Learn, Apply, Compete.

I wrote this article two years ago but I really think it has some great points and personal stories that are important.  Hope you enjoy it as well.

Learn
I’ve heard the saying, “The more I know, the more I realize that I don’t know much.” This saying couldn’t be truer for me. I wasn’t an exceptional student in school. However, I do have an insatiable desire to learn more about strength and conditioning. I could spend hours reading books, websites, blogs, and articles, training logs, and Q&A posts. It wasn’t always that way though…  When I was in college, I didn’t know much about strength and conditioning as a profession. I earned my degree in physical education but didn’t want to become a teacher. So, I chose a non-teaching track, which featured classes such as exercise physiology, biomechanics, motor learning, and nutrition. When I first got out of college, I worked part-time at a gym and only read “muscle magazines” as I had since my military service days. These were my main source of information.

As I continued along in the fitness industry, I started working full-time at the gym and earned my first personal trainer certification from the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. Soon after, I attended some clinics and met people who advised me to check into the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s (NSCA) certifications if I was truly serious about working in the industry and training athletes. I’m very thankful for this advice because I was first introduced to EliteFTS.com from an ad in the NSCA Journal.  I also met some of the first people who mentored me in the industry at NSCA conferences and clinics, and I still keep in touch with these people to this day.

It was this introduction to “the Darkside training" at Elitefts that showed me where to get more information about the methodologies and philosophies that have helped mold my own training beliefs and philosophies. In addition, I gained access to the incredible knowledge that the contributors on EliteFTS.com have and are willing to share. I’ve emailed various contributors and have asked questions about training. They’ve given me tips or pointed me in the right direction.

Reading is only one way to learn though. Some people learn better in a hands-on or small group environment where you can actually ask questions and get feedback. When I wanted to learn more about the squat, bench, and deadlift, I went to a friend’s father who had been a highly competitive powerlifter. He had a great basement gym where he trained, and I spent years working out with him and listening to the how’s and why’s of training his way. I also drove two hours to train with an Olympic Weightlifting coach to learn about the proper techniques for those lifts.

After seeing a presentation on Strongman training for athletes at the NSCA’s national convention in 2005, I went to a Strongman clinic at Art McDermott’s place in Massachusetts. I attended my first NSCA seminar in 2003 and still stay in touch with some of the coaches that I met at this seminar. That two-day seminar was a great introduction to seminars as well as to “networking.” I knew immediately that I needed to do more networking to get where I wanted to be. Many times the best part of a seminar is what goes on “after it’s over,” whether at a restaurant, the gym, or a bar. The best stuff happens when it’s just a bunch of strength and conditioning professionals sitting around chatting and exchanging ideas, information, and training methods.
I was lucky enough to make it to the EliteFTS VIP seminar in 2008. It was the best seminar I had been to yet and I had been attending seminars since 2003 when I became certified. The presentations were great, but the interactions that I had with the presenters and my fellow attendees were, for me, even better.

I’ve taken a great deal of notes over the years at seminars. I’ve learned that you really need to pick a couple of things immediately to try and implement or you just won’t do it. Now when I go, I pick the “big rocks,” the “most bang for your buck” information that you can put in your programs immediately to see how they work.

 
Apply
A person can be the most knowledgeable trainer or coach in the world, but if he can’t apply what he knows to his clients’ training programs, it won’t do his clients any good. Most of the time, I try the things that I’ve learned on myself before I have someone I train try it. Even then, I’ve sometimes found that some of the new methods or exercises I’ve incorporated into programs didn’t really work or weren’t as effective as something else. This method of trial and error has worked best for me.

I was recently asked how long I’ve been training. I had to think about it, but I can honestly say that I’ve been consistently strength training for 17 years. I’ve only been clued into “Darkside” type training for five years, but it was the previous 12 years “under the bar” that gave me a lot of basic experience. Those 12 years have made these past five years the most successful lifting years I’ve ever had. Does this mean that someone with only five years lifting experience is worse off than me? Not necessarily. I only wish that I had learned about “Darkside” training when I started this journey. However, at the same time, I wouldn’t trade my 17 years of lifting for anything.

After learning about Olympic lifting, I spent hours and hours trying to properly mimic the technique but more so trying to see where these lifts best fit into different workouts. I knew that I wasn’t going to compete in Olympic lifting, but I knew that the better I could perform the lifts myself, the better I’d be able to explain them (what they felt like, look liked, etc.) to others.

I bought my first kettlebell after attending the NSCA’s national conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and saw this Russian guy, Pavel, going through a series of complexes and matrixes with them. I ordered a 24-kg kettlebell from EliteFTS as soon as I got back home and couldn’t wait to start using it. I remember the day it came. I suddenly realized that cleaning and snatching this 53-lb piece of steel was much harder than it looked. After the first few hours, I was really rethinking my purchase and wondering why I had purchased one when I had never it before. I think it took about two days before I really got comfortable with it. To this day, I continue to work on a variety of lifts with kettlebells using a variety of sizes.

I’ve spent many years using both the Olympic lifts and kettlebells in my own training programs, and I feel very confident in my abilities to teach people the basics of both and how to properly use them. I have presented at NSCA state clinics on how to use combo lifts and complexes as well as on how to train with kettlebells.
When I first read “Westside for Skinny Bastards” on Joe DeFranco’s site, I thought it was awesome. At that point, I didn’t care about using it for anyone I trained. It was for me! I started training harder than ever. For over a year, I used the template mostly as DeFranco had it laid out in my own training before I began trying it with anyone else. “Westside for Skinny Bastards” was a key ingredient in how I chose to train the Vermont Frost Heaves, the professional basketball team that I work with (www.vermontfrostheaves.com). They’ve won two consecutive American Basketball Association Championships using this type of training.

Compete
Once you’ve worked at the learning and applying aspects, the next logical step is to compete. I’ve played basketball since I was a little kid. I can remember many hours spent on the court working on my jump shot or ball handling. I got better over time, but I remember having to work extremely hard because I had decided to try to play at a nationally-ranked junior college. I was originally recruited to play soccer there. When I called the soccer coach to explain to him that I wasn’t going to play soccer because I wanted to attempt to walk on the basketball team, he said, “You know how good our team here is, right?” There I was, a white kid from Vermont, thinking that I could walk on to a basketball team that recruited athletes from New York City and New Jersey.

In the summer prior to trying out, I worked at a basketball camp (in Montclair State College, New Jersey). Aside from working on my game every day, I played “pick up” games at night with the other counselors, college guys, and professionals from overseas who came by to run. I knew that I had the tools in my toolbox after that summer and that I had put in the blood, sweat, and tears. I did end up walking on my college team to the surprise of many. However, I highly doubt that it would have happened if I hadn’t competed every day that summer against the competition.

Fast forward about 15 years…after seeing a presentation on Strongman training for athletes at a clinic, I decided to compete in an upcoming event that I’d heard about. I had learned a bit from the presentation about techniques, and I had been trying to simulate the events at my gym (without any true Strongman equipment).  I came in eighth place out of nine competitors in my weight class. Even though I sucked, it was still a blast. I couldn’t even press the log once, but afterward I was “right back to the drawing board.” I went back to training with a renewed enthusiasm for Strongman. I bought a steel log, farmer’s handles, and a big tire. I read everything that CJ Murphy had written (on ElietFTS.com and on his own site) about Strongman training. When the event came around the next year, I ended up coming in third place in my weight class. I was happy with this, but again, it was “back to the drawing board.” This time I bought some Atlas stones from CJ Murphy and emailed him my questions about specific events. I also asked him to review my form in the log press.

During the summer of 2008 I competed in three Strongman contests, placing third, first, and second (respectively) in my weight class. I had a great time doing it. In 2008 I put on my first Strongman contest as a promoter, the New Hampshire’s Strongest Man and Woman, which would never have been a reality had it not been for all of the information and experience I’ve gained throughout this whole process. I can’t say enough about the great experiences and people I’ve met throughout this journey, and now I've put on 4 strongman contests as a promoter with great success.  I truly believe that these three simple concepts— learn, apply, and compete— can help you achieve whatever it is you want to do, if you're willing to put forth the effort.

NSCA Coaches Conference 2011

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My good friend, Doug Lentz - From The Field on beginning sprinting mechanics.

I just got back from the Coaches Conference and it was a great one.  The NSCA began to call this the Sport Specific a few years ago but changed it back to Coaches Conference this year to better reflect the target group of it's membership which is strength & conditioning coaches and actual sport coaches.  We saw a tremendous line up of collegiate and professional strength & conditioning coaches and everyone that I spoke to really enjoyed this format and the presentations they attended.

Here's just a quick synopsis of the sessions I attended;

Complete Nutrition for College Football - Joshua Hingst.  University of Nebraska.
Coach Hingst is both a registered dietitian and a certified strength coach, he also spent the 2008 season as the dietitian for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.  The presentation hit all the basics of sports nutrition for athletes but the big takeaway was really it all begins with energy intake and determining exact needs for each athlete depending on their goals, size, position, etc.  He also made it clear that we need to keep nutrition simple, don't try and get to fancy with what you're doing, and another great point - that you have to actually coach nutrition.  It would be incredible to be a football athlete at Nebraska because they meet individually with Hingst as well as having an incredible dining hall just for the athletes.

Off season training for Winter Sports, Developing Out of Season Competition- Maureen Butler, Amanda Kimball, Gerry Martin.  UConn Staff 
Good fundamental info about the training for men's & women's basketball and ice hockey at UConn.  Covered the topic from A-Z;  exercieses, example template, conditioning, etc.  They even put the different teams up against each other in different competitions.  Coach Martin spoke about Developing Competition and basically his was regarding how the football team does it during winter training.  Got some new drills and ideas for team competitions as well as how to organize it.  Better get some interns for some of this (lots of stuff to take out/put away, hahaha).


Developing a Performance Class - Mike Nitka, Muskego High School.
First Mike Nitka is a legend and if you've never met him you're missing out on one of the great coaches in our country.  He's also a lifetime Phys Ed teacher and had influenced an incredible number of youth in his 35+ years.  We need more guys (or girls) like this working in our school systems, he knows how to get what he wants and provide the best for his school and kids (including a 5,200 sq ft weight room!).  His human performance classes have become staples in physical education at the school and are some of the most popular.

More to come on Day 2 of the conference in my next post...

 

TRX jungle gym (at least that's what I call it..

Strongman Training for Rugby

“Rugby is a fast-paced game that requires athletes to pass, kick, tackle, and run. All 15 players on the field need to be competent in these very different areas. It’s an 80-minute match with stoppages on average every 30–45 seconds. Each stoppage is roughly 15 seconds in length, so the athletes need a high aerobic competent. However, during open play, the athlete needs to be able to be explosive in and through the contact point (tackle contest, ruck, or maul) and be able to sustain that explosive power for the 80-minute match. They need to have the agility and evasive footwork skill to avoid the defense or to get into a quality tackling position, and they need to have the speed to take advantage of line-breaks and score.  Moreover, some athletes will then also need some position specific skills on top of these other requirements. As examples, the prop will need to be a powerful and physical presence in the scrum with quick explosive speed on the engage but with the massive frame to carry up to 50 percent of the load of the scrum (eight players from each team. The lock position will need to have exceptional leg strength to push in the scrums but will also have to have, in most cases, quick plyometric explosiveness to get in the air on the lineout jumps. The flyhalf, who at times is like a football quarterback marshaling the players and distributing the ball, also needs the kicking ability of a football punter. Rugby, therefore, requires athletes to have a diverse, multi-function athletic profile.” —A. Magleby, head coach Dartmouth College men’s rugby and USA Collegiate All-American Team

Given the description of the game of rugby above and understanding how to get athletes bigger, faster, and stronger, who in their right mind wouldn’t want to train rugby athletes? I’ve been continually experimenting using the conjugate method of periodization in my own training and that of the athletes I work with for the past five years with great success. Hand in hand with trying my best at working within a conjugate template, I’ve been integrating Strongman lifts and Strongman conditioning into my athlete’s workouts and have found it to be very helpful to their strength gains as well as to making these athletes mentally tougher.

Why Strongman training?
Strongman style training incorporates multi-joint exercises and multiple muscle groups, which trains the whole body and provides training economy or more bang for your buck. Strongman training becomes therefore true “functional” training. Now, I’m the first to admit that I don’t like to use the term “functional” with regards to strength training. The term “functional” is used way too often these days. Coaches and trainers use the term functional to describe training style, movements, and equipment. Heck, people have even written books about it.
Unfortunately, the terms have become so used and misused that it’s hard to know what to believe when you hear that something regarding strength training is “functional.” Because of the difficult nature of Strongman style training, we can train not only the muscles and tendons but also the cardiovascular system, nervous system, and more all while creating mental toughness due to the attitude required to complete some of these exercises.

The program
Dartmouth rugby had approximately 15 weeks in the 2009 off-season training program before our competitive matches. This was specifically designed to have us be the strongest and fittest at the end of April, which would feature playing in the Division I Rugby Sweet 16 and Ivy League Championships on consecutive weekends.
The training program was designed in the style of Westside for Skinny Bastards, which is Joe DeFranco’s masterpiece. Many people have altered it for the needs of themselves and the athletes they train. Lifting was done using a four-day template—max effort upper body, dynamic effort lower body, repeated effort upper body, and max effort lower body with Strongman lifts and conditioning circuits integrated throughout the training blocks. (I won’t get into depth with the sets and reps regarding our training, as this article is primarily about using the Strongman exercises within our template).

A typical week looked something like this:

ME upper
Agility training
Log press
Incline dumbbell press
Dumbbell rows ss with pull-ups (weighted)
Barbell shrugs
Fat bar curls
Tire flips

DE lower
Jump variation or Olympic variation
Step-ups
Stone load
Grip training
Weighted abs

RE upper
Fat bar bench press
Bent rows ss with chin-ups
Dumbbell curl to press
Triceps
Conditioning circuit (30–45 seconds work intervals/10–15 seconds rest, 90% heart rate intensity)

ME lower
Agility training
Box squat
Glute ham raise
SL good morning
Farmer’s walks
Strongman medley

Integration of Strongman training
As you see in the above template, actual Strongman exercises such as the log press, farmer’s walk, and stones were substituted in place of traditional lifts. I also found the Strongman “medleys” to be very challenging and useful in our training. Example medleys that we used were farmer’s walks to backward sled drags to keg carries or keg carries to sled drags to tire flips.

During the “conditioning circuits,” we used exercises such as tire flips, kettlebell drills, sled drags, keg carries, and sledge hammering on tires. At my gym in New Hampshire, I’m fortunate enough to have two, 500-lb tires, which allowed us to have tire flip races. I split the guys into two teams, and we had one guy flip followed by the next for either distance or reps, depending on what conditioning effect I was looking for.
Over the course of our training, I also acquired a 700-lb tire that nearly all of my athletes were able to flip for multiple reps. If anyone is interested in learning more about how best to integrate Strongman training with athletes, I highly suggest the programs that Elliot Hulse has available at www.hulsestrength.com. Elliot has been a great asset to me since meeting him at the Elite VIP seminar two years ago, and I even recently went and spent a weekend training Strongman and hanging out at “Strength Camp,” which is his gym in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Dartmouth Rugby Ivy League Champs

Results
I won’t list specific increases in the amount of weights lifted by individuals here. However, I will say that everyone on the team got stronger and better conditioned. Guys who couldn’t flip a 500-lb tire at the beginning of the 15-weeks could flip it multiple times by the end, and guys who could flip the 500-lb tire were flipping the 700-lb tire for reps by the end. Also, each week weight was added to the farmer’s walk handles and everyone was able to handle the new demands. Overall, it became the mental toughness and “I can do this” attitude that surfaced as teammates pushed each other to the limits in each training session.
And most importantly, the Dartmouth College rugby team played a very tough first match in the 2009 Sweet 16 (we lost 26-6) against BYU, who went on to win the national championship. Then, in the second match, we pummeled traditional powerhouses Navy 53-26 to place fifth in the country. Next up in'09 was the Ivy League Cup Championship, which we already were the odds on favorite for, but the off-season preparation and dedication to fitness shone throughout the weekend as we rolled over Cornell 101-0 and Princeton 113-0 the first day and then continued by finishing Harvard University 62-13 in the championship game.

New Years Motivation.

I know that not everyone is self driven or motivated to train, to lose weight, to make goals, to reach goals, to push themselves out of that warm, fuzzy comfort zone. So for those people I'm attaching this video (and a short "2-cents").

Unfortunately New Years has become a time when people decide that they should begin taking themselves and/or their habits more seriously. Here's an idea - how about taking your habits and choices seriously ALL year long! But since many people enjoy making some New Years Resolutions I will offer you this challenge - 1) Write you NYR (new yrs resolutions) down on paper, 2) Make the NYR's public (share with family/friends/coworkers), 3) Put some time lines on these NYR's.

There you go 3 simple things that will help you be more successful. If you're afraid of this then you're like everyone else but like the Nike ad says "Just Do It". You'll never have a chance if you don't at least try. And what about failing? Well how about this? What if I said that if you don't accomplish your NYR then 1 year from now we're going to chop your head off?!  Hmm, I bet you'd find a way to succeed... Ok sorry a little extreme I know - but it made you think about how you'd be successful didn't it...? 

HAPPY NEW YEAR. BECOME BETTER IN 2011 AT WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE.

Want to jump higher?

I'm going to dare to say that vertical jumping is one of the most desired athletic attributes in all of sports, (except perhaps in Curling and Table Tennis). It's one of the key indicators for how "athletic" someone in a given sport is, as well as certainly one of the most measured attributes by coaches. It gives us a good idea of an athletes general lower body power and strength.  However I feel that many people try and get too "cute or fancy" with trying to train athletes to jump higher.

Check out Shawn Myszka from Explosive Edge Athletics, in Edina, MN, and his series of videos on improving the vertical jump. Shawn did a great presentation at the NSCA National Conference last July on Eccentric Training. I had a chance to speak with him after his presentation and he's incredibly knowledgeable about training and the proper mechanics of getting athletes to be more explosive. Also this guy is jacked! Which tells me as a fellow coach and professional that he practices what he preaches, and I love that about great coaches that they are in the trenches coaching as well as being positive role models for their athletes.

Shawn says right off in his intro video that people are trying to be too "gimmicky" (is that a word?) with special shoes, etc., while really getting better at jumping comes down to a few key things; Technique and Coordination, and then REPETITION! He makes another good point that science shows us the best lines of force and that many times athletes are jumping with too wide or narrow a stance which in turn messes up the foot position and joint angles necessary for optimal jumping. And of course when he's talking about Repetition that means good reps friends, remember our 10,000 hours principle? The athletes who are the best in the world at something may not necessarily be the strongest, fittest, or most athletic (however that helps) but they've had the opportunity to put in more REPS. Shawn gets into a lot more detail about jumping in his ,
video series on his YouTube page here.

Back to work and fired up!

Sorry for my lack of updating the blog while I was away with my swimming teams for training trip.  It feels like I've been gone for months instead of days so I'd say that means it was a great trip and I really got a chance to "recharge" the battery.  I've been thinking a lot about goals recently since my time spent with Martin Rooney from the world famous Parisi Speed School in Fair Lawn, NJ.  One of the main points that Martin made was that your goals need to be focused and clear and even more importantly that you need to have the goals written down.  We even went so far as to create Physical, Educational, and Financial goals for 2011.  You don't have to use those categories but they certainly seem like good ones that everyone can relate to.

Now when you ask most people if they have goals many times they'll answer yes, but when you probe deeper they really have no idea what their actual goal is.  For example most everyone seems to answer that a goal is "to lose weight", OK- well how much weight exactly?  And over what period of time?  See if we don't make our goals Specific, Measurable, Realistic, and Time Bound then we're setting ourselves up to fail.  As the saying goes "failing to plan is planning to fail", without written goals you're doing just that. It also helps if you post your goals somewhere that yourself or others will see them, this is just more quality assurance that you're conscious on a daily basis of what your trying to achieve.  I've even gone so far recently as to keep a "mini copy" of my goals for 2011 on me at all times!

And since I'm talking about keeping your goals where you can see them and be held accountable I'm going to post my Physical & Educational goals right here on my blog so that you all can see them as well.  I'll refer back them frequently and cross them off as I accomplish them.

GOALS FOR 2011
Physical
1) attain less than 10% body fat
2) work on mobility & flexibility 10 mins per day
3) do 100 push ups 3x week
4) compete in an Olympic Weightlifting contest
5) go snowboarding 10 times

Educational
1) write or contribute to a strength training book/manual
2) write an article for NSCA's PTJ or TSAC journals
3) read a non training related book every 3 months
4) read a training related book every 3 months
5) contribute more to the NSCA

Me and my new friends from the Parisi Mentorship visiting Ground Zero in NYC. 

Expect big things from this group in 2011!

I'm outta here for a few days....

I'm not sure how much I will be posting over the next 2 weeks.  I'm headed to St. Croix and Puerto Rico with the Dartmouth Men's & Women's swimming teams for their annual winter training trip.  It's going to be a lot of training as they'll be in the pool 2x day and we'll be lifting every other day.  But I'm sure we'll find some beach time in there somewhere...

 

Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. It is the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, being 28 by 7 miles (45 by 11 km).