How to:

Simplicity in Training

Standing on a BOSU while performing a single leg squat into a single arm cable row can seem different and fun, and in fact may be, but is it practical and effective?

Most trainees and new trainers desire the use of novel and different looking exercises in order to keep the “entertrainment” value at its highest. However, the exercises that have been used for hundreds of years, continue to be used for a reason and that is because they work!

The three primary lifts, the squat, the Deadlift and the bench press continue to be emphasized by most good coaches and the powerlifting community because they are amazing compound movements that utilize more muscle than most other exercises and there are more variations of these that can be alternated between to continue to create a novel response in the body. Of course, these exercises should be contraindicated under certain circumstances, but the goal will always be to get the most out of each exercise as possible. When an exercise uses a significant amount of muscle, it consequently helps to build more muscle overall, burn more calories during training. On top of this, repairing muscle requires more calories over the next 36 hours. For most of the population, including pull-ups in this category and even swapping the bench press for a shoulder press can often create a more safe and corrective protocol due to common imbalances created from sitting, cell phone use and inactivity.

Sticking to the basics may not be new and incredibly entertaining, but it can help you to reach your goals much more quickly! Due to the unlimited options that each of these exercises offer, there can still be novelty in the movement on a semi-frequent basis. One such example can be taken from a squat. The squat can be taught as a goblet squat or a front squat initially, then transitioned to a high or low-bar back squat. The feet can be moved closer or further apart in order to change the targeted muscles. Heels can be flat or they can be elevated to an incredibly high angle to focus on training the VMO (Vastis Medialis Oblique) to a greater extent. The femurs can be neutral or externally rotated. Quarter repetitions can be included at the top, bottom or both portions of the movement. Tempos can be varied to include slow descents, ascents or isometric pauses at various stages of the movement. All of these changes elicit specific responses and having a great coach or the knowledge of how these can affect the muscle you are trying to target can further expedite results, without requiring complete changes in exercises

If you feel comfortable with your mechanics, trying some of these options out yourself can make a huge impact on your body’s ability to continue to respond to your training and reduce the risk of repetitive use injuries, such as tendinitis. If you want great results, occasionally vary your exercises and practice your technique. Safely performing compound movements without compensation and using the greatest range of motion safely possible, will make bigger differences in your training than just about anything else. As the great Michael Boyle frequently states, “Keep It Simple Stupid!”

The Human Adaptation Machine

20 lbs of fat loss in 2 weeks! This is often a situation that many procrastinate their training and find themselves in.

The body is an adaptation machine. It will do anything that you ask of it, but will quickly find ways to enhance survivability. If your goal is to lose a significant amount of fat in a short period of time, chances are highly likely that much of the weight that you end up losing will actually come from muscle. In the long run, this creates multiple negative adaptations that then have to be fixed and often take longer than that 2 week cut in order to repair.

One common adaptation is that the body will increase its efficiency and require less calories to accomplish a task, such as running or even just sitting and therefore tends to store those calories more efficiently. Think of it this way, when you go for long periods of time without eating, the body wants to hold on to what little caloric input it receives, in order to help you survive more easily while waiting for your next meal.

Cultures that survive through hunting and gathering as we did tens of thousands of years ago, have been studied and it has actually been found that many of these people have very similar caloric expenditures to us, even though they tend to be significantly more active.

Further, muscle tissue is difficult enough to build, that when we drop calories so significantly, our body takes from this precious, costly tissue first. This makes it even more difficult to lose fat down the line since our primary metabolic tissue is now reduced. To make matters worse, it can often be challenging to rebuild the body’s natural metabolic levels when such severe calorie restrictions are implemented. Many bodybuilders for example go through extreme weight cuts for competition and after each show, tend to have a more difficult time cutting weight for subsequent shows. Sometimes these people start their first cut between 1,800 and 2,500 calories, but by their third show, have to drop their calories down to 1,000 to 1,400 calories. Some people can take over a year to rebuild their metabolism and return to normal functioning levels.

In this fat loss example, slow and steady wins the race, especially if you can lose weight and maintain high caloric intakes. I know I hate to be hungry for too long!

This rule doesn’t just apply for cutting fat though. When using an athlete for example, if my athlete’s goals are to increase their vertical jump, making sure that all of the right pieces are in place, including exercises, health, body fat level, strength, and limb strength discrepancies are as ideal as possible, will help create those sustained levels of growth throughout their career.

When focusing solely on power for example, some rapid games can be made, however, if not done in the right order and all of the other pieces are not in place, results can stall out quickly and that human adaptation machine can quickly take over. Just as with calories, attempting to jump too much without creating a stable strength base, will reduce future positive adaptations to that type of stimulus and can reduce results in the future.

It is vital that every part of your health and fitness be taken into consideration and implemented systematically. That is what a good coach will do in order to reduce your likelihood of failure and to help you achieve the goals that you would like to reach. Just make sure to give them more than two weeks to help you achieve those goals!

Better Sleep Tonight!

Many of us experience problems sleeping from time to time. In fact, studies show that there is a correlation between instances of overweight populous in every country in the world and poor sleep; these percentages often equate to nearly identical.

Sleep is the most important thing we can do for our bodies. We repair our brain and our body while sleeping and it is nearly impossible to make up any lost sleep in the future, which causes a compounding affect. Here are my top recommendations for sleep.

Temperature:

Studies show that ideal room temperature when attempting to sleep is 60-68 degrees. Anything above or below could compromise sleep quality and ability to fall asleep.

Avoiding extended rigorous activity:

Can coincide with temperature. Internal body temperature can rise with activity. Most people experience difficulty sleeping after physical activity.

Diaphragmatic breathing:

Can help put one in a state of relaxation after activity or improper breathing throughout the day, which puts the nervous system into fight-or-flight mode. I like to practice this with what is called box breathing.

Meditation:

Can help calm the mind and focus on relaxing, instead of mind wandering thoughts.

Electro Magnetic Frequencies:

Keep cell phone, ideally turned off or as far away from the body as possible late at night and while attempting to sleep. Many hotels have regulations that reduce the electrical frequencies that escape wires in walls, but as soon as something is plugged into a wall socket, that socket becomes active and releases electrical frequencies into the room (try to unplug everything in your room when traveling before bed). At home, a great option would be to install an electrical kill switch in each room of the house that deactivates all electrical flow to that specific area when deactivated. Bluetooth signals should be turned off at night and WiFi signals including both electronics and routers should deactivated be as well.

Blue light:

Any light exposure prior to bed will reduce the bodies ability to produce melatonin (sleep hormone) for up to 2 hours and increases internal cortisol levels (wake up/stress hormone). Blue light especially is effective at this. This specific ray of light is produced in significant amounts by electronics. Try to turn off cell phones, computers and televisions several hours before bed. This is often challenging for most so some minor compromises can include dimming a screen to an orange hue, wearing blue light blocking glasses and using blue light blocking screens. Many LED lights are produced in this hue, so attempt to purchase those with “natural lighting.” iPhones have this option built in and can even be adjusted in settings to more efficiently block out more blue light. F.Lux is an app for PC and Mac that can help with this as well. A great company that produces light bulbs with low blue light is Lighting science.

Here is a link to some blue light blocking glasses that work great and look good!

Supplementation:

  • Yin Reserve by Charles R. Poliquin is an amazingly effective supplement that helps to sleep without addictive properties or severe side-effects. It is designed around reducing anxiety and certainly does the job.
  • Melatonin should be used sparingly since dosages on packaging are often far greater than necessary and can cause the body to produce lesser amounts naturally. For melatonin supplementation, I recommend using a rub on cream and using between the thighs for better absorption.
  • Cannabidiol (CBD) can be effective at helping to sleep. This is a non-psychedelic and extremely healing component of hemp that can reduce cortisol and inflammation. Can be purchased at nearly any health food store now.

Anti-anxiety based herbs:

  • Valerian Root
  • Chamomile
  • Ashwaganda
  • Lavender
  • Passionflower
  • Magnolia bark
  • California poppy

Grateful log:

A grateful log has been scientifically shown to actually begin to change the mind and it’s focus. If we are stressed and angry throughout the day, a grateful log can help reset the mind and put you into a happy relaxed state, allowing for greater restfulness. Write in your log prior to bed, try writing 3 things you are grateful for on a daily basis. You can also write, one thing good you did, one good thing someone did to you and one good thing you observed today.

Carbohydrates before bed:

Try to include with fat to increase the time of release of glycogen. Low levels of insulin at night can cause a spike in cortisol and cause you to wake. Further, insulin helps to clear cortisol from the body. Consuming these macronutrients can help to keep you slightly more satiated throughout the night and prevent a spike in cortisol.

Consistency:

Another challenging one, but consistency with sleep helps immensely. Attempting to go to sleep at the same time every night helps. Studies have shown that our brain heals itself best between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM and the body heals best between 2 AM and 6 AM. These times are very important, so try to get to bed by 10 PM at the latest when possible.

Caffeine:

Caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours, which means that after 6 hours, the caffeine you consumed has only half dissipated from the body. If you have a 300mg of caffeine beverage at 12 PM, by 6 PM you will have 150mg still circulating in your system; by 12 AM, there is still roughly 75mg floating around. Try to keep caffeinated beverages to a minimum and the earlier the better. Although some people do not have problems sleeping after consuming caffeine, it can still have a negative affect on the body, such as increasing cortisol, increasing inflammation, decreasing quality of sleep, etc. If a person is experiencing symptoms related to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, often times they attempt to remedy this issue with more caffeine which can cause a compounding affect. Be careful with this amazing drug!

Back Pain!

Back pain is a b****!

It affects nearly everyone in the United States at some point or another.

Here are a few statistics to mull over:

  • There are over 650,000 surgeries annually in the US related to back pain alone.

  • Over $20-billion is spent on back pain in the US annually.

  • Back pain is the number one reason people miss work.

  • Economically, this affects the US by as much as $215-billion annually.

  • 85% of people in the US experience substantial back pain at some point in their life.

Back pain can stem from a multitude of factors. These can include the obvious two, holding on to excess weight and having a weak core. The core consists of more than your visible 6-pack, but the portion I am referring to here includes the entire musculature surrounding your mid-back, frontal abdominal region and gluteal muscles. Beyond these, reasons can include stress, which can have an impact on many other areas of your body and life that can all lead back to pain in the back. Try to find an activity that allows your to relax, such as meditation, Tai Chi, Qigong or positive talk.

Injury to the front of your abdominal region can affect internal organs, which can then lead to pain in surrounding areas. This occurs when inflammation or pain occurs, which can lead to poor activation of musculature in the related regions. Specific exercises to help reactivate these muscles, once the injury is healed is necessary. Similarly, if the stomach is not functioning well, it can negatively affect musculature in the surrounding areas. This means that if the diet is poor, this can lead to significant inflammation and digestive issues; the core musculature then can become weak and inactive.

Although this next part may sound slightly unbelievable, if you take into consideration the power of placebo, it makes perfect sense. Negative self-talk, such as saying “pain in my a**” too often can actually lead to issues in itself. Learning to repeat positive self-talk is important to creating healthy body image, happiness in daily life and patience, including on the road! More on this in future posts.

Constant seated positions and poor posture are also major contributors to back pain. When we sit too long, our hip flexors (illiacus and psoas) can become tight. These two muscles attach from the thigh, into the lumbar spine (lower back). If these muscles become stiff, then some movement can begin to pull on the spine, which can cause pain. Stretching properly, along with fascial release (massage) can assist at reducing this cause.

The vertebrae due to spinal loading over the course of long periods can also compact the spacing between each and eventually deteriorate the liquid filled disks that help to function as impact bags to prevent grinding of the bone. When these compact too much and severely deteriorate the disks, osteoarthritis and other issues can arise. Exercises such as ELDOAs can reestablish spacing between the vertebrae, which can reduce this stress. These exercises are performed by the individual, but can be incredibly complex, challenging and harmful if performed incorrectly. Search for a provider near you online!

Of course, we can’t forget the unfortunate accident. Often times people can develop back pain post vehicular accident, fall or awkward movement. Sometimes, the previously mentioned ELDOA exercises can help to relieve pain from these causes. These injuries can also lead to lack of muscular activation, as previously mentioned.

You can fix or reduce your likelihood of back pain by working with a professional, on top of the aesthetic and health benefits! Take action and start feeling better today!

Contact me if you have specific questions!

The Truth About Peaking for Maximal Performance

Here is another dual Breaking Muscle post on best methods to prepare for a specific event and the truth about peaking for Maximal Performance!

Take a look here!

Working with Athletes

I primarily Coach athletes and especially youth athletes. As a result of the majority group that I work with, before and after pictures are few and far between. Rather, the accolades that my athletes collect are our before and after success stories. Although my athletes and I are often confined to a gym setting, with minimal space and the right tools, we don’t need a field and a ball to improve significantly. In my training, I promote the necessity to move well before all else. Moving well consists of being able to control the body through acceleration and deceleration, jumping and landing, agility, balance, and strength and stability in many planes. We then work to build strength so that we can build a base to control and create all movement; as a result, building a base of strength, even with children through body weight exercise, is important. Power is an expression of strength in a rapid manner and therefore a base of strength can become even more vital. Many youth volleyball and basketball coaches often search for the ultimate vertical jump building guide, finding that they either don’t help or work for a short period and progress stalls. With proper strength and power development, athletes can make long term improvements; just as Kaizen states: constant and never ending improvement. Early this week, one of my new female soccer athletes relayed to me that she had played significantly better than she had ever in her weekend tournament, leading her coach to name her team captain for the week. Although this isn’t exactly being named league MVP, it proves in the power of proper athletic development and confidence building that this form of training can provide. To make things even more impressive, I have only had the opportunity to see her one time a week for the last four weeks, including this one.

With proper supervision, planning, development and progression, any athlete with the right drive can be developed into a faster, stronger, more confident and dominant one. Find a great Athletic Performance Coach near you at the National Strength & Conditioning Association’s site. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, contact me at (818) 726-2362!

Never stop improving!

Proper programming and finding a great coach!

John Wooden once said “failing to plan is planning to fail.” This applies in life, sport and in coaching. Programming is a necessary, but often challenging aspect to coaching. For a coach, it is important to create a plan and have a blueprint in order to help themselves, their athletes and their trainees reach their goals in as quickly a manner as possible. If you understand what a coach has to consider to create a good program, it can help you identify a good coach or even help you understand how to program for yourself.

To better understand coaching and programming, we can look at the multitude of aspects that must be taken into consideration. It’s not enough to put together a list of exercises and just perform them. Many factors must be considered, such as:

• Actual age

• Training age

• Goals (there can even be more than one)

• Time to train weekly

• Event or activity training for

• Changes in eating

• Recovery

Beyond the basic specifics that have to be taken into consideration, other factors have to be looked at as well. These include but are not limited to:

•Time under tension

• Isometric pauses

• Deloads

• Mobility

• Proper strength ratios between antagonistic muscle groups as well as those between opposing limbs

• Exercise selection

• Training specific muscles to reduce injury, (i.e. semitendinosus hamstring fibers vs biceps femoris and/or semimembranosis)

It’s nearly impossible to learn all of these requirements from one direct source, often requiring multiple books, mentors, classes and life experiences. Programming, just like coaching can require 10,000 hours to master, which is why many great facilities, such as Results Fitness, run by Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove in California, employ staff who’s sole responsibility is programming for their members.

Some of the best sources that have helped me to become better at programming for my athletes and clientele are Charles Poliquin‘s books (specifically the “Poliquin Principles”) and courses, various podcasts, Triphasic Training by Cal Deitz, Louie Simmons’ Conjugate method, and articles on the various differences between different periodization methods, such as block, undulating, linear, conjugate, etc.

Exercise and Workout Programming Resources

There is a never-ending supply of information to learn from, both scientific and in-gym proven based methods. As legendary strength coach Charles Poliquin states, “the human body hasn’t changed much in the last 150 years.” We have training data dating back to the Roman and Ancient Chinese Empire’s that can be utilized efficiently today! In reality, the human body truly hasn’t changed much in the last 100,000 years.

The best place to begin when trying to become proficient at program design is through specific certifications. Many certifications exist that help coaches to begin to understand program design that has been proven to work and are often based on work that has been developed by coaches before them. Some of these include:

• Charles Poliquin’s basic and advanced program design courses

•Michael Boyle‘s Certified Functional Strength Coach

•Joe Defranco and Diesel’s Certified Physical Preparation Specialist

• CHEK Exercise Coach C.H.E.K. Practitioner Program

These are all amazing certifications, but it is important to make sure not to only take from one modality. There’s something to learn from everyone, so it’s important never to get caught in the belief that you know everything. Further learning can be taken from these individual certifications’ assessments, but others exist in the field that can potentially be useful. These include:

•Functional Movement Screen

•Dr. Nicholas Romanov’s Pose Method

•Paul Chek’s Holistic Lifestyle Coach Certification

And truly in-depth programs such as Postural Restoration Institute’s 3 introductory courses.

When searching for a coach, some of this information can become useful as well. Going in to your assessment or initial intake with your new potential coach, it is important to have your ducks in a row. Make sure you know what you want out of your training experience and be ready to list all of your major injuries and issues; your coach should have some ideas or be able to put an action plan together almost immediately, or not be afraid to admit if they do not know the full answer to a question or problem and at least be willing to research it. If your coach can’t break things down in a way that makes sense to a 5 year old, then they often do not have a clue about what they are explaining. Look up short articles by some of the coaches I have previously mentioned and create a small base of knowledge on a topic that interests you and see if your coach can answer more detailed questions regarding some of these interests.

Finding a great coach can be one of the most challenging things to do, but great certification programs such as those listed previously, often have a database of certified coaches in your area that can potentially be a great fit for you!

Later in the learning experience, I’ve found that great sources of information can be taken from seminars and podcasts. Even one tidbit from each source can make the difference in you improving for the rest of your life. Kaizen stands for “constant and never-ending improvement” and this is one of my core principles. It’s important to always keep learning and improving your craft, even if it is the most minute piece of information, that may help only one particular client achieve better results.

Link to the article:

http://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/learning-programming-and-finding-a-good-coach

Pain

Many people experience physical pain throughout just walking around living. Unfortunately, this is no way to live. Chronic pain creates a cascade of affects that can negatively impact the body in many ways. Chronic pain has been shown to cause depression. Chronic pain can release excessive amounts of cortisol, our stress hormone, into our system. If released in large and chronic amounts, cortisol can cause inflamation, weight gain, sleep problems, cancer, diabetes and the list goes on. 

Pain can often be treated through physical exercise. There are definitely limits and contraindications when attempting to control specific pain causes and that’s where having a good coach or physical therapist can help. Find a great practitioner near your to help you reduce your back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, and more. 

If your pain does not become aggravated through yoga, it is a great practice to help reduce stress and create mobility. Apps such as Headspace can help you learn to meditate, calm your mind and reduce stress. Try anything you can to relax, sleep and feel better!

Web sites such as NASM’s and NSCA’s contain a database of great practitioners near you. 

Take a look at my web page to see how I may be able to help you today!

Rules for beginning a safe resistance training routine!

I came across this question on Quora (if you haven't heard of this site, you're missing out on a great learning opportunity!) today and I decided to attempt to help this young man out. 

He was hoping to build muscle in order to resemble a specific actor in one of his parts. I wrote about several important factors to take into consideration when attempting to gain size, build metabolism and lose fat. 

Take a look at my rules:

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-gain-weight-fast-without-taking-supplements/answer/Ted-Sloan-2?share=ed8a135d&srid=3iGMQ

What not to do/how to do it properly: Push-Up!

Push-ups are great exercises! As long as they’re performed properly they can have a tremendous amount of carry-over to other movements and they can somewhat easily be loaded. Take a look at this video and watch me demonstrate some poorly performed push-ups with my elbows flaring, immediately followed by well performed repetitions at both a flat level and a decline level. 
If you just want to see the movement performed then fast-forward to about 3:15!