What Do You Think About?

                When I meet a new client, or whenever I’m helping someone new to the gym, I always assess how they are with basic movements. For example, I like to ask them to perform a push-up, even if it’s knee push-ups. When they’re done, I ask them where they feel it. Quite often it’s in the arms, specifically the triceps.

                 And herein lies the problem. Whenever people hit the gym and lift weights, they go through the motions. They perform the movement, but they’re not really performing the movement, if you know what I mean. Let’s go back to the push-up example. Push-ups are a great upper body exercise that primarily targets the chest, yet people use their triceps to push. They think because the arms are moving that it's the arms that do most the work. So I tell them, focus on your chest to do the pushing (which is what they should be doing in the first place), and they immediately notice a difference. They find it’s a little easier to perform them now. Why? Well the pec major is a primary mover and meant to do the lifting; the triceps are secondary and shouldn’t take on the entire load. When you focus on the primary mover, you make it a little bit easier and you will see greater strength gains.

                Pull-ups are another great example of an exercise people don't perform correctly. People use their biceps too much instead of their lats. When done right, you should feel it behind and below your shoulders. One of the best exercises out there, the squats, is another one that people don’t think to perform correctly, but that is an article in itself.

                The next time you’re in the gym, think about the movements you’re doing and the muscles that should be working. When you start thinking about the movement, you should see quicker improvements in your performance.

The Importance of Technique

                Never underestimate what good technique will do for you. The other day I was performing the deadlift, an exercise I’ve performed countless times. I wasn’t lifting very heavy, but a momentary lapse caused me to tweak my lower back.

                Before anyone starts thinking that the deadlift is a dangerous exercise that no one should perform, let me assure you it’s not the exercise at fault; it was me. When performed right, it’s one of the best strength training exercises out there. But just like any other exercise, it must be performed right. Any exercise can injure you if you do it carelessly.

                The point is, technique is always important in everything that you do. In this context, it’s lifting. But it can also be when you’re running, when you're swimming, when you’re shooting a basketball, heck it could be when you pick up a pen from the ground. The moment you stop paying attention to your technique, or when you get sloppy with it, that’s when you hurt yourself.

                So, the next time you’re exercising or training, don’t forget about technique, even if it’s light weights or light intensity. You never know when you’ll get hurt.

Tackling the Push/Pull Machine (PARE/POPAT/COPAT/SOPAT)

This post has been moved to its current home at www.rlconditioning.ca

You can find it here: http://rlconditioning.ca/blog/62160/Tackling-the-Push-Pull-Machine-PARE-POPAT-

What's Next

                Yesterday I completed the Show and Go program, and I feel much stronger than before. I would love to know how much I’ve improved my one rep max for the bench, squat and deadlift, but unfortunately I didn’t do any pre-test before the program. But even though I didn’t do any pre-tests, I know I’ve accomplished much.

                So what’s next on the agenda? Race wise, I’m signed up to do the Delta Triathlon in April. It’s one of my favourite races to do, and although it won’t be the focus of my training over the next 3 months, I will be starting up some run, bike, and swim training. The next performance goal is to improve my vertical jump. All throughout high school when I was really into basketball, I was always a few inches shy of touching the rim. Now, without any formal jump training, I’m able to touch the bottom of the rim, although barely.

                Starting tomorrow, I’m going to do some tests to measure my vertical jump and my one rep back squat. In 8 weeks time, the goal is to go from barely touching the rim to grabbing it with ease. The program I’m testing to get me there is Kelly Baggett’s Vertical Jump Bible.

                There’s several programs to follow, depending if you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced jumper. After reading the descriptions of each program and the prerequisites, I would fall under the intermediate. Even under the intermediate program there are sub-programs, so the one I’m going to follow is a mix of strength training and reactive training.  Frequency of training is twice a week, so I can supplement the training with some tri training for Delta. Now, because I am doing strength/plyo work and endurance training concurrently, I understand I may not get the full results that I’m looking for. But if I limit the volume of endurance training, I should still see improvements in my vertical leap. I may focus more on my swim during this training period.

                Stay tuned everybody, I’ll report my progress over the next 8 weeks.

2012: Time for a Change

                Four months ago I started a strength program called Show and Go by Eric Cressey to help with my triathlon training. The goal from the beginning was to improve my strength during the off-season and maintain my endurance abilities. Well, things haven’t gone as planned, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Let me explain.

                I’ve been strength training on and off over the last 10 years or so, but never this serious since high school. Over the last 10 years I’ve been racing triathlons, which I’ve had a lot of fun with it. Before I got into triathlons though, I was really into basketball, and still am to a certain degree now, but triathlons took the forefront of my athletic training and basketball fell to the wayside. Like any kid playing basketball, I was obsessed with improving my vertical jump. With rough measurements, my standing vertical was about 22-23 in; if I had a running start, it was about 30 or so inches. Standing a shade under 5’6” I was somewhat satisfied with that, but I still wanted to jump higher.

                Around the same time, I got bit by the triathlon bug and my goals to jump higher went to the backburner. All my time was spent trying to run, bike, and swim faster. But over the last couple years, I feel like I’ve been plateauing with triathlons, and even my interest has dropped a little. Life in general was also changing quite a bit and dedicating time to triathlons was becoming harder to do. I usually average at least 5 tri races a year, plus another 3 run races, but this last season I only did 3 races.

                At the end of this past season, I was re-evaluating what I needed to do to improve. I’ve felt that I’ve always lacked bike power, so I wanted to dedicate time to the weight room; hence, Show and Go. I wanted to maintain my running and swimming as well, so the plan was to run and/or swim about 2-3 times a week, but work was picking up a little and it was easier to dedicate time to strength training instead of running or swimming. It also helped I had a plan to follow with strength training; I didn’t quite have the same with running or swimming.

                Now, at the end of four months of strength training, things have changed. I don’t want to dedicate as much of my time to triathlons anymore. I’ve been having a lot of fun discovering how much stronger I can get and it awakened something in me that has been dormant for a long time; the need to have fun, jump around, become more athletic. Before triathlons I always wanted to see how high I could jump, how many push-ups can I do, how many pull-ups I can perform, etc. I’ve wanted to explore my other athletic potential aside from triathlons. Ever since I became a trainer, there’s been that underlying desire to try something new and dropped the dream of racing at the elite level of triathlons.

                Now I want to have fun training. I want to dedicate my training time to other pursuits that I gave up because I always had my focus on triathlons. I want to dunk a basketball; I want to do at least 100 push-ups; I want to bench press two plates, squat twice my bodyweight, and deadlift 300+ lbs; I want to learn how to do the clean; I want to race obstacle races; I'd love to do some kind of martial art again. The list goes on and on.

                I’ll still race triathlons, but for a different reason. I’ll still run because I love to run. I’ll still bike because I love to bike. I’ll still swim because I love to swim. But I’m not going to focus on getting to the next level, to that elite level that I’ve wanted. I’m not going to do that because I want to explore my other fitness abilities and perform them the best that I can.

                This is a new journey for me, which I’m excited about. With all the other exciting changes happening in my life, I’m looking forward to what’s to come.