Shelton Stevens

A little Snatch + Clean & Jerk work. I set PR’s on...

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:57:47 -0400

A little Snatch + Clean & Jerk work. I set PR’s on both lifts so I decided to play around with the iMovie app a little bit.

The Heart and Soul Of The System: The Strength Coach

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:07:00 -0400

by SHELTON STEVENS

As a collegiate strength coach we have a lot more responsibility then what people realize. We see the athletes more than any sports coach or teacher on campus, so we play a vital role in the athletes life. But yet we still have trouble adding staff, keeping jobs, getting sports coaches to buy in, getting the salary that we deserve, the list goes on and on. Hell, the NCAA has actually put a limit on how many strength coaches can work with a football team. Injury rates are going up, but yet we are taking away opportunities to prevent those injuries? We have the easiest job in the world right? Think again.

Quality vs. Quantity, Intensity, Volume: Quality always wins

The Strength Coach needs to be the primary care model for the athlete, no questions asked. But are we really helping bring out their full genetic potential and getting our athletes better year to year? I think it’s great to win and bring home the hardware but I also think we need to worry about being the best and not being the first. You can try to follow the best training program in the world but if your athletes are still standing on a type I error (i.e. bad running mechanics, lack of mobility in the hips and ankles, and poor posture) that training program don’t mean anything. We need to start caring about the athlete who can’t squat 220lbs below parallel rather than gathering around screaming at the kid who squats the house on test day. As humans we can physiologically adapt to just about anything, but eventually something has to give. But our athletes physiology should never be debatable only our programming (i.e. does the athlete have full capacity, should they be squatting, how much pulling during the week should a rowing athlete perform?) These are questions we should be debating. Coaches should never let their athletes quality of work be sacrificed because of their egos or lack of knowledge. If this is the case you don’t need to be coaching.

The Battles We Face

Kelly Starrett spoke at the CVASPS this past weekend and broke down why our job is by far one of the hardest. He stated, “One day a strength coach will be making one million dollars, and I will be there to shake his hand”. Here is the list he put together of the problems we face, and I could not agree more.

Poorly Prepared Athletes – Kids come into our programs with some of the worst mechanics ever seen, this is not the easiest thing to fix when we have 150 others athletes to coach as well. This leads to the next point

Access – Time is always an issue, but it’s about how you use your time. We may be lucky to get 8 hours with our athletes and sometimes only 2 hours in-season. But we are expected to get them to jump higher, run faster, and get stronger without injury. This is where wanting quick results can really hurt the athlete and team. QUALITY NEEDS TO BE OVER EVERYTHING, because I can guarantee the athlete who squats 400 ass deep with proper technique is a better athlete than the one who squats 600 piss poor.

The Actual Sport – We have to compete with the sports coaches, practices, and the competition period. This is where we need to be smart about recovery and knowledge of having a proper in-season program. They signed a scholarship to play the sport, so they need to stay on the field. We basically are trying to hit a moving target.

Sport Diversity – With lack of staff sometimes comes more teams to be trained. Sometimes strength coaches can get stuck with training 4 to 5 teams which could add up to 100+ athletes. The coach might have to work with a 7ft basketball player, who has major knee issues, a 5ft gymnast who lacks full range of motion in the shoulder, a rower that has postural issues, and a female soccer player who has had 2 ACL’s. Not to mention dealing with the male and female athlete differ in many ways. Safety- Not every school has a 25,000sq ft weight room, there are many coaches that still have to train a football team in a storage closet. Safety becomes a major issue when it comes to how a coach organizes his training session.

Final Thoughts

As you can see the life of a strength coach isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. But the impact we can make on athletes can carry them through life, not just to the winners circle. It takes passion, knowledge, adversity, character, professionalism, and the drive to get better at perfecting your craft as a strength coach on a daily basis. Our hats are always changing and if you can’t keep up, you might want to think about changing your profession.

Saturday Night Training Session Snatch, Clean & Jerk, and...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:53:37 -0400

Saturday Night Training Session

Snatch, Clean & Jerk, and Back Squat - Heavy Single Build-Ups

It’s so much more than just being a coach. It’s...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:48:00 -0400

It’s so much more than just being a coach. It’s about changing lives and leaving your mark.

CrossFit? Yes, CrossFit: A Strength Coach’s Perspective

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:35:20 -0400

Originally posted on Tabata Times

by SHELTON STEVENS

If you were to go around and ask your everyday college/professional strength coach what they think about CrossFit, they’d probably turn the other cheek and shake their head at you. Trust me, I know because I was one of those coaches and refused to look outside the box on why CrossFit has and still is helping our profession and the weightlifting industry. Well, that has changed. I never would have thought I would be talking to my friends from high school about how much they can Clean & Jerk. It’s AWESOME! [pullquote align=”right”]I never would have thought I would be talking to my friends from high school about how much they can Clean & Jerk. It’s AWESOME! [/pullquote] CrossFit has brought the weightlifting world to the surface and may be just what we need in this country. It has helped bring in more coaches, athletes, gyms, bumpers, bars, weightlifting apparel, and everything else that helps improve this profession. For example, when I was coaching at Louisiana State University, we had athletes using the Nike Romaleos (weightlifting shoes) which were hard to come by and couldn’t be found anywhere, but now you seem them all over the place for sale. I personally believe this is why Nike and the United States of America Weightlifting Association teamed up; the USAW isn’t stupid and saw what is happening. A lot of other renowned coaches out there are starting to see the bigger picture as well.

CrossFit+Olympic Weightlifting = A Symbiotic Relationship

If you aren’t convinced that these two sports are building a strong connection, I have collected a few examples and perspectives from other well-known coaches below. Gayle Hatch 2004 USA Olympic Weightlifting Coach is now offering classes and Olympic Weightlifting Seminars to a lot of CrossFit gyms to help better educate coaches and athletes on technique. The phrase “TEAM” Together Everyone Achieves More is playing a big part with what Coach Hatch is doing.

Follow Coach Gayle Hatch on Facebook __________________________________________________________

Glenn Pendlay, renowned Olympic Weightlifting coach, recently wrote this in a forum post:

As weightlifters, or those that use weightlifting movements in training, squat deep, and worry more about lifting more weight than about how defined our arms are (I would guess this describes most on this board)… what did we used to complain about? 1. No place to train with bumpers and chalk. 2. Getting hassled about dropping weight. 3. “Trainers” at the local globo gym telling us squatting deep was gonna ruin our knees. 4. Girlfriends not wanting to squat because she is afraid she will get “bulky.” 5. For the competitive weightlifters among us, getting asked “how much ya bench?” after telling someone you are a weightlifter. 6. Trying to explain what a snatch is to someone, usually ending with a pantomime then the words “you know, like they do in the Olympics.” 7. If you ever tell someone, hey you should try it it’s fun, being told “oh no, I could never do that.” 8. Being surrounded in any gym by folks that think eating red meat or fat is the enemy of good health or a good looking body. 9. Curls in the squat rack. 10. Pink dumbbells. So with CrossFit you get… 1. 2000 + more gyms around the country with bumpers and chalk. 2. Most Crossfitters would think you were weird if you DIDN’T drop weights. 3. They may debate where to put the bar on their backs, but they all squat deep. 4. CrossFit girls squat heavy and are proud of getting a rounder butt from it. 5. Most CrossFitters don’t bench press; they might ask you how much you squat instead. 6. Most CrossFitter’s snatch; those that dont certainly know what it is. 7. CrossFit is filled with people people who not only want to try new things, but are willing to work hard to learn and won’t be put off by falling on their butt a few times. 8. CrossFitters, as a whole, seem to be proud that they not only eat meat, but are able to eat GOOD (meaning eat a LOT) and still look good because they train so hard. A couple cookouts at CrossFit boxes remain the only two times I have seen women bragging about how many ribs they ate. And not fatties. Young, in shape women. 9. CrossFitters are the ones who will make fun of YOU, if YOU do curls in the squat rack. 10. CrossFitters only use pink kettlebells.

_____________________________________________________________

Coach Donnell Boucher – Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at The Citadel, also made some great points during a Facebook debate on this subject. He states (slightly edited):

“I always hear: Every CrossFit box I’ve been to I see all this god awful stuff” —— Well I must just be lucky, because every one I’ve been to (less than 10, in 2 different states) has been pretty solid. A matter of fact, the programs look more like what we do in College than most other facilities. On another note, I can’t seem to wrap my head around how people get tripped on CrossFit as a “method” and want to vilify it because “IT” has no place in real sports…Yet, we’ve got Strength Coaches who employ an “Olympic” program, or a “West Side” program. I can’t help but laugh because, NO you DON’T run an Olympic program, because if you did, your football players would C&J, Snatch, Back Squat, Front Squat 6 days/week, sometimes 2-3 times/day. And NO You DONT run “West Side” program because if you did, you’d Bench/Squat and you’d hit it so hard & heavy that your guys would get hurt within 10 minutes of agilities.”

Go Follow Coach Bouchers Program!

As you can see, there are QUALITY strength coaches out there who are realizing the positive effects that CrossFit brings to the table. In case you need further support for this argument, however, even the National Strength and Conditioning Association (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research) published a recent article on how CrossFit-based high- intensity power training improves maximal aerobic fitness and body composition. Link below:

http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=9000&issue=00000&article=97874&type=abstract

How the “Bad” Leads to the Good

CrossFit obviously introduces weightlifting to thousands of non-athletes who have never played a sport before, or even athletes who have never had a strength and conditioning coach. People around the world are starting to see what coaching as a whole is all about and what it feels like to be trained properly. It’s no longer just about athletes or programming around a problem; rather, it’s about addressing and fixing the problem we see right in front of us. Sometimes at the collegiate and professional levels this can be hidden because of the freakish athleticism or lack of knowledge from the coach’s perspective, but eventually something has to give. With the average Joe wanting to do CrossFit, the movement dysfunctions come to the surface. It really lets the world see how bad we are underdeveloped as well as how much potential is out there for us. [pullquote align=”left”]The seeking of quality coaching is slowly but surely on the rise, and CrossFit is helping bring more of this to the profession.[/pullquote]The “GET BIG!” meathead mentality is great for some, but that doesn’t amount to shit if your athlete is broken. Relentless cueing and visual stimulus can only help to a certain degree. Every person is wired differently, moves differently, and is built differently, so this means our coaching style needs to be adjusted to the athletes’ specific needs. So what I am saying is that all the BAD we are seeing in CrossFit is turning out to be GOOD for coaches, athletes and the general population involved. The seeking of quality coaching is slowly but surely on the rise, and CrossFit is helping bring more of this to the profession.

CrossFit vs. Obesity

Everyone knows that obesity is a BIG problem in the United States; a recent study showed that 35.7% of America is obese. Since CrossFit has started, there have been thousands of gyms that have opened to help people of all ages with the problem we face in our daily lives. I’ve seen videos and pictures of kids learning proper movement mechanics, Olympic technique with a stick or PVC pipe, and just staying active. Just look at these awesome photos, which all are from CrossFit gyms around the world.

Final Thoughts

Being a strength coach is all about doing the research and trying new things. We need to keep the stuff that works, trash the stuff that doesn’t, and always adapt to the athletes’ specific needs. Every profession has its flaws and boneheads that work in it, and most of the time these are the people who talk more than listen or don’t know enough to contribute to the matter. CrossFit has brought a fan base to the weightlifting world and I’m not complaining because this helps open up many other opportunities for the sport. Would we have ever thought we would see thousands of people watching two athletes compete literally face-to-face like this 5 years ago? (picture below) I don’t think so. Keep doing what you are doing, CrossFit World!

Photo Courtesy of The Crossfit Games Follow Coach Shelton Stevens

Jerk starts at :48

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 10:42:31 -0400

Jerk starts at :48

Females: Stop Wishing & Start Weight Training

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:37:09 -0400

THERE IS NO MAGIC DIET, PILL, OR WORKOUT!!!

JUST HARD WORK AND CONSISTENCY!!

The myth’s about female weight training never seems to die out, but I’m hoping this article will help with some of the most popular issues that females THINK is true about weight training. As a strength coach if I had a dollar for every time a female athlete said, “I don’t want to get big and bulky”, or “I don’t want to look like a man” I’d be a rolling in cash right now.

Below are the most common MYTHS about females and weight training. Let’s see if this opens up your eyes a little bit!

Females Should Only Lift Lighter Weights and Do More “Cardio”

This is the number one thing that frustrates me the most when females email or call me about designing them a workout plan. They often say, “I want to get toned”, assuming they are going to lift lighter weights for more reps. My response to them usually is, “There is no such thing as toning and firming, just stronger and weaker”. Of course I mean this in a joking matter but let me explain my point. First of all, if you only did cardio then muscle and fat would be burned for fuel. One needs to lift weights in order to get the muscle building machine going and thus prevent any loss of muscle tissue. Women that only concentrate on cardio will have a very hard time achieving the look that they want. As far as the lifting of very lightweights, this is just more nonsense. Muscle responds to resistance and if the resistance is too light, then there will be no reason for the body to change. PERIOD!

WHICH BODY DO YOU WANT?

Weight Training Will Make You Look Masculine and Bulky

Due to the fact that women do not, and cannot, naturally produce as much testosterone (one of the main hormones responsible for increasing muscle size) as males do, it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass by merely touching some weights. Unfortunately, the image that may come to your mind is that of professional female bodybuilders. Most of these women, unfortunately, use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity. In addition, most also have good genetics coupled with an unbelievable work ethic that enable them to gain muscle quickly when they spend hours in the gym lifting very heavy weights. Believe me when I say that they do not look like that by accident. Women who conduct weight training without the use of steroids get the firm and fit cellulite-free looking body that you see in most fitness/figure shows these days.

If You Stop Weight Training Your Muscles Will Turn Into Fat

This is like saying that gold can turn into silver. Muscle and fat are two totally different types of tissue. What happens many times is that when people decide to go off their weight training programs they start losing muscle due to inactivity (use it or lose it) and they also usually drop the diet as well. Therefore bad eating habits combined with the fact that their metabolism is lower due to inactivity, and lower degrees of muscle mass, give the impression that the subject’s muscle is being turned into fat while in reality what is happening is that muscle is being lost and fat is being accumulated.

Weight Training Turns Fat Into Muscle

This is the opposite of the statement above its like saying that you can turn any metal into gold; don’t we wish! The way a body transformation occurs is by gaining muscle through weight training and losing fat through the right program and diet simultaneously. Again, muscle and fat are very different types of tissue. We cannot turn one into the other.

You Can Eat Anything You Want If You Exercise

If this where true we would see more people working out and less sitting on the couch. Our individual metabolism determines how many calories we burn at rest and while we exercise. If we eat more calories than we burn on a consistent basis, our bodies will accumulate these extra calories as fat regardless of the amount of exercise that we do. This myth may have been created by people with such high metabolic rates that no matter how much they eat or what they eat, they rarely meet or exceed the amount of calories that they burn in one day unless they put their mind to doing so. Therefore, their weight either remains stable or goes down.

In Conclusion

I have trained and watched females lift just as hard as some males do, and they look nothing but feminine. If you find yourself complaining all the time about why you cant lose the fat in certain areas. Pick up some WEIGHT and start lifting!!!!!!

Through & Around Acute Injuries

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:36:00 -0400

As strength coaches we have to deal with many types of different injuries. This is just the reality of the profession. Where we often run into problems is trying to get the athlete, coach, or even the athletic trainer to buy into the fact that YOU NEED TO KEEP TRAINING! The trust, motivation, and knowledge all must be in place before this can happen. So it’s very important to have a good working relationship with everyone involved.

WHY KEEP TRAINING THROUGH AN ACUTE INJURY?

Because you can

Just because you are injured, it doesn’t mean you have to go sit in timeout. It doesn’t preclude you from maintaining strength and speeding up the recovery process.

The Crossover Effect (Nueroendocrine Response)

Your body is smarter than you think, so why not let it take over. There is an amazing phenomenon that happens within the body where if you train the Non-Injured side or “unaffected limb” the “affected limb” will get stronger as well. This is caused by the nueroendocrine response, which helps increase growth hormone, testosterone, and insulin growth factor. This is basically like being on natural steroids which helps promote healing

It helps to keep the body intact

Ignoring the rest of your body during an injury will cause loss in mobility, posture, and of course overall strength. Now instead of just having some rehab to go through, now you have to fix the other problems that was caused because you were feeling sorry for yourself.

Psycho/Social Support

Do not isolate yourself from your team, workout partner, or your normal everyday surroundings. Strength Coaches play a key factor in this because we see the athletes the most. By not isolating yourself it will help to get your mind of the injury. It will also make you work harder and compete with yourself. There is always some element of depression with an injury, so its important to only give yourself a couple days rest after surgery, before you get your ass back in the gym. DO NOT LET AN INJURY STOP YOU! TRAIN THROUGH AND AROUND AN INJURY!

Decreases Compensatory Patterning

This is important because usually an injury affects the way we walk, stand, sit, and basically our everyday lives. What usually happens is that we start to feel nagging pain elsewhere within the body because of we are overcompensating for that injury. So it’s very important to maintain strength so that our body can handle the extra stress put on it. Again, DO NOT LET AN INJURY STOP YOU! TRAIN THROUGH AND AROUND AN INJURY!

Stevens Sports Performance Training - SSPT

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 22:26:53 -0400

Stevens Sports Performance Training - SSPT:

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To provide and utilize the most modern training methods to enhance overall athletic performance, general fitness, and quality of life. This page is intended to help and educate the athlete, coach, or anyone interested in human performance.

42 Things I Learned Leading Up To 2013 - John Welbourn

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 12:16:18 -0400

I found this post a couple days ago and I had to share it with all my followers. It makes a lot of sense but is also a humorous read. Enjoy

_____________________________________________________________________________

Originally posted by John Welbourn

In early January I was working on a year in review, it got scraped it as it seemed much of the same content regurgitated in humorous ways. So, I decided to offer a different format. These are the 42 things I have learned leading up to 2013.

1. Know what you are training for.
We often sat at the seminars and my gym, “What are you training?” This translate into, you need a goal, a destination for your journey. Without you are left to wander, and this site is not called Kung Fu and you are not Caine. Pick a goal, chart a course, keep your head down and don’t come up for air until you meet it.

2. The squat is the foundation of any good program.
A program that does not involve the squat is incomplete. Any coach that tells you, you shouldn’t squat as it is bad for your back and knees, but if it is done you should not squat below parallel needs to be punched. Email me and I will send someone out who specializes in punching people who need a punch. And when I say squat, I mean the one where you put a heavy bar on your back. If I were talking about the front squat or overhead squat, I would have said front squat or overhead squat.

3. Be a performance whore.
Your only mark for progress should be performance and success. Don’t get caught up in dogma, realize all that matters is performance. Don’t get married to one philosophy or stuck in one circle. Look to expand your training arsenal and realize your only master is getting better.

4. “Know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em.”
When you start hitting the weights, certain days you feel like the weights are made of foam and you could lift the gym. Other days, the weights seem to be made of adamantium. Realize on the days when the weights are light, go for broke and set a new personal record regardless of what the program says. On the days when the opposite is true, all you need to do is survive and realize the weights will be there tomorrow.

5. Don’t fall prey to the Secret Squirrel Program.
This is what happens when late at night while scanning the internet you decided to hybrid CrossFit Football’s strength WOD with CFE’s running 2 days a week with CrossFit’s hero WODs and Outlaw’s Olympic programming just for good measure. All the while doing 23 hours a day of ketogenic interment fasting. If you think this secret squirrel program will help you become the fittest man on the planet you are delusional. All that will happen is you become a massive ball of injury, end up doing nothing but Mobility WOD for 2 years with the testosterone levels of a 14-year-old eunuch.

6. You need to warm up.
Warming up is key to raising core temperature and getting the muscles, tendons and fascia warm. You are warming up because you are preparing to train. Take the old boxing proverb to heart. “If you go into the ring cold, you come out cold.”

7. Use Lacrosse balls
If rolling out with a soft foam roller is painful, you have led a life of luxury and share the energy expenditure with a veal. Real athletes roll out with two lacrosse balls and Kelly Starrett sitting on your body part adjacent to it.

8. Static Stretching is great way to cool down. Period.

9. The first movement at the beginning of your training week needs to involve a heavy bar on your back.

10. All the machines and praying in the world will not build a physique like the one crafted from lifting free weights over 85% of your 1 RM.

11. Weighted Pull Ups can cure world hunger.

12. Isometric holds build stability and strength.

13. It is better to live like a farmer than a bartender.
Farmers go to bed when the sun goes down and wake when the roosters crow. Bartenders hang out with drunks, don’t go to bed till 3 or 4 in the morning and sleep all day. Be a farmer.

14. Heavy prowler pushes cleanse the soul.

15. Sleeping 8 hours or more a day makes you bullet proof.
Yes, if you sleep more than 8 hours a day, bullets will not harm you and you will be able to control the minds of those around you.

16. Shower in ice-cold water in the morning. Hot shower before bed.

17. Vitamin D is the most important vitamin of all, so go outside and get a tan. As George Robert’s dad once said, “Georgie, even fat looks good tan.”

18. The only proteins that count are the ones with faces, souls and a mother. I do not care how you process hemp and peas…it is not real protein.

19. Earn your carbs.
Don’t get lulled into thinking a primal or Paleo diet is low carb diet. If you are a hard charging athlete that lifts heavy weights, sprints and moves, eat some carbs. Low carb diets are for fat people and sedentary people with metabolic disorders. If you are training for the CrossFit Games, playing football or trying to run a hundred miles you have earned your carbs.

20. I don’t care how far or often you run, running slow will never help you get fast. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and marathon runners. I am not impressed that you finished a marathon in 5 hours. I am more impressed that it took you 7 hours to sprint 421 100-meter repeats.

21. Percentages are a waste of time for beginners.
Why you ask, because to efficiently lift a true 1 RM you need an extremely well training central nervous system. And efficiency in the CNS comes from prolonged training. Hence, how could a beginner have enough control over their body or their CNS to put forth the ability to lift a true 1 RM? They can’t. So don’t do it.

22. Every man should own a slow cooker and a grill that uses lump wood charcoal.

23. Meat from grass-fed cows should make up the bulk of your daily food consumption.

24. Drink water.
Anyone who tells you they don’t like to drink water needs to grow the fuck up. How much…at least 1 ounce per 2 lbs of body weight.

25. Dont let fear be your limiting factor.
Louie Simmons told me, “To master kung fu, the training must be severe.” What Louie means is, don’t take the easy way out. Winners and champions are forged in the crucible of competition and hard work. Don’t let fear of not meeting your goals be your limiting factor when it comes to training or success.

26. Full Fat Greek Yogurt is an excellent source of protein and probiotics. Anyone that tells you dairy from pasture raised animals is bad, should be pushed in the mud.

27. Have the talent to rest.
If you think taking a rest day is weakness, you have never really trained hard. And you definitely have low testosterone levels.

28. The Second Amendment was put in place to guarantee the First Amendment. Problems arise when we allow our leaders to suspend the First Amendment and many other rights given to us in the Bill of Rights because of fear. When terrible things happen in society, we are so quick to give away our rights so the government can protect us and make it so it never happens again. It is impossible to stop bad people from doing bad things, but you can train and prepare for the day when good men are called upon to stop evil men. That is Edmund Burke.

29. Guns are inanimate objects that can be used to do harm. Much like cars, airplanes and knives, all these things can be turned into weapons if someone so chooses. Banning the sale, use or ownership of inanimate objects will no better cure the world of evil, and then eating low-fat food will cure a fat ass.

30. Lift heavy and awkward implements.
The power from picking up and lifting awkward and heavy objects creates a strength not found in a weight room. Anyone that grew up on a farm or wrestled or played football with farm kids knows what I am talking about. We also call this Field Strong.

31. Having kids puts everything into perspective.
My wife and I had twin girls in late 2011; I just came up for air in late 2012. Kids put things in perspective. The things that mattered so much, seem small and unimportant. What is important is raising your kids, providing a positive role model and keeping your wife happy and loved so she doesn’t drive the whole train off the tracks.

32. Learn to cook.
Even if it just involves adding meat, water, salt and root vegetables to a slow cooker or burning meat on a grill. Learn to cook. Nothing is as unimpressive as someone who cannot or will not learn.

33. Stop posting on message boards. If you have more than 100 posts on any message board, kick your own ass.

34. Twitter rocks.
If you can’t say it in a 140 characters, it doesn’t need to be said.

35. Training Vs. Testing.
Learn certain days are training days other days are testing days. Have a plan each day and realize professional athletes don’t compete everyday. They save that for when the money is on the line and the crowd is in the stands.

36. Read. Real. Books.
In this Internet age, digital books, periodicals, websites and blogs consume us. I feel something is missing, hard copy books.

37. Bacon.
I started eating bacon in the 70’s. I am not sure when many of you found bacon, but if it was last two years, I am sorry. Up until recently for many, bacon has been a mystery. But upon finding it, it is all they talk about. I am proud of you for finding bacon. I am sorry your dad didn’t make bacon on Saturdays when you were growing up. I believe it makes you feel primal and talking about bacon on social media is your way of thumbing your nose at society, but enough. Welcome to the party and guess what? We are serving bacon.

38. I don’t care that you are 100% Paleo; if a friend offers you a beer, drink it. Nothing says “FU” like not accepting a drink from a friend because of a diet. Grow the fuck up.

39. Work the tissue.
Active Release Therapy. Graston. Deep Tissue Massage. Mashing. Do something to mobilize tissue and speed recovery.

40. Move the bar as fast as possible.
When lifting weights, you should move the bar as fast as you can at all times. Think compensatory acceleration. If you have never head the term “compensatory acceleration”, go google it now. I will wait. Slow reps are akin to the splinters in your ass from sitting on the bench watching the explosive guys play. The only thing moving slow did, was make me slow. Fuck slow.

41. Don’t be a cartoon character.
In today’s age of social media and virtual existence, people are not held to the same standards they were so long ago. Individuals are more cartoon characters than real people. Be a real person that can be depended on and does not take every opportunity to take advantage of those around you. Being a man involves more than growing a beard and drinking whiskey…even those things do help.

42. High testosterone levels = nice guys.
I read a study a while back that related mental wellness and all around nice guys having higher testosterone levels than their male dick head counterparts. Next time you meet a douche bag, instead of cursing the day he was born, realize he is a lesser male and just has low testosterone levels. Pity him, because there is nothing worse for a man than having low testosterone levels. If you are reading this and think you might have low test levels, go see a doctor.

Understanding Tissue Repair

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 23:10:00 -0400

WE ARE NOT SUPERHUMANS! Even though sometimes we all can be hardheaded and stubborn, but remember we cannot outrace our tissue repair times or our own physiology.

All tissues have a threshold in which they fail. It may take you 700 reps but on rep 701, BAMMM! Now you are out for WEEKS with an injury with a pissed off attitude and asking yourself, “WHY DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME?” Well it could be because of many things (Poor training, poor recovery, movement dysfunction, etc.)

Now back to tissue repair…

After injury all muscular skeletal tissues never return to normal, which could be mechanically or architecturally. It becomes different from the way it was before. It may look different, it may take you longer to warm-up, it may fail before other parts of the body or even fatigue much faster. So keep in mind that you may be healed but that tissue is not the same tissue as before. Your body is basically saying, “You done this to me once before so I will protect it (with scar tissue) so it won’t happen again” Our body is smarter than we think, and we need to start learning more about how it works. If more people done this, we could be saving money instead of spending it at the drug store or doctors office.

There are a couple of factors that delay healing:

1. Age

2. Poor nutrition

3. Not getting enough sleep

4. Stress

5. Bed rest (Doing Nothing)

6. Diabetic

7. Anticoagulants (A drug for medical conditions such as heart attacks and strokes)

8. Corticosteroids (A chemical that included steroid hormones often used for asthma)

9. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (Ibuprofen)

Learning More About Posture

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:23:00 -0400

Technology is killing our posture and affecting the way we live our lives on a daily basis. Think about all the time we spend texting, typing, and just staring at the computer or TV screen. All of these things are contributing to our weight gain, back pain, and joint problems more than you think.

The average American spends 5 hours a day sitting on a chair or sofa, and this isn’t factoring in work hours. Also according to a study in a British Medical Journal, the more time you spend standing and reducing the time you spend sitting, you can increase overall life expectancy. This translates to another study where it showed people who sat for the longest periods of time were twice as likely to have diabetes or heart disease. Sitting has actually joined smoking and obesity as an important risk factor for chronic disease.

So if you think about it our body is in the wrong position more than 75% of the day if you factor in our poor sleeping habits. Which will be discussed later in this post.

According to more research:

“Even if people meet the current recommendation of 30 minutes of physical activity on most days each week, there may be significant adverse metabolic and health effects from prolonged sitting – the activity that dominates most people’s remaining ‘non-exercise’ waking hours.”

“After just an hour of sitting, the production of enzymes that burn fat in your body declines by as much as 90 percent. Extended sitting slows your body’s metabolism of glucose and decreases your HDL, which is the type of lipid you want MORE of, instead of less. This explains why those who sit habitually for extended periods of time have higher risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems.”

FIXING YOUR EVERYDAY POSTURE

Here is a link to a great video of Kelly Starrett demonstrating proper body alignment when standing, sitting, texting, and everyday tasks.

Kelly Starrett of Crossfit San Francisco

Breaking the video down into 5 easy steps:

1. Stand up with your with feet pointing straight forward or slightly inward.

2. In the interview Kelly recommends that we realign the pelvis by simply squeezing your butt tightly, we would like to add that this will be more effective for the majority of people if also told to internally rotate their feet 10-15 degrees (big toes slightly towards each other), roll feet to the outside of the arch and then try to pull the back of the legs together without the heels moving. This will allow the thigh and butt muscles to work together; the squeeze alone is otherwise less effective.

3. Create some tension in your core by slightly tightening your abdominals (this is not an extreme tightening – just to 20 percent of your max)

4. Correct your shoulder position by externally rotating (think of unscrewing) your shoulders and arms (rolling your shoulders back), which brings your shoulder blades closer together, your chest up and forward, and your thumbs pointing away from your body

5. While keeping your shoulders externally rotated, turn your hands back to neutral, so that your thumbs are now facing forward

TRAIN YOUR POSTERIOR CHAIN

Athletes pay attention: Posture helps improve the distance throughout which the increased force production will travel (Sprinting, Hitting, Jumping, etc.) Proper posture and technique while walking, running, or lifting will improve overall health and performance as well

Paying more attention to and training our posterior chain can improve our posture. Your training regimen needs to have exercises that hit your glutes, hamstrings, and the spinal erectors. These muscles are often overlooked because you can’t see them. I always tell my athletes to train your GO MUSCLES not your SHOW MUSCLES. Another tip I tell my athletes is to use pull exercises twice or three times as much as push exercises.

Check out my YOUTUBE page for many exercise examples

YOUR TRAINING MAY BE COMPRIMISING YOUR GAINS

Just because you hit the gym 5 to 6 days a week doesn’t mean you’re helping yourself, or training correctly. Insufficient training could compromise excessively sedentary habits (ex. Sitting all day or the body in a bad position for a long period of time). If your training regiment consists of the recumbent bike, rower machine, or weight machines than I suggest you change something up. You want to be training for movement not muscles.

FIX YOUR SLEEPING HABITS

I personally find myself resting in every position possible but ultimately fall asleep on my side and wake up on my stomach (which is horrible). I’m constantly cussing my pillows because they are either to soft, where my head is basically hanging on my neck muscles, or too firm where it’s shoving my neck and head to far up. After a night or two of crappy sleep posture I often get headaches caused by trigger points in my neck, shoulders, and upper back. This makes me feel more run-down than usual because the quality of my sleep suffered. Here are a couple videos that talk about sleep positioning and using your pillows to help you.

The "Butt-Wink" Syndrome

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 23:16:00 -0400

Butt-Wink is a term used to describe the posterior rotation of the pelvis during the squat. The “wink” happens at different depths mostly depending on hamstring length. It’s a pretty simple to identify and could be an easy fix as well. If you know you lack hamstring flexibility you could possibly be suffering from the “butt-wink” syndrome.

BUT there are many factors that can lead to what I call a “poo-face” squat (example below)

not just hamstring flexibility. Basically every muscle between your toes and your lower back could affect your ability to get in a deep squat position. Joints themselves play a part as well, as a sticky hip capsule or ankle will rob you of mobility. You could even extend this to the top of your head because a rounded thoracic spine and forward neck posture will ruin your squatting parade. The majority of Olympic squatters don’t have this happen until their ass is almost to the ground allowing them to use their hamstrings as long as possible. They have superb ankle, hip, and thoracic spine mobility, which the average Joe lacks (the majority of athletes that walk into a collegiate weightroom for the first time)

I would start by concentrating on hip mechanic motor control. Turn the hips out which… create a stable high-torque hip position which… creates a ton of mechanical stability for the pelvis. If this doesn’t seem to help I would move on to….

Improving hip flexion and hip external rotation first (hamstring flexibility plays a role, obviously), and then move on ankle flexion, hip internal rotation, knee flexion, hip extension, etc. Use stretches, mobilizations, and soft tissue work to do these things.

In conclusion “Butt-Wink” could cause injury and be a bad thing if…

1. You lack mobility

2. Do not understand how to manually turn your muscles on and off (ex. Hips, glutes, core, etc.)

3. You are not as efficient as you could be if you have tight muscles getting in the way of your athletic potential (which is most cases you probably do).

4. Weak Core

5. Crashing at the bottom, instead of controlling the lift

6. Simply don’t know how to squat

Female Athletes & Anorexia

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:56:52 -0500

Originally posted by Santa Clara University Wellness Center

Female athletes who have anorexia nervosa are similar to female non-athletes with that disorder, but there are some important additional factors at work also.

Athletics used to “legitimize” an eating disorder 

The current climate in athletics includes an emphasis on low body fat and thinness. That emphasis, and the dedication and discipline required to comply, make it relatively easy for a female athlete to hide an eating disorder. Indeed, she may even receive praise and admiration for her self-control and denial of appetite.

An illusion of virtue 

Emphasis on thinness and demands for self-discipline invite the female athlete to believe that she is being “good” when she restricts food. She also believes that if she is “good” for a long enough period of time, she will improve her performance, win more often, and achieve more glory. She equates weight loss with becoming quicker, faster, and stronger. Research indicates just the opposite, but she will not believe that dieting could make her weak and slow. Unfortunately, some coaches encourage the thinner-is-better delusion.

Denial of reality 

Some female athletes with anorexia nervosa are able to compete remarkably well in spite of the disorder. They use their awards, medals, and personal best achievements to dispute the claims of worried friends and family members that they are in danger. How, they say, could I be sick and still do so well in my sport? Eventually performance will suffer, but the athlete, instead of admitting that undernourishment is to blame, will insist that she needs to lose even more weight to achieve previous levels of success.

Athletics used as an excuse not to eat 

The female athlete has an extensive repertoire of excuses why she cannot eat: Because of all the competitions, her training schedule, practice sessions, skull sessions, and traveling, she does not have time to eat. Eating before practice or competition is impossible because she is nervous, because it will make her feel heavy and slow, because it will leave her bloated, because it will make her sick to her stomach. Eating afterwards leaves her nauseated. She cannot eat fat because she must lower her body fat percentage. With this last excuse, in one fell swoop, she removes many foods from her diet, including meat, which in moderate amounts is an excellent source of high quality protein.

Athletics used as an excuse to burn calories 

The anorexic female athlete may be a compulsive exerciser and use workouts as one way of purging calories. She may believe that a serious athlete can never work too hard or too much, that “no pain, no gain” must be taken literally, to the point that pain is sought as a marker for achievement. When confronted about excessive workouts, she may insist that if she were easier on herself, she would gain weight and then lose her ranking or her position on the team. She believes that even the smallest omission from her exercise regimen will cause her to “blimp up.” In her mind, the gain of even a pound or two would cause her performance to suffer.

Athletics used to create or maintain a fragile identity 

The anorexic female non-athlete wants to be thin but may not have a well-defined picture of how her life will be better if she manages to lose weight. She insists, somewhat vaguely, that, “I’ll feel better and be happier when I’m thinner.” In contrast, the anorexic female athlete, who may share this general sentiment, also believes that losing weight will help her achieve specific sports goals.

She uses her performance to define who she is, to create at least part of her identity. In too many cases, her role as an athlete is the only part of her life where she feels at least minimally competent and effective. If she is not able to participate in her sport, or if she is kept out of play by coaches who fear for her safety, she will feel diminished and experience great loss and distress.

Identity issues may be of primary importance when the athlete has trained for her sport since childhood. Gymnasts and ballet dancers have a higher incidence of eating disorders than that found in general populations. These individuals see themselves as gymnasts and dancers only, and anything, like weight gain, that is perceived to threaten performance is experienced with terror as a danger to a fragile and underdeveloped identity.

How Anorexia Nervosa effect the whole body

Brain and Nerves

Can’t think right, fear of gaining weight, sad, moody, irritable, bad memory, fainting, and changes in brain chemistry

Hair

Hair thins and gets brittle

Teeth

Chance of severe teeth loss

Heart

Low blood pressure, slow heart rate, fluttering of the heart, heart failure

Blood

Anemia and other blood problems

Muscle, Joints, and Bones

Weak muscles, swollen joints, bone loss, fractures, osteoporosis

Kidneys

Kidney stones, Kidney failure

Body fluids

Low potassium, magnesium, and sodium

Intestines

Constipation, bloating

Hormones

Periods stop, problems with growth, trouble getting pregnant, higher chance of miscarriage, having a baby with the dangers of low bodyweight

Skin

Bruise easily, dry skin, growth of fine hair all over body, get cold easily, yellow skin, nails get brittle

How young is too young?

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:29:00 -0500

I personally believe resistance training has little to no effect on injuries in young athletes. If anything, the earlier the better when it comes to establishing an extremely solid foundation. With proper instruction and fun early on, it can only mean great things for the future, and that’s not even taking into account the relation to future sports participation.

I spoke at a local performance center to young athletes and their parents over Thanksgiving. The first thing I said (which neither the facility or parent wanted to hear) was that their kids should be playing as many sports as possible, and not being stuck up in a baseball facility year-round. I explained to them how important establishing an overall foundation is for young athletes, and if they play one sport and use the same muscles over and over again during their young careers, their bodies will not be prepared in which will result in injury. This brought up the importance of movement and resistance training, which of course the emphasis would be: bodyweight exercise, technical improvements, and keeping things fun.

Why do you think we compete in many Olympic events such as Basketball, Gymnastics, Swimming, etc? It’s because we start them at such a young age. But when it comes to weightlifting we tuck our tails and run. But the sooner we realize the importance of these things the sooner we will stop getting DOMINATED in the world of weightlifting.

Get these kids moving properly (or more precisely help them to maintain what they had as a baby, some might say), and teach them to enjoy physical activity while appreciating the need to progressively challenge themselves, and the benefits would be incalculable.

CHECK OUT THESE VIDEOS BELOW OF YOUNG CHINESE WEIGHTLIFTERS:

In this video an 8 year old shows off his snatch form

In this video an 8 year old Clean & Jerks 75 kilos (165lbs)

In this video a 14 year old girl snatches 53kg (116lbs)

Understanding Sleeping Habits for Athletes

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:11:25 -0500

REASONS WHY THE CYLES OF SLEEP IS IMPORTANT

Brain activity during the cycles of sleep promotes immune system functioning. The brain is engaged in rehearsing and consolidating learning acquired during the waking hours and committing it to the long-term memory. REM nurtures and strengthens memory, learning, attention and concentration

Sleep replenishes the physical and mental resources. Lack of restful sleep causes fatigue and magnifies one’s perception of pain. Thus, pain contributes to insomnia, which in turn contributes to pain.

THE CYCLES

There are 2 types of sleep cycles, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM). Both are crucial for bodily repair and recovery. Also it helps revitalize the brain, which will be discussed in this post. Lets break down these two cycles.

REM – RAPID EYE MOVEMENT

This is a normal stage of sleep characterized by the rapid and random movement of the eyes

Includes a low muscle tone, and a low voltage of (EEG) Electroencephalography, which is measured in a polysomnogram. This is a study done on people with sleep disorders.

REM occupies 20-25% of total sleep, which comes out to be 90 to 120 minutes of a nights sleep

REM occurs close to mornings

Humans usually experience four to five periods of REM sleep; which are short at the beginning of the night and longer towards the end. Usually people wake after a short REM period

A newborn baby spends more than 80% of total sleep in REM; this is why this cycle of sleep varies with age

During REM, the activity of the brain is similar to the waking hours

NON – RAPID EYE MOVEMENT (NREM)

This cycle includes 3 stages of sleep and there is usually no eye movement

Dreaming is rare during NREM sleep, and the muscles are not paralyzed as in REM sleep

People who do not go through the stages properly get stuck in NREM, and since the muscles are not paralyzed this is what causes people to sleepwalk

During NREM sleep, the mindset of a person is very organized.

During NREM stages the heart beats slower and our blood pressure drops by 10%

STAGES OF NREM SLEEP

Stage 1

occurs mostly at the beginning of sleep, this is when we experience hypnic jerks. People who wake from this stage usually feel they have been fully awake

Stage 2

no eye movement occurs, dreaming is rare, and the sleeper is easily awakened by noise and movement

Stage 3

this is deep sleep, dreaming is very common in this stage; which occurs closer to the morning hours

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_eye_movement_sleep

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-REM_sleep

People Are Awesome 2013

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:54:00 -0500

SO SICK

Play Ball! by Lanny Mixon

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:23:27 -0500

Play Ball!

Lanny Mixon - Publisher for Big Gold Nation

When forth year head baseball coach Scott Berry and the 2012 Southern Miss Baseball Eagles failed to make a regional for the first time in a decade it would have been easy for Berry to get mad, many coaches would have. It would have been easy to turn the blame towards others, we’ve seen that time and again. It would have been easy for Berry and his staff to sulk and wonder what might have been. But, instead Berry, his assistant coaches and the team simply went back to work.

As Berry began working to fine tune every aspect of an already wildly successful program his assistant coaches hit the road in search of talented players who would make Southern Miss better in both the short and long term. A number of underclassmen headed out to the various collegiate summer leagues that give players the opportunity to further hone their skills.

The Southern Miss baseball team entered the season in much better shape than they had in the past and Berry gives a lot of credit to a new strength and condition program installed by former Strength and Conditioning coach Shelton Stevens.

“We’ve changed our approach in the weight room,” Berry said. “We’re working out early in the mornings this year. They are in the weight room at 6:00 AM on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. At first the kids hated it, but now they’re used to it.”

Southern Miss also began to take into account the nutritional needs of their student athletes as a part of the overall strength and conditioning program.

“We’ve invested in replenishment supplements like protein shakes after workouts.,” he said. “Also, we used to practice then go lift after we were tired and it turned into a grind, our guys were not able to keep on good weight, we’re working a lot smarter now.”

Being in better shape helped the Eagles be in a better frame of mind as they worked through fall practice.

That focus allowed the Eagles to really concentrate on the upcoming season as they set goals for the program over the next year. And don’t think for a minute that falling short of making a regional in 2012 has been lost, it serves as a constant reminder that the team can’t lose focus heading into the Spring.

The Eagles got a taste of Omaha and the College World Series in 2009, when the program made their first ever appearance. Only Scott Berry and hitting coach Chad Calliet remain from that magical year, but almost every player on the team watched the Eagles on television that season.

“We know our potential,” short stop Michael Sterling said. “We know what we are capable of doing with guys like Mason (Robbins) hitting the ball and guys like (Andrew) Pierce and (Jake) Drehoff pitching.”

“Our goal is the same every year and that’s getting to Omaha,” he continued. “But, we know our potential his year.”

Conditioning...What's best for the athlete?

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:21:15 -0500

Most strength coaches and sports coaches think the word “Conditioning”, basically means RUN until the athlete gets in shape or promotes faster recovery. But we may be missing the BIGGER picture. Hopefully this post can shed some light on that.

If you really think about it, all team sport athletes are sprinters of some kind. They all have to accelerate, maybe not all in a linear fashion but there are key components that relate. Let me start by quoting speed guru Charlie Francis, “Enough power-related work must be done during the early years, preferably between the ages 13 and 17 to maintain genetically determined levels of fast twitch muscle fibers.” He further says, “Endurance training must be done in limited to light or light to medium volumes to prevent the muscle fiber transition”.

So as strength coaches we must ask ourselves, are we aiding the characteristics of slow twitch transition? Are we compromising what we are trying to accomplish by inputting too much aerobic oriented sessions in our early off-season programs? Are we being lazy instead of really studying what it takes for developing speed and power? Monitor the sport teams training camp you are training and see how many nagging injuries pop because the sports coach wants to RUN them to death, or maybe they are already TOASTED from running to much in your program or on their own time.

Mike Boyle makes a great point in his book Advances in Functional Training, he states:

“Injuries usually occur during training camp because the program ignored three vital components of the conditioning process.

Acceleration
Deceleration
Change of Direction

The ability to tolerate the muscular forces generated by accelerating and decelerating are the real keys to conditioning. Deficiencies in these components are often why athletes feel out of shape.”

So instead of running your FALL SPORTS into the dirt during this time frame, try incorporating the following fundamentals into your early off-season programming.

Proper Body Positioning (posture)
Balance
Stability
Mobility
Proper Acceleration Mechanics

Remember when developing a conditioning program, its important to go watch practices and games. This will give you an idea of the demands being put on the athlete, plus build great relationships with your sport coaches and athletes you are training.

Bloody Shins?

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:10:24 -0500

Scraping of the knees and shins is a very common mistake in the world of weightlifting. I still tend to draw some blood every now and then during cleans and snatches. Usually this means that the athlete’s shoulder position relative to the bar is too far back during the starting position, or the athlete is pushing the bar to far into the body to soon. This causes the bar to drag rather than simply maintaining immediate proximity.

The coach needs to pay attention to the starting position of the athlete first, to make sure everything is correct

1. The bar needs to be over the first shoe lace…NOT touching the shins
2. The arms are vertical when viewed from the side and elbows rotated out
3. The knees flared to the sides meeting the arms
4. Weight EVENLY distributed…. NOT on the heels
5. The back should be set in complete extension

If the starting position is not the problem, it’s most likely the matter in which the bar leaves the floor (The First Pull)

1. The back needs to stay in complete extension
2. Arms still fully extended with elbows rotated out
3. Knee extension needs to occur causing the knees to back out of the way of the bar and an upward shifting of the hips
4. Weight needs to shift now to the heels, but shoulders stay over the bar and remain approximately the same until the initiation of the final explosion

GOOD LUCK!