Tag Archives: power

LIFT – Part 1

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“As facilitators of skill development, it behooves us to enhance the movement capabilities of the individual to the greatest extent possible because that would extend the individual’s problem solving capacity.  At the same time, we should facilitate the development of the cognitive and perceptual knowledge bases that support the meaningful organization of movement over a wide range of problems and a wide range of conditions.”
Susan Higgins – Motor Skill Acquisition

This is my goal in personal training.

Strength, “movement quality,” power, speed, endurance, flexibility, “toning,” fat-loss, weight-loss, muscle-building…whatever your goal is, it is horribly incomplete without the additional pursuit of your cognitive and perceptual knowledge, meaning-making, and organizational development.

Period.

Breathing, Health, and Strength – Tap into the power within

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I’m fascinated by breathing.

It’s one of a few activities that allow us to directly and immediately alter our physical, mental, and emotional states.

For instance, breathe faster or slower and feel how that changes your physical state.

Most people don’t really notice the effect breathing can have until after some sort of relaxing or traumatic event, or until it is pointed out to them.

When you get tense your breathing speeds up and gets more shallow. This leads to other physiological responses – tension in the body in general – which tends to have a snowball effect.

When you relax, breathing tends to slow down and deepen. General muscle-tone throughout the body follows suit.

In his book: Multidisciplinary approaches to breathing pattern disorders, Leon Chaitow and co-authors cover some of the physiological mechanisms that underlie breathing (or vice versa, depending on how you look at it).

Check it:

With metabolism relatively constant (i.e. insignificant variance from moment to moment), an increase in ventilation (the volume of air breathed from respiratory cycle to respiratory cycle) will increase the rate of flow of CO2 from tissue cells to the point of diffusion of CO2 from the pulmonary artery to the alveoli of the lungs. If this rate of flow is too fast, the concentration of CO2 in blood will be too lean, acid level of blood will drop, the crucial ratio of base to acid will increase, and the unbalanced pH will be alkal­otic. If the rate of flow of CO2 is too slow, its con­centration in blood will be too rich, acid level will rise, the crucial ratio of base to acid will decrease, and the unbalanced pH will be acidic. In healthy individuals under non-stressful conditions, the self-regulatory mechanisms of breathing will automatically calculate the amount of O2 needed for metabolism and increase or decrease the vol­ume of air breathed per unit of time so that the rate of flow of CO2 from cells to lungs will be just right, neither too fast nor too slow, and a stable level of balanced pH will be maintained. And what a delicate balance it is. From Ronald Ley’s introduction to the book

Chaitow stresses the structure/function relationship in the body, and particularly in the lungs – and that long-term functional use leads to change in structure, and therefore, long-term change in functional ability.

Pausing the Breath (pg. 199)
1. Pausing after the inhale, holding the lungs filled, creates tension and strain in the muscles of inhalation
2. Pausing after the inhale creates temporary hyperinflation, which works against relaxation and proper emptying of the lungs
3. Pausing after the exhale is more natural. The breathing system reduces volume by slowing the frequency, reducing the depth, and lengthening the post-exhalation pause. A post-inhale pause does not seem to occur naturally except when accompanying a state of suspense.

Yoga Breathing (pp. 238-239)
In a study by Nagarathna & Nagendra (1985), 106 individuals with asthma were divided into a treatment and control group, matched for age, sex, and severity of the condition. There were signifi­cantly greater improvements in the yoga group in weekly number of asthmatic attacks and in scores for drug usage as well as peak flow rates, which were still evident at 4-year follow-up.
• Cappo & Holmes (1984) used a pranayama breathing pattern (inhale quickly / exhale slowly) in their study, which compared the effects on arousal of that pattern with patterns of slow inhalation/rapid exhalation, as well as inhalation and exhalation at the same rate, and also with control groups (distraction control, and no treat­ment control). All three breathing pattern groups reduced their overall rate to six cycles per minute for a period of 5 minutes during the evaluations. The results showed that ‘inhaling quickly and exhaling slowly [the pranayama pattern] was consistently effective for reducing physiological (skin resistance) and psychological (subjective cognitive arousal) during anticipation and con­ frontation periods.’
• This result is consistent with yoga teaching about the value of slow exhalation. Van Lysebeth (1971) points out: ‘Every other point in the breath­ ing cycle involves muscle tension; so absolute relaxation can occur only when the exhale is com­plete: The point of equilibrium, the rest point between exhale and inhale, is a moment when the yoga therapy or traditional yoga methods is scanty; however, some verification exists: breathing apparatus is motionless. Cutting short the end of the exhale means that the exhale is incomplete and that the breathing muscles never quite relax between breaths. This may result in retention of more ‘used’ air than normal, and also can promote chronic hyperinflation and hyper­ tonic neck and shoulder muscles.
• A study of patients with congestive heart failure attempted to produce improvements by teaching the yoga ‘complete breath: This is a 3-stage breath that fills, in sequence, the abdomen, lower chest and upper chest, then reverses the order with the exhale. Breathing this way pro­duces a natural breathing rate of about six breaths per minute. The chronic heart conditions led to subnormal O2 saturation, limited exercise tolerance, and dyspnea; these all improved sig­nificantly with continued practice of the yoga breathing, and sensations of dyspnea dimin­ished. By improving the ventilation-perfusion ratios as well as alveolar ventilation, this style of breathing optimized breathing and made the most of available function. Respiratory efficiency improved and irregularity was reduced (instabil­ity in O2 saturation was associated with instabil­ity in breathing frequency and amplitude). The ‘spontaneous’ breathing rate (the rate at which subjects breathed when they thought they were unobserved) dropped from 13 to less than 8 (Bernardi et aI 1993). The heart and lungs operate in many ways as a cardiorespiratory unit. Breathing and heart action are closely related, and their synchronization sta­bilizes the autonomic nervous system (see Ch. 8).

Yoga breathing emphasizes full use of the diaphragm in breathing (Fig. 9.4). The diaphragm is attached by fascia to the heart’s pericardium in such a way that diaphragmatic movement pro­vides a massaging action to the heart. Also, the vena cava, which carries freshly oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart, passes through the diaphragm and is alternately squeezed and released during breathing. This action promotes a periodic acceleration of blood flow toward the heart. As Andrew Thomas (1993) states: ‘The fully and correctly operating diaphragm is thus a second heart.’

Yogic alternate nostril breathing (pg. 239)
(Box 9.4; Fig. 9.5)
In health one nostril is more dominant than the other at any given time in terms of the volume of air flow. There is an alternation every 1 t to 3 hours throughout the 24-hour cycle, with one nostril being more open than the other (Gilbert 1999). Evidence suggests that whichever nostril is more open, the opposite hemisphere of the brain is slightly more active, and in yoga this is utilized to enhance different activities related to particular hemispheric functions. These tradi­tional yogic intuitions and observations have been confirmed by modern research in which EEG readings from the brain have been found to correlate with increased hemispheric activity with the currently dominant nostril (Rossi 1991, Shannahoff-Khalsa 1991, Block et al 1989). Some yoga breathing exercises alternate between the two nostrils, breath by breath, with the intent of regulating the balance between the two hemispheres. This is thought to promote proper alternation between sympathetic and para­sympathetic nervous system functions.

WTF?!

The point here is that you can directly alter BRAIN/MENTAL and PHYSIOLOGILCAL/PHYSICAL (and their intermediary…EMOTIONAL) states simply through the use of breath.

How do you practice this?

1. PAY ATTENTION.
When you’re going through your day, occasionally check in – are you holding your breath?

Especially when you’re going into a situation you know to be stressful for you – regulate your breathing to remain relaxed.

Track the relative amount of tension in your muscles and the tension in your breathing. If you’re holding your breath or breathing shallowly, you’re most likely gripping in your body someplace (check the hands (fists), and glutes).

2. PRACTICE
Practice some sort of relaxation technique that exploits and explores the connection between breathing and body-states.

Two great places to start:
LET EVERY BREATH: Secrets of the Russian Breath Masters

This book is GREAT. It does not go into the ridiculous level of scientific depth covered in Chaitow’s book (or this post). It simply presents practices to help you connect breathing to your body state.

Breathing: The Master Key to Self Healing

I like Andrew Weil’s approach, especially a lot of his earlier works.

This is a listen-along program that leads you through some breathing exercises.

THE POINT
The point of all of this is for you to be able to access the power that resides deep inside your body.

It is, to borrow the words of Frank Forencich – “primal, practical, and playful.”

The only way to tap into it and harness this power is to USE IT.

So get to work.

Turn Obligation into Choice

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I have the tendency to think of things I ought to do, or ought to have done. But that way of looking at events is very passive.

Instead, I can choose to look at those things as choices.

For instance, if I think “I should have done xyz…,” which leaves me in a position of regret. I can re-tell that story as “I chose not to do xyz…”

At that point, I’ve changed the locus of control from the past (external) to myself (internal).

Relating to my past and future in this way not only “empowers” me, but also leads to more active decision-making.

I’m playing with this right now…definitely interested to hear other perspectives on this type of practice.

Core Strength – Deric Stockton

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Once again, sorry it’s been so long since the last post! School is now wrapped up, and the summer has begun. Time to get back to WORK!

I have to share an incredible experience I had yesterday. My buddy, Charlie Reid, read a blog post by Liz Koch, author of The Psoas Book. In it, she interviewed Deric Stockton, owner of the gym Core Strength. Deric is a 40 year old powerlifter, who still squats 800 pounds, and benches 500. He’s developed a unique set of recovery techniques that help him to be stronger than he was when he was five years younger, and he sees the trend continuing.

Charlie reached out to Deric and set up a meeting. We drove down bright and squirrely, and met Deric at his gym.

Deric was a live wire. It was 8am, and as he led us through a tour of his gym, he also led us on a tour of the past ten years of his development as an athlete, and as a healer.

Deric’s approach is nothing short of revolutionary, and I can’t wait for his seminar coming up in July. This is a man who is looking to the future of the human body, and is creating the paradigm that will define that future.

I highly recommend that you listen to the interview on Liz’ site, and keep your eyes out for Deric and his ideas in the near future.

In Athletics – It’s Not The Shoes…

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I was blown away recently when I stumbled on this article on Stack magazine online.  It’s called “Training Trends with Under Armour,” and is about a year old at this point.

The “trends” they’re talking about are shoes.  Specifically, three shoes produced by Under Armour, called the UA Proto Power Trainer, UA Proto Speed Trainer and UA Proto Evade Trainer.

Under Armour has created the three shoes to provide foot support for three different types of training – sagittal plane (frontward/backward), frontal plane (side-to-side), and “vertical” plane training.

Essentially, you now need three different sets of shoes in order to practice properly in the off-season.  I would guess, too, that you’d need to change shoes in the middle of your workout, as you transitioned from training in one plane to the other.  Unless, of course, you only trained in a particular plane in each workout.

Aside from the fact that this “informational article” is obviously an advertisement, and that the “logic” behind these shoes is more about making money than about improving human performance – I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  People will obviously be buying these shoes, and buying the message that goes with them.  Under Armour is a huge company, that wouldn’t have invested resources into producing and marketing these shoes unless their market research said they’d be successful.

For all of the athletes out there using these shoes, I have a couple of questions.  The first is the one I pose above – how do you train?  Do you have to change your shoes during each workout, or do you just focus on one plane of movement each workout?

The second question I have for you guys is – what happens when you’re on the field of play?  Do all of your abilities meld together magically in the heat of the moment?  Do you miss the specific cushioning provided by the shoes when you have to lace up your old Nike cleats?

Meanwhile, Under Armour, I assume you’ve done some real scientific research to back up the claims made about your shoes.  Can I see it?  And can you justify the increase in your carbon footprint (and the amount of garbage in the world) with that science?

I have to reiterate that shoes are essentially bad for you.  They’re necessary because of the way we’ve structured our man-made environment – as a cold, hard place.  But they’re accessories to the body, not enhancements.  People who excel in sports excel in any shoes.  They have put in the hard work to perfect their technique, to build their strength…years of practice and effort, not new shoes, make a better athlete.

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!

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.