Hello, again. I’m back, not that anyone knew I was gone. Don’t worry, I’ll get over my feelings of resentment for not being recognized (by you) for my brilliance eventually. In the meantime, I have some wonderful content to share with you that I think you might enjoy and benefit from.

In the first four parts of this series which I wrote a few months ago, I discussed three different exercises I liked: inverted rows on the TRX, weighted pushups using the TRX, triceps extensions on the TRX, and Christian Thibaudeau’s three-degree decline dumbbell bench press. For better or worse, I still like all those exercises, which could mean that I’m stubborn and closed-minded, or that my original ideas weren’t that bad, or something else–you can decide for yourself. In the coming posts of this series, I plan to share the exercises that I consider to be “awesome” and explain why I think they are awesome. Without further delay, here’s exercise #5: the 1-arm dumbbell push press.

A quick, but important note about my technique for this exercise: at the bottom position of the movement, I hold the dumbbell in a neutral, or even somewhat supinated, position and pronate gradually as I push the dumbbell overhead. I’m using the same corkscrew motion that I use with the TRX exercises.

Another quick note: you can also use a kettlebell for this exercise, but I think dumbbells are more practical because dumbbells generally differ in five pound increments, whereas kettlebells are simply less convenient with regards to adjusting the weight.

I like this exercise because it allows me to use the aforementioned corkscrew motion, which means that I’m respecting the natural desires of my joints and muscles. (I think that phrasing sounds weird, but, for whatever reasons, I’m keeping it.) In the same way that you naturally rotate your shoulder as a you throw a punch, I think that you should naturally rotate your shoulder as you lift a weight. I’ve probably expounded upon this point in other posts, so I won’t waste your time doing it again.

An implication of my preference for the corkscrew motion is that I prefer the dumbbell push press to the barbell push press. I’m not a shoulder expert and know that I could be wrong, but I have some confidence that the 1-arm dumbbell push press is safer for your joints than a barbell push press. From a longevity standpoint, the 1-arm dumbbell push press wins. Perhaps the barbell is better exercise for maximal strength and hypertrophy, but injury prevention and longevity are two of my chief concerns with regards to exercise selection. Moreover, I think the 1-arm dumbbell push press is comparable to the barbell push press with regards to hypertrophy and strength, but that’s just my humble opinion.

In my own training, I’ve found that my joints often hurt when I include the barbell push press, which is probably a reflection of both my mobility issues and the exercise itself. Conversely, I’ve never had any pain when performing the 1-arm dumbbell push press. Of course, many people can probably push press without pain and I don’t think that they should never push press again. That being said, I will tentatively state that I think the barbell push press is an inferior movement to the 1-arm dumbbell push press. Feel free to shoot the messenger.

Cues:

1. Start by holding the dumbbell in the rack position with a neutral or semi-supinated grip–whatever angle feels comfortable for you.

2. Dip and drive. The movement is initiated with the legs, as you transfer force from the lower body to the upper body. This is meant as primarily a shoulder exercise (I suppose it’s a whole-body exercise, but I digress), so a rule of thumb is to use as little leg drive as you need.

3. Punch the ceiling. I hope that doesn’t need an explanation because I’m not giving one.

4. Return the weight to the rack position under control. You can pause briefly in the rack position between reps or perform them in a fluid manner. I do it both ways, often performing the first few reps of a set fluidly and briefly pausing between the last few reps of a set in order to ensure good form.

I don’t use any special programming for this exercise, which is to say that three sets of six to twelve reps is fine. I take as much rest as I need between sets to ensure that I’m fully recovered for each set, although you can alter the rest period protocol to fit your goals.

Below is a quick video demonstration of the exercise. The dude in the video talks about “double-dipping” (if I were Peter, I’d probably make a corny joke about Tostitos, but, for better or worse, I won’t)–I don’t think it matters much. What he does demonstrate well–and what many other videos I looked at fail to demonstrate–is the corkscrew motion of the press.

 

I’ll do my best to answer any questions you have, although I may preempt and disappoint some of you by saying that I am not aware of any plans to take down this blog and/or to stop spamming you on facebook.

“My hamstrings are tight!”  That’s a complaint any strength and conditioning coach will field pretty frequently among athletes of all ages and backgrounds.  What do you do?  Conventional wisdom would say stretch `em out, right?  Well, chances are conventional wisdom would be wrong.

Coach Rob McLean: living proof that redheads are genetically superior.

This particular issue is one of the many things I’ve encountered in my internship position here at Penn State, but the correct approach to this specific problem is also a part of a broader lesson I’ve learned while working under Coach Rob McLean: when it comes to fixing issues with athletes, you have to look at the big picture, the athlete as a whole.  This may seem like common sense, but it is a concept that is overlooked far too often from what I’ve seen, and not just by strength coaches; physiotherapists and even physicians also tend to treat the symptoms instead of identifying and attacking the root cause of the issue.

“The hip bone’s connected to the knee bone, the knee bone’s connected to the…hip bone!”

Take the tight hamstrings, for example.  The first instinct of a strength coach or physiotherapist should be to look deeper at the issue–think “why does this athlete have tight hamstrings?”–and not just assume that stretching fixes all tight hamstrings.  Most would reckon upon first thought that the hamstrings are tight because they’re too short, and so they need to be lengthened out.  In this case, stretching would indeed be a useful modality.  You’d be hard-pressed, however, to find an athlete with truly short hamstrings.  In becoming more familiar with the (pun alert!) stance of the Postural Restoration Institute (I forced that one a bit, I know), which Coach McLean introduced me to, I’ve learned that the orientation of the typical athlete’s pelvis causes the hamstrings to be chronically stretched and lengthened.  Thus, the hamstrings are going to be tight not because they’re too short, but rather just the opposite: because they’re too long.  If we were in fact going to instruct an athlete with this postural alignment to stretch the hamstrings, we’d actually be feeding right into the problem, not alleviating it!  In order to correctly address the problem we’d need to focus on properly aligning the athlete’s pelvis, which would include (but certainly not be limited to) strengthening the hamstrings (see my article on lumbar hyperextension and anterior pelvic tilt here for more details on that).

In this case, even though the tight hamstrings were the symptom the athlete presented with, the issue did not truly lie with the hamstrings but rather with the alignment of the athlete’s pelvis.  It is thus necessary for us to think of athletes’ bodies as an interconnected chain, where a problem with one part of the chain is going to travel up or down the chain to affect other parts.  Just because an athlete presents with pain, weakness, or an imbalance in one area does not necessarily  (and almost never does) mean that the problem is limited to just that area–we need to do a bit more digging to see which muscles are affecting which joints, etc.  Who knew that being a strength coach would require some good `ole detective work?

*Note: for those of you who are not familiar with them, Mike Boyle’s “Joint-by-Joint Approach” and Tom Myers’ “Anatomy Trains” are two paradigms that fit right in with this mindset that I’ve mentioned above, and I’d consider them must-reads for anyone interested in the strength and conditioning field.

Hello friends, long time no talk.  My freshman year is winding down here at Penn State, and I’m hoping that means I’ll be able to get back to writing more frequently in the near future.  Then again, my doctor still hasn’t found a cure for my chronic laziness, so that may become an issue.  Anyway, I digress.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I wrote several pieces on hypertrophy and its role in improving athletic performance. The hockey players I work with through my internship with the Penn State Men’s Ice Hockey team are in the beginning of their offseason, and we’ve transitioned them into a hypertrophy phase.  I’ve also taken a similar approach with some of my own athletes, who happen to be hockey players as well.  I thought it would be appropriate, then, to revisit the topic and go a little more in depth.  Looking back on my previous articles, my overview of hypertrophy training was pretty limited, because my knowledge of and experience with it was equally limited.  However, I’ve become more familiar with and knowledgeable about hypertrophy training over time, so I’m going to build off of what I’ve already written.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming to be an expert.  I’ve just gained a bit more knowledge with the training experience I’ve had over the last couple of years.

This would be funny if they weren’t Canadiens fans…

Now, on to the good stuff.  First off, why is hypertrophy important?  After all, isn’t strength more important than size in athletics?  The short answer is yes and no.  Anyone familiar with high school physics will know that force is equal to mass times acceleration.  Increases in strength–or more accurately, explosive strength (power)–will improve the acceleration portion of the equation, but it is important to know that mass plays a role as well.  The more weight you have to throw around, the harder you can hit people and the harder you are to move.  Furthermore, increased muscle mass serves athletes who are in physical sports and/or sports with seasons that are a long grind very well in the sense that  the repetitive pounding and abuse these athletes’ bodies take over time tends to break them down.  Any athlete who’s finished a season at a considerably lighter weight and with less lean muscle mass than he or she started with will know exactly what I’m talking about.    Simply put, the more you have to lose, the more capable your body is of handling that persistent physical stress without negatively affecting your performance or overall health.

Last time around, I outlined the different results varying rep schemes would produce.  Anything in the 8-12+ rep range tends to elicit a sarcoplasmic adaptation, meaning the non-contractile (collagen, glycogen, etc) elements will grow.  When you move down to the 5-8 rep range you’re getting more of a myofibrillar response, meaning the contractile elements (the myofibrils) of the muscle will grow.  Of course, there is some overlap between the two.  As Brad Schoenfeld states in this interview with Bret Contreras, research suggests that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy can actually induce myofibrillar hypertrophy.  He goes on to explain that the increase in size of the aforementioned non-contractile elements increases the pressure on the cell wall, causing the cell to reinforce its structure via growth of the contractile elements.  Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy also builds up connective tissue strength, which is critical.  You can make the muscles as strong as you want, but if the connective tissues can’t handle the forces those muscles create you’re inevitably going to break down.

The reason I say that my previous view of hypertrophy was limited is that there is more to consider than simply rep schemes when programming for a hypertrophy phase.  Below are a few that other contributing factors:

Exercise Selection: The trick with this is not so much what exercises you choose to put in a program, but where in the program you put them and what you pair them with.  Traditionally you will see programs that pair opposite movements in a superset, like putting a push with a pull.  This is why one of the athletes I gave a program to recently gave me a puzzled look when he saw that three push movements were paired in one superset, while three pull movements were paired in another.  I picked this up from Eric Cressey, and the thinking behind it is called inefficient pairing.  It simply consists of pairing movements that target similar or the same muscle groups.  While this may seem counterintuitive at first, it actually makes sense because in a hypertrophy phase your goal is to create, in Eric’s words, “an all out assault on the muscles”.  Basically, it’s a more effective way to fatigue your athletes, which in this case is what you’re going for.

Time Under Tension: Two words–eccentrics and isometrics.  These elicit a muscular adaptation similar to increased volume in that by by slowing down movements and increasing the amount of time the muscles have to actively resist they’re going to fatigue faster.  This training variable is good for increasing connective tissue integrity (Eric recommends incorporating exercises with high TUT at a lower volume to help with tendonosis), and it also helps a great deal with body control and body awareness, which are two incredibly important components of athletic performance that are often overlooked.  It is important to note, however, that eccentrics and isometrics are tremendously taxing on the Central Nervous System.  Since it is the CNS that is responsible for recruiting motor units, by making those motor units contract for extended periods of time you’re fatiguing not just your muscles, but your CNS as well.  Since the CNS recovers considerably slower than your muscles do, it is important not to overload it or else your motor unit recruitment will be seriously impaired, thus diminishing your future training output.

What does this have to do with hypertrophy? Absolutely nothing.

Intensity: Bret Contreras sent me this awesome study examining the effect of resistance load on hypertrophic gains.  To summarize, the group found that while greater hypertrophic gains were achieved with increased workload volume, lifting a heavier load did not lead to greater hypertrophic gains than lifting with a lighter load.  The authors went on to say that, “the current recommendations ignore a large body of evidence showing that lower loads, when combined with vascular occlusion, promote equivalent hypertrophy and strength gains as that observed with conventional heavy training. These results indicate that at least in principle lower loads are effective at inducing muscle hypertrophy.”  I’m sure meatheads everywhere are smashing their computers against the wall and yelling “blasphemy!” right now.  I will admit that it does seem counterintuitive, but if it means it’s going to be safer for the athletes it’s worth taking a closer look at.

That being said, I’d still probably prefer my athletes to lift to fatigue at higher loads than lower loads.  The reason being is that the hypertrophy phase is eventually going to provide a foundation for the strength phase, which we will transition to next.  By lifting heavy loads (considering the high volume) in the hypertrophy phase, you’re preparing your athletes both mentally and physically to lift even heavier loads in the next phase.  This might not seem important to others, but I believe that it’s worth considering.

Rest Periods: If “an all out assault on the muscles” is what we’re going for, then it would follow that we want to shorten our rest periods.  A lot of the hypertrophy training I’ve been doing here at Penn State and with my own athletes utilizes rest periods that are in the range of 30s-60s between supersets; exercises within a superset are completed without rest in between.  Say we had, for example, the following superset:

1A. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

1B. Push-up w/ 5s negative

1c. Half Kneeling Landmine Push Press

The athlete would complete exercises 1A, 1B, and 1C with no rest in between 1A and 1B or between 1B and 1C.  This constitutes one set.  The athlete would then get a 30s-60s rest, after which they would again do one set of 1A, 1B, and 1C without rest in between, and so on and so forth.  The idea is that by minimizing rest you’re maximizing fatigue which, in the case of hypertrophy, is a good thing.

That’s all I got for you today, ladies and gents.  I’ve got some other ideas brewing, but we’ll see if they come to fruition in the near future.  Until then, stay classy San Francisco.

Long time, no post. (And yet somehow, despite not posting in weeks, we’ve developed an ardent following of spamming commenters, so good for us, I guess.) Today’s post will short and sweet, or perhaps just short.

In January, I read an article by Christian Thibaudeau explaining why he stopped using the flat bench and what he does instead. Rather than doing a traditional flat bench press, Thibaudeau puts a 25- or 45-pound plate underneath the foot of the bench, putting the bench at an ever-so-slight decline. He claims that it is safer for the shoulders and more effective for targeting the pecs. When I first read the article, I was skeptical because it seemed like such a minor adjustment couldn’t have such significant effects. Well, as this post’s title suggests, my intuition was wrong.

When I first tried Thibaudeau’s variation (I used dumbbells instead of a barbell, for what it’s worth), I immediately felt a difference in the movement and thought to myself, “Holy shit, I’m never going to perform a flat bench press ever again.” Just like Thibaudeau said, my shoulders felt much less strain and my pecs were working more. Moreover, since my number-one training goal is to not hurt myself and my shoulders are terrible from years of baseball and other shoulder-intensive sports (e.g. tennis, quarterback, wrestling), this exercise has quickly become a staple in my upper body routine. I highly recommend you read the original article (I’ve posted the link below) and try it out.

http://www.t-nation.com/strength-training-topics/2257

Below is a video of me performing the single-leg abducted dumbbell deadlift (AKA the Palmer Deadlift). I’ve written about this exercise before. Long story short, I think it’s an excellent posterior chain exercise that has heretofore not been “discovered.” At the risk of sounding arrogant, I think it could be a “game-changer” for lower body training. I owe credit to Bret Contreras and Dean Somerset, whose posts gave me the idea for the exercise. Anyway, check out the video, try it out, and let us know what you think. Or not.

 

For those of you not familiar with Matt’s work, I highly encourage you to check it out.  He’s penned some novel pieces on various aspects of health and wellness, and also had a great talk at AHS12.  Unfortunately for us, Matt has decided to “hang up the blogging boots” to focus more on his work, his wellness, and his family.  We will miss his writing, and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. Fortunately for you (and us!), however, we were able to catch up with him for an interview before his retirement, so we are honored to be possibly the last site you’ll see Matt Metzgar on!  Drink it up while you can, some great responses here from a very intelligent man.

 

Q) How did your “journey” into health optimization begin?

I would say it began out of youthful vanity.  As a freshman in college, a few of us joined the local gym looking to get “pumped up” like Arnold.  Then I started reading the muscle mags, and it peaked my curiosity.

I actually have an old college picture of myself with Arnold Schwarzenegger somewhere.  I went to the “Arnold Classic” in Columbus way back in 1991.  Somehow I managed to get backstage and get a picture with him.  Priceless.

 

Q) Whose ideas have influenced or helped you the most?

Loren Cordain and Art De Vany.  They were really the early movers.  Art’s blog used to be the main place.  He had that paywall up for a while, but now he’s back to public blogging again, and it’s good content.  Loren has had a great run and produced the research foundation pieces of the paleo movement.

 

Q) What’s you favorite blog/website to read? (other than ours of course…)

I read a ton of research, so I only have time for a few blogs.  I tend to read the blogs of Paleo-ish people who have been around a while – Chris from Conditioning Research, Marc from Feel Good Eating, Stephan from Whole Health Source, and a few others, including yours of course!

I wish I had time to read more.  Paleo has exploded and there are so many Paleo blogs out there now.

 

Q) What supplements do you currently take, if any?

Just the basics – Vitamin D, fish oil, and a multivitamin.  Occasionally some prebiotics and probiotics.  The last month or so I’ve been experimenting with replacing the multivitamin with beef liver, though it’s too early to tell if it’s a proper substitute. 

 

Word association! (Give a word or short phrase that comes to mind, feel free to expound on why you chose the word/phrase afterwards.)

 

1) Safe Starches – are safe in my opinion!  You have populations who have eaten high-starch and they are healthy.

 

2) Fruit – is also safe!  This has been shown over and over again in studies.

 

3) Ketosis – if it happens occasionally as a side effect, then great, but I don’t think it should be a constant goal

 

4) “Cardio” – chronic cardio should be avoided; walking and intervals seem to work well for many people

 

5) Dairy – I haven’t “got milk” in many, many years.

 

6) Supplements – less is more

 

7) Ray Peat – don’t know enough about his approach to comment

 

Q) What have been your biggest discoveries/realizations of the last year?

I would say the darkness time concept and eating to satiety.  Getting that darkness time in really provides a buffer against day-to-day stresses.  I think a person has to try it to really see what I’m talking about.

 

Q) I thought your idea about “darkness time” was both novel and legitimate. In other words, it struck me as brilliant. How did you come up with this idea and how have you implemented it in your life?

The evolutionary logic on this has always been there.  I read “Sleep, Sugar, and Survival” ten years ago or so when it first came out.  At the same time, I was in graduate school and I had a very youthful-looking office mate from Thailand.  He said his “secret” was getting at least 10 hours of sleep every night.

That always kind of stuck in the back of my mind.  This year, I started to get a bit tired, so I thought why not try the obvious solution – just go to bed earlier?  And so I did, and I could quickly see the benefits.  Now it is entrenched as a habit, and it has been very beneficial.

Also, I do believe it is darkness time, not just sleep that is important.  Just being in the dark provides rest for the central nervous system.

 

Q) Following up on your point about darkness time, what other important factors for weight loss or health do you think people are unaware of or overlooking?

I think sleep/darkness time, or lack thereof, intertwines with eating to satiety.  If you aren’t rested, then obviously it will be more difficult to make good food choices.  And I think a person will engage in more “mindless” eating as well.

I would also add that walking is often underrated.  Long walks on an empty stomach can be very beneficial for steady weight loss.

 

Q) Have you added any ideas to your weight loss guide? Are there ideas that you are experimenting with or will experiment with that may help weight loss?

I have been debating about adding a warning against chronic cardio.  I do think that, paradoxically, some people are exercising in a way that blocks them from losing weight.  I’ll never forget when I ran a marathon years ago.  The training just wore me down, and I steadily gained weight throughout the training.  After the race, I put my running shoes in the closet and then the weight gain reversed itself.  So I do think chronic cardio can cause weight gain or at least block weight loss.

I’ve also thought about emphasizing whole foods more in the guide.  I got away with eating some junk along the way, but it’s obviously more sustainable to build a craving-free, whole food diet.

 

Q) What issue or debate would you most like to see resolved? In other words, what issue has been bugging you the most?

I would say the growing level of digital distractions and digital addictions.  This is going to be a huge public health issue down the road in my opinion.  I think people are trying to minimize it, “oh, it’s just texting…”, when I don’t think that’s the case.

There was an interesting study last year (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22337755) that showed how hearing the human voice in conversation released certain hormones, while receiving texts did not.  I think a lot of people, especially kids, are being fed a diet of heavy electronic communication instead of real communication, and I think this will have very negative effects over time.

 

Q) What ideas have you been experimenting with recently?

I love to experiment, and I’m always up to something.  Right now, I just read this great book, “Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye”, so I have been following that protocol for about six weeks.  I actually just had a dental checkup the other day, and it was great.  Obviously, I can’t say that these last 6 weeks on the program were the reason, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

 

Q) What are your current goals (short and long-term)?

Really my only goal for 2013 is to do some studying and writing about cardiovascular disease.  It is the number one killer in the US, and no one seems to really be putting out any solutions.  You have the generic “eat better” approach, and then there are statins of course, but it seems like there should be more attention paid to the subject.

Long-term I just want to keep running, lifting, and eating healthy.

 

Thanks again to Matt for taking the time out of his busy schedule to work with us!

 

The fact that I’ve found a triceps exercise which I can call “my favorite” still astonishes me. You see, most triceps exercises hurt my elbows, especially my fudged-up right elbow. I’ve tried many of the conventional triceps exercises (e.g. skullcrushers, rope extensions, dips, etc.) and I’ve found that either they’ll piss off my elbows during the workout and/or my elbows will be sore the next day. And I didn’t much like the exercises that didn’t hurt my elbow because I didn’t think they were good exercises. So for years I’ve been picky about which triceps exercises I did and often I simply didn’t do any direct triceps work. Instead, I was content to stimulate my triceps via compound pressing movements, such as the dumbbell bench press or weighted pushups. But then I got all insecure about my woefully underdeveloped triceps and found an exercise which met my needs. (Not that anyone has been reading my recent posts, but someone who has might be able to guess the nature of this exercise.)

I’ll end the flowery introduction and get to the point: my favorite triceps exercise are TRX bodyweight triceps extensions. Why do I like them so much? Like my other favorite exercises on the TRX (e.g. rows and pushups), you’re able to rotate your hands as you perform the exercise and therefore put your joints in their optimal positions at each point in the movement. (I attribute the lack of elbow pain to the fact that I can rotate my hands.) When your joints are in an optimal position, your muscles are optimally activated. It therefore does not surprise me that I can “feel” my triceps working more while doing this exercise than any other triceps exercise I’ve tried.

As with TRX rows and pushups, I also prefer to set up the TRX in the “right” position (i.e. with each strap looped over one neutral grip bars); I’ve tried the exercise with the TRX in the “right” setup and the “wrong” setup and I’ve found that the movement feels better in the “right” setup. This exercise is great to use for drop sets because it’s simple to decrease the difficulty of the exercise; to decrease the tension, take a step out (i.e. away from the pullup bar). I like to do a few sets of TRX tricep extensions at the end of an upper body with the last set being either a drop set or in myo-rep fashion. For what it’s worth, I performed a few sets of these at the end of my workout two days ago and my triceps are still have a deep soreness.

Below is a video of Ben Bruno performing this exercise, albeit with the  TRX in the “wrong” setup. Also, notice how his hands rotate during the movement.

Unless you’re a bodybuilder, I don’t see a need for using more than one triceps isolation exercise in your workouts. And even if you are, I think this exercise is better than most traditional triceps exercises. The one caveat is that you need a TRX (or make one yourself, like I did) or Olympic rings, so not everyone can do it. That being said, if you do have access to the necessary equipment, I recommend you try the exercise. You may need to do a few experimental sets in order to determine what body angle is appropriate for your strength, but you should be able to find a good position after only a few sets of trial and error.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for today. I apologize for this post’s stilted writing. (Not that anyone will read this post.) I’m tired. I’m only human.

 

Put 10 minutes on the clock. And go.

Last time I talked about inverted rows and some of the exercise’s subtleties. Now I want to discuss some more of my recent training, share some insights and my rationale for doing what I do, and (hopefully) not bore you to death. Not that anyone reads my posts. Sigh.

Weighted TRX Pushups: The TRX pushup has been my go-to upper-body pressing exercise and supersets nicely with inverted rows. In order to get a good training effect from this exercise, it’s important to have a weight vest to increase the weight. If I were only able to use my bodyweight, the exercise would be nearly useless for me because I would be doing sets of over 30 and thus not getting the training response I’m looking for (strength and hypertrophy). Wearing my 80 pound weight vest, I perform sets in the 8-10 rep range, which is perhaps a little higher than I’d like (I’d like to be able to work in the 6-8 rep range), but beggars can’t be choosers. Either way, I think it’s a great exercise for hypertrophy of the pecs, triceps, and shoulders, provided that you can load it appropriately. It’s also a good exercise for core and shoulder stability. The first time I have friends try this exercise, they always struggle at first to perform the exercise without shaking. Over time, though, they became more stable throughout their body and their form improves.

Perhaps the main reason I like the TRX pushup is the exercise’s mechanics. The TRX enables me to rotate my arms and shoulders in an ergonomic manner during the movement, which means there’s less strain on my joints and the movement better matches my muscles’ strength curves. In the stretch position, my elbows are tucked and my hands are in a neutral position–as opposed to the shoulder-impinged elbows-flared position so many people bench from. In the lockout position, I’m more internally rotated, which is fine because I’m extended. The image I like to use to explain this movement is to imagine throwing a punch (provided that you know how to punch): your arm will naturally twist as you punch because that is the most efficient and powerful means of extension.

Contrast this motion with a barbell bench press: in the bench, your hands are fixed because you’re gripping the bar. Thus, the fixed bar forces you to sacrifice efficient movement. I’m not saying we should abandon barbells in favor of TRX’s or dumbbells, though. Perhaps the best solution is to use barbells for maximum strength work and employ dumbbells and TRX’s for assistance work. Also, some people can tolerate more benching than others, so you need to prescribe exercises on a case-by-case basis. I would guess, however, that people who cannot bench due to shoulder or elbow pain may find it easier to use dumbbells or TRX’s for their pressing exercises.

Another detail: I attach the TRX to the pullup bar in the same way I do for TRX inverted rows: each strap hangs over one of the neutral-grip bars. I’ve found that I like this attachment more than the standard setup for the same reason I like it for the inverted rows. Also, the straps don’t destroy my arms as much in this position (although I still end up with some strap-burn).

Love it? Hate it? Did anyone read it? Probably not. Regardless, look forward to (or dread) more of my rambling in the coming days.

 

Today I’m going to share with you my recent life story, because I know you all are incredibly interested.  You know, or not.  Anyway, I’ve posted some stuff regarding icing and treating injuries in the past, and I feel like I have something pertinent and (potentially) useful to share with you all.

Last week, I had the great fortune of having all four of my wisdom teeth removed.  For any of you that have undergone this procedure, you can appreciate my sarcasm.  To the rest of you, bah humbug!  In all seriousness, the whole experience really wasn’t that bad.  However, I prepared for the procedure and dealt with the recovery with (somewhat) strategic nutrition and supplementation, so I thought I’d explain it to ya’ll, in the hopes that you might find it useful under similar circumstances.  Or at least get a good chuckle at my witty humor.  Or lack thereof.

Let’s rewind to one week prior to the surgery.  I had read an article by Brian St. Pierre regarding nutrition and supplementation for injury recovery, and I decided to utilize some of it, as well as some of K Star’s advice that I’ve talked

This Justin Bieber wanna-be probably could have benefited from some curcumin. And a haircut.

about previously.  The chief issues with a surgery like this are: pain, swelling, bleeding, and possible infection; I made sure I addressed each one in my planning.

For the swelling, I cut out inflammatory foods from my diet (grains, processed crap, beverages that weren’t water, coffee, or tea), most of which I did not regularly consume anyway.  Starting one week prior to surgery, I jacked up my fish oil intake to 3g of EFA’s (DHA + EPA), and started taking curcumin at a dose of 1g twice daily.  Curcumin is a component of the spice turmeric and is, in the words of Brian St. Pierre, a “kickass supplement”.  It’s good for a lot of things, among which are its anti-inflammatory properties (I’m not sure of the exact mechanism, but I have read that it inhibits the growth of new blood vessels, so that may be a factor).  I also applied heat post-op via hot towels on the face.

For the bleeding, I used compression (also helps with swelling) by applying pressure with gauze pads for several days post-op.  The anti-inflammatory stuff also probably helped with minimizing the bleeding, as well as the pain.  I tried to keep my mouth moving as much as I could without causing any damage, to stimulate blood flow and prevent atrophy of the tissue in the area.

As far as preventing infection goes, I am not a huge fan of antibiotics (they have an adverse effect on gut flora, for one), but I did take the ones prescribed for me twice a day.  I tried to offset any intestinal damage the meds might do by doubling my probiotic intake.  I also rinsed twice a day with the mouthwash they gave me.

I avoided NSAID’s as much as possible, as I’ve noted their negative effects on recovery times in past articles.  I did take a small dose on the first two days because I really wanted to minimize swelling, but that was it.  As with anything, reasonable (in this case, sparing) use isn’t going to kill you.

Now, it may seem silly that I’m talking about something as simple as having my wisdom teeth removed, but this stuff is pertinent to other injuries as well, and not just surgeries.  If you want to minimize swelling and shorten recovery times, then the methods I outlined above could prove useful to you.

Since I haven’t blogged much in the last few weeks (or ever, for that matter), I decided to start small: I’m giving myself ten minutes to write this post. I figure I can muster ten minutes worth of effort, so here goes. (Note: I ended up wanting to write for more than ten minutes, so I did.)

I wanted to discuss my current training routine in a series of posts. I’ll try to detail what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. At the same time, I’ll try to explain why I don’t do certain things and why. I don’t think what I do is perfect, but I like to think that I may have learned a few things over the years and have a few insights worth sharing. In this first post, I’ll cover some of my upper body training (as much as ten minutes will allow).

A little background information: I made a pseudo home gym for my upper body training. My equipment: one of those “perfect” pullup bars you can fit in a doorway, a weight vest which goes from 4 to 80 pounds, my homemade TRX, and my homemade “gymnastic” rings. My apartment complex’s gym has dumbbells going up to 50 pounds, some benches, and a cable machine.

I’ll go through my training exercise-by-exercise in no particular order.

TRX rows: Simply put, it’s a great proverbial “bang for your buck” exercise. Enough people have expressed enough love for this exercise, so I won’t repeat what you’ve probably already heard. Using my weight vest allows me to train at different intensities and get the most out of an excellent movement. My reps and sets are standard: a few warm-up sets, a few heavy sets (6-10 reps) and usually at least one set using only my bodyweight (maybe using myo-reps or other set-extending methods). I like to superset the row with another exercise to make my workouts more efficient. My recent favorite exercise to superset with rows are dips on the TRX, an exercise I may discuss in a future post.

With regards to the inverted row, here’s my insight: a lot of people perform them wrong. Okay, I’m not sure if “wrong” is the appropriate term, but I’ll explain it might be true. How you set up your TRX or rings to perform the exercise will affect the movement and recruitment of muscles. Here’s the (possibly) “right” way to set up the TRX: hang each strap over the handles of the parallel-grip pullup bar. Done this way, each handle should hang about a foot or two apart from each other. The wrong way is the way most people do it: they simply attach the TRX to the pullup bar and the handles hang adjacent to each other.

To clarify things, below is  a video of rows performed with the “right” setup (notice how the straps are parallel):

Here’s an example in which the setup is “wrong” (notice how the straps are not parallel):

Why does it matter? In the “wrong” way, you have to pull the handles apart as you perform the row, whereas you simply row in the “right” way. It’s a subtle difference which involves some physics I don’t completely understand, but I’ll try to explain anyway. (For a more complete explanation, check out Nick Tuminello’s 2007 article in which he addresses the same issue in other exercises.) If you perform the row with the wrong setup, your hands probably end farther apart from each other than they started and the angle between the two straps increased. As a result of the increased angle, you have to exert more force (I got an A in physics, so you can trust me. Or not.) at the end of the movement. And since the strength curve for the movement is normal (i.e. you’re strongest in the middle of the movement and weakest at the end ranges), you’re going to be weakest when the tension is highest. And everyone knows that if you overload the weakest part of the movement, you’re gonna have a bad time. Another thing of note is that their is less of an increase in tension the longer the straps are.

If you overload the weakest point in the strength curve…

That’s enough for the first installment of this (hopefully) ongoing series. My discussion of the subtleties of the inverted row may be worthless or overstated (I think the increase in tension may be insignificant much of the time), but I think it’s an overlooked subtlety which merits some further investigation from smarter strength coaches. At the risk of coming across as arrogant and uppity, I think this difference could be important and could change how almost everyone performs inverted rows.