Tag Archives: muscle

Trigger Points – Getting Rid of Pain

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Want to get rid of that pain in your neck or shoulder that has been there for years, or that just pops up now and then?

Or the pain in your lower back or hip?

The first thing to do is to figure out what’s actually causing the pain. This might involve a trip to a doctor (MD or DO), physical therapist, or other medical professional.

But a lot of times we can figure out and “treat” our own pain. That’s what I intend to help you with here.

Surrounding your muscles is a layer of tissue called fascia. It’s both a connective tissue and a contractile tissue. Fascia is the thin white layer of material that you might find on a chicken breast or piece of beef. It separates muscle bundles. It provides structure and support to the body.

When fascia gets bound up or “knotted” (basically getting into a state where it’s contracting non-stop), it causes pain. The nerves around that area get compressed and irritated. That point where the fascia is knotted is called a “trigger point.”

Since fascia is a sheet-like covering, and it spans such a huge area in your body, a knotted-up portion of fascia can also lead to pain in other places (“referred” pain).

The way to tell if something is a trigger point is through experience!

There are two approaches to trigger points. One is to feel where you have a general area of pain or irritation, and then to look at the charts below and find the trigger point for that area. Use your finger or thumb to push around where the trigger point should be and feel for a spot that’s especially sensitive and resistant to pressure. Voila! You’ve found the trigger point.

The other way is just to search around for trigger points themselves.

Once you’ve found a trigger point press into (or squeeze) it deeply enough that you feel the referred area “light up” and hold that pressure for one minute. If that’s too intense, use 5-second heavy/light alternations for one minute.

After that minute, put some ice on the area and “sweep” the ice from the trigger point to the area of referred discomfort while stretching that muscle group as far as possible.

You just want to use the ice to cool the area, not to deep-freeze it. Keep ice “sweeps” intermittent enough that the area gets cool, but not COLD.

Same goes for stretching – don’t try to beat your personal-best stretch in this area (if you have one), just gently stretch the muscle.

Here are some great Trigger Point charts I found online:

NOTE: Trigger points in the neck/shoulder area should be squeezed (pinched between the thumb and fingers), not pressed into.

You can get to your back and neck using something like the Backnobber:

ALSO: Only treat trigger points this way once per day. If the pain (of the point or the referred area) isn’t diminished when you’re done, there might be some other cause of the pain, and you should check in with your physician again.

Resources
There are a ton of good books out there that go through this type of treatment in-depth. Janet Travell and David Simons wrote the “classic” in-depth/technical manuals on this type of therapy:

But Leon Chaitow’s book “Instant Pain Control” is a great self-help guide:

Somewhere in the middle of the two is Bonnie Pruden’s “Complete Guide to Pain-Free Living”:

Just realize that you can do it yourself, with just a little self-experimentation and discovery!

What’s Happening In There?
I saved this part for last, since some people might not really be that interested in what makes this type of therapy work, but here it is!

To the best of my understanding, a “knot” is an area of constant contraction (what’s called “tetany” – where the term for the disease “tetanus” comes from). When you press into an area like this, you’re doing two things – 1. You’re shortening the fibers of that area even further, which sends a signal to the spinal cord telling those fibers to relax (since they’re exceeding their “normal” resting length), and 2. You’re sending a signal to the brain that the area in question needs attention. Over time, when a muscle goes into “spasm” (or tetany) the body attempts to “normalize” that situation. That is, it ignores it and attempts to keep going about its business. Bringing attention to the area is often as big a help as any sort of “manual” therapy.

Hope you enjoyed the post! Please leave questions or comments below!

The Rules of Muscle Physiology – All You Need to Know

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NOTE: This post is a working document. I will continue to update it to reflect my own learning in the field of muscle physiology as it pertains to strength and performance.

I’ve said this for a long time now – that someone, somewhere, needs to put “the rules” of muscle physiology down in plain language, so that everyone can have a fair shake at strength, endurance, and physical health.

So I’ll do it here, now.

 

The Four Horsemen

There are only four rules that you really need to understand in order to exercise properly. They are:

1. Specificity

2. Progression/Overload

3. Acute Variables – Intensity/Volume/Frequency

4. Form/Technique

Let’s go over each.

 

 

Specifically nauseating

 

 

1. Specificity – I’ve S.A.I.D. It All Before

The first rule of physical training or conditioning is the SAID principle, coined by Digby and Sale, I think back in 1984. SAID stands for “Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands.”

The concept is this – the body is an incredibly efficient system. It will only respond to what it must, in exactly the degree it must, and only for as long as is absolutely necessary.

Therefore, you must train specifically, for the specific outcomes you wish to attain.

This is true in all of life. If you want a cheese sandwich, don’t get the peanut butter out of the cabinet.

Specificity applies not just to the type of movement you do, the muscles used, or to the type and amount of weight you use, but also to the metabolic demands placed on the body as a whole.

If you want to be a marathon runner, lifting very heavy weights is not going to help you. That is, depending upon how quickly you want to run that marathon. If speed isn’t an issue, but slowness is, maybe lifting weights is a good idea!

 

Blindfolding increases neural drive to muscles

 

 

 

2. Progression/Overload

The next principle to understand is progression/overload…or, let’s call it “the progressive overload principle.” Actually, that’s what Thomas Delorme called it in his book “Progressive Resistance Exercise,” back in 1951.

The principle is this (and is directly related to the SAID principle) – by allowing a muscle or system to grow accustomed to a stimulus, you have made it stronger. To continue making it stronger, you have to continue to increase the resistance the system must overcome.

Bam.

So, basically, keep adding weight. When it gets easier (and it will), add more weight.

Yeah? Ok then.

 

Now that's loading! What?!

 

 

 

 

3. Loading – Reps/Sets/Intensity/Volume/Frequency

This principle is, again, related to the SAID and Progressive Overload principles. Most people refer to this as “Periodization” – or the planning of loading based on some sort of organized schema.

First, for the sets/reps portion of this discussion, take a look at the chart below:

waryables

I made it really big on purpose. So you can see all the pretty things in there. Feel free to print this chart out and put it on your fridge, or wherever you’d like. This chart represents, to the best of my knowledge, an accurate depiction of how your muscles will respond, for the most part, to resistance based work. There are some exceptions. For instance, you can experience quite a bit of hypertrophy from high-repetition bodyweight work. Just look at a gymnast.

Further, people will differ in their responses. I, for instance, respond to 8-10 reps with hypertrophy. I’ve known some people for whom that wasn’t true. And, finally, strength itself is the combination of all of those factors – endurance, hypertrophy, maximal, and explosive strengths. Most athletes will benefit from following the 80/20 rule in their training – training 80% of the time in ways very specific to their sport, with the other 20% of the time spent in non-specific “crosstraining” type activities.

Intensity is next.

Intensity is defined as the percentage of a person’s 1-rep maximum being moved. You can see the “Load % 1RM” in column two in the chart above. That is, what % of a person’s 1-rep maximum is optimal to achieve the desired response in the muscle. It’s also directly related to how much weight a person will actually be capable of doing a certain contraction-type with. For instance, you can’t do 15 reps with 100% of your 1-rep max, by definition.

Isometrics and Explosive Work

I’ve seen people who have lifted incredible amounts of weight on their first-ever attempt at a particular weightlifting exercise, simply because they have always trained isometric (where you contract a muscle against an immovable object or opposing force – the muscle doesn’t change length during the contraction) and explosive strength.

Does that destroy the SAID principle? No, because these people also used progressive resistance in their isometric and explosive training. In fact, they were preparing their musculature in the same way that someone doing heavy lifts might, just from the other side.

So there’s another strength type to add – static/isometric strength. Train isometric strength with one set of 6-10 contractions of 6-8 seconds, anywhere between 60 and 100% of maximal contraction force – at the specific joint angle you want to increase strength in. For instance, a great use of isometrics is to get past “sticking points” in exercises. Let’s say you can’t do a pullup, you always get stuck halfway up. Start training isometrics at the end of your normal workout in that specific joint angle. Progress by adding more sets of contractions, but go slowly!

Finally, for this mini-section, the best training of explosive work is with ballistic movements – where the weight is actually physically thrown – or with plyometrics/shock-training. For ballistics, it’s fun to go to a field with a weight of some sort and just throw the hell out of it. Do squat-jump-throws, etc. For plyometrics, follow guidelines on plyo’s before beginning. Running around and jumping off and on things is not the same as plyometrics. Plyo’s are typically very specific, and involve progression to depth-jumps, and, sometimes, loaded depth-jumps. If you want more information on plyometrics, send me an email.

The last part of Number 3 here is training volume.

Volume (frequently expressed as “total sets x total weight”) is better-seen in A.S. Prilepin’s chart for training weightlifters:

 

Go Ask Prilepin, When He Was 10 Feet TAAAAAAALLLLLLL

Prilepin’s chart was compiled after years of charting elite weightlifters in the Soviet Union. But it works pretty well for the rest of us.

Basically, the higher the intensity (the more weight/explosiveness) of the lift, the fewer the total repetitions you do during a set, the fewer the total repetitions you do during a workout, and the fewer workouts you do during a week.

That being said, total training volume may be the same regardless of what intensity you’re training at. Total training volume is usually related to an athlete’s (or exerciser’s) level of experience with the type of training they’re doing. If you’re really experienced, you can handle a much larger total training volume (though, often, you don’t need to) than a less-experienced athlete.

While this particular version of Prilepin’s chart does not include weekly, monthly, or yearly values, you – I hope – get the idea. You can only overload the muscle so far, till it breaks. There is such a thing as “too much of a good thing.”

For the purposes of this post, it’s helpful just to remember this – the more difficult, demanding, or stressful a lift, exercise, or workout is, the more time you need for recovery.

The Soviets were, I think, the first to really emphasize the importance of recovery (physical, nervous system, and psychological) to the degree that it’s only starting to receive today.

So recover!

 

 

 

The Skeleton Man deadlifts!!!

 

 

 

4. Form/Technique

The final chapter in our list of things to know in order to succeed is this – perhaps the keystone of the four.

Form/Technique assumes, to some degree, a certain knowledge of how the body works. This is particularly true for heavy weightlifting, but can be just as true for things like Yoga and Pilates, where small, difficult movements, can cause big problems if not done correctly.

The best thing you can do is to learn how your body works. This is a fantastic book that covers just about everything you could ever need to know about this topic.

Doing, is another issue, though. When first learning how to do a particular exercise, movement, or technique, it is really important that you have a good instructor there.

As the old saying goes – Never Trust A Bald Barber.

If someone tells you they know everything about exercise and will help you to learn, but they have neither the credentials nor the physique to prove it, don’t trust them. Find someone who does. Preferably, find someone with both the physique and credentials, and a cheerful, sunny demeanor. That’ll make it easier on everyone.

 

 

Your Turn

 

Now go out there and do it!!!

waryables

The Rules of Muscle Physiology – All You Need to Know

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I’ve said this for a long time now – that someone, somewhere, needs to put “the rules” of muscle physiology down in plain language, so that everyone can have a fair shake at strength, endurance, and physical health.

So I’ll do it here, now.

The Four Horsemen

There are only four rules that you really need to understand in order to exercise properly.  They are:

1. Specificity

2. Progression/Overload

3. Acute Variables – Intensity/Volume/Frequency

4. Form/Technique

Let’s go over each.

Specifically nauseating

1. Specificity – I’ve S.A.I.D. It All Before

The first rule of physical training or conditioning is the SAID principle, coined by Digby and Sale, I think back in 1984.  SAID stands for “Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands.”

The concept is this – the body is an incredibly efficient system.  It will only respond to what it must, in exactly the degree it must, and only for as long as is absolutely necessary.

Therefore, you must train specifically, for the specific outcomes you wish to attain.

This is true in all of life.  If you want a cheese sandwich, don’t get the peanut butter out of the cabinet.

Specificity applies not just to the type of movement you do, the muscles used, or to the type and amount of weight you use, but also to the metabolic demands placed on the body as a whole.

If you want to be a marathon runner, lifting very heavy weights is not going to help you.  That is, depending upon how quickly you want to run that marathon.  If speed isn’t an issue, but slowness is, maybe lifting weights is a good idea!

Blindfolding increases neural drive to muscles

2. Progression/Overload

The next principle to understand is progression/overload…or, let’s call it “the progressive overload principle.”  Actually, that’s what Thomas Delorme called it in his book “Progressive Resistance Exercise,” back in 1951.

The principle is this (and is directly related to the SAID principle) – by allowing a muscle or system to grow accustomed to a stimulus, you have made it stronger.  To continue making it stronger, you have to continue to increase the resistance the system must overcome.

Bam.

So, basically, keep adding weight. When it gets easier (and it will), add more weight.

Yeah?  Ok then.

Now that's loading! What?!

3. Loading – Reps/Sets/Intensity/Volume/Frequency

This principle is, again, related to the SAID and Progressive Overload principles.  Most people refer to this as “Periodization” – or the planning of loading based on some sort of organized schema.

First, for the sets/reps portion of this discussion, take a look at the chart below:

waryables

I made it really big on purpose.  So you can see all the pretty things in there.  Feel free to print this chart out and put it on your fridge, or wherever you’d like. This chart represents, to the best of my knowledge, an accurate depiction of how your muscles will respond, for the most part, to resistance based work.  There are some exceptions.  For instance, you can experience quite a bit of hypertrophy from high-repetition bodyweight work.  Just look at a gymnast.

Further, people will differ in their responses.  I, for instance, respond to 8-10 reps with hypertrophy.  I’ve known some people for whom that wasn’t true.  And, finally, strength itself is the combination of all of those factors – endurance, hypertrophy, maximal, and explosive strengths.   Most athletes will benefit from following the 80/20 rule in their training – training 80% of the time in ways very specific to their sport, with the other 20% of the time spent in non-specific “crosstraining” type activities.

Intensity is next.

Intensity is defined as the percentage of a person’s 1-rep maximum being moved.  You can see the “Load % 1RM” in column two in the chart above.  That is, what % of a person’s 1-rep maximum is optimal to achieve the desired response in the muscle.  It’s also directly related to how much weight a person will actually be capable of doing a certain contraction-type with.  For instance, you can’t do 15 reps with 100% of your 1-rep max, by definition.

Isometrics and Explosive Work

I’ve seen people who have lifted incredible amounts of weight on their first-ever attempt at a particular weightlifting exercise, simply because they have always trained isometric (where you contract a muscle against an immovable object or opposing force – the muscle doesn’t change length during the contraction) and explosive strength.

Does that destroy the SAID principle?  No, because these people also used progressive resistance in their isometric and explosive training.  In fact, they were preparing their musculature in the same way that someone doing heavy lifts might, just from the other side.

So there’s another strength type to add – static/isometric strength.  Train isometric strength with one set of 6-10 contractions of 6-8 seconds, anywhere between 60 and 100% of maximal contraction force – at the specific joint angle you want to increase strength in.  For instance, a great use of isometrics is to get past “sticking points” in exercises.  Let’s say you can’t do a pullup, you always get stuck halfway up.  Start training isometrics at the end of your normal workout in that specific joint angle.  Progress by adding more sets of contractions, but go slowly!

Finally, for this mini-section, the best training of explosive work is with ballistic movements – where the weight is actually physically thrown – or with plyometrics/shock-training.  For ballistics, it’s fun to go to a field with a weight of some sort and just throw the hell out of it.  Do squat-jump-throws, etc.  For plyometrics, follow guidelines on plyo’s before beginning.  Running around and jumping off and on things is not the same as plyometrics.  Plyo’s are typically very specific, and involve progression to depth-jumps, and, sometimes, loaded depth-jumps.  If you want more information on plyometrics, send me an email.

The last part of Number 3 here is training volume.

Volume (frequently expressed as “total sets x total weight”) is better-seen in A.S. Prilepin’s chart for training weightlifters:

Go Ask Prilepin, When He Was 10 Feet TAAAAAAALLLLLLL

Prilepin’s chart was compiled after years of charting elite weightlifters in the Soviet Union.  But it works pretty well for the rest of us.

Basically, the higher the intensity (the more weight/explosiveness) of the lift, the fewer the total repetitions you do during a set, the fewer the total repetitions you do during a workout, and the fewer workouts you do during a week.

That being said, total training volume may be the same regardless of what intensity you’re training at.  Total training volume is usually related to an athlete’s (or exerciser’s) level of experience with the type of training they’re doing.  If you’re really experienced, you can handle a much larger total training volume (though, often, you don’t need to) than a less-experienced athlete.

While this particular version of Prilepin’s chart does not include weekly, monthly, or yearly values, you – I hope – get the idea.  You can only overload the muscle so far, till it breaks.  There is such a thing as “too much of a good thing.”

For the purposes of this post, it’s helpful just to remember this – the more difficult, demanding, or stressful a lift, exercise, or workout is, the more time you need for recovery.

The Soviets were, I think, the first to really emphasize the importance of recovery (physical, nervous system, and psychological) to the degree that it’s only starting to receive today.

So recover!

The Skeleton Man deadlifts!!!

4. Form/Technique

The final chapter in our list of things to know in order to succeed is this – perhaps the keystone of the four.

Form/Technique assumes, to some degree, a certain knowledge of how the body works.  This is particularly true for heavy weightlifting, but can be just as true for things like Yoga and Pilates, where small, difficult movements, can cause big problems if not done correctly.

The best thing you can do is to learn how your body works.  This is a fantastic book that covers just about everything you could ever need to know about this topic.

Doing, is another issue, though.  When first learning how to do a particular exercise, movement, or technique, it is really important that you have a good instructor there.

As the old saying goes – Never Trust A Bald Barber.

If someone tells you they know everything about exercise and will help you to learn, but they have neither the credentials nor the physique to prove it, don’t trust them.  Find someone who does.  Preferably, find someone with both the physique and credentials, and a cheerful, sunny demeanor.  That’ll make it easier on everyone.

Your Turn

Now go out there and do it!!!

waryables

The L.I.F.T. Interval Workouts

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Depending on how long you’ve known me, you may know that it’s long been a desire of mine to produce bodyweight workouts that can be downloaded from iTunes (or Amazon) onto an MP3/4 player, and used by just about anybody to help them get into shape.

That desire has been realized!

Today I released two (of eventually three) interval-based bodyweight workouts that can be downloaded onto a computer, iPod, or other MP3/4 player, and used anywhere (well…just about)!

If you’re interested, check them out at my site: http://www.leegertrained.com/untitled1.html

There are also PDF documents that have pictures of the exercises used on the albums, and that include descriptions of how to do those exercises (there are spoken descriptions on the albums themselves as well).

In short, the Beginner Album has three interval tracks – a 30 second work/1 minute rest track; a 30 second work/30 second rest track; and a 1 minute work/1 minute rest track.  Each track has me guiding you through the work and rest intervals, and recommending the exercises you should do for each.

The L.I.F.T. Beginner Album

The L.I.F.T. Beginner Album

The Intermediate Album’s tracks are more advanced, with a 1/1 interval as the first track (the exercises are more difficult on the Intermediate Album, so I figured I should make it a gradual increase in intensity); a 1/30 interval; and a Tabata Interval track (20/10).

The L.I.F.T. Intermediate Album

The L.I.F.T. Intermediate Album

Let me know what you think!

Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body – Review

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Based on a recommendation from Ross Enamait on his blog, I bought and read the book “Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body,” by John Little.

This was a very interesting read for me, for a number of reasons.  For one thing, Bruce Lee was one of my biggest idols as a kid.  I would imitate him all the time, and I’m pretty sure he was the first person I ever thought of as having an “ideal physique.”*

The thing that most intrigued me, though, was the prospect of getting some insight into Bruce’s training regimen.  When I was a kid, there were always myths about what Bruce did for his training.  Thousands of pushups and situps.  Or jogging and punching drills.  I didn’t really get into weightlifting till I was about 15 (thanks to Arnold), so most of my “exercise” time was spent doing pushups and situps.  That was it!  Of course, I would play outside constantly with my friends, ride bikes, run around the neighborhood, etc.  But on most days as soon as I got home from school I’d go through as many sets of pushups and situps (feet hooked under the couch) as I could till I was tired.

This book gave me something different than what I had expected to find, though.  There are plenty of workout routines in the book from different times in Bruce’s life.  He basically ran the gamut of training techniques and styles – which is something most of the physically-active people I know will be familiar with.  He did bodyweight calisthenics, interval training, jogging, sprints, weightlifting, bodybuilding, circuit training, kettlebells.  You name it, Bruce, at one time or another, did it.

Which leads me to what most impressed me about this book.  It is the thing that made Bruce Lee who and what he was, and still is.  It is the unwavering attempt to maximize his potential as a human being that stands out most.  Bruce was constantly experimenting, revising, tweaking, playing.

Even more, Bruce’s wide-ranging interest and approach led him to understand human beings intimately.  I was blown away by a statement of his, included as a quote in the Preface.  He says:

All types of human knowledge ultimately lead to self-knowledge.  So, therefore, these people are coming in and asking me to teach them, not so much how to defend themselves or how to do somebody in.  Rather, they want to learn to express themselves through some movement, be it anger, be it determination or whatever… (pg. 14)

This could be a direct quote from Susan Higgins essay on Motor Skill Development, which I’ve mentioned in a couple of previous posts on this blog.  Human movement is an attempt to solve a motor problem.  In the same way, human emotions and communication are attempts to solve emotional or rational problems.  I don’t mean “problem” in the sense of something bad.  I mean it in the sense of a puzzle, something that needs to be figured out so you can continue to develop.

The rest of that quote finishes with “So, in other words, they’re paying me to show them, in combative form, the art of expressing the human body.”  The way to do that, is to continually explore its potential, by continually challenging it with new and different “problems,” which is what Bruce did.

Check out the book if you have a chance!

*My other major idol was Arnold, who is quoted in this book as saying “The great thing about someone like Bruce Lee is that he inspires so many millions and millions of kids out there who want to follow in his footsteps…they go out and train every day for hours and hours” (pg. 18).  Amen to that!

The Difference Between Training and Working Out

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I was discussing this with my colleague Charlie Reid yesterday, and thought I’d pass it along, because it’s helpful to recognize the difference between training and working out.

In brief, “training” is when you’re preparing for an event of some sort.  “Working out” is exercising to stay in shape.  “Exercise” is the use of something.  You can “exercise” your brain, or your authority, etc.

More thorougly, training involves a long, detailed program aimed at achieving a very specific goal.  It is hard, and not a lot of fun most of the time.  Consider training just for one event all the time.  Every effort, every breath, aimed at one goal.  As a simple example, consider a powerlifter.  You’ll spend a lot of time lifting heavy weight.  You’ll spend a lot of time doing deadlift, bench press, and squat.  It’ll be most of what you do, in one form or another.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  That’s what training is.

Working out, on the other hand, is just “exercising” to stay in shape, or have some effect on your body.  And there’s nothing wrong with this, either.  I just think that people get confused a lot about the difference between these two types of exercise, and what’s involved in them.

Most people (99%) will benefit fully in every way (weight loss, body composition change – more muscle, increased aerobic capacity, increased strength) by working out.  They don’t need a specific “plan.”  The don’t need “periodization” of their training schedule.  They don’t need to do the same thing all the time.  All they need to do is to go in and do something.

The body does adapt specifically to the demands it’s exposed to, so some planning is in order.  But consider this – how specific do you want to be if your goal is general fitness?  I don’t think you should get too specific.  Keep your training program general.

Part of the source of this confusion is that people think that it’s extraordinary for a person to have “ripped abs,” low bodyfat, or a lean muscular physique, when in fact, that’s every person’s most natural state!

We are all “designed” to be exceptional examples of movement.  We are all capable of moving powerfully through the world.  The myth that someone else is exceptionally fit is a myth held by the unfit.  I think one of the first things you need to do is to realize that this idea is a myth.  It isn’t reality.  In reality, every human being can do what every other can (within the dictates of genetic predispositions, of course).

Don’t sell yourself short.  If you want to get in shape, don’t look for a “training program.”  Go out and start moving.  Run, walk, jog, skip, hopscotch, crawl on all fours, climb trees, do somersaults, handstands, cartwheels…

Trust me.

How to Get Stronger – Quickly

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Ok, the heading here is a little bit of a pun.  Because the answer to the riddle is this – Train Power.

Power training involves moving a weight that is 60-75% of your 1RM as quickly as possible, preferably ballistically (i.e., you release the weight and project it away from you at the end of the movement).

Let me give you a few examples of ways to incorporate power training into your current program and reap the results.  There are basically three things you can do – plyometrics, ballistic training, and speed training.

Plyometrics, or “shock training” as Siff/Verkoshansky call it, involves lengthening a muscle and immediately contracting it.  This is usually associated with things like the depth jump – you jump off a box (muscle lengthens) and you immediately leap up or forward (shortens).  Plyometric training is intense, takes a lot of skill, and demands a lot of tensile strength in the tissues involved.  That is, you have to be fairly well-trained to do real plyometrics.  Instead of splitting hairs, do what feels comfortable to you.  Two ways to incorporate plyometric-type training are

1. Any kind of jumping.  Jump more.  Go for height, distance, both, whatever you want.  Jumping itself will give you enough benefit to make a difference in your leg strength.

2. Push-offs, or explosive pushups.  You can start doing these even if you can’t do a full pushup.  Simply put your hands on a stable object (table, chair, etc. – THAT IS STABLE), lower yourself in the pushup position, then push yourself entirely off the object.  Continually lower the object, till you’re doing these on the ground.

Ballistic training involves throwing things.  You can use sandbags, dumbbells, medicine balls, whatever you have that’s roughly in the weight range that you need.  Take the object and throw it as far as you can!  For instance, if you want to increase your chest pushing strength (or up your bench max) and your current bench max is around 185, take a 50 pound medicine ball (or a 100 pound sandbag) and do a “chest pass” with it.  Throw it as far as you absolutely can.  For squats/leg strength, you’d do the same thing.  Do the squat and literally jump into the ground, projecting the weight off of you (and away from you) as you rise.

Speed training is like a combination of plyometric and ballistic training.  You need to be careful here, because it’s relatively easy to pull/strain something with speed training.  With speed training, you pick a weight about 60% of your 1RM and move it for your 3-6 reps as quickly as you absolutely can (while still being safe).  For instance, with the 185 pound bencher, take two 50 pound dumbbells and press them as fast as you can.  For squats, you’d load a bar with about 110 (if your max was 185) and move the weight as fast as possible.

No mention of power is complete without discussing the Olympic lifts.  They are the ultimate expression of power.  However, they need to be performed with technical precision (if not perfection) in order to be safe.  If you have a good Olympic coach around you, get some instruction in the Snatch and Clean and Jerk/Press.  You can use O-lifts in place of any major lift on any given day.

Of course, any and all of these should be performed after a substantial warmup.  These movements demand a lot of your tissues and your metabolism.  I’d incorporate power training into a workout by adding it to the beginning of the workout, right after the warmup.  Do 3 sets of 3-6 reps, working up to 6 sets of 3-6 reps.  Start with a weight that allows you to feel resistance yet still move it as quickly as possible.  I’d only do one power exercise per workout.

GOOD LUCK!

Current thoughts on human fitness.

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Okay, here’s just a bunch of random stuff I’ve been wrestling with recently. Sorry for the haphazard collection, but I want to get this stuff down, and if anyone out there can help further my understanding, even better!

Somatic Therapies

I’ve been reading up on Laban, Bartenieff, Feldenkreis, Alexander, etc., techniques recently. I’ve also been speaking a lot with Charlie Reid about the Egoscue method. All of the strictly “movement” therapies (i.e., everything but Egoscue, which has other elements) are aimed at increasing the individual’s awareness of their own body in space and in motion. “Amazingly” fundamental problems in structure/function can correct themselves simply through awareness of dysfunction.

This isn’t so “amazing,” as I’ll point out in more detail in a second.

“Physical” Therapies

Egoscue is more of what I’d consider a “physical” therapy technique, since it diagnoses problems (typically based on posture or movement dysfunction) and then attempts to correct those problems through movement prescriptions. These prescriptions are aimed, like somatic therapies, at increasing the person’s awareness of their body (and dysfunction in their body), but also in doing this in a very specific way, addressing specific muscles and patterns of muscles throughout the body.

In fact, we could create a continuum of approaches to human function/dysfunction based on how specific the approach is in its corrective tactics. Along the lines of Egoscue, here, but a little more specific, would be Vojta’s reflex-locomotion techniques for improving function in cerebral palsy and similar disorders. Still more specific would be things like Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF). The most specific would be physical therapy techniques aimed at correcting or rehabilitating imbalances or injuries to specific muscle groups or joints.

However, that’s not to say that any of these are better or worse than the other. Instead, one approach might be better or worse for a particular person at a particular place and time. I think it’s crucial to recognize the similarities in these approaches, and their differences, and know when it’s important to use one versus the other.

Central Pattern Generators, the Body, and the Environment

Central Pattern Generators (CPG’s) are neural networks that create the rhythmical/cyclical motor patterns that determine/allow for things like gait. These circuits operate independently from the larger nervous system, or any type of brain-driven control. They are the basis of Vojta’s “reflex-locomotor patterns” mentioned above, and are the way that we are able to walk on two legs, and turn that walk into a jog or a sprint.

However, the generators don’t exist in isolation. Feedback from the body is needed. You can’t walk if your feet don’t know that you’re standing. You can’t run if you don’t know where your legs are in relation to your arms. This is “internal” awareness, or proprioception – your body’s awareness of itself in space. There is another, equally important factor that is often overlooked – that is, the body’s relation to its environment, let’s call it “external” awareness.

Research by Goma has shown that the body, and the generation/instantiation/sustenance of CPG’s relies just as much on the perceived environment as it does on internal factors. You can’t walk if you don’t know how fast the ground is moving beneath you. You can’t run if you don’t know where your feet are going to fall next.

Further, environmental awareness not only shapes the ability to do these things, but the environment itself shapes the things we’re capable of doing. This is true from a physiological perspective – if you grow up in an area short on uninterrupted, long distances, but long on heavy stones that have to be moved, you’ll likely become a miserable long-distance runner, but a very good heavy lifter. It is also true from an anthropomorphic perspective – the relative heights of the Amazonian native and the Masai warrior are no mistake – it’s helpful to be short in the jungle, and very tall in the desert.

The point here is that your body is designed by nature to move in certain ways. These CPG’s already inhabit your body as a function of your very anatomy/physiology itself! So it isn’t “miraculous” when a somatic therapy cures some ill (related or not). It’s simply that your body has been shown the path to normal function again, and is now able to deal with all of the other junk it needs to fight off.

Posture Makes Perfect

That’s the title of an excellent book by Dr. Victor Barker. In it, he outlines some of the things that happen when you have good or bad posture. What I’m most concerned with, is the effect that consistently poor movement has on posture. More than any other factor, limited motion contributes to poor posture. In fact, I would go further and guess that 90% of the “stretching” that is done out there would be completely unnecessary if full-range movement was carried out on a regular basis.

Postural correction is necessary. Proper posture is fundamental for proper movement – neither can exist without the other. However, I think that many of the ways that current methods attempt to correct poor posture and movement are faulty at best, and just a waste of time at worst.

Basic, fundamental movement

Fitness is all well and good, but of what use is it if you have no fundamental movement skill? I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about here. I worked at Gold’s Gym years ago, and there was a guy who worked out there who was a strongman and powerlifting competitor. The guy was incredible. He was currently only benching 450. He wanted his bench press to go up to 500 by the next meet. For those of you who don’t know, 500 pounds is an incredible bench press.

This man was a behemoth. He was easily 6’5″ and probably weighed around 300+ pounds. He looked like classical pictures of Paul Bunyan – big, barrel chested, thickly muscled, with a heavy beard and deep-set eyes.

He was also a heck of a nice guy. But that didn’t stop him from tearing all of the ligaments in his knee when his foot accidentally got stuck under the concrete stopping-block in the parking lot one night. This is not a joke.

For all of his strength, and his size, the man only practiced one thing all of the time – lifting heavy weights, in the sagittal plane (that is, straight ahead or directly up and down). He didn’t spend any time developing basic movement abilities.

Why have we lost the practice of these abilities in our gyms? Gyms these days (though the tide is slowly turning) more closely resemble factories than they do places to explore and develop optimal human movement. Look at a picture of any gym prior to 1970, and you’ll see something very interesting – LOTS OF OPEN SPACE.

Yes, there is a TON of open space. All of the weights either stack nicely against the wall, or in a closet somewhere. There are gymnastic rings hanging from the ceiling, and stall-bars along one wall.

What is that space for?!

Well, it reflects one of the central tenets of Asian philosophies, which is this – until you create space, Nature cannot express itself through you. You’ve heard it said in many ways, probably the most popular is the koan of the overflowing cup – how can the Master give you knowledge, when your cup is already overfull. Empty your mind to be able to accept the great learning.

The space in those gyms was used for tumbling and acrobatics. Things that are strangely relegated to their own, separate gyms these days. Remember how to do a somersault? Okay, go for it. You don’t need a gymnastics gym to do that.

Why has this disappeared, though? Funny enough, a large component of the feats of the early “strongman” – the predecessor of today’s bodybuilder – were exactly these “gymnastic” abilities (not to mention – WRESTLING). These guys had to do back-bridges with five people sitting on their chest. They did 1-arm handstands from the backs of chairs while holding dumbbells in the other hand.

This ethic, this part of physical culture, continued to “muscle beach” in Venice, CA, but then mysteriously vanished with the advent of Gold’s Gym and the bodybuilding craze.

I guess it was too complicated, and required too much practice. It wasn’t as easy as going into the gym and mindlessly blasting your muscles with rep after rep of the same movement pattern.

Or maybe it was too much fun. It didn’t satisfy the deeply-ingrained Puritan work-ethic that we thrive (and die) on in this country. Too much lolly-gagging. To many laughs when you had to somersault out of that 1-arm handstand.

Don’t get me wrong, I love bodybuilding. Arnold, after all, was one of my big idols as a kid. But so was Bruce Lee. I’m just sort of shocked at how little REAL MOVEMENT is a part of any modern workout routine. Instead, it’s mostly STATIONARY – go to this station, do 10 reps, go to this station, do 12, this station…

From now on, all of my clients are starting with somersaults.

And what about Nature?

The gymnasium/gym comparison relates back to the topic of environment, and it is worth noting another idea I’ve been dealing with recently regarding that topic, which is the effect of “natural” environments on human physiology. A paper by Tsunetsugu, et al., reveals the effects that simply “taking in” a natural woodland setting have on humans. I quote: “1) blood pressure and pulse rate were significantly lower, and 2) the power of the HF [high-frequency, the relaxed-state component] component of the HRV [heart-rate variability] tended to be higher and the LF/(LF+HF) [low-frequency] tended to be lower. Also, 3) salivary cortisol [the main "stress hormone" in your body] concentration was significantly lower in the forest area.”

If that’s true, what are the effects of EXERCISING in a more natural environment? Would those effects be heightened?! Would recovery be increased?! Would fatigue be diminished?!

But what about Nature? All of this talk of “greening” nowadays is really just a bunch of advertising. Nothing substantial is changing in the hearts and minds of people around the world. Their perception of nature and the natural world remains as it always has been – something distant, somehow separate from themselves.

I’ve already written a ton about the benefits of being barefoot, but let me outline them again here – reduced blood pressure, greater environmental awareness, improved proprioception and balance, improved movement ability and posture. But what about a more natural diet? Lower cholesterol, lower salt, lower CRP (i.e., lower inflammation levels, reduced risk of heart disease), reduced risk of diabetes, reduced instance of arthritis, etc., etc., etc.

Well, that’s a lot of words, and, that’s all for now. I’ll be chewing on all of this till we meet again. If you have any words or ideas, please share!

Power is the Strength Stimulus

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I’ve wondered for a long time about the dose-response relationship.  That is, how much of a particular stimulus does it take for the body to respond a particular way.

This information is critical for personal trainers (like myself), whose clients want to experience specific (sometimes too specific!) changes in their bodies.

A recent article has changed my thinking on training for strength, and training in general, so I figured I’d share my revelation with you!

First off, what do I mean “power is the strength stimulus?”  What I mean is this – training to move a load as quickly as possible (power) makes muscles adapt by gaining strength (we won’t go into the physiology).

The funny thing is, power is typically best expressed with around 60% of your single-rep maximum (1RM), the weight you can lift once.  In fact, power can be significant with as low as 30% of your 1RM.  You don’t have to lift maximal weights to express power, you just have to lift the weights you use as fast as possible.

Power training also develops more bone density than regular-old strength training.  So there’s another reason!

Dr. Robert Newton recommends ballistic contractions to generate power.  A ballistic movement is one in which the weight is actually thrown off of the person moving.  Dr. Newton developed a machine to assist with this, to help the lifter decelerate the bar and not get crushed.  You or I can perform ballistic movements by doing things like medicine ball chest passes, depth or clap pushups, squat jumps (with or without weight), etc.

And here’s the article that changed my life: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/old_school_training

The reason is this – notice how Zach says the prisoner was doing his squats explosively?  That prisoner probably did all of his work explosively.  After so many repetitions, the only way to make it more difficult would be to add more force to the movement, increasing your acceleration.  Which is to say, power – which results in strength that can break handcuffs or straightjackets.

But this prisoner didn’t have any tools at his disposal (aside from a “sandbag” crafted out of…something?  A pillow-case and whatever laundry or other stuff the guards were foolish enough to leave in his cell?).

This prisoner didn’t do bench press, lat pulldowns, preacher curls, or even deadlifts.  But I’ll bet he could outlift you at any of those lifts, any day.  Not only that, but I’d wager a bet that that prisoner is more athletic than most well-trained lifters to boot.

Ok, Josh, get to the point.  My point is this – this year, make your strength training simple.  Pick one (preferably bodyweight) exercise for each of the sagittal-plane movements (i.e., vertical pushing and pulling, horizontal pushing and pulling, leg pushing and pulling), link them together into a circuit, and do them explosively, for as long as you can, every day.

See what happens.

You Are Your Standard

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The grip of popular media is powerful.  Commercials tell you what you should do, wear, eat, look like, smell like, enjoy, think – about everything.  Meanwhile, our “science-based” culture emphasizes means/averages for everything.  How’s your blood pressure?  Is it “normal?”

What about your cholesterol, blood sugar, temperature, physiognomy, physiology, anatomy, mood, temperament, etc.?

Are you eating the RDA of your vitamins?  5 fruits and veggies a day?

While these measures can be useful guides, they can also divert us from what I believe is the most important business of life – to constantly be becoming who you are.

You are a unique organism on this planet.  While you may share the characteristics of your fellow human beings, there are probably many ways in which you are significantly different from them.  Here are a few possible areas of divergence:

  • Your bone structure
  • Your muscular composition
  • Your response to stress
  • Your predisposition for different diseases
  • Your natural energy level
  • Your temperament
  • Your preferred bedtime – your unique Circadian and other rhythms

These are just a few, very basic, areas where you might be very different from everyone you know.

That being said, I think it’s important to be who you are.  Be as much who you are as you can be.  Explore all of the things that really grab you.  Do the activities that you find most interesting.  Read the books and see the movies that appeal to you the most.  Forget what the “critics” say.  They’re just trying to convince you to like what they like, or to buy what they sell.

And don’t think twice about it.

If you’re engaging in an exercise program, do the exercise that speaks to you the most.  Yoga, Pilates, kickboxing, weightlifting…whatever appeals to you.  I will give you the easiest tool for getting back in touch with your body through exercise – track your heart rate.

I use the Timex Ironman Triathlon (and no, they aren’t paying me for saying that).  It’s a great wristwatch, and comes with a heart rate strap.  And for the quality and features, it’s CHEAP!

Figure out your target heart rate zone, and exercise in 1-minute heart rate intervals.  One minute of work in your target zone, followed by one minute of rest.  Go through four or six times.  Or, go steady-state for a certain amount of time.  Switch it up.  Have fun.  Learn to tell by the way you feel where your heart rate is registering.

Another great thing you can do with your heart rate is tell whether or not you should take another day off from your workout.  If you take your resting heart rate every morning when you wake up (preferably before you rise), and figure out what your own personal “normal” is, you’ll know that you should take a day off when your resting heart rate is 5 beats above or below that number.

If you need proof of your inherent uniqueness, read the book Biochemical Individuality, by Roger Williams.