Weight Training Programs: Don’t Major in the Minutia

Written on October 23, 2011 at 6:09 pm, by Eric Cressey

Last night, I was on my laptop searching for an old weight training program I’d written up a while back, and I accidentally stumbled upon some written goals of mine from back in 2003.  Based on the “Created on” date in Microsoft Excel, I had written them up in the spring of my senior year of college.

On one hand, I was proud of myself for – at age 22 – knowing enough to write down the goals that I wanted to achieve.  On the other hand, I have to laugh about just how out-of-whack my priorities were.

You see, I’d listed loads of strength, body weight, and body fat percentage goals first and foremost.  In fact, there were 41 rows worth of performance and physique goals; hard to believe that ladies weren’t lining up to date this Type A stallion, huh?  Can you say neurotic?  I was like this guy, but with better eyesight and a decent deadlift.

That’s just self-deprecating humor, though.  What was actually really sad was how distorted my perception of reality really was, as rows 42-46 consisted of the following:

42. Resolve shoulder pain.
43. Get rid of lower back tightness.
44. Get accepted to graduate school.
45. Get a graduate assistantship in research or coaching.
46. Have 3-4 articles published.

At the time, I was coming off a lower back “tweak” while deadlifting, but more problematic was my right shoulder, which hurt so much that it kept me up at night and negatively affected not only my training, but my everyday life.  It was an old tennis injury from high school that just kept getting worse and worse.

Likewise, I hadn’t gotten word on whether or not I’d been accepted to graduate school, so I was up in the air on whether I needed to start looking for jobs for after graduation, or whether I’d end up moving south to enroll at the University of Connecticut.

Finally, I’d just had my first article published, and there was some momentum in place on which I could build a successful writing career.

In other words, I was in pain, unsure about where I’d be living in two months, potentially without a job, and all but ignoring a potentially career-changing opportunity – yet I managed to list 41 performance and physique goals more important than any of these concerns.  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was clearly buried under all the bullshit I had convinced myself was important.  They made signs like this for guys like me.

Maybe it was the acceptance phone call from my future advisor at the UCONN; the experience of moving to a new area and being out on my own; interaction with a lot of highly-motivated, career-oriented people and successful athletes; the natural maturation process; or a combination of all these factors, but I got my act together that fall and figured out my priorities.  That fall, I read everything I could get my hands on to get rid of the pain in my shoulder (canceled an impending surgery) and lower back.  I put in 70 hour weeks among classes, volunteering in the varsity weight rooms and human performance lab, and personal training and bartending on the side.  I published my first article at T-Nation and in Men’s Fitness.  In short, I grew the hell up and stopped losing sleep over whether I’d remembered to take my forearm circumference measurements on the third Tuesday of the month.

Some folks might think that this shift in my priorities interfered with my training progress, but in reality, the opposite was true.  In that first year of graduate school, I put over 100 pounds on both my squat and deadlift and 40 pounds on my bench press – and did so pain-free, which made training even more enjoyable.  I learned a ton about the importance of training environment as I lifted around athletes and other coaches in the varsity weight rooms, and even caught the powerlifting bug, competing for the first time in June of 2004.  I even won a few trophies absurdly large trophies that wildly overstated my accomplishments.

In short, when I stopped majoring in the minutia and clearly defined the priorities that were important to me – being pain-free, enjoying training, and seeing it as a means of becoming better in a profession that I loved – a world of opportunities opened up for me.  And, surprisingly, some of the “old” priority goals were easier to attain because I didn’t force them or put as much pressure on myself.

That was almost a decade years ago, and I’ve had to make similar reevaluations of my priorities since that time, from opening a business, to proposing to my wife, to buying a house, to getting a puppy, to hiring employees, to working with charities.  There are some priorities that will always remain for me, though; strength and conditioning has to be fun, and it has to improve my quality of life, not take away from it. These are values that are reflected in the weight training programs that I write, too.

To that end, how have your priorities changed over your training career?  And, how have these changes impacted your progress in the gym?

Related Posts
Weight Training Programs: You Can’t Just Keep Adding
Lifting Weights vs. Corrective Exercise in Strength Training Programs

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Stuff You Should Read: 5/29/11

Written on May 29, 2011 at 4:14 am, by Eric Cressey

It’s been a while since I sent out a few recommended reading ideas, so here goes…

Cracking the Code on Muscle Imbalances – Muscle Imbalances Revealed has become a continuing education mainstay for our interns when they start with us, and with a new class about to get underway, it made me realize that this recap of the product I wrote a while back has slipped into the archives of my site.  There is a lot of good information here; check it out.

Why Bodybuilders are More Jacked than Powerlifters – Trust me when I say that the writing and research in this T-Nation article is far superior to what the title implies.  Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfield did an excellent job with it.

Coaching Neutral Neck, Spine, and Wrist – This three-part series by Mike Robertson was very well done, as it includes a lot of valuable coaching cues for your strength training programs.  It includes several videos for those of you who are visual learners.

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Wednesday Randomness: Back in Action!

Written on October 6, 2010 at 9:02 am, by Eric Cressey

1. I’m happy to report that I not only survived our wedding festivities, but that Anna actually said “I do” (actually, “I will”).  Kidding aside, it was – without a doubt – the single best weekend of my life; we had an absolute blast.

2. For those who are wondering, I did, in fact, eat the cake (actually, I ate a lot more than just cake; we had a sweet buffet):

3. Speaking of cakes, my fiancee wife had an extra one made in the shape of a dumbbell with our initials on it.  We’re both bummed that we never had a chance to try a piece, but at least it looked great – and hopefully some people enjoyed their slices.

Enough with the wedding stuff, as these aren’t even the wedding photographers pictures – and you are probably more interested in me talking about lifting heavy stuff and the like!

4. Brian St. Pierre – who happened to be in attendance at the wedding (like that transitional material?) – just had a great article published at T-Nation that I think you’ll really like: 10 Forgotten Muscle Building Foods.

5. A while back, I contributed on an article by Bret Contreras – and it was just published yesterday.  Check it out: The Best Assistance Exercises for the Three Big Powerlifts.  It’s a good one if you are wondering which strength exercises will have the most carryover to squat, bench press, and deadlift.

6. I have an AWESOME interview lined up with Kelly Baggett for later this week.  Kelly and I go back quite a few years, and he’s one of those guys that I always learn something from when we connect.  If you are interested in athletic performance improvements, he is a great guy from whom to learn.  He actually did a interview at this site a while back, if you want to check them out:

Baggett of Tricks: An Interview with Kelly Baggett: Part 1
Baggett of Tricks: An Interview with Kelly Baggett: Part 2

Kelly recently collaborated with Alex Maroko on a product called The Truth About Quickness, and it came out really well.

7. Last, but not least, if you are a Red Sox fan (or any sports fan, for that matter) and didn’t see this on ESPN last night, you missed an awesome hour of television.  I had goosebumps the entire time.

You can find TV listings for its replay HERE.

Sorry for not having any unique “EC content” for you today, but we’re doing all sorts of post-wedding stuff – from unpacking, to writing thank you notes, to

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Stuff You Should Read: 8/16/10

Written on August 16, 2010 at 9:15 am, by Eric Cressey

Some blasts from the past for you:

The Most Important Thing for Rookie Trainers – I thought this would be a good follow-up to my post two weeks ago about how to enter the fitness industry the “right way.”

Eccentric Exercise and Mobility – Ever been told you shouldn’t stretch post-training?  I know I’ve heard that recommendation before.  Read this old post to find out the real scoop on it.

Add 300 Pounds tn Your Deadlift – This lengthy piece was a response to a question of how I went from pulling low-to-mid 300s up to my 600+ pound deadlifts.

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The Best of 2009: Videos

Written on January 6, 2010 at 11:23 am, by Eric Cressey

This week, we’ve already covered the most popular articles and product reviews from EricCressey.com in 2009.  Next up are the popular videos.

One of my goals for 2009 with this site was to include a lot more video content – whether it was “built in” to the text, or serving as a stand-alone content source in itself.  Here were some of the most popular ones for the year:

Correct Push-up Technique – This one got over 9,000 views in spite of the fact that I never even included it in a blog post (that I can remember).  I guess my theory that most people really need to learn how to do good push-ups was right on the money.

My 660 Deadlift – I guess lifting heavy stuff is only about 89% as cool as body weight push-ups.

Tim Collins Can Jump – Great guy, stud athlete, bright future.  Gotta’ love him.

16×16 Sled Madness – This sled masochism was popular among our staff early in the year.  There is more info on it HERE.

Rollouts: Friend or Foe – This video went hand-in-hand with this newsletter.

Anterior Core Progressions – This video was a follow-up to the previous one, and was found in this newsletter.

Measuring Hip Internal Rotation – This video was featured as part of this newsletter.

Lastly, there were a few newsletters that included a ton of video content.  Here’s my personal favorite, a follow-up from Mike Reinold and my shoulder seminar (available soon on DVD): Recap: Testing, Treating, and Training the Shoulder.

Tomorrow, we’ll cover the top guest submissions for the year at EricCressey.com.

Strength and Conditioning Programs: Efficiency May Be All Wrong…

Written on October 21, 2009 at 6:08 am, by Eric Cressey

In my strength and conditioning writing, I throw the term “efficient” around quite a bit; in fact, it’s even in the title of our Building the Efficient Athlete DVD set.  I’m sure that some people have taken this to mean that we’re always looking for efficiency in our movement.  And, certainly, when it comes to getting from point A to point B in the context of sporting challenges, the most efficient way is generally the best.

And, just think about strength training programs where lifters simply squat, bench press, and deadlift to improve powerlifting performance.  The goal is to get as efficient in those three movements as possible.

And, you can look at NFL combine preparation programs as another example.  Guys will spend months practicing picture-perfect technique for the 40-yard dash.  They might not even get faster in the context of applicable game speed, but they get super efficient at the test.

However, the most “efficient” way is not always the right way.

In everyday life, efficiency for someone with poor posture means picking up a heavy box with a rounded back, as it’s the pattern to which they’re accustomed, and therefore less “energy expensive.”  This would simply prove to be an efficient way to get injured!  I’d rather lift things safely and inefficiently.

And, take those who run long distances in hopes of losing fat as another example.  The research has actually shown that runners burn fewer calories for the same given distance after years of running improves their efficiency.  While this improvement is relatively small, it absolutely stands to reason that folks would be smart to get as inefficient as possible in their training to achieve faster fat loss.  In other words, change modalities, intensities, durations, and other acute programming variables.

Training exclusively for efficiency on a few lifts might make you better at those lifts, but it’s also going to markedly increase your risk of overuse injuries.  I can say without wavering that we’d see a lot fewer knee and lower back injuries in powerlifters if more of them would just mix in some inefficient single-leg training into their strength training programs.  And, shoulders would get a lot healthier if these specialists would include more inefficient rowing variations and rotator cuff strength exercises.

In the world of training for athletic performance, it’s important to remember that many (but not all) athletes perform in unpredictable environments – so simply training them to be efficient on a few lifts fails to fully prepare them for what they’re actually face in competition.  A strength and conditioning program complete with exercise variety and different ranges-of-motion,  speeds of motion, and magnitudes of loading provides athletes with a richer proprioceptive environment.

In other words, inefficiency in strength and conditioning programs can actually facilitate better performance and a reduced risk of injury.

Taken all together, it’s safe to say that we want inefficiency in our training, but efficiency in our performance – provided that this efficiency doesn’t involve potentially injurous movement patterns.

Related Posts

Why I Don’t Like 5×5 Strength Training Programs
Weight Training Programs: The Basics, but with Variety

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Stuff You Should Read: 9/24/09

Written on September 24, 2009 at 9:34 am, by Eric Cressey

Here are a few good reads from a variety of disciplines:

Organic vs. Kind of Organic vs. Wait, I’m Confused – This was a great blog post by Tony Gentilcore that tells you everything you ought to know (but might not want to know) about organic food.

Clean Eating Gone Wrong – Another great post, this one from Dr. John Berardi.  It just goes to show you that being on the money with your nutrition can quickly and easily hit the fan.

Blood and Chalk: Jim Wendler Talks Big Weights – Jim is a great dude and one of the most amusing guys you’ll encounter in this industry; he’s always got something funny, but incredibly valuable to say.  Check out this interview with him at T-Muscle.

Lying Knee-To-Knee Stretch

Written on April 29, 2009 at 7:09 am, by Eric Cressey

What the experts are saying about The Truth About Unstable Surface Training…

“Unstable surface training is many times misunderstood and misinterpeted in both the physical therapy and athletic performance fields. The Truth About Unstable Surface Training e-book greatly clarifies where unstable surface training strategically fits into an overall program of injury prevention, warm-up/activation, and increasing whole body strength. If you are a physical therapist, athletic trainer, or strength training professional, The Truth About Unstable Surface Training gives you a massive amount of evidence-based ammunition for your treatment stockpile.”

Shon Grosse PT, ATC, CSCS
Comprehensive Physical Therapy
Colmar, PA

Click here for more information on The Truth About Unstable Surface Training.

Subscriber-Only Q&A

Q: I have a question about your 22 More Random Thoughts article from October of 2008 on T-Nation.  In the stretch for the hips found above #10, I can’t tell is that athlete bridging or are the hips on the ground.  Also, can you please explain exactly what is stretched and how a little bit about how it corrects out-toeing of the feet?

A: Sure, no problem. Here’s the lying knee-to-knee stretch, for those readers who missed the original article:

First off, it’s a stretch for the hip external rotators, and the athlete is not bridging up.  However, it’s also useful to do the stretch in a more hips-extended position, as a small percentage of athletes will feel it more in that position.  To perform this stretch, we’ll do the exact same position, but have the athlete set up atop a stability ball (which keeps the femurs in a more extended position).

Poor hip internal rotation range-of-motion is something you’ll see quite frequently in soccer players, hockey players, and powerlifters, as all spend a considerable amount of time in hip external rotation.  Likewise, I monitor this closely with all my baseball pitchers, as front leg hip internal rotation deficit is a huge problem for pitchers.  When the front hip opens up too soon because of these muscular restrictions, the arm lags behind the body (out of the scapular plane).  As such, it isn’t uncommon for pitchers with elbow and/or shoulder pain to present with a significant hip internal rotation deficit.

There is also a considerable amount of research to suggest that hip rotation deficits – and particularly, hip internal rotation deficits – are highly correlated with low back pain.  There was a great guest blog post at Mike Reinold’s blog recently that highlights all this research; you can check it out HERE.  My personal experience with hundreds of people who have come my way with back pain overwhelmingly supports this “theory” (if you can even call it that).  It’s my firm belief that this is one of the primary reasons Mike Robertson and I have gotten so much great feedback on our Magnificent Mobility DVD from folks who have seen a reduction (or altogether elmination) in back pain.  Teach folks to move at the hips (particularly in rotation) instead of the lumbar spine, and whatever’s going on in their low backs calms down.

Our goal is a minimum of 40 degrees of hip internal rotation.  This is measured in the seated position (hips flexed to 90 degrees).

In addition to the classes of athletes I mentioned earlier, we also need to watch out for hip internal rotation deficit (HIRD) in the general population because of what happens further down the kinetic chain.  We all know that overpronation at the subtalar join is a big problem for a lot of folks.  This can occur because of a collection of factors, from poor footwear (too much heel lift), to muscular weakness (more on this in a second), to mobility deficits (particularly at the ankle), to congenital factors (flat feet). To understand how pronation affects the hip external rotators, you’ll need to listen to a brief synopsis of subtalar joint function…

During the gait cycle, the subtalar joint pronates, to aid in deceleration.  Basically, the foot flattens out to give us a bigger base of support from which to cushion impact, and from there, we switch back over to supination to get a rigid foot from which to propel.  The picture below shows what our foot looks like when we have too much pronation.

Here’s where our hip gets involved.  Physical therapist John Pallof once called the subtalar joint a “torque converter,” and it really stuck with me.  What that means is that while the subtalar joint allows motion in three planes for pronation/supination, it converts this motion into transverse plan motion where it interacts with the tibia.  And, as you can imagine based on the picture above, when you pronate, you increase tibial internal rotation. This, in turn, increased femoral internal rotation.  Taken all together, we realize that increasing pronation means that there is more tibial and femoral internal rotation to decelerate with each step, stride, or jump landing.

The hip external rotators are strong muscles with a big cross sectional area, so they can take on this burden.  However, over time, they can get balled up from overuse.  As a result, the hip will sit in a more externally rotated position all the time – and the feet simply come along for the ride.  That said, as I wrote HERE, it isn’t the only cause of this foot position, so be sure to assess thoroughly and individualize your recommendations.

Also, a quick side note, be careful using this stretch with individuals who have previously experienced medial knee injuries, as the valgus stress can be a bit too much for some folks.

New Blog Content

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CP Athlete Featured at Precision Nutrition

I encourage you to check out this Precision Nutrition Athlete Profile on Cressey Performance athlete and Oakland A’s minor league pitcher Shawn Haviland.  Shawn completely changed his body this off-season and had a nice velocity jump from 87-89 to 91-93mph – and he’s off to a good start for the Kane County Cougars. A lot of this can be attributed to him making huge strides with improving his nutrition.

Have a great week!

EC

Cressey’s Favorite Strength Exercises

Written on April 7, 2009 at 2:16 pm, by Jon Boyle

We see everything at Cressey Performance. While just about 70% of our clients are baseball players, we also have everything from Olympic bobsledders and boxers, to pro hockey players and triathletes, to 69-year-old men who bang out pull-ups like nobody’s business.

Obviously, certain athletic populations have specific weaknesses that need to be addressed. Soccer and hockey players and powerlifters tend to have poor hip internal rotation. Basketball players don’t have enough ankle mobility. Baseball pitchers need to pay more attention to scapular stability, posterior rotator cuff strength, and glenohumeral (shoulder) internal rotation range of motion.

Continue Reading…

The Seven Habits of Highly Defective Benchers

Written on March 5, 2009 at 6:52 pm, by Eric Cressey

In my line of work, I get to see a lot of pitching instructors and hitting coaches. Some have the unbelievable ability to really get through to kids and make them great. On the other hand, there are some that flat-out suck.

As I’ve seen these two ends of the spectrum, I’ve come to realize that the best guy to teach you a curveball is rarely the one who has had a dirty 12-to-6 breaking ball since he was in seventh grade. Rather, the guy that can teach you the most is the one who struggled with his curveball for years and tried everything to even turn it into a mediocre pitch.

Continue Reading…