Marrying Select Applications of Bodybuilding to Athletes' Strength Training

The year is 1984.  Reagan is President.  Springsteen is The Boss.  Bosworth is The Boz.  And Golds Gym in Venice Beach is Mecca, at least for the adolescent American male.  (By happenstance, 1984 is the year of my birth).

Bodybuilding is indeed in its prime coming on the heels of Arnold's Mr. Olympia triumphs. Scores of youngsters flock to their local Golds to pair chest and tris and back and bis.  Swolled out, bro, they shout to one another, being sure to "catch the pump."  Unfortunately, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . . ,” as Charles Dickens writes in A Tale of Two Cities, for bodybuilding was about to enter the Lee Haney era, a time when sheer size would trump balance and symmetry.  Fast forward thirty years and bodybuilding finds itself a pariah amid the "functional fitness" craze.  Millions of adolescents still pass through the turnstiles at Golds, 24-Hour Fitness and other commercial gyms, but their efforts for increased muscularity now carry an unfavorable social stigma.  Pass the Crystal Lite, would you?

But here's the rub – in spurring the bodybuilding style of training, strength and conditioning coaches threw out the baby with the bath water.  Yes, there is a time and place for higher repetitions, and no, isolation exercises do not reflect the Devil's work.  Sets of seven, for example, are useful in back squats periodically, prescribed perhaps as back-off sets around 70-75 percent of a one-rep maximum. Higher repetition maximums, ranging anywhere from eight to twenty, are powerful hypertrophy and conditioning tools, too, though their use should be intermittent.

What makes Hercules look so damn athletic in this statute?  It's his truck.  The abdominals and obliques are thick and dense.  Notice also the muscularity of his legs compared to his arms.  Good proportions.  Now let's see those spinal erectors . . .

And hypertrophy is not a dirty word.  Increasing the diameter of a muscle correlates often to gains in absolute strength, but as Louie Simmons says, "big isn't strong, strong is strong,” meaning don’t blindly accrue muscle mass without seeing a corresponding increase in one-, two-or three-rep maximums.  Given this understanding, no program is complete without select applications of bodybuilding-style training.  Indeed, exercises like strict pullups (and chins), Pendlay or dumbell rows, glute-ham raises, hyperextensions, reverse hypers and even bicep curls lend themselves to repetition ranges of 8-12, but maybe even higher depending on the athlete or their capacities.  Sets of ten repetitions in the glute-ham raise might be too taxing on an intermediate athlete; therefore, the repetition scheme should be modified to fit their capabilities.  Similarly, an advanced or elite athlete might be capable of performing a set of twenty or more repetitions of strict pullups.  A strength coach can add external resistance, i.e. a weight vest, dumbell or kettlebell, to limit his total number of repetitions, if deemed appropriate.  Finally, additional lean muscle mass carries increased metabolic demands, meaning the athlete will burn more calories over a 24-hour window.

A few words of caution regarding hypertrophy.  Athletes competing in sports where they must “carry their engine,” i.e. swimming, track and speedskating, to name a few, should be wary of accruing excess lean muscle mass.  Strengthening the quadriceps, hamstrings, upper back, posterior chain and abdominals will likely result in increased levels of performance, but the law of diminishing returns still applies, thus strength coaches should think twice before prescribing large volumes of bodybuilding-style training.  One or two exercises for three sets of eight to ten is sufficient most often.

Mastering the Mundane

Travis Mash, a weightlifting coach and world-class powerlifter in his own right, spoke at length not too long ago with the guys of "Barbell Shrugged" on the idea of "mastering the mundane." Mash discusses how great athletes seek to optimize their performance by dialing-in the boring, recovery-oriented tasks – eating, sleeping, and mobility, to name a few.  The point Mash makes is that while none of this is particularly exciting or sexy, it is important all the same.

Some may see the lifestyle Mash describes – one devoid of junk food, sugar and late-night parties – as boring or mundane.  But the reality is adaptation occurs most efficiently when external variables are minimized, if not eliminated outright.  How important is an athlete's training to them?  Is it worth their sacrificing society's sacred cows?

Cooking your own meals, going to bed before ten and finding time to address mobility issues is not easy, rest assured.  Advance planning is required.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

(1) Cook a feast every Sunday night, one capable of providing multiple days’ worth of leftovers. The winter months lend themselves to roasts and stews, while the summer one offer optimal grilling weather;

(2) Find your version of "easy breakfast."  Eggs, fresh fruit and sweet potato home fries (plus a few tablespoons of raw nut butter) are my "go to" pre-workout foods if training mid-day.  Note, when choosing between different fresh fruits, select those with lower fructose concentrations, such as avocados, berries, peaches and kiwi.  Charles Poliquin promotes a different approach, preaching the "Meat and Nut" breakfast, and he has penned many articles in its defense.  The meat and nut breakfast also lends itself to the early-morning commuter whose time in precious;

(3) Organize your work-week, to the greatest extent practicable, so that you can get a jumpstart on projects, briefs and papers.  A few hours spent working on Saturday and/or Sunday can alleviate the stress of Monday through Friday, allowing for earlier bedtimes and/or training opportunities.  Consistency is adaptation's best friend;

(4) Learn the difference between optimal and less-than-optimal sleeping patterns. Eight to nine hours of sleep is recommended for hard-charging athletes, but this figure is not the final word.  An optimal sleeping environment is cold, dark and quiet.  Reverse engineering such a state reveals blackout curtails or curtails of heavy cloth, a sleeping mask and temperature controls are good investments.  Clean bed sheets buttress this environment – wash or replace weekly.  It behooves male athletes to note in their training log whether they awoke with an erection (an "E" in the margin next to the date will do), as this is a sign of positive hormone balance; and

(5) If your training facility is not located conveniently to your residence (mine is not), reserve 15-20 minutes before bed for mobility work.  The cost of a pvc pipe ranges from $8-10 at Lowe's or Home Depot (buy two -- a thicker one for rolling and a thinner one for shoulder stretches). With this $20 investment, an athlete can address a number of areas, including the hips, posterior chain and shoulders.  Add in a packet of lacrosse balls and a bike tube tire (which can be cut into a makeshift voodoo floss band) from any other sporting goods store and an athlete's mobility repertoire is largely complete.

It was Mike Tyson who said, "the life of a champion is monotonous," but it is this environment that promotes adaptation and subsequently training progress.  As days become weeks, weeks become months and months become years an athlete can continue to make gains, but as Dan Johns says "plan the work, work the plan."

"Don't reach, young blood."

From time to time, I share the gym with two high school athletes who are training to get stronger for their respective sports, football and squash (hey, no judging!).  Most of the time, their training is organized and programmed by my good friend, who makes them squat, pull and press multiple times per week.  However, any work done in the summer off-season is unregulated.  To their credit, I saw them come in and lift, but the foundation of their "program" was cracked.  Both spent too much time snatching and cleaning, all while neglecting their squats, presses and pulls.  Now, the Olympic lifts are great – arguably the optimal choice for developing power or what Louie Simmons calls “speed strength – but two lifts does not a program make.

I broached the issue tentatively one day as they were gathering up their belongings.  "Y'all done for today?" I asked.  They responded in the affirmative.  "I don't see you guys squatting or pressing too often . . . y'all are pushing those exercises, too, right?"  I mused, knowing full-well the situation at hand.  They looked at each other sheepishly, shying away from my query. "Squats are tiring. They make our legs sore," the braver of the two piped up.  "Guys, you will likely make faster progress in the snatch and clean if you push up your squat numbers," I stressed.  The two nodded in agreement, but turned and walked back to the locker room, whispering to each other along the way.

 

It was this exchange that reminded me of the Pepsi "Uncle Drew" commercials that aired last year.  If you missed them, the plot line centers around two or three professional basketball players disguising themselves as geriatrics, then running ball on the city courts.  As you might expect, the pros whip the youngsters, all under the guise of escapees from the retirement home.  The commercials are damn funny.  My favorite line comes from Kyrie Irving’s character, who repeatedly tells opponents, “Don’t reach, young blood,” meaning move your feet, play defense, work hard.  To those youngsters or Crossfitters out there chasing personal records in the snatch, clean and jerk much to the neglect of their squats, I say, “Don’t reach, young blood.”  Bring your hard hat and lunch pail and set up shop in the squat rack.  Fives are a great place to start, but there are dozens of successive squat programs out there.  Plan the work, then work hard.  Uncle Drew over and out.



Get buckets.  Get squatting.

Dear John

Dear John,

Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1512 to educate young "princes" on the particulars of ruling.  Those lessons were derived not only from his study of the ancient Greeks and Romans but also from personal experiences with princes of the warring Italian city-states.  Seeing as I believe Machiavelli was unemployed at the time of its writing, The Prince can be read as the most famous job application ever prepared.

Channeling my inner Machiavel, this letter sets forth the lessons I learned while training and competing in athletics.  Much like the famous – or infamous, depending on your point view – Florentine before me, the lessons learned and described herein reflect twenty years of personal and second-hand experiences.  Some were gained from conversing with teammates, others the hard way – through making mistakes.  I urge you to heed my words now for their truth is revealed only with the passage of time.

First and foremost, compete.  Always compete.  Never back down.  You may have grown up in the "everyone gets a trophy" era, with parents and teachers praising your "special" abilities, but there are most certainly winners and losers in competitive athletics.  Compete every day: in practice, in the weight room, wherever.  If a teammate challenges you to eat fifty eggs, go all Cool Hand Luke-style on them and get it done. The desire to compete – and win – in anything and everything carries over to gameday.

 

"My boy says he can eat fifty eggs, he cant eat fifty eggs."



Second, ditch the pre-madonna attitude.  Be the strong silent type.  Every year I get more and more pissed off watching national high school signing day for Division I football.  The kids have turned the whole event into a charade.  Congratulations you are now one of a thousand of Division I scholarship athletes.  Win a Heisman Trophy or become an All-American, then carry on like you are a BFD ("big fucking deal").

Third, practice your craft.  Every day.  On days when formal practice is not being held, spend an hour addressing a technical flaw or sharpening your visualization skills or watching past practice or game tapes.  Consistency is king.  Fundamentally, training is nothing more than moving a big pile of horse manure across the yard.  On the days you feel great, carry a shovelful, maybe two; on the days you feel crappy, carry just a spoonful.  But keep moving that manure.  Be relentless. And be prepared for the stink.

Four, protect your dreams.  The word I heard growing up was "doubters," now they’re called "haters," but the difference is irrelevant.  Losers always try to convince others their dreams will escape their reach.  Don't listen.  Insulate your dreams by surrounding yourself with positive people and supportive coaches.  Distance yourself from everyone else.  Every year hundreds of high school and college athletes are selected in the Major League Baseball draft, why can't you be one of them in four years’ time?

Five, take care of your body.  It was the great John Denver who sang, "early to rise, early in the sack, thank god I'm a country boy."  And contrary to what some might lead you to believe, nothing good happens after midnight.  When it comes to meal time, make sure you consume enough calories to support your training, but do not rely heavily – or at all, if possible – on pizza and other junk foods for fuel.  Garbage in, garbage out, trust me.  Eat something fresh and green at least twice per day.  Fresh spinach is tolerable in an omelet with whole eggs and bacon.  If you don't know how to scramble eggs or cook an omelet, use your iPhone for a Youtube search.  Limit alcohol consumption.  At some point in the near future this will be more relevant than it is today, but in the meantime remember the best-looking girls never waste their time talking to the drunk guy passed out on the couch.

And finally, reflect periodically on why you are training and what you are striving to accomplish. Are you playing for the right reasons?  If you are playing to satisfy someone other than yourself, give greater thought to the matter.  If you are playing to see your name in the newspaper, give thought as to why you think this is important.  But remember this, and remember it always, when you lose the desire to compete in training, walk away from the sport immediately, else you run the risk of suffering deep disappointment.  This, too, I know.

Rich

USA Swimming “Old School vs. New Rules” Dryland Training: A Response

“Don’t be afraid of being different, be afraid of being the same as everyone else.”

– Emily Prost, The #308 Rule of  Lady

Legend has it that in 333 B.C. Alexander the Great attempted the seemingly impossible – untying the Gordian Knot.  His decision to attempt this challenge was one of ambition, for priests had prophesized that whoever bested the knot was destined to rule all of Asia.  But unlike those before him, Alexander did not struggle to find the ends of the cornel bark.  No, he unsheathed his sword and sliced the knot in a single stroke, thereby producing the required ends and giving rise to the so-called “Alexandrian Solution.”  Unconventional thinking at its finest.

The impetus for writing this post came after watching a dryland training video posted on the USA Swimming website, entitled “Old School vs. New Rules” (available here: http://usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1890&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en).  As the video buffered, I held hope swim coaches would unsheathe the sword of strength training, and slice the Gordian Knot of improving athletic performance.  Alas this was not the case, as it seems some in the sport remain mired in the “Dark Ages” of athletic development.

 

Some may argue the exercises advocated for in this video are a form of strength training – yes and no.  Bodyweight exercises, such as the push-ups, pull-ups, rows and single-leg work, are good assistance exercises, but under no circumstances should they comprise the bulk of an athlete’s strength training, provided he or she is past the developmental phase and is injury-free.  The kettlebell swing is a good “hinging” movement indeed – one with value as both an assistance exercise and a conditioning tool – but once again its place is secondary.  Substituting these types of exercises for barbell movements like the squat, press and power clean is a mistake.  Why?  Because barbell lifts train the athlete as “one piece,” meaning they force him or her to brace their midline and move their body through a full range of motion, much like their chosen sport(s) require. 

 

Looks like a squat rather a single-leg lunge-RDL to me. 

 

Moreover, the ability of a coach to subject their athlete to progressively heavier loads elevates further the value of these movements.  If an athlete demonstrates an ability to move heavier loads through a full range of motion, a coach can take solace in knowing their athlete is becoming stronger, developing greater work capacity and improving their athletic performance.  The science linking these attributes is settled, as the select quotes below illustrate:

“Muscular strength is perhaps the most important of all factors in athletic performance.”

– Drs. Rasch and Burke, “Kinesiology and Applied Anatomy

“Strength undergirds all other factors when one considers the total functioning of the body movements.  Without sufficient strength, factors such as endurance, flexibility, and skill cannot be used effectively.”

– Professor Gene Logan of Southwestern Missouri State, “Adaptations of Muscular Activity”

Given this body of evidence, why are some coaches still shunning barbell movements in favor of less productive bodyweight exercises?  The answer is simple – fear and insufficient exposure.  People fear what they do not understand.  And too many coaches, particularly in the sport of swimming, do not come from a background where barbell movements are taught properly and practiced for years; hence, they do not understand their benefits firsthand.  Additionally, it takes far less time (and expertise) to teach an athlete how to do TRX push-ups then to squat, press or power clean.  Yet the latter three movements will likely yield far greater improvements in athletic performance than bodyweight exercises alone, assuming they are taught correctly.

 

Introducing barbell movements to athletes sooner rather than later – around the age of twelve – is  optimal because it allows months, or upwards of a year, of training with a pvc pipe or empty barbell, preferably one designed for a child’s hands.  This learning of the squat, press or power clean can be supplemented with bodyweight exercises or gymnastics, but teaching the lifts at this early age will pay dividends years later.  Indeed, a multi-year ramp-up period offers more time to teach the basics and load the barbell with small increases, all while allowing the joints, ligaments and tendons to adapt to the imposed demands (thus reducing the chance of future injury).  As my grandfather would say, “You can’t rush the harvest.”  Designing a multi-year program takes foresight and advance planning, but that is a coach’s job – to determine what is best for their athletes today, tomorrow, next year and five years down the road.

 

Towards the end of the video, the presenter makes the following claim:

 

“Either way I think what you are going to find is that if you start supplementing these for things like bench presses, Olympic lifts, squats and what have you, that you are going to get a nice bump in terms of performance and you are actually going to like how your body feels in terms of making it stronger and reducing injury potential.”

To say I disagree strongly with his conclusion is putting it mildly.

One Memory to Rule Them All

“I had a lot of dates, but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows.” – Andy Warhol

The memory has not faded with time – I sit alone in the empty weight room of the Summit Area YMCA, the hum of a pedestal fan providing the musical accompaniment to the clanking of metal weights.  It is seven o’clock on a Friday night the summer before my senior year of high school.

The life lessons – “preparation precedes success” and “success requires sacrifice” – are what keep this memory alive.  Forged in the fire of training, they were tested and re-learned months later in the competition pool.  When I lost sight of these lessons my senior year of college, I came to understand what President John F. Kennedy meant when he said, “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”  It is with this in mind that I protect my memory of that night, remembering how the gym towel felt coarse against my skin and how the plastic chair flexed under my weight.  The emptiness of that room still speaks volumes about work ethic and sacrifice.  Nothing has changed except the venue.  Success still requires sacrifice.

I recently heard powerlifter Brandon Lilly, a world-class athlete, say, “If I could tell you how much I have missed and how much I have sacrificed, I would probably feel a whole lot more guilty about it than I really do now . . . [but] it is what it takes.  We all make sacrifices in this life . . . and to answer that question honestly that is what you are going to have to do.”  Profound indeed.  Do I have memories of cruising around town, drinking beers and taking girls out on dates?  A few.  But none are as vivid as my memory of the Summit AREA YMCA that hot summer night.

Raise the Black Flag



Grinding through the final repetition of a new personal record, you release a primal growl, one that causes others to jump.  The barbell continues to oscillate as you return it to the squat rack, the red, twenty-five kilogram plates still reeling from their struggle against gravity.  Others in your vicinity look onward with the same disgusted, confused look, "Why does he train with such intensity?  Why is he so loud?  Why can't he find somewhere else to train?  He is going to kill himself one day."  Raise the black flag, my friend, you are part of the pirate brethren.

When most people think of "pirates" they conjure images of the 18^th century Bahamian pirates, who were, by all accounts, a close-knit, albeit peculiar, fraternity.  Many served freely, rejecting the oppressive institution that was the British Royal Navy and defying the Hanoverian dynasty that was ushered into power under George I.  The political conscientiousness of the English and Irish pirates during this time should not be dismissed; after all the notorious Edward Thatch, i.e. Blackbeard, named his flagship Queen Anne's Revenge after the fallen British monarch.  And while most of the Bahamian pirates were English or Irish, large numbers of Scots, Frenchmen and Africans – many of whom were former, escaped or freed slaves – filled their ranks, so did smaller numbers of Dutch, Danes, Swedes and Native Americans.  Adding to the peculiarity, this fraternity ran their ships democratically, a rebellious idea considering the European monarchs of this time were "divined by God" to rule their subjects.  In another departure from 18^th century ruling practices, the Bahamian pirates elected and deposed of their captains via popular vote, shared plunder equally and made decisions in open council.  Some historians argue the seeds of the American Revolution were first planted by the Bahamian pirates, outlaws who were both feared and revered in North American British colonies.

A similar defiance has long existed at the heart of the Crossfit culture, bonding members within "the community" irrespective of external differences.  Political, religious or sexual beliefs fade in the backdrop as the barbell gets heavier, leaving only the work.  Hard work.  Lunchpail and hard hat work.  "Old Country" work.  You, yourself, welcome the opportunity to train alongside those who shares your commitment to this ideology.  It matters not whether the bar weighs 70, 170 or even 270 kilos.  The work is the same.  You find fulfill in setting personal records – scribbling the letters "PR" in your training log in shaky handwriting – but you also enjoy seeing others improve on their previous bests.  You cheer for a nascent training partner as they push through the final repetitions of a twenty-rep-max back squat.  All members of an egalitarian society must share in the work.

Maybe we are "different," us pirates, because we refuse to play by society's rules.  But I yearn to live in a society where hard work and unconventional thinking are welcomed, not shunned.  Hoist the colors, my fellow pirates!