical advancements in this area have come a LOOOOONG way from 20 years ago.  When I was four or five, my dad tore his ACL playing basketball.  After his surgery he spent a couple nights in the hospital and then was on bed rest for two weeks.  I had to stay home from kindergarten for those two weeks to get him ice packs and help out and such.  Joe will be out of the hospital the same day of his surgery and will probably be able to walk without crutches in about a week.  Crazy.

Joe’s injury, which is up there with the worst surgery needing injuries, got me thinking about the worst non-surgery needing injuries.  To me it doesn’t get much worse than straining or tearing an intercostal muscle.  Intercostals are the muscles in between your ribs that help raise your ribcage when you take a deep breath.  They are also the tasty, tasty meat that you eat when you eat ribs.  Oh so good.  

Two examples of intercostal muscles.

If you’ve never hurt an intercostal I don’t recommend it.  Every breath, every wrong movement, every time you bear any kind of weight that muscle will give you a loud and clear, “FUCK YOU, MAN!”  Sleeping is the worst because you will never get comfortable.  They usually heal in about two weeks or so, but they are a total bitch to deal with in that two weeks.  And because of their location there is really no way to help the healing process other than giving it rest.  In case you were wondering I hate intercostal strains.

Speaking of ribs I’ve got some ribs just waiting to be devoured later this afternoon.  Beef short ribs to be exact.  The last time I made them I tried grilling them and they were tough as shit.  I’m going to try the slow-cooker route and see how they turn out.  I’m so pumped.

Since it’s just Saxon and I hanging out and having a guy’s weekend I think I’ll do some spring cleaning.  Science knows my house needs it.  I hope everyone else has a great weekend!

It Pays To Be A Winner

The US Navy SEALs have two unofficial mottoes and both pertain to their training, BUD/s.  One is “The only easy day was yesterday” and the other is “It pays to be a winner.”  Most will get the first.  SEAL training is by far the most arduous of all the armed forces, even among elite units.  It’s 26 weeks of nonstop training with the infamous “Hell Week” coming in week 3.  Then they still have 23 weeks left. 

But not many know about the second motto which is said by the drill instructors during pretty much every evolution (training drill).  Some evolutions are done individually but most are done with your boat team.  As you can imagine, the people that make it into and through BUD/s are highly motivated and competitive.  The instructors use this to their advantage to create an atmosphere of winning.  If you or your boat team “wins” an evolution you are rewarded while everyone else is punished.  Usually this means you get to sit while everyone else has to do more training.

In the real world there are winners and losers.  In the SEAL world the losers are dead, end of story.  The instructors HAVE to create that personality in their recruits to always win no matter what.  Otherwise they won’t be coming home. 

Losing for most of us doesn’t carry that finality but shouldn’t be taken as lightly as it is.  You’re probably telling yourself that you don’t compete in anything so therefore you don’t lose.  Ha ha ha you’re chuckling to yourself.  To that I give you Teddy Roosevelt who would’ve been all upside yo’ head if he heard such a bullshit response.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

Before we go further let’s look what losing is.  Losing to me takes many forms and permeates every aspect of society.  It could be getting fired or getting passed up on a promotion.  Losing is getting a divorce or worse, catching a cheating spouse.  Losing is failing a test or class.  Losing is getting cut from a sports team.  Losing is going on welfare.  Losing is losing the state championship.  Losing is your business going under.  Losing is missing a weight.  Losing is not giving full effort in what you are doing,  Losing is taking a back seat in life while everybody else gets ahead.  Losing is doing nothing about your sad state of affairs.

What most people don’t get or refuse to see is that none of those things are final.  A Navy SEAL loses and he dies.  I’d sure-as-shit be hell bent on winning if that’s what losing meant.  A civilian loses and life goes on.  But we the normal people get stuck in a state of learned helplessness and think there is nothing we can do about it.  To some losing a job and going on welfare means staying unemployed and staying on the governments doles forever.  That right there is worse than the actual losing of the job in the first place.

There is nothing wrong with losing in the sense that we are talking about…as long as you keep trying to win.  Lost your job?  Get another one.  Wife left you for another man?  Let the pain heal and move on with your life.  Didn’t make the team?  Train harder than the competition and make it impossible for the coach to cut you the next year.  Losing doesn’t have to carry the weight of a car crash.  It’s not game over.  It’s a roadblock.  There is always a way around it.

Everybody loses.  We’ve all heard about Michael Jordan being cut from the basketball team in high school or how some of the richest people in America were once bankrupt and out on their ass.  Or how Edison tried a thousand different combinations before he finally got the incandescent light bulb to work.  His quote on the matter sums up a winner’s attitude to losing, “I did not fail 1000 times.  I merely found 1000 ways that will not work.”  (For all the history nerds I know he wasn’t the first to patent the light bulb.  The quote was merely to illustrate my point.  Nerds.)

Everybody falls.  But those that fall forward are the best for it.  Those that see the mistakes that were made and fix them are the ones who win.   

But enough of that loser talk.  Let’s talk about winning and what it can do for you.  Winning has a number of positive effects physiologically and psychologically.

When a person perceives themselves winning they experience a spike in testosterone production.  This spike in testosterone can lead to what is known as the “winner effect”.  This is where winning something, whether it’s getting a job, winning a game of Scrabble, or fending off territorial intruders, leads to subsequent wins.  In a word, it gives you self-confidence.

Many times this is all someone needs to get the snowball rolling.  You do something good and you have this surge of hormones that multiply the feeling and you want that feeling again.  So now you start busting ass to win each little battle that leads to victory in the big things in life.  The opposite is also true.

The “loser effect” is the exact same thing as the winner effect, just in the opposite direction.  You lose little battles consistently and you’ll have a mentality that things never go your way and the boss hates you and you’ve never been good at math so why even try and on and on for the rest of your life.  Screw that.

As much control as psychology can play a role in our actions and mentality it’s never final.  Now I’m not saying someone with clinical depression, PTSD, or bipolar disorder just needs to turn that frown upside down.  I’m saying that if you don’t have any severe mental issues but you feel like you’re at the bottom of the totem pole it’s usually you that is keeping you there.  Once you realize it is your own excuses and fears of failure that are preventing you from breaking free from your cycle of losing can you start to do something about it.

This post could go on forever about getting out of toxic relationships and environments and all the rest of the factors that play into the loser effect.  It comes down to the simple fact that if you are unhappy it is solely up to you to fix it.  If you are tired of the life you live stop making excuses and do something about it. 

Right now. 

Today. 

There is no tomorrow, there is no the-diet-starts-on-Monday, there is only today.  Start right now.

Maybe a few butts.  BIG ONES!  Winning.

I want you all to be winners.  Put yourself in positions to be successful.  Start with something small and let it grow from there.  And remember, failure is not the end; failing forward is a huge positive.  But you have to make it a positive.  Failing forward leads to big wins in the future.  Failing and then quitting is living death.  And living death is being a zombie.  And I have sworn to destroy the brain of any zombie I come across.

  

My work here is done.

True story.

The Old-Tymers Were Crazy

Feats of strength have been around for as long as men have been and their exploits, real and mythical, are well documented.  The ancient Greeks blessed heroes like Hercules with great strength.  Samson and Goliath of the Biblical tradition captivated and intimidated with their great strength.  Milo of Croton was the first to try progressive overload by lifting a newborn calf every day until it was a full grown bull.  Even in present day we give our superheroes the strength abilities of multiple men.

Then you have the Highland games of medieval Scotland which are undergoing a current revival today along with strongman contests such as World’s Strongest Man.  Strongman has been gaining popularity since the mid-seventies and it owes much of its beginnings to the physical culture from a century before.  

Some of the most interesting characters in strength athletics came from the physical culture of the mid to late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  This was way before the standardization of lifts and equipment alike.  Men like Arthur Saxon, Hermann Goerner, Louis Cyr, Thomas Inch, and Eugene Sandow captivated and thrilled crowds of thousands as they traveled with circuses or as their own stand-alone stage acts.  You also guys like Ed Zercher and Paul Anderson who were the forerunners to today’s gym rats who were constantly coming up with different things to do in the gym.

Stories of their acts and feats of strength are as numerous as they are interesting and entertaining (at least to me) and entire books have been written on their amazing physical prowess.  All this article aims to do is to bring forward a few of the crazier feats and acts that these men put on to earn a few pints of ale and leg of mutton.

Horse Lifting

I'm sure PETA would have something to say about this.

Lifting Multiple Humans At One Time

Lifting With Their Teeth

The Human Chain

Today's permutations are done with cars, motorcycles, and sometimes jets.

Nail Driving

The guy in the picture, Siegmund Breitbart, died after he accidentally punctured his leg with a nail.  Talk about going all in for your craft.

Catching (and apparently balancing) 50 lb. Cannon Balls

I really wish this kind of thing was still around.

Bending Things That Aren’t Supposed To Bend

The Two Hands Anyhow

This is performed by hoisting the barbell onto the shoulder.  Then bent pressing it, grabbing the kettlebell waiting on the floor and then standing erect with both objects.  Arthur Saxon's record is just north of 370 total pounds.  Give it a shot some day.

Odd Object Lifting

These lifts are still done in many gyms and contests today.  I-beams, stones, kegs, and logs are some of the more popular ones.

The First Leg Press

This is Ed Zercher, inventor of the Zercher squat.  He kind of looks like Gandhi.  But he was brave if nothing else.

So as you can see it doesn't take much in the way of equipment to become an awesome strongman.  All it takes is some creativity, some iron-working skills, and an awesome mustache.  One other thing if you want to be an Olde-Tyme Strongman, you can't call lifts by their current names.  Squats are Deep Knee Bends, Bench Press is Prone Press from Chest to Arm's Length, and so on.  Gentlemen, START YOUR MUSTACHES!


Sources:
www.oldtimestrongman.com
http://listverse.com/2008/11/04/10-amazing-strongman-feats-of-the-past/ 

Training Update and Some Musings

Monday

Fat Bar Bench: 250x3

Wednesday

Hang Clean and Press: 198x1, 220x1, 225x1, 230x1x3

Cannons (Arms)

Friday

Dead Lift: 506x1, 440x5, 352x8

Front Squat

Shrugs

This was a pretty decent week of training.  No real gems but none of the sessions were total failures either.  My current progression three more weeks and then I’m going to switch things up a bit.  This twelve weeks has been about getting decent amount of volume in to get a solid base of strength while still keeping weights moving fast for the most part.  In this twelve weeks there should have been no missed weights.  It didn’t work out that way due in part to me not choosing correct weights to use but also because there are a few things that I’m going to change for the future.

The next six weeks is going to be all about upping the maximal strength.   I’m going back to a program that I've used in the past and got some good results on.  It’s a basic ladder progression and I’ll lay it out sometime in the coming weeks.

One thing that I’m going to try is to replace the Bench Press with Pendlay Rows as a main lift.  I’ll still do bench, but only as an assistance lift.  I think I just need more volume at lower weights to really hone in on my bench technique.  Benching heavy also makes my shoulders feel wonky for a day or two afterwards.  This is probably brought on by my less than stellar technique.

I’m still getting used to dead lifting sans belt.  It’s a strange feeling when you stand up with 500 pounds in your hands and you can feel your intestines shift and your abdominal wall literally unfold itself.  After the 506 I loaded another 20 pounds on the bar and gave it tug but someone must have glued it to the ground because it didn’t budge.  That’s a lie, I think my rectus abdominus had had enough and was about to turn towards Herniaville if I pushed it any harder.  Hence the dropping back down and getting some volume in.  My spinal erectors afterwards were all like, “Bro!  The hell, bro?”  And I’m all like, “Sorry fellas.  Abs needs a rest.”  True story.

One of the random things that pops into my head about strength is how some guys can maintain an almost elite level of strength without doing much dedicated training.  One such man is Kirk Karwowski.  KK is arguably the best squatter of all time and definitely an elite all around lifter.  He competed back in the early days of using gear such as squat suits and bench shirts.  These suits basically amounted to a very tight, very thick pair of jean shorts.  With this rudimentary equipment the man squatted over a thousand pounds.  In 2005, ten years after he’d last competed, he entered a totally raw (no support equipment) contest and squatted 826 at a lower body weight than when he competed regularly. 

13% of his strength comes from his nipple rings.

So this brings me back to the question of how do you maintain that strength?  Actually, I don’t think it’s a “how” question, but more of a “why”.  Here is my theory in two parts.

Part 1; In order to achieve the level of strength necessary to squat over a thousand pounds one must first be able to squat 500, 600, 700, etc.  And if one can squat a thousand pounds then one probably squats the lighter weight with regularity.  It’s the same if you squat 300 fairly well.  You squat 100 and 200 on a regular basis and they are no big deal.  Take a break from training, like say a year, and if you haven’t completely ruined your body it’s not going to take a whole lot to get you back to being able to handle 200 pounds.  No matter what your max is you are still capable of handling the lighter percentages whether you max is 300 or 1000.

Part 2; Many would say that he probably did a good job of maintaining muscle mass.  That he did but that’s only half the equation.  In continually placing a large amount of stress on the body the body will build bigger and stronger muscles, but also bigger and stronger bones, tendons and ligaments.  This I think is probably more important than actual muscle belly size.  The body is very good at protecting itself.  If it doesn’t have the required tendon and ligament strength to support or move a load the muscles won’t contract and you’ll likely fail the lift.  Obviously this isn’t always what happens as people tear muscles and tendons everyday but for the most part the body is going to save itself to fight another day. 

So, back to tendon and ligament strength.  I consulted Google University and couldn’t find much on tendon and ligament atrophy so I think there is something to that.  If the tendons (what connects muscles to bones) and ligaments (connect bone to bone) don’t atrophy and are at least maintained with some minimal movement I think the potential to handle what you’ve previously been capable of is, for the most part, still there.  In either case, however, it requires a huge training age to build the tendon and ligament strength necessary.  So don’t think that if you get up to a 400 pounds squat in your first year or two of training it’s going to stay with you for life.  Squat 400 for a few decades and then maybe you’ve got something.

Alright, it St. Patty’s Day and I’ve done enough thinking for today.  Be safe, drink some green beer, eat a ton of corned beef and have a great weekend.

Can't Stop Won't Stop

The Dope Sheet: Creatine

No nutritional supplement has been more studied than creatine.  It has been used by high school football players, world class bodybuilders, endurance athletes and just about everyone in between.  It is also one of the sports performance aids that has been on the shelves the longest.  That definitely speaks to its popularity and effectiveness. 

There aren’t a lot of supplements that I would recommend to young athletes (at least 16 years of age) but creatine is one of them.  The claims made by the supplement companies are usually along the lines of improved muscle strength, increased muscle mass, increased speed, increased endurance, etc.  And many of these claims are based on research that touts creatine’s benefits. 

What It Does

When your muscles contract they use energy from the breakdown of a molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate).  When ATP is used it is turned into ADP (adenosine diphosphate).  Creatine takes that ADP and quickly turns it back into ATP for use by your muscles for energy.  This quick turnaround of ATP is what helps the muscles delay fatigue and keep functioning.

Creatine also promotes cell hydration.  Its osmolality pulls water into the cell with it.  A hydrated muscle cell is a requirement for cell repair and growth.  This is where the supplement company’s claims of gaining 5 pounds of mass overnight come in to play as creatine will pull water into the muscle cell.  The retained water is the 5 pounds you’ve gained.

There is also evidence that creatine acts as a chemical signal that couples increased muscle activity with increased mass.  That is, creatine tells the muscle to grow.

Is It Safe?

In a word: yes.  Creatine is one of the safest products on the market.  Based on the hundreds of studies that are done with human subjects creatine has passed the test of being safe for use. 

A study done on Division 1A football players over a 21 month period demonstrated that the players that took an average of 5 grams per day of creatine did not experience any adverse side effects compared to those who did not take creatine. 

Further analysis of the study also shows that the players taking creatine experience less episodes of cramping, dehydration, muscle tightness, muscle pulls and strains, non-contact joint injuries, contact injuries, illness, number of missed practices due to injury, players lost for the season, and total injuries and missed practices.

This isn’t to say that creatine is totally responsible for those figures, but it is definitely a significant part of the equation.

Athletes who do take creatine should pay extra attention to their hydration levels as creatine supplementation requires more than normal water intake.  In this area athletes should aim for about 60% of their body weight in ounces of water per day.  A 200 pound athlete would then need about 120 ounces of water per day.  That’s just under a gallon.

Who Should Take Creatine?

Because creatine acts mostly on the big muscles cells that produce big powerful contractions users that would most benefit from creatine supplementation are those athletes that are required to display quick bursts of speed and strength.  These sports include bodybuilding, weight lifting, power lifting, football, hockey, baseball, boxing, wrestling, martial arts, sprint/strength track and field events, sprint swimming and rowing.

If you are competing in a physique contest or don’t want the puffy look that sometimes comes with the water retention side of creatine use, continue to take creatine up to about two weeks before you need to look good.  The body will flush out the creatine that is already in your system along with the water it was holding in.

Athletes that wouldn’t see much benefit from creatine supplementation would be distance athletes such as runners, bikers, swimmers, and rowers.

How Much Should I Take?

Many companies that sell creatine say that a “loading phase” of 3-4 5g doses per day for five days is necessary to reap the full benefits of creatine supplementation.  There is limited evidence to suggest this is necessary.  5-10g per day without a loading phase should be enough for most athletes.  When taking creatine it is best to take it with a carbohydrate source (or a substance that will stimulate insulin release, BCAAs being one) as this will increase the amount that actually makes it to the muscle cells.  Mixing it in your morning oatmeal or in a post workout shake would be the best options.

When deciding on a specific creatine product, look for either “German” or “research grade” creatine.  These versions are much higher in quality and contain less additives and impurities than other creatine products.  If we’ve learned anything from the drywall industry it’s that you can’t trust the “Chinese” versions of similar products. 

Good old fashioned creatine monohydrate is going to be the best and most cost-effective way to go.  All of the other versions (like ethyl ester, etc.) are more hype than anything else.  Stick with what has been proven to work.

There are those that recommend cycling creatine.  That is, take it for 8-12 weeks, stop for four, do the loading phase and take for another 8-12 weeks, and on and on.  This is not necessary.  As long as you are not experiencing any negative side effects there is no need to cycle on and off.  Just take the maintenance dose of 3-5 grams and you’re all set.

Also, if you use caffeine you may not get the full or any benefit from creatine supplementation as caffeine negates creatine’s ergogenic effects.

On Fat Acceptance

With obesity rates skyrocketing among pretty much every demographic and the weight loss industry growing into a I-shit-you-not 70 billion dollar industry the topic of obesity, it’s health effects, and the stigma of being overweight are constantly on the minds of the American collective.  As I write this it is March 12^th, 2012.  The year is almost 20% done.  More than likely if you had a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight you have given up and failed.  You also more than likely failed while spending some money either on a gym membership, a weight loss product, or a diet book.  Unfortunately if you are among the New Year’s Casualties within another month or so you will be right back to where you started.

But this isn’t about the weight loss and diet industry and the misinformation that is spewed forth on a daily basis by people like Dr. Oz, The View, and every crappy article on websites like Fitbie.  This is about the people that go through life every single day being obese.  I grew up fat as a kid.  I was never what someone would call obese but I was never in danger of wasting away.  I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me to this day.  It’s a stigma that has permeated our society right down to its core.  When young girls as young as five or six are subjected to beauty pageants by their parents, young gymnasts who weigh less than 100 pounds are told they are too fat to make the team, and eating disorders run rampant among young kids you know there is something wrong.

The preoccupation with how people look has created a back lash that has led to the creation of fat acceptance groups like the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA).  The NAAFA and groups like it claim that fat people are heavily (no pun intended) discriminated against, especially women, in the media and society at large (again, no pun intended).  They also claim that health is independent of, not dependent on, weight.  They argue that many of the health claims of fat people being unhealthier than people of normal weight are consequences of the psychological pressures put on them by society for being fat and that fat people are less likely to go to the doctor because of the stigma of being fat.

I’ll bite on the second point but I’m calling bullshit on the first.  If I was overweight and knew all that was going to happen when I went in for my yearly physical was my doctor telling me I needed to lose some weight I’d skip it too.  But there is no way that breathing heavy from walking down the street or feeling faint every time you stand up is a healthy way to go through life.  Our hearts only have some many beats in them and being overweight uses them up at a much greater rate.  Having all that extra mass forces the heart and the rest of the vascular system, like veins and arteries to work harder at rest, let alone when doing anything physical.  Then there is the issue of insulin resistance which can ultimately lead to Type II Diabetes.

TV chef Paula Deen, who is known for her ultra-rich southern comfort food, has recently come out saying that three years ago she was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes.  Type II diabetes is caused by the body becoming resistant to the insulin that is produced by the pancreas.  One factor that can bring this on is chronically elevated insulin levels brought on by consuming high amounts of processed grains and sugars. 

This isn’t the place to rant about the inappropriateness of selling recipes that are high in sugar and processed carbohydrates deep-fried in highly processed oils while she’s hiding a disease that can be brought on by the consumption of such food and then signing on with a company that sells drugs to control said disease.  But suffice it to say she isn’t helping the obesity epidemic in America.

I don’t dislike fat people.  I dislike that they are fat.  In my humble opinion obesity is caused by lifestyle choices.  That’s it.  You can claim genetics or glands and show me the tests, but you still need to eat the food.  I’ve never heard of someone who got fat eating a balanced diet of lean meat, vegetables, fruit, and a moderate amount of nuts and dairy.  It doesn’t happen, especially on a diet where protein is the main nutrient.

In order for protein to be stored as fat an excess must be consumed.  The excess will be converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis in the liver.  If and only if all of the body’s muscle and glycogen stores are full, which is about 400 grams for the average person, will it be converted to fat and stored in the fat cells.  And that doesn’t just happen by magic.  That shit needs energy to work.  The normal person can’t eat that much food.  Meat, fruits, and vegetables aren’t nutrient dense enough.

But this isn’t about this or that nutritional strategy.  This is about obesity.  It’s about getting rid of delusions.  If you’re obese you are not healthy.  You were not made to be fat.  More than likely your genes, glands, or whatever are not making you fat.  You are.  There are some out there that will eat right, exercise, and still gain fat, but they are few and far between.  

But like I said, I don’t hate you for it.  I do hate, however, the “acceptance” of a life of poor health.  Humans are capable of so much more than we think.  We consign ourselves to a life of mediocrity and obesity because there is no real consequence to not be obese.  Sure obese people get stared at and every picture of them is taken from the neck down, but it is not an immediate life or death situation. 

Now, back up and few thousand years and it’s a different story.  You’ve got to chase down a deer.  You’ve got to climb a tree for fruit.  You walk into a clearing and come face to face with a lion.  If you have a hundred extra pounds to deal with none of those situations are going to turn out good.  Some may even lead you to instant game over-ness and there is no reset button.

Every time.  Notice the lack of a natural predator.

What spurred this article is a YouTube video I saw the other day.  In it a morbidly obese young woman was singing a very poor rendition of a currently popular hip-hop song.  It’s one of those videos you can’t help but feel embarrassed for the person.  Even though I knew what they were going to say I decided to check out the comments.  They came in three categories; 1. Stop singing, 2. You are fat and ugly, 3. Don’t let the haters get you down.  You are beautiful and brave for putting this on the internet.

Face palm.

Number one aside, none of the comments really does the subject any good.  The people calling her fat and ugly do nothing to help the situation.  Immature comments from immature people who will probably never reach a level of consciousness higher than an eighth grader.  It’s just stupid people picking on an easy target.  Judging from the number of videos she has posted I don’t think she lets them get to her.  Kudos to her for that.

The other comments, however, are, to me, just as dangerous.  They are of the kindly enabler variety.  Everybody has a well-meaning enabler somewhere in their life.  When I was a little kid my Grandma Bev was mine, as are most grandmas.  Sugar on Frosted Flakes?  You go right ahead.  Most grow out of that.  Some don’t.  The point is that enabling certain behaviors is about the most counterproductive thing you can do.  Telling a morbidly obese person that they are fantastic and don’t need to change to me is the same as slowly killing them.

Then you’ve got the real haters.  Sometimes these people are one and the same as the enablers.  These are the people that ridicule you and put you down for doing the right thing and TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT!  There is a documented backlash among some groups of the fat acceptance movement against people trying to lose weight.  They say that fat people can be just as healthy as skinny people, losing weight is a futile endeavor, and the stigma of trying to lose weight just adds to psychological harm. 

Face palm #2.

I really have nothing nice to say about people like this.  To get the exact opposite of support from people who are going through what you are is absolutely mind boggling.  I would parallel it to a terminal cancer patient telling someone with a treatable cancer to just give up cancer treatments.  If it’s going to take me it should take you.

I am of the mind that all people can change.  But most people don’t want to change.  Type II diabetes can be easily managed and sometime cured by simply eating less sugars and carbohydrates and exercising more.  Yet people suffer through and die from it every single day.

I don’t dislike or judge people because they are overweight.  Becoming overweight is a very easy thing to do in the society that we live in.  It’s a corpulent time and it has created corpulent people.  Change is hard.  Change is scary.  Change requires sacrifice.  And sometimes it’s the people who you call friends and family that would need to be excised in order to be successful.  Not everyone is willing to do that, I get that.  And some people are perfectly fine with being overweight. 

But to accept a life of pain, misery, and ill-health if you don’t want it is a sad phenomenon.  To watch people struggle to change only to be brought back down by so-called friends is disheartening.  To watch people put hopes, dreams and hard earned money into weight loss fads, pills and supplements that do nothing and outright scams makes me almost embarrassed to be in this field.

But there are good people who have excellent products and systems for weight management.  They are all different but have one common denominator: they require hard work and sacrifice to be effective.  If you want change you have to go and take it.  Help is out there, but change doesn’t happen by accident no matter how many magazine covers you read in the check-out line at the supermarket.

Training Update, Videos, and Challenges

Monday

Fat Bar Push Press: 174x5, 160x5, 145x5x3

Wednesday

Body Weight (195) Front/Back Squat Challenge: 17/10, 10/10

Good Mornings: 5x5

Friday

Trap Bar Speed Dead Lift: 305x3x8

Gunz

Quarter Mile Farmers Walk: Hundies in each hand.  It took me 6:14 to complete.

High rep squats smoked me.  I was surprised at how many reps I did on the front squat and how few I did on the back squat.  When I made the switch and sat back into the first back squat I could feel my quads trying to do everything.  That was a weird feeling.  By rep 6 on the back squat I could feel my spinal erectors starting to go.  I stayed smart and shut it down there.  No point in getting injured.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I’m going to start adding in some quick workouts.  On Tuesday I did some single arm dead lifts and then prowlers with rope inverted rows.  Nothing too intense or time consuming.  It took me about 30 minutes total to complete.

I love spring.  It’s by-far my favorite season.  Even though we didn’t really get a winter I’m ready for it to be warm again.  The best part is that once it gets into the 50’s it feels like it’s 70.  I just hope it stays this way.  If it snows in April I’m going to be pissed.

I’m getting pretty excited for St. Patty’s Day this year.  Normally I prefer to keep it low key since it’s usually during the week and for the most part it’s amateur hour at the bars.  But this year a bunch of friends got a drink/food special in Chicago.  I’ve challenged Eric to a corned beef eating contest.  I know I’m going to lose; I just want to see what kind of damage he can do.  I hope they have Jameson at this thing too.

A couple of my clients hit dead lift PRs this week.  Shannon, who owns a kettlebell studio, pulled 223 (metrics and shit), Matt pulled 406, and Joe hoisted 508.  I was so proud.  They’ve been following a program that I wrote up for them and it seems to be going well.  There are a few tweaks that I’m going to make to it but for the most part that shit is bananas.

The Farmer’s Walk Challenge crushed me.  Carrying half your bodyweight in each hand for a quarter mile is a lot harder than it sounds.  My hands and forearms were pretty useless after this and I even used straps. Try it.  Let me know how it goes.

The more that I think about it, when it comes to training athletes, and even adults for that matter, the speed of movement is just as important as the weight on the bar.  There is a time and place for an athlete to strain against a weight and come out on top, but those times should be few and far between.  Most sports are played in a fast reactive manner and I think a majority of their work in the weight room should be the same.  Most will say that the intent to accelerate is just as good as actually accelerating it, but what population are we talking about?  Power lifters with a decade or more under the bar or 16 year-old kids with a very low training age? 

Those that have been training a long time know their bodies and can understand the biofeedback.  Those that don’t have a lot of under the bar experience don’t know the difference between slow and the intent to be fast.  They just know they stood up with the bar.  And more than likely those that haven’t built the muscle maturity that comes with years of training are going to lose some kind of posture when attempting to accelerate a heavy load because they think it needs to be fast, not just attempted fast.  I don’t know.  I’m more or less just thinking out loud.  On a computer. 


I hope everyone has a great weekend!