Archive for training
p90x Plyometrics X … Are you kidding me?
Posted by: | CommentsOoh this one is probably going to ruffle some feathers. How do I know this? Because anyone who has anything negative to say about anything p90x gets attacked. Not even uber strength coach Charles Staley is safe from the “p90 xplorers” cult. For some reason, I don’t know maybe it’s just clever marketing or something, people on the p90x program walk around acting like they are a Navy Seal going through Buds. Some of them act like they are on an elite program used on cage fighters and NFL draft picks.
Now here let me just get this out in the open before I start. Yes p90x helps you burn fat. Yes p90x is hard. Yes I know it can get you down right exhausted. Yes I know that they get in better shape…usually. Yes I know that p90x has a lot of tremendous before and after pictures (real too…congrats to them) Yes I know that pro athletes use plyometrics to increase their power.
Here is where p90x succeeds. It is a diet and exercise program that gets people off their asses and exercising. Any exercise program that is followed is going to get some results…especially beginners.
BeachBody has million dollar investors putting out megabucks to push this thing out to the market. p90x has 2 million searches per month on google alone…think about that a second 2 million A MONTH!. Do you think you might get a couple decent before and after pics with that many people trying it out? Exactly.
Now that I have gotten that out of the way, on to the topic at hand. Plyometrics X
Plyometrics are used by many pro athletes to improve their explosive power for sports performance applications. The problem is that all too often coaches take a great concept and mutate it to get it away from it’s original purpose. They aren’t seeing the forest for the trees. “Plyos” have been especially victimized in this regard.
This is how BeachBody.com explained plyometrics
Explosive jumping cardio routine proven to dramatically improve athletic performance.
Here is the thing. Plyometrics are intended to take advantage of the myotatic reflex which in non geek speak refers to the automatic contraction of muscles done as a reaction to a quick stretch. It is like an automatic muscular reflex and it has to be very “touch and go”. Oh yeah and it has to be done for low reps. Let me illustrate the reflex analogy. You know that thing they do when you go to the doctor’s office and they whack you on the knee with a tiny rubber hammer and your knee kicks up? If they did that a bunch of times your knee would stop kicking up as high and eventually not do it at all. Plyometrics kind of work the same way and you need it to be fresh as a daisy.
You can also think of it like a ball bouncing on the floor. The force of the ground pushes the side of the ball in and the balls natural reaction is to push back out propelling it up. If it stays there it doesn’t bounce.
If you watch MMA superstar Georges St.Pierre in this video at around 2 minutes and 42 seconds you can see that he instigates the drill by first jumping over a hurdle and IMMEDIATELY bouncing up over the next one and the next one. Like I said “touch and go” and the keyword is “immediately”.
The key is “bouncing”. If you don’t bounce immediately up you lose that effect. Any time on the ground and it’s wasted. THAT is how it is used on professional athletes and as you can see it is A LOT more involved than simply jumping around your living room like a fool.
Plyometrics X is glorified aerobics made to sound scientific and cool. It doesn’t take advantage of that myotatic reflex which makes it lose sight of how plyometrics works. It’s like picking up a couple light dumbbells, doing a bunch of different curls with them and telling people you train like Arnold.
I watched the p90x plyometrics x dvd all the way through because I was curious about what they were doing. I actually laughed harder at some of the moves then I did at some of the comedies that came out this year (there really aren’t a whole lot of funny movies anymore). I can’t fathom how some people can do some of these exercises and think that’s the same thing that they are doing in NFL, NHL, NBA and UFC.
Surely they must be kidding me.
Is it in you?
Posted by: | CommentsDo you have the willingness to stay the course?
Every day I hear about people making excuses about their training. I hear people making other things a priority constantly. They’ll say anything to justify it to themselves. It’s very easy to come up with something.
Here is a short list.
_____tv show is on.
There isn’t enough variety.
It’s raining
It’s too early
It’s too late.
I’m too old.
I’m too young.
I am hungry.
My food is getting cold.
But I don’t have a kettlebell.
I’m going out to dinner with friends.
blah blah blah
Now I am all for balancing your training along with the rest of your life. Sometimes you do need time off where you don’t even look at a weight for a week.
And sometimes you just need to shut the f’ up and do the work.
It isn’t always fun. It isn’t always convenient but if it was everyone would be doing it.
To get your goals you have to have a laser focus. I like to call it the “terminator mentality”. A terminator doesn’t allow anything to get in it’s way. The only thing that matter’s to a terminator is it’s mission. Try taking a terminator off it’s task and you might get a response like
“That is not one of my mission parameters.” That is if it doesn’t just ignore you completely.
Or you might get this as a response.
The point is the terminator doesn’t make excuses, doesn’t try to justify ways out in it’s head. The mission is the mission and that is the only thing that matters.
My mission is to get stronger. It sometimes means that my dinner will get cold while it waits for me to get my necessary repetitions in. It sometimes means I won’t go out for lunch. It sometimes means that I can’t play video games or go do something that doesn’t take priority. Very few things take priority over my strength practice.
Like I said it might not always be fun but I love achieving new feats and it allows me to do this.
Can you do that? The fun is in continuing to get better. The fun is knowing you are accomplishing something. The end justifies the means.
Get a laser focus. Have a die hard terminator mentality and achieve what you previously thought impossible. It isn’t in everybody which is why people rarely achieve their results. The question is….
Is it in you?
A slippery slope and a grey line with steroids and what is considered cheating
Posted by: | CommentsSo I just finished watching the documentary “Bigger Faster Stronger” on youtube and I just have to say it was fantastic.
Chris Bell is a man who did his homework and produced a well thought out and informative documentary that really does make you think. Now it is rather well known that Mr. Olympia competitors are all on the juice (steroids), apparently a lot of pro football, pro baseball, pro anything athletic people are on the juice. So if all the cool kids are doing it, is it still cheating? And if it is, what else is? Is use of creatine cheating? How about coffee? How about proper nutrition? Would it be considered cheating because I use tension and better training modalities to gain an edge? I can do a pullup and a pistol with 106lbs which is something that isn’t easily attainable and for many people they probably will never do it and I did it with well thought out training. The 106lb press is kind of like my white whale though. If I did a cycle of steroids I could probably achieve that…but would I really have achieved it? Or would the accomplishment belong to the steroids?
What do you think? Is steroids cheating if all the cool kids are doing it?
By the way for the record, I don’t take steroids, I haven’t taken steroids, I don’t plan on ever taking steroids even though it’s something I have been accused of doing more then once. People that accuse me of that are usually the sissy’s that even steroids can’t cure.
Should you train while on vacation?
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t know how long you have been keeping up with my blog but a little while back I took my girlfriend on a cruise where I proposed to her (and she said yes). Well the time has come for us to book our honeymoon because our wedding is coming up in November. Well for me being the stingy bastard that I am I wanted to get a high bang for my buck place (kind of like my exercise programs) and checked a lot of places and what they have to offer. One thing I noticed under the amenities was that just about all of them have a “fitness facility” listed under a place that could have very easily been titled “Here are a bunch of reasons you should stay here.”
Now I have a hard time understanding a lot of people’s mindsets. For one thing is pushing yourself through a workout while you could be on a beautiful beach or an excursion really the way you want to spend your vacation? Contrary to popular belief you aren’t going to lose your results after a single week of indulgence and relaxation. Actually you could come back refreshed since back off weeks are a part of just about every strength and conditioning programs out there. Some of my clients even ask me right before they leave what they should do while on vacation. I answer “Whatever you want. Relax and we can undue whatever damage was done when you get back.” Most of the facilities don’t give me the eye of the tiger anyways.
Would you rather be here or in the gym.
One thing I have also noticed is that some people will avoid training just about every other week of the year and suddenly while they are on vacation they get the inspiration to train. Hey I guess late is better then never but the major problem here is that they spend their entire vacation limping around from delayed onset muscle soreness. Not a pleasant way to spend the vacation and you aren’t going to have any visible results from the single workout that pretty nearly ruined your trip.
So to wrap it up what I recommend is to pay your dues BEFORE your trip. Spend the vacation enjoying the fruits of your labor.
The fruits of my labor
Strength Training for Fitness and Aesthetics
Posted by: | CommentsAlright I was sitting here at my laptop with no clue what I wanted to write about so I’ll just give you a free workout to try at home. Hell I’ll write down the guidelines for you to complete it free of charge since I am not an asshole after all. I just came back from running a class and this is what I had them do. All you need is a kettlebell. The purpose of this training session is to train over head stability and movement quality, build strength and boost your metabolism to burn some fat (if that is your goal get on a proper nutrition program).
4 turkish get ups alternating sides. Make sure to pay attention to proper form.
“Countdowns” (I stole “countdowns” from uber Strength Coach Alwyn Cosgrove…he told me to…)
Complete this as fast as you can with good form.
10 swings
10 goblet squats
9 swings
9 goblet squats
8 swings
8 goblet squats
till you get down to 1
Wait for your respiration to return to normal then do kettlebell arm bars to open up the chest. That one doesn’t have a specific rep count since I want you to just kind of explore your way through the exercise. Remember to keep your lats tight and keep your shoulder away from your ear.
Then do a couple halos and round the body pass just to loosen up your shoulders a bit more.
Prone cobra stretch at the end.
Enjoy.
Eric Moss RKC
I want you to notice that even though there is a lot going on in that workout I stress the basics. It’s turkish getups, swings and squats. Do more of the stuff that provides a high bang for your buck and you will get better results. Exercise selection is the last thing your body adapts to so don’t buy into that muscle confusion crap. Try that training session out and let me know how you do with it. I mean it, speak up.
