Archive for February, 2009

Training Splits

Friday, February 27th, 2009

So I was talking with a guy at the gym the other day and he asked me to evaluate his training routine.  Here’s the simplified version of it: He has a 4 day split – Back/Bi’s, Chest/Tri’s, Legs, and Shoulders/Abs.  He says on average he lifts about 3 days a week but due to his work schedule sometimes he lifts only twice and other weeks he can get in the gym 4 times a week.  His main goals are to build muscle and get stronger (typical goal for a male).

My response (only evaluating the training split – not the reps, sets, intensity):  On average he is not getting a full body lift in during the week.  If he only gets into the gym 3 times this week, he didn’t even train shoulders/abs.  Even worse, if he only got into the gym twice a week he wouldn’t lift legs or shoulders/abs.  This training split is seriously flawed!  He will never reach his goals at this rate.  If you goal is to gain muscle and build strength you should at least provide a stimulus to the muscle minimum once a week.  He could potentially go two weeks before ever lifting the same muscle group twice (depending on his work schedule). I told him to plan out his week ahead of time – if he is going to get in the gym 4 times, then he can use his current split (even this split needs work, but I want to correct the major issues first).  However, if he is going to only get into the gym 2 or 3 times he needs to rearrange his routine for the week.

Example:
2X week – Pressing/Core(1) & Legs/Back(2) or he could do a full body lift both days
3X week- Pressing/Core(1), Pulling/Core(2), & Legs(3) or he could do a full body lift all three days

There are many different way to rearrange his lifting schedule, he just needs to take time to plan it out if he wishes to accomplish his goals.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Program Design, Strength Training | No Comments »

Chicken and Beef

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

It is extremely important to check the source of your meat so you know how it was raised before you put it in your body.

Beef

Cattle’s natural biological diet would consist of only grass. However, farmers are now feeding their cattle unnatural diets such as corn and grains. Cows are not designed to consume these larges amounts of grains, even though this is what they’re being feed. To offset the negative effects of feeding cows grains (the negative effects include deadly bacteria in their stomach) farmers are giving their cattle large amounts of antibiotics. In addition, farmers want to make a profit quickly by raising and selling their cattle as fast as possible so they have decided to shoot up their cows with steroids.

Solution – 100% grass fed beef. This ensures that the cattle were raised on their natural diet and free of antibiotics. “Populations that eat a diet rich in fresh, natural red meat show far lower levels of high cholesterol and cancer, among other diseases.”

Chicken

Most chickens sold at the grocery store or served at a restaurant are raised in cages where they can barely move. Because that is an unhealthy way to live, farmers have to give their chickens large amounts of antibiotics (sounds familiar). Not only that, they also shoot up their chickens with steroids to get them on the market faster and make them taste “juicer”. (I guess A-Rod is not the only one who is on the Juice!)

Solution – Purchase free-range and certified organic chicken. Look out for restaurants that also serve organic chicken.

Source: Mercola, Joseph. Total Health. Illinois: Mercola.com, 2003

Train Hard-Train Smart,
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Nutrition | 1 Comment »

Healthy Eating

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

I would think most fitness professionals agree that it benefits all individuals to increase the amount of raw foods in your diet. Specifically I tell my clientele to increase the amount of raw produce in their diets. Raw produce is very nutrient dense (filled with vitamins, minerals, and other phytonutrients), compared to veggies that are cooked. It is hard to increase the amount of raw meats in your diet, unless you decide to have sushi for every meal. However, you should be careful not to overcook your meats because that can alter the protein content and create a carcinogenic effect in overcooked meats. Eating a diet high in raw foods, or live foods as some may call it, would theoretically require less calories per day because foods that are not cook are more nutrient dense. Here is an example: If you decide to have a salad for lunch loaded with veggies it may be 400 calories (let’s also say there is dressing on the salad). You would get more nutritional value out of this meal compared to a grilled chicken sandwich and fries which could be a 900 calories (depending on portion size of course). By eating more raw foods, you will be able to cut your calories and still receive the proper amount of nutrients.

Cooking food may actually destroy the nutritional components – such as certain vitamins can be destroyed, it can alter fats and carbohydrates, and even destroy protein effecting how much we can absorb from cooked meats. Simply put: Cooking food either alters or diminishes the nutrients that we can absorb within that food.

Don’t try to drastically change your entire diet off the bat, instead one place I would start with is adding more raw produce to your diet.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Nutrition | 4 Comments »

Canyon Country Little League Coaches Clinic

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

I uploaded all the pictures from today’s clinic.  If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me.  Hope this is helpful.

Train Hard-Train Smart,
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Exercise Demonstrations, Flexibility, Injury Prevention, Program Design | No Comments »

Back Squats and Overhead Athletes

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Overhead athletes (baseball, volleyball, tennis, football QB, etc.) should be careful when performing back squats. I am making this statement based on the upper body (shoulder) and not paying much consideration to the lower body right now. As for the back squat – This exercise requires the athlete to place the bar behind their head on their upper back/neck.  Gripping the bar can place a large amount of strain on the shoulder.  To grip the bar you need to abduct and externally rotate your humeral head (upper arm bone). This position can irritate an athlete’s shoulder and create further instability for athletes who already have an over-worked shoulder from throwing, hitting, and serving. Many overhead athletes already have imbalances, compensations, and deficiencies in their throwing shoulder. As a precautionary measure, it makes more sense for the coach to have their overhead athletes perform front squats. Another great alternative would be deadlift variations, as I discussed in a previous post.

Back squats are great for building size, strength, and power in the lower body but let’s be careful with our overhead athletes. There are always variations and alternatives – There is no perfect exercise.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Injury Prevention, Program Design, Strength Training | No Comments »

Cluster Sets

Friday, February 6th, 2009

It’s good to change up your workout routine and add some spice from time to time. There are a lot of variables to manipulate during your workout including the repetitions. One method you may not have tried before is a cluster set. This simply means that instead of doing a set of 8 continuous repetitions, you would do 4 repetitions rest for 30 seconds and then finish the last 4 repetitions. This is only effective if you lift more weight during your cluster set then you would during a regular set of repetitions. For example: If I typically could do 100 lbs for 8 repetitions, then I would try to do 115 lbs for my cluster set (4 reps/rest/4 reps). The short rest period within the set would allow me just enough recovery to lift a larger amount of weight compared to a typical set. This training method is extremely valuable for individuals that are looking to get stronger or more powerful.

Try to be creative with your cluster sets – A few examples of how to structure your cluster set:

  • 2 X 2 X 2
  • 3 X 3
  • 4 X 3

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Program Design, Strength Training | 1 Comment »

The (Anti-Sit Up) Core Workout

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Many people think the only the way to get a quality ab work out is to lay on their back and do sit up variations. First, sit-ups are not a functional exercise. Second, there are many good exercises you can do on the ground that does not cause as much pressure on the spine as a sit up. The majority of core training that my athletes do are standing rotational, overhead, or unilateral exercises that transfer to sport (check out this previous blog post and this post). When I incorporate core exercises (never labeled as an ab work out) on the floor, they are always bridging variations. These positions can be performed on your back, stomach, or side and they engage the muscles of midline of the body. They are not isolated movements such as a sit up, so there is not that same “burning” feeling in one particular muscle group as with the sit up. On that note – just because the exercise “burns” or you feel it does not mean it is effective. Your stomach will also burn if I stab you with a broomstick, but that is not effective either is it. Back to bridges, try to maintain torso stability while moving the distal limbs (arms and legs) in different movement patterns. If you are performing a front bridge (on your forearms and toes), you can reach your arms out straight, to the side, or rotate and reach toward the sky. You can also hold bridges for time and increase the time under tension as you begin to get stronger. Remember kids – just say no to sit ups!

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Exercise Demonstrations, Program Design, Strength Training | 2 Comments »

Monthly ASAP Newsletter

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

If you are not signed up for my monthly newsletter do so now – click here.  I am sending out a new article in the next day or two discussing sport specific conditioning with the analysis of energy systems.  I work mostly at the high school and youth level and I see too many “old-school” coaches implementing conditioning programs that are ineffective.  Make sure to sign up.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »