Recently in Strength Training Category

This is my good friend Angie Brambley, assistant varsity strength-and-conditioning coach at Princeton University, doing her first-ever muscle-up last weekend. Huge deal, absolutely insane accomplishment. (Which is why she goes absolutely insane afterward.) :)

From www.beastskills.com/MuscleUp.htm:

The muscle-up is a skill that is essentially a pull-up followed by a dip. It is used to take yourself from below a sets of rings or bar to above a set of rings or bar. Many can do a pull-up, and many can do a dip, but transitioning between the two takes a certain level of strength and coordination. (More here.)

 
(Video courtesy of Micah Macbeth of CrossFit 215 in Philadelphia, Pa.; www.crossfit215.com.)

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Wil Fleming, CSCS, IYCA, co-owner and director of sport performance at Force Fitness and Performance (www.beforcefit.com) in Bloomington, Ind., has been using Robert Dos Remedios's new, super-fantastic book, Cardio Strength Training: Torch Fat, Build Muscle, and Get Stronger Faster, to create some pretty amazing complexes of his own. In this video, he demonstrates his latest -- with, it should be noted, impeccable form, so if you give this a go, make sure you do the same. (Warning: Not for beginning lifters.)

Using a barbell and a clean grip, do four rounds of the following, resting a minute to a minute and a half after you've completed each round. Use a weight for which you can complete all the exercises without pausing to adjust poundage in between. Afterward, lie on the ground and gasp for air.

10 Romanian Deadlifts
10 Bent-Over Rows
10 Hang Snatches
10 Shoulder Presses
10 Step-Ups (5 per leg)
10 Roll-Outs



A bit more about Wil:
He was an All-American hammer thrower at Indiana University, where he still holds the school record in the event. He was ranked in the top 10 in the United states from 2006 to 2008, and ultimately completed his career at the 2008 Olympic Trials. Prior to that, he lived and trained as a resident athlete at the United States Olympic Training Center as an Olympic Lifter.

I had the pleasure of completing one of Dos Remedios's killer circuit workouts alongside Wil at the Perform Better Summit in Long Beach, Calif., this past August. The man is *springy.*

If you give this workout a try, please share your experience in the comments!

If you look reeeaaally closely, you can see my speed-enhancing, strength-boosting Pure Power Mouthguard. Do performance mouthguards really work? Hey, I caught her, didn't I? (Photo credit: Dobson Images)

Athletes will do almost anything to get an edge, and lately, performance mouthguards from companies such as Makkar and UnderArmour have become become a topic of conversation around the Gatorade cooler.

But are these companies just fast-talkin'? 

Recently, The New York Times published a piece on performance mouthguards, with athletes, dentists and exercise physiologists supporting claims that these bite-sized bits of plastic can indeed boost performance, if only marginally. These four paragraphs sum up the case nicely:

[I]t isn't clear how much of an edge [these mouthguards] actually confer. A study sponsored by Makkar in 2008 at Rutgers University found that athletes wearing Pure Power Mouthguards could jump higher and perform better at their peak, but it did not find that their endurance was any better.

"There wasn't a huge difference," said Shawn Arent, an assistant professor in the department of exercise science at Rutgers who led the study. "It's not the greatest thing since sliced bread. It's not magic. But for an elite athlete who has been training for a long time, even a 3, 4 or 5 percent increase in performance is a hard thing to come by."

Similar research by Under Armour and Bite Tech with athletes at the Citadel, a military college, showed that using the mouth guards helped improve endurance and air flow.

Dena Garner, an assistant professor at the Citadel who has studied athletes using Bite Tech devices since 2005, said she thought some of her original findings were "a fluke." But "every time I've done lactate studies with this mouthpiece, I'm finding there is a difference," she said.

The UnderArmour performance mouthpieces fit only over your lower teeth and are made to reduce jaw-clenching, thus reducing the release of hormones that cause stress, fatigue and distraction.

The Makkar-made Pure Performance Mouthguard, or PPM, on the other hand, fits over your upper teeth (more like a conventional mouthguard) and is based on the principles of neuromuscular dentistry. The idea is, if you align your jaw in its ideal setting, you'll release tension, open up your airway and position the facial joints to work optimally, allowing for the recruitment of more muscles, creating a domino effect in the body. (For more on how the PPM works, see this November 2009 article in USA Today.)

In October, I paid a visit to Chad Boger, DDS, a neuromuscular dentist in Plymouth, Minn., to see what the hype was about. (In the interest of full disclosure, I'll tell you he agreed to outfit me with a PPM for free. And in fact, he's the one who alerted me to the existence of performance mouthwear about two years before I finally made my way in to see him.)

The process took two to three hours and began with an hour of TENS to the face, neck and shoulders to loosen the muscles. Then, we tested numerous sets of my jaw to find what increased performance and what didn't, based on strength and flexibility tests he administered there in the office. 

This May interview with Eric Cressey on unstable-surface training (UST) planted the seed for this November article for Experience Life. The gist? If you have healthy ankles and you're still doing squats on wiggly surfaces such as wobble boards or BOSU balance trainers, you might be doing yourself a disservice.

"While there appear to be considerable injury rehabilitation and prevention benefits to UST for people dealing with existing neuromuscular shortcomings, there's little data available to support the assertion that UST can favorably impact a healthy, trained athlete's performance," says Eric Cressey, MA, CSCS, founder of Cressey Performance training center in Boston. In fact, Cressey says, doing UST can actually de-power healthy athletes.

So what can you do to improve your balance? Simply put, you need to challenge your stability while your lower body remains in contact with solid ground. This includes training techniques ranging from single-leg work and asymmetrical loading to applying destabilizing forces while attempting to remain stable.

Read the full article for exercise ideas.

(Photo credit: Kizzlexy.)

Back in August, I attended the Perform Better Summit in Long Beach, Calif. And aside from gathering some great article ideas for Experience Life, I did my fair share of playing around with fun fitness toys. All in the name of research, of course.

One of my favorites was the TRX. For those of you not yet familiar with the TRX, we could call it a "bodyweight suspension training system consisting of 12 feet of nylon-webbed straps, handles, and various anchors that can be attached to any sturdy, weight-bearing base," as they'd like us to, but boiled down, it's essentially a rope with handles that you attach to a fixed point and use to do body-weight exercises.

It's a useful piece of equipment for just about anyone, because the user has control over the amount of body-weight resistance and stability based on what body angle and foot placement they choose. Another bonus: It's bang-for-your-buck, multi-muscle and -joint training because you're working in multiple planes of motion. Meaning, you can get a whole lot of work done in not a lot of time.

In fact, it's such a handy contraption that Men's Health named it the "Best Total Body Tool" of 2009. If you decide you must have your own, the TRX itself runs about $150, and a door anchor about $25. Or they sell bundles for less than that. Not bad for such an all-encompassing piece of equipment.

Here's video of our TRX instructor demonstrating how to do a Rotational Pull -- great for the core.



And here we are giving it a go. (Note: My videographer, one Jason C. Brown, kettlebell guru, didn't start filming till we were almost done, hence the somewhat-shoddy-looking reps. He was crap. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)



For more TRX exercises, check out these videos.
 


And a challenge from Todd Durkin, owner of Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego (coincidentally, this is where the USA women's 7s rugby team trained when we were in town for the USA Sevens tournament last February -- cool place).
 

On a bright and early morning in Minneapolis this week, my dear friend Ham Sandwich (practically her real name) asked me if I'd like to join her for a weighted sled workout at the University of Minnesota.

For no better reason than I had already been awake for hours due to jet lag, I somewhat cheerfully agreed. After all, I've had a soft spot in my heart for brave wolf-pooch White Fang and his Iditarod race since fifth grade when the reading teacher (my mom) read the book aloud to us and cried. (The fact was, she cried every single year -- it was part of the the lore of Mrs. Sinkler's classroom.) I mean, the dog's heart did burst in the end, but how bad could the training be? Errr ... right?

A short while later, Ham and I descended upon the hockey arena, where we met up with our former Valkyries' rugby teammate Sara Wiley, associate director of strength and conditioning at the U and 2008 NSCA collegiate strength and conditioning professional of the year. 

Here, Wiley explains how sled training benefits athletes and the general fitness population alike.

AFTER A DYNAMIC WARM-UP consisting of loose skips (2X20), backwards running (2X20), power skips (2X20), knee hugs (1X20), Spiderman lunges (1X20) and Cook hip lifts (1X8ea), Wiley presented us with our workout.

PART 1: PUSH-N-PULLS
Work in a 1:1 work ratio with your partner (i.e., your rest time is her work time and vice versa -- no additional breaks). Please note that weights should be adjusted according to your fitness level and ability. Rules of thumb are that it should be difficult, but not so difficult you can't maintain good form.

PULL - 1/2 arena (approx 100 yds) - 105 lbs.
PUSH - 1/2 arena - 70 lbs.
PULL - 1/2 arena - 105 lbs.
PUSH - 1/2 arena - 70 lbs.

Here, Kristin Zdanczewicz (the aforementioned Ham Sandwich) demonstrates how to do a weighted sled pull; note that Wiley is giving form tips in the background, such as keep your chest up, ankles dorsiflexed, knees driving and core tight.

 

And here,  Zdanczewicz demonstrates a weighted sled push; note again that Wiley is giving form tips in the background, such as keeping your arms locked out (if possible), core tight, and your momentum going forward rather than grinding downward. (My sincere apologies for the pervy-sounding breathing on this one -- I would have liked to have waited a bit longer after finishing my 1/2-lap pull before taping again, but I couldn't! We were working 1:1!)



PART 2: PUSH STRIP SET
Do this all-push series consecutively with no rest in between lengths. Distance = a 50- to 60-yd straightaway; cover ground as quickly as possible. Collapse in a puddle afterward. I mean stretch afterward.

First length: 105 lbs. (then strip one 35-lb. plate)
Second length: 70 lbs. (then strip another 35-lb. plate)
Third length: 35 lbs. (then strip the remaining 35-lb. plate)
Fourth length: weight of sled only; go for speed

Pseudo-demonstration/explanation in the video below.



IF YOU'RE INTERESTED in going in with some friends to purchase one of these bad boys for yourself, Wiley mentioned Gilman and Elite FTS as reputable companies to purchase from (the latter being less expensive, though still a couple hundred bucks).

Got any sled-training experiences to share? 

Andrew Heffernan's article on how to properly train your core -- without doing a buncha crunches -- is the No. 1 most-read article on the Experience Life website right now.

Read "Core Essentials" to find out what core training is and isn't, and to discover (or rediscover) five top core-strengthening exercises.

(Photo credit: Phils Room)

While I was back in Minnesota a couple weeks ago, I worked out at the Life Time Fitness in Highland Park. My friend and former Valkyries teammate Robyn Wells is a personal trainer there, and at my request, she put me through several fabulously grueling workouts that included lots of exercises I hadn't done before.

In the first video below, Robyn introduces herself and just briefly describes the warm-up sequence she had me do. (No exercise demos in this one.) Oh, and she may seem sweet and innocent, but in reality, she is a ruthless taskmaster. In a good way.



Update: I've been asked a couple times how much I was lifting, just to provide a point of reference. (Though it should be noted emphatically that you should find a weight that you can manage safely, regardless of whether it's more or less than anyone else's.) I used 75 pounds, which should have felt light to me but didn't all the way through because I'd been a slug in the weeks preceding this workout. As a result, the speed of my hang clean wasn't up to par, and I should have placed more emphasis on that. So ... oops.

In fact, if any fitness experts out there have additional form critiques, please, please put them out there to help anyone else about to wrestle The Bear.

During an especially grueling circuit workout Monday night, I took note of my threshold for discomfort for the very first time. Or at least, I took note of it more consciously than I ever have before.

It was a repetition-based circuit, meaning we had to complete a certain number of reps of each exercise before we moved on to the next. This is my favorite type of circuit, because the faster you get through the workload, the sooner you're done. And, it adds a little competitive zing to the class (which, let's be honest, is the real reason I like it).

There were eight exercises in total; four for the upper body and four for the lower body. Half the class started on the upper body and the other started on the lower body. I started on the upper body, and moved through the exercises pretty steadily, though I took a couple mini-breaks along the way to catch my breath and take a swig of water. In retrospect, I didn't even think about it -- feel a little burn, take a little break.

AS I GOT TO THE FINAL THREE EXERCISES, however, I noticed that a woman in the other group was already on her second-to-last exercise, and I became enraged. Not at her -- I'm no Christopher Carter -- but at myself. I suddenly realized I'd been backing off automatically whenever I hit a certain subconscious, predetermined point of exertion, and I was lagging behind because of it. Don't get me wrong: Backing off can be a good thing, if you're gasping for air and seeing black around the fringes of your vision. But I wasn't anywhere near that -- in fact, upon checking in with myself at that moment, I had to admit I was only mildly uncomfortable.

Why was I holding back? What was I worried was going to happen if I pushed myself harder?

Well ... I was just afraid of being more uncomfortable, frankly. And once that truth burbled to the surface, I couldn't deny that it was an awfully wimpy excuse. So, I decided to find out what would happen if I didn't ease off, and I got after those final three exercises like nobody's business.

The verdict: not that scary, after all. Also, I finished first in the class, ahead of the woman who had no idea we were competing. (Yesssssss! A most satisfying victory.)

UPON CONTEMPLATING MY EXPERIENCE LATER, I was reminded of several things I've read over the past couple years (and that might have helped me earlier, if I'd have been paying closer attention).

1.  ONE OF THOSE THINGS WAS EAT, PRAY, LOVE author Elizabeth Gilbert's experience meditating among mosquitoes, and her determination to transcend. If you recall, what started as a miserable experience ended with her achieving a whole new level of enlightenment.

2. ANOTHER WAS THE WORK OF BYRON KATIE, who recommends addressing negative self talk with a few questions about what the truth really is. I didn't realize how very applicable these were until I revisited Helen Cordes's 2004 article for Experience Life, "Coming to Terms," which I've excerpted below.

When confronted with an uncomfortable situation, Byron recommends asking yourself:

• Is what I'm saying to myself true? (In my situation, the statement to question would be, "I'm too tired to continue exercising at this level.") Think carefully about the answer and don't simply accept what you've said or been told in the past. She says you may come to realize that it's your interpretation of the fact that is causing you the most pain.

• How do I react when I think that thought? What do you feel emotionally, and what do you feel in your body when you let these statements inhabit your mind? How do you typically treat yourself when you think each of these thoughts? Make a list of your resultant attitudes and behaviors. Ask yourself: How do I live when I believe this thought? Two good follow-up questions: Can you see a reason to drop the thought? Can you find one stress-free reason to keep the thought?

• Who or what would I be without that thought? What would you be like, and how would you feel if you were not hostage to that thought and the resulting feelings? Imagine that you didn't have the ability to think the thought as you stand in the presence of that situation.

Byron explains that "often, people discover they are all worked up over judgments they cannot even be certain are accurate. They discover they don't like the feelings they experience when they ruminate and fume about their reactive versions of reality. They have the insight that they would be a lot happier, more capable and more hopeful without their ingrained lines of thought and belief." Sounds about right, doesn't it?

3. THE LAST WAS RESEARCH ABOUT THE HIGH-INTENSITY WORKOUTS TABATA AND HIIT. Both are super-effective fat-blasting, endurance-boosting, mitochondria-increasing interval workouts performed at maximal or near-maximal intensity, and I've been researching, writing about and even doing both for some time now. (See "The Tabata Tune-Up" in the March 2008 archives, and keep your eye out for an article on HIIT in the December 2008 issue of Experience Life.) Yet while we all understand the definition of "maximal" -- giving it everything ya got -- it sinks in much more slowly from an operational perspective. How often do we really experience what that feels like physically? In my case, except when I'm playing rugby, it's more often near-near-maximal. But that's not going to be good enough anymore.

In the end, I got a great workout and made what I hope will prove to be another breakthrough in my training -- although I was rewarded for my efforts with a nasty case of delayed-onset muscle soreness. But hey, no pain, no gain, right?

What do you do to push past self-imposed limits during workouts?


(photo credit: Vlastula)
 

Last night, Craig Ballantyne of Turbulence Training posted a link to the following video on Twitter. (If you want to follow along with my microblog on Twitter, go to twitter.com/jensinkler.)

In the video, Ballantyne demonstrates a 15-minute body-weight circuit workout you can do even when you're on the road. The exercises: prisoner squats, decline pushups, Bulgarian split squats and mountain climbers. Enjoy!




Looking for more do-anywhere circuit workouts? Check out Mickey Glick's "2 Quickie Circuits for You" over at her fabulous No Pink Dumbbells blog.