While working with Pavel Tsatsouline on endurance protocols (e.g., Hybrid Power Conditioning Program, StrongFirst for Crossfit, HIRT), we discovered some interesting side effects of some of the high-intensity repeat (HIRT) protocols.

The right amount of acid buildup led to increases in hypertrophy and fat loss, while also increasing endurance. In this article, I will lay out some of the secrets to building functional muscle. The type of muscle that is like the lean striated muscle of leopards not plumped up chicken breasts filled with water.

In the article HIIT versus HIRT, I laid out reasons to avoid doing too much work in the glycolytic (the burn) system. The focus was on building up the alactic (quick energy system) and aerobic (long and slow) systems, so the glycolytic system is not needed as much. Verkhoshansky found that Soviet sprinters could make greater gains with this antiglycolytic training.

Imagine doing a high-intensity workout without as much burn because your aerobic system is more efficient. These types of programs take patience and perseverance as you have to hold off the throttle. The patience pays off in the long-rung with a much more explosive and efficient system.

In playing with the work and rest intervals, we found one system tended to build muscle fast. We heard ‘complaints’ from male and female participants that their clothing did not fit as well. Shoulders grew bigger, arms were leaner, and waists grew smaller.

I would not recommend this program for the long-term, as the general HIRT protocol is probably best (and it will maintain the gains from this program). Too much of a good thing may limit its benefits. However, this hypertrophy program can be used twice a year to build a beach body or whatever body composition goal you are after.

The Mechanisms

I will try to lay out the mechanisms simply in this article. If you want a deeper dive, you can attend the All-Terrain Conditioning seminar on this topic. As mentioned above, we want to build the aerobic system so that we can replace our ATP stores as efficiently as possible.

We also want to build the alactic system so we can be explosive and strong. Using the glycolytic system should be minimized because long-term overuse of it can cause oxidative stress and damage to our health. ^{1, 2}

Short-term use of the glycolytic system leads to healthy adaptations. Our response to the stress might be one reason that high-intensity programs are quite successful initially. After a while, we start to lose the adaptive effect and the stressor effects build-up.

If we follow HIRT principles, we can minimize long-term damage by letting the aerobic system clean up the mess made by the glycolytic system. Thus, we are going to push the glycolytic system to the max and then wait 10 minutes to use it again.

The acidic environment created by the glycolytic system allows us to maximally utilize the hormone system to create body composition changes, while the long rest periods allow us to clean up the acid build-up.

The Program

For this program, we are going to use kettlebell swings and presses. We could substitute fast bodyweight squats in for the swings, but your squat form must be great before you do them fast. Heavy sled pushes or hill sprints are a better alternative if you can’t do swings.

Here are the basics:

1. The burn. Complete 25 heavy kettlebell swings (40-48kg for strong gentlemen; 20-24kg for strong ladies). These swings should be as powerful as possible. You don’t want to lose form or think about having to do another set. Each set should be thought of as a fight to the end. Once completed shake it off for a minute or two before starting the exercises you do in your ‘rest’ period.
2. Ten minutes of rest. Between sets of swings, you will do presses. You want your presses to be crisp and powerful. Please don’t grind out your last rep. Leave a rep in the tank on each set. Try to do three sets in that ten minutes:
   • Minute 2: 7-8 reps at 65% of 1RM
   • Minute 4: 3 reps at 85% of 1RM
   • Minute 7: 5-6 reps at 75% of 1RM

Do this program three days a week. Do low (3 rounds), medium (4 rounds), and heavy (5 rounds) volume throughout the week on this program. On other training days, you can weight train with squats and pull-ups if doing swings and presses. We could think of four basic sections of the body to train: 1) upper body pushes, 2) upper body pulls, 3) lower body squats, and 4) lower body pulls (e.g., deadlifts or swings).

You will want to use the above hypertrophy program with one upper and one lower body choice. On alternate days, train the other body movements normally. If you are an endurance athlete, you can train long slow distances. Please avoid other glycolytic (the burn) types of exercises while on this program.

Maintain this program for six weeks. Alternate between it and traditional HIRT training to maintain your gains and to keep progressing.

References:

1. Lo, M.-C., Lu, C.-I., Chen, M.-H., Chen, C.-D., Lee, H.-M., & Kao, S.-H. (2010). Glycoxidative stress-induced mitophagy modulates mitochondrial fates. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1201, 1–7.

2. López-Lluch, G., Irusta, P. M., Navas, P., & de Cabo, R. (2008). Mitochondrial biogenesis and healthy aging. Experimental Gerontology, 43(9), 813–819.

The post HIRT for Hypertrophy appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Your feelings don’t matter! That is, your subjective feeling of the effectiveness of a workout is not important as what science tells us is important to building an impressive base of endurance and changing your body composition. A common training method is high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

This type of training leaves people on the floor in a pool of sweat feeling as if they have accomplished a great workout. In this article, I propose a smarter way of training, which should have a greater effect on endurance and long-term body composition effects. This high-intensity repeat training (HIRT) may not ‘feel’ as good, but your feelings don’t matter.

History of HIIT

Interval training with high intensities has been around for years. The tipping point of HIIT seems to have come with the research of Dr. Izumi Tabata. In the early 1990s, he collaborated with Irisawa Koichi, the Japanese speed skating team coach who had developed a protocol of short maximum bursts of sprints followed by short periods of rest. These short maximum burst improved and maintained peak performance in elite speed skating athletes. Tabata wanted to test the protocol with athletes at different levels.

The initial Tabata paper from 1996 examined two groups of amateur athletic males in their mid-twenties:

1. The first group pedaled on an ergometer for sixty minutes at moderate intensity (70% of VO2 max). Similar to a long jogging session or what has been termed long slow distance (LSD) work.
2. The second group pedaled for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest, for 4 minutes (completing 7 to 8 sets total) at maximal effort. The key phrase is maximal effort, as each interval was expected to be a sprint. If athletes could not keep up the speed requirements, they were stopped at 7 sets.

Both groups trained for 5 days a week for a grand total of 5 hours a week or 20 minutes. The protocol lasted for 6 weeks.

In the above figure, the graph on the right shows anaerobic progress. As expected, the Tabata-style sprinting group improved their performance while the long-duration group did not. These results make sense given that the sprints use a lot more anaerobic processes.

The graph on the left shows the results of oxygen uptake, which is a measure of how efficient people are at aerobic activities (the more oxygen we can take in, the more efficient our aerobic processes will be). Both groups improved on this measure in similar fashions (the red line shows the Tabata-style maximal-effort group).

This result was expected for the long-duration group as they were specifically training for this goal. The result for the group doing sprints was surprising in that they improved in a similar fashion. Thus, it seems that a four-minute maximal intensity Tabata workout had the same aerobic benefits as doing a sixty-minute moderate intensity workout. This news was pretty shocking in that you could get two-in-one benefits from only a four-minute workout. The HIIT revolution had begun.

Potential Issues with HIIT

Maximal-effort sprint-like activities are a key component for Tabata workouts. Many people have difficulties maintaining maximum effort for 20 seconds over seven series. Thus, very few people actually do a Tabata style workout. There are many “Tabata-inspired” workouts that last from 20 minutes to 60 minutes. These bastardizations of Tabata protocols often lead to decreased effort on each interval.

Tabata style protocols have been shown to be beneficial in the short-term. The high stress on the body can cause it to adapt by getting rid of poorly functioning mitochondria (mitophagy) and replacing them. Issues arise when people attempt it for long periods of time. The high stress from these workouts can have detrimental effects in the long-term with degradation of mitochondria. Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing (Ramos-Filho 2015).

Burgomaster and Gibala Intervals

Kirsten Burgomaster and Martin Gibala have modified Tabata’s maximal effort protocols. The big difference in their protocols from Tabata is that they allow for longer rest (4 minutes), but also longer work intervals (30 seconds of maximum effort).

Similar to Tabata’s original research, Burgomaster and Gibala have found benefits to aerobic and anaerobic systems. Others have found benefits in fat loss (here is a good review article). Four minutes of rest allows for more time for our ATP and creatine phosphate system to recover and may provide better performance on the maximal effort attempts.

A major benefit of Burgomaster and Gibala intervals is that it activates the AMPK pathway that is responsible for mitochondrial enhancement. In a nutshell, when we quickly deplete our ATP stores, we create ADP and AMP (each iteration having one less phosphate molecule; from triphosphate to diphosphate, to monophosphate). Our body uses the ATP/AMP ratio to signal AMPK, which then leads to more mitochondria to process the extreme energy demands⁵.

ATP -> ADP + energy -> AMP + energy

A single 30-second sprint increases the AMP/ATP ratio by as much as 21 times. However, we are walking a fine line between mitochondrial growth and ripping out the framework of our energy system. Once we get down to AMP, we can rip off the last phosphate and the whole structure breaks apart. We no longer have a structure to add phosphates.

Some of the biggest damage from a heart attack comes after oxygen returns to the heart⁴. The heart has used up all of the phosphate and the mitochondria start making free radicals as there are not enough adenosine ribose frames to accept phosphate molecules. With too long of intense training, we actually start making ammonia as the AMP molecule is broken down.

Timing is important. The longer rest of Gibala and Brugomaster’s protocols is nice, but for some athletes, we might be causing too much damage to the adenosine molecules going for 30-second intervals. We might improve upon these protocols by shortening the work intervals, which allows us to recover quicker and to not bring about as much lactic acid.

High-Intensity Repeat Training (HIRT)

Interval training is differentiated from repeats by when the recovery occurs. In interval training, the recovery is incomplete, so the next interval starts when the person is already fatigued. This incomplete recovery leads to a decline in performance after each interval. Repeats maintain the same high level of performance over time.

HIRT reduces long-term stress on the body that comes from HIIT training. The key component of HIRT is to maintain effort and power on each and every repeat. Charlie Francis, coach to many Olympic world-record holding sprinters, was known to maximize rest intervals so each sprint could be better or at least the same as the sprint before. Rest was vital so that people could ‘repeat’ their performance, not watch it degrade.

Pavel Tsatsouline, who popularized kettlebell usage in the West. He is known for strength training, but his recent work on endurance has had some interesting findings. Pavel’s recent work on Strong Endurance modifies rest intervals and work durations to maximize the effects of high-intensity work.

Participants can maintain power over the duration of the session in his protocols. In most of his protocols, he keeps work to around 10 seconds or less, so that recovery can occur much quicker. An example would be doing ten kettlebell swings every minute on the minute for about 10 minutes. The key is to have maximum power for each and every set. A potential way to make sure one is maximizing power is to use an accelerometer.

These new Strong Endurance protocols are an advanced version of our StrongFirst for CrossFit protocols. Our research participants have seen increases in power, body composition, and aerobic conditioning (from long distance bicycling to snatch tests and everywhere in between).

There have also been many “what the heck effects” where performance in other areas not trained were found. For example, pull-ups went up on PT tests when they were not even training. More nuances about these training protocols can be learned in the Strong Endurance and All-Terrain Conditioning events.

Summary

There are some key components to HIRT:

• The first component is built right into high-intensity repeat training name. The person must be able to repeat the high-intensity performance. If it can’t be repeated, then the training session should end or more rest is needed.
• Intensity is key. The goal is to practice the exercises with maximal intensity for a short duration of time. Don’t worry about your feelings of guilt for not training longer. Doing more than the specified sets will not help you in the long run.
• Work duration should be between 5 to 15 seconds. Longer time intervals will lead to decreased performance and the need for longer rest (Gibala needs 4 minutes of rest for 30 seconds of work). Keeping the work time short allows for maximum effort and quicker repeat performance.
• Luxurious rest intervals are needed. For 10 seconds of work, there should be about 45 seconds of rest. Training in every minute on the minute fashion works well for 10 seconds of intense work.
• Pick exercises with less risk of injury and the ability to maintain maximum power. Sprinting form is a difficulty for many people. Furthermore, the power in a sprint can only be maximized for the first few seconds of the sprint (then the maintenance or stopping of deceleration is what is important). Sled pushes or pedaling an exercise bike are better and probably safer for a sedentary athlete. Rowers or swimming are also good alternatives. For advanced athletes with the ability to swing or snatch a kettlebell explosively, the snatch and swing work well. The key is the ability to do it with maximum power.
• Volume varies depending on goals. If your goal is maximal strength, then doing HIRT workout one to two times a week might be beneficial. If your goal is to build greater endurance, then four to five days a week will be most beneficial.

• Separate strength from conditioning. Do not think HIRT as a way to build strength. You must be strong first.

A Sample Protocol

Combining the above components we can create an example protocol. Load a sled so that you can move fast (hill sprints would work too). Sprint for 8 seconds as far as possible. Measure the distance after each push and maintain it. Do one set every minute for 4 to 10 sets (vary the volume each session by doing low medium and high volume days). If you can’t maintain the distance, the training session is complete and you need to add more rest to your next training session.

References:

1. Boutcher, S. H. (2010). “High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise and Fat Loss.” Journal of Obesity, 2011, e868305. doi:10.1155/2011/868305

2. Burgomaster, K. A., Heigenhauser, G. J., & Gibala, M. J. (2006). “Effect of short-term sprint interval training on human skeletal muscle carbohydrate metabolism during exercise and time-trial performance.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 100 (6), 2041–2047.

3. Burgomaster, K. A., Howarth, K. R., Phillips, S. M., Rakobowchuk, M., MacDonald, M. J., McGee, S. L., & Gibala, M. J. (2008). “Similar metabolic adaptations during exercise after low volume sprint interval and traditional endurance training in humans.” The Journal of Physiology, 586(1), 151–160.

4. Emerling, B. M., Weinberg, F., Snyder, C., Burgess, Z., Mutlu, G. M., Viollet, B., … Chandel, N. S. (2009). Hypoxic activation of AMPK is dependent on mitochondrial ROS but independent of an increase in AMP/ATP ratio. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 46(10), 1386–1391.

5. Hardie, D. G. (2003). Minireview: The AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Cascade: The Key Sensor of Cellular Energy Status. Endocrinology, 144(12), 5179–5183.

6. Hardie, D. G., Ross, F. A., & Hawley, S. A. (2012). AMPK: a nutrient and energy sensor that maintains energy homeostasis. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 13(4), 251–262.

7. Gibala, M. J., Little, J. P., Van Essen, M., Wilkin, G. P., Burgomaster, K. A., Safdar, A., … Tarnopolsky, M. A. (2006). “Short-term sprint interval versus traditional endurance training: similar initial adaptations in human skeletal muscle and exercise performance.” The Journal of Physiology, 575(3), 901–911.

8. Kahn, B. B., Alquier, T., Carling, D., & Hardie, D. G. (2005). AMP-activated protein kinase: Ancient energy gauge provides clues to modern understanding of metabolism. Cell Metabolism, 1(1), 15–25.

9. Medbo, J. I., & Tabata, I. (1989). “Relative importance of aerobic and anaerobic energy release during short-lasting exhausting bicycle exercise.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 67(5), 1881–1886.

10. Ramos-Filho, D., Chicaybam, G., de-Souza-Ferreira, E., Martinez, C. G., Kurtenbach, E., Casimiro-Lopes, G., & Galina, A. (2015). High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Induces Specific Changes in Respiration and Electron Leakage in the Mitochondria of Different Rat Skeletal Muscles. PLOS ONE, 10(6), e0131766.

11. Tabata, I., Irisawa, K., Kouzaki, M., Nishimura, K., Ogita, F., & Miyachi, M. (1997). “Metabolic profile of high intensity intermittent exercises.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(3), 390–395.

12. Tabata, I., Nishimura, K., Kouzaki, M., Hirai, Y., Ogita, F., Miyachi, M., & Yamamoto, K. (1996). “Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 28(10), 1327–1330.

The post HIIT versus HIRT appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The one-handed Hardstyle swing is a great tool that builds explosive strength, powerful grip, and impressive glutes. Although the same benefits can be found in heavy two-handed swings, the one-handed version amplifies muscle activation as the body needs to stabilize the off-center motion of the kettlebell.

The Swing Is a Simple, but Multifunctional Tool

There are numerous articles on Breaking Muscle describing the benefits of the Hardstyle kettlebell swing. A quick list of advantages might show why it is written about so often:

• Builds explosive hip power – Numerous studies have shown that kettlebell swings help with jumping ability (from college volleyball players to sedentary individuals). Fabio Zonin told me about his recent Italian study with ballet dancers. Those dancers that practiced with kettlebell swings were more powerful in their ballet jumps than those following a traditional program.
• Builds strong glutes – Explosive kettlebell swings build impressive glute muscles. Bret Contreras, AKA the Glute Guy, recommends swings as a staple of his glute training. Strong glutes are important for protecting the low back muscles.
• Makes for a great “accessory” exercise – Champion powerlifter Andy Bolton uses heavy kettlebell swings to improve his deadlift. Many athletes make massive gains in their deadlifts after training for a StrongFirst kettlebell certification, I have felt the “what the hell” effects myself, and Pat Flynn describes them as an “accessory” exercise for sex.

The Two-Handed Swing

Learning a proper two-handed swing is important before doing one-handed swings. Here are some key steps in mastering the two-handed swing:

1. Hinge, Don’t Squat

The swing is an easy exercise, but it is demonstrated incorrectly in so many popular media sources. It is not a squat movement, but rather it is a hip hinge movement. That means the hips go back (hinge) more than the knees. The knees only bend slightly (whereas they bend fully in a squat). The easiest way to think about it is as a jump. If you try to jump as high as you can, the bottom position is the same position you use at the bottom of the kettlebell swing.

2. Be Explosive With the Hips, Not the Arms

The swing is a ballistic movement. If we think of a bullet fired out of a gun, it receives all its power initially and then relies on momentum to get to its destination. The same goes for the swing. The hips provide the explosive power that throws the kettlebell up in the air. The arms are just there for the ride. So, don’t worry about how high the kettlebell goes. Your goal is to let it float up once the hips have used up their power.

3. Protect the Back

There are two primary ways to protect the back in this movement. The first is to engage the lats. What that means is you need to pull your shoulders back and down. I like to approach the kettlebell like a gorilla with my arms out. This position brings my shoulders back and down. I try to hold that position throughout the movement and not let my shoulders round my upper back. By keeping my upper back tight, I provide more protection to my lower back.

Approaching the kettlebell in gorilla stance

The second key to protecting the back is to not let the kettlebell pull the lower back into a bad position at the bottom of the swing. You can accomplish this by having the kettlebell go between your legs on your upper thighs. If you find your forearms hitting your lower thighs, you are putting too much strain on the lower back.

The One-Handed Swing

The two-handed swing allows for all the power to flow from the hips evenly. The one-handed swing adds complexity in that the lats must stay engaged to protect the shoulder from being pulled forward. Once the lats are engaged, the spinal stabilizers must also engage to keep the body from twisting. Pavel Tsastouline, in Simple and Sinister, described the differences between one-handed and two-handed swings:

Enter the one-arm swing. The bell not only pulls you forward, but it is determined to twist you as well. …An asymmetrical load seriously challenges the stabilizers and increases the recruitment of many muscles. When I swung a 32kg kettlebell two-handed in Prof. Stuart McGill’s lab, my glutes fired up to 80% maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC). When I did it one-handed, the recruitment was up to 100%. And the lat contraction jumped from 100% to 150%! In case you are wondering how it is possible to contract a muscle 150%, the max is isometric. In dynamic contractions higher values are possible – plyometrics are a case in point… Why would you do two-arm swings at all if the one-arm version is so great? Because two-arm swings generate more power, as proven on the force platform. With reduced stabilization demands, you can really let it rip. Hence, do both types of swings.

What Is the Difference Between Hardstyle and Girevik Sport?

Hardstyle is the expression of ballistic strength. Every rep should be as explosive as possible. We can liken it to sprinting or jumping as the body tenses to propel and then relaxes as it is set in motion. Girevik Sport (GS) is an elegant movement that has the main goal of being efficient. In competition, the goal is the number of reps completed. Thus, GS is similar to distance running as the athlete needs to endure over time. Often these two styles are pitted against each other. But really, one is a training method and the other is an endurance sport. They just happen to use the same tool.

Summary

Hardstyle kettlebell swings are one of the basic exercises I recommend to beginner to advanced athletes. As an athlete becomes proficient, we can add weight and/or we can switch to one-handed swings. Overall, the swing provides more bang for the buck than any other exercise. Note: I avoid teaching overhead swings as people tend to use more of their arms to pull the weight overhead, when the goal of the movement should be the explosiveness of the hips.

But the great benefit of the swing doesn’t mean you should go overboard. You may have heard of Pat Flynn’s 300 swings a day challenge or Dan John’s 10,000 (in a month) swing challenge. These challenges are nice, but the high volume can lead to poorer performance. I like an athlete to do every swing as perfectly as she or he can. Usually ten to fifteen swings is the limit before swings get messy. I recommend working toward twenty sets of ten swings every minute on the minute. Beginner athletes may do fewer reps per minute and fewer rounds.

More Like This:

• Hardstyle, Girevoy, or CrossFit? How to Decide Which Kettlebell Style Is Best
• Using Swings to Improve Vertical Jump
• How to Do the Perfect Kettlebell Swing

The post Why You Should Be Doing the One-Handed Hardstyle Swing appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

At Breaking Muscle, we have some great authors discussing many programming ideas and fundamentals of training. For the beginner to the seasoned athlete, all of these choices would seem to be a good thing. However, research indicates that having too much choice may not be so good.

Let’s start with the scope of choice that we have in available programming for just a few fitness goals (sorry for all the great programs I leave out; it is certainly not meant to be a comprehensive list):

CrossFit

• Your local affiliate’s programming
• CrossFit Main Page
• Outlaw Way
• OPT 
• Competitors WOD 
• CrossFit Invictus 
• Competitors Training

StrongFirst or RKC Kettlebell Certification

• Brett Jones Plan 
• Dan John’s Plan 
• Scott Iardella’s Plan 
• Andrew Read’s Plan 
• Whole 9 Plan 

Strength Training

• Rippetoe’s Starting Strength 
• Wendler’s 5/3/1 
• Westside Barbell 
• Easy Strength 
• Power to the People 

Olympic Weight Lifting

• Soviet System
• Bulgarian System 
• Greg Everett’s System
• Dan John’s Program 

Wait a Minute, Choice is Not Always Good?

I am not sure how you feel after reading this list, but I know I got excited creating it. I love reading about programming philosophy and thinking about how I can utilize it in my coaching and for my personal goals. I have often jumped from program to program because of this excitement. 

And this is exactly why having too much choice can sabotage us. Let’s take a look at what economists and social scientists say are the four most common problems with too much choice:

1. Paralysis

Have you ever been in the grocery store and felt completely overwhelmed? I get that way with picking out toothpaste. There are types of toothpaste that reduce plaque, have 24-hour protection, or are “advanced.” I can’t even tell which one is supposed to be the best. So many features to choose from with this very simple product.

When we have too many choices, we tend to get stopped in our tracks and not make any choice. I work out at fully stocked strength and conditioning facility and if I don’t have a plan beforehand, I wander around from movement to movement because I just can’t choose. Maybe having only a few kettlebells is nice because then choices are a bit more limited.

Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper found that choice demotivates people to take action.² They asked people to taste jam in an upscale grocery store. When participants had only six choices, they were much more likely to buy one than if they had 24 choices. Similarly, Iyengar and colleagues found a similar trend when asking people to choose a retirement account.¹ When given the choice of many funds, most people did not choose a retirement fund (even though they gave up a great deal of matching employer funds by not choosing).

Thus, if a person is trying to determine the best possible program for themselves, he or she may not choose to do anything because of the overwhelming number of choices.

Photos courtesy of CrossFit Empirical

2. Thinking About Opportunity Costs

Opportunity cost is an economic term that defines what we give up when we choose to engage in an activity. For example, if you chose to focus your workout practice on Olympic weightlifting, then you would lose out on the opportunity to get better at deadlifts.

The problem for us comes in when we think about what we are missing. I have always wanted to get better at weighted pistols and every few workouts I think about it. This attention to opportunity costs makes me less happy with my workout and gets me thinking about what I am missing. We may even do that with programming. A person could be doing the Easy Strength program and wonder what would happen if he or she switched to the Wendler 5/3/1 program.

When we start worrying about what we are missing, it affects our performance and happiness with our current program.

3. Escalation of Expectations

With all of the choices in the list above, it would seem like I could train to be an outstanding athlete or coach someone to an elite level. Some programs have fancy calculators (e.g., Smolov squat routines or 5/3/1) or have been tested by top-ranked athletes. With all of these great “features” in these programs, I expect to have a great outcome. 

But if all I had was an old Muscle and Fitness magazine with only one workout in it, I wouldn’t expect as much. I have heard gym owners sometimes wish that they could just open up a grungy old garage gym. There they could go back to the simpler days of training without all of the extra equipment.

I am guessing the reason they want to go back to the good ol’ simpler days is that it would lower people’s expectations.

4. It is your Fault if the Choice doesn’t Work

With all of the choice and the escalation of the expectations, there is only one person responsible if you don’t [insert your goal here]. If you are following your coach’s program, you can complain about it all you want and not take home any of the responsibility.

However, if you are picking a program with all of the choices available to you, you have now given yourself the responsibility. “If only I had found a better program or read more information.

Photos courtesy of CrossFit Empirical

How do We Fix the Problems Associated with Choice?

• Limit Your Choice – If your main focus is CrossFit there are always many skills on which to focus. From a behavioral economist’s perspective, it is a program built on way too much choice (and a poor reinforcement schedule). One suggestion is to follow your coach’s program strictly (then it is your coach’s fault if it doesn’t get you prepared). If you are more advanced, plan out your goals a year in advance. If you goal is the CrossFit Open next year, you can plan out cycles until that event (e.g., powerlifting strength cycle followed by an Olympic weightlifting skill and strength program followed by more CrossFit-like programming a month out from the event start). With any plan, make sure you give it enough time. Don’t jump to a new plan from week to week.
• Train for Something – I found that training for kettlebell, barbell, and bodyweight certifications caused me to focus in preparation for each. I set up three- to six-month training cycles for each. Train and do a powerlifting event or Olympic weightlifting event. Having a goal can really help you focus your energy.
• Pick a Program That Is Right for You – Everyone is different and not all programs will be a good fit. I see some of the advanced Westside Barbell athletes and I would love to follow their program. However, my body (i.e., my recovery methods) are not able to keep up with the rigor of the program.

The Take-Home

In general, having more choices seems like a good idea. However, it has some negative consequences that may interfere with your training. Focusing on one program and limiting choice is helpful to keep you motivated for your goals.

For more check out Bob Takano’s discussion of how there are no secret programs.

References:

1. Iyengar, SS., et al. “How Much Choice Is Too Much? Contributions to 401 (k) Retirement Plans.” Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Finance, 83–95. 2004.

2. Iyengar, SS., et al. “When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79 (6): 995. 2000.

The post When Too Much Choice Is Bad for Your Training appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

A waiter’s walk is performed by simply holding a weight overhead and walking. I recommend using a kettlebell, or two. A barbell with a snatch grip or jerk grip works great, too. Each variation offers different benefits. With one kettlebell, the obliques and spinal erectors get extra work stabilizing the body. The double kettlebell or barbell variations train the ability to lock out under load and require great mobility.

It is important to take care of the wrist in this movement. Take a look at the wrists in the picture below. If you push heavy weights overhead, your wrist should be as straight as possible. Allowing it to bend back can lead to wrist injuries. I see many people with wrist issues as they begin CrossFit. My best guess for why this happens is that they allow the wrist to bend back in catching the jerk and snatch. Wrist wraps are not the solution. Building a powerful connection between your hands and shoulder is.

Left: Proper grip and wrist position for a waiter’s walk; Right: Improper grip – not recommended

It’s great to practice heavy waiter’s walks, but getting the weight overhead can be a limiting factor. Any way you can get the weight overhead will work. For some, a Turkish get up followed by waiter’s walks might be best. Others might have to push press or jerk it into position.

The Benefits of Waiter’s Walks

Dan John has long advocated weighted walks as one of his five fundamental movements. The biggest benefit of waiter’s walks their ability to train the neural pattern needed to catch and hold a heavy load overhead, which is especially helpful for snatches and jerks.

Here are a few other benefits of the waiter’s walk:

• Strengthens the wrist – A straight wrist leads to a powerful grip and begins the connection between the weight and the ground. All parts of this connection need to be tight.
• Locks out the elbow – Beginners often fail Olympic lifts because they have soft elbows when they catch the weight. Try the waiter’s walk with a soft elbow and you will quickly learn why you need to lock out. Again, the lock out builds a solid foundation with the ground.
• Engages the lats and shoulder connection – Waiter’s walks teach you to pack the shoulder into the back. A simple but effective cue is to pull the shoulders back and down.
• Teaches variability under load – Walking strengthens the above connections. As you walk, you move the weight around. Your body corrects this movement and builds neural patterns in the process. This is an invaluable teaching technique and probably one of the reasons Dan John loves loaded carries.

How to Program Waiter’s Walks

The plan put forth by Pavel Tsatsouline and Dan John in Easy Strength makes sense – end each day with a loaded carry. Once or twice a week, the loaded carry can be the waiter’s walk. If you are doing Turkish get ups to get the weights up, you can add in a 25 meter walk between the get up and the get down.

Waiter’s walks force beginners to fix their weak links. If you do not have the thoracic or shoulder mobility, work on it at least once a week with Turkish get ups or waiter’s walks. Practice with one-arm waiter’s walk to start with.

Coaches can give cues, but the waiter’s walk provides direct feedback. As you walk, the weight bounces and moves. Each movement teaches the body how to counteract that force. This develops neural patterns and shoulder strength that are invaluable under load.

More on shoulder health:

• 7 Exercises to Optimize Shoulder Health With Kettlebells
• How to Crawl Your Way Back to Shoulder Health
• Avoid Shoulder Injury by Strengthening the Rotator Cuff
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. John, Dan. Can You Go: Assessments and Program Design for the Active Athlete and Everybody Else. Santa Cruz, California: On Target Publications, 2015.

2. Tsatsouline, Pavel, and Dan John. Easy Strength: How to Get a Lot Stronger Than Your Competition-And Dominate in Your Sport. 1st edition. Dragon Door Publications, 2011.

The post Train Your Body to Love Holding Heavy Weights Overhead appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The kettlebell swing is a fundamental skill that is great for beginner to advanced athletes. It has almost magical properties, in that it increases strength in many domains. Part of this “what the hell effect” is related to reversing the momentum of the kettlebell. Athletes even note increases in pull-up strength as a proper swing engages back and shoulder muscles.

In this article, we will discuss the hard-style swing popularized by Pavel Tsatsouline. The Girevoy Sport style swing is a great exercise that relies on efficiency of movement, so that one can perform it for long durations. The hard-style swing relies on putting maximum effort into each rep. It emphasizes explosiveness over efficiency.

In the video below, you can see a proper, explosive kettlebell swing.

Key Kettlebell Swing Components

There are key points to remember in the kettlebell swing:

• Hinge, don’t squat: The swing is a simple exercise that is done wrong in so many popular media sources. It is not a squat movement, but a hip-hinge movement. That means that the hips go back (hinge), and the knees only bend slightly (they bend fully in a squat). Think about this position as a jump. If you try to jump forward as far as possible, the bottom position is the same position that you use at the bottom of the kettlebell swing.
• Be explosive with the hips, not the arms: The swing is a ballistic movement. If you think of a bullet fired out of a gun, it receives all of its power initially and then relies on momentum to get to its destination. The same goes for the swing. The hips provide the explosive power throwing the kettlebell up in the air and the arms are there just for the ride. Do not worry about how high the kettlebell goes. Your goal is to let it float up once the hips have used up their power.
• Protect the back: Do not let the kettlebell pull the lower back into a bad position at the bottom of the swing. Pull your shoulders back and down to engage your lats. I like to approach the kettlebell like a gorilla with my arms out. By keeping my upper back tight, I provide more protection to my lower back.
• Location on the downswing is important: Ensure the kettlebell passes between your legs on your upper thighs. As Dave Whitley says, it is like playing chicken with your man or lady parts. Wait until the last second to hinge back and let the kettlebell go between your upper thighs. If you find your forearms hitting your lower thighs, you are putting too much strain on the lower back.
• Use the right weight: If you are proficient with your swing, a heavier weight will build more explosive power. A 24kg (53lb) kettlebell for men and 16kg (35lb) kettlebell for women will work fine for most people. Stronger men can use a 32kg bell (70lb), and stronger women can use a 20kg bell (44lb). Adjust the weight according to your experience and proficiency with the kettlebell. The key is to be explosive, so don’t jump too high in weight yet.

Troubleshooting the Swing

There are some common problems that we see in beginners. The first issue is that people tend to either squat too much or don’t bend the knees at all (like a bird drinking water). I often have people kneel and then sit back on their feet.

This will position the person for what they want to do with the swing. As mentioned above, it is like a jump. One does not start a jump from a full squat nor without bending the knees. It is mostly the hips going back with a slight knee bend.

A Tool for Every Athlete

The kettlebell swing is one of my go-to exercises for all athletes, beginner to advanced. It is simpler to teach than Olympic barbell movements and it provides overlapping benefits (strength, speed, and explosiveness). It also fits the middle ground of building strength and burning fat.

By adjusting the weight, we can train elite deadlifters or fitness models. One of the most underrated features is how it builds the glutes. Strong glutes have aesthetic properties, but also protect the low back from injury. By doing a proper kettlebell swing, we reduce the chance of low back injuries.

For an easy program using kettlebell swings, try this hybrid conditioning program. It utilizes the kettlebell swing to build power, strength, as well as burn fat. The kettlebell swing may not be the only tool, but it provides many benefits that it is one of my go-to tools.

What else can you do with that kettlebell?

2 Tools to Relcaim Your Overhead Position

The post Back to Basics: How to Perform the Kettlebell Swing appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

“Everyone loves the Turkish get up. Except me. But they are so darn good for me I do them anyway. I do 20 per week usually with my snatch weight bell but sometimes just with a shoe… the Turkish get up is the cod liver oil of exercise lifts.”

He’s right. The Turkish get up (TGU) is good for you, but it also leads to frequent expressions of disgust. This article will outline the benefits for TGUs, provide progressive steps and tips for performance, and suggest basic programming in attempts to motivate you to incorporate this movement into your weekly training routine.

Benefits of the TGU

Andrew Read has already described the benefits of the TGU in great detail, but sometimes we need a reminder of why certain things are good for us, especially if they taste a little sharp. Some of the distaste associated with training the TGU may be that it seems too complicated and the investment to learn the exercise outweighs the obvious rewards. The TGU may not be as trendy as dynamic barbell movements, but I can assure you that its benefits are definitely worth your time.

Here is why you should care about the TGU:

• Shoulder stability and mobility: The TGU is preventative medicine for your upper body. Holding a kettlebell overhead builds stability and mobility for your shoulders. Additionally, heavy TGUs will lead to pleasant surprises in your pressing strength.
• Thoracic extension and rotation: We do a number of exercises in the horizontal and vertical planes, but not many that call for rotation. The TGU builds rotational strength and patterning that is helpful for athletes.
• Linking motor patterns: The TGU builds bodily awareness and trains patterns that translate across athletic endeavors. This type of patterning is not available from bilateral exercises alone. Brandon Hetzler describes how the TGU mimics many of our developmental movement patterns such as rolling and crawling. Hetzler and other noted rehabilitation specialists, such as Gray Cook and Brett Jones, use the TGU to rebuild proper movement patterns.
• Functionality: Getting off the ground is arguably the most functional of exercises.

How to Perform the TGU Step 1: One-arm Press

• From the fetal position, roll onto your back and press the kettlebell up with your right arm.
• Keep your free hand over the right hand for extra stability.
• Your right knee is bent and your left leg is flat on the ground at a 45-degree angle from your body.
• Your left arm is positioned on the ground at a 45-degree angle from your body.
  Note: The 45-degree angle is a starting point and will vary depending on your torso and arm length.
• Lock your eyes on the kettlebell and keep them there for the next few steps.

How to Perform the TGU Step 2: To the Elbow

This step is often the most difficult because many people mistakenly just try to do a sit up. Keeping your torso as stiff as possible and your shoulders back and down, exert force into your right leg and left elbow to extend your right arm to the ceiling and rotate yourself up. This step is like throwing a punch. When you throw a punch, you don’t move your shoulder first and then rotate your body. Rather, your whole body rotates to extend the arm.

How to Perform the TGU Step 3: To the Palm

This step is relatively easy. Keep your shoulders down and back, and imagine a straight line from the kettlebell (right hand) to the ground (your left hand). You want that line to be as solid as possible.

How to Perform the TGU Step 4: Low Sweep or High Bridge

Mark Cheng introduced the high bridge to the TGU as a tool to open up the hips so the left leg can sweep through. When you are in the high bridge position, your body will form a tripod with the sweep leg and left arm, and the right foot will be directly below the kettlebell.

How to Perform the TGU Step 5: To the Knee

Next, sit your hips back to bring yourself into a kneeling position. Your left leg will be at a 90-degree angle to your right leg. Pivot your left leg around like a windshield wiper so it is aligned with your front leg. Your gaze will now shift to the horizon instead of the kettlebell.

How to Perform the TGU Step 6: Lunge Up

The lunge seems like a simple step, but treat it just like a squat in that you don’t want your knee to travel past the toes or track inward.

How to Perform the TGU: The Way Down

So much effort is spent figuring out how to get up that understanding how to get back down is often an afterthought. Here are important tips to make getting down easier. 

1. Control the descent. It’s not a race to the finish, so remain as tight and organized as you were on the way up.
2. People often forget which leg initiates the decent. Use your free hand as a guide to tap the leg that will go back.
3. From the knee, remember to “windshield wiper” the back leg 90-degrees. Rather than falling and finding the ground with your hand, this position allows you to hinge you hips back and use your hand to gently find the ground.

How to Perform the TGU: Programming

One of my favorite programs for the TGU is Pavel Tsatsouline’s Simple and Sinister program. When I have used the program in the past, my deadlift and press have gotten stronger. My friend, a former Navy Seal, uses the Simple and Sinister program before hunting season so he is conditioned to spend days tracking elk across the mountains.

Here is the protocol:

• 5 Minutes: 20 swings per minute
• 1 minute rest
• 10 Minutes: 1 Turkish get up per minute (alternate sides each minute)

You Don’t Have to Like TGUs for Them to Work

Spend time watching the videos to build your proficiency at the TGU. You might still dislike the movement, but as with most things that are difficult, it’s worth the effort. You’ll be surprised at how much stronger and more durable your shoulders feel, even if you do the exercise without weights. Ten TGUs a day, four times a week is optimal, but your recommended dosage will vary on your needs. Make sure you get in your weekly dosage of get-ups and over time, your face might not scrunch up in disgust.

More Kettlebell Movements to Cure What Ails You:

• 5 Kettlebell Drills to Add Real Function to Your Fitness
• Don’t Let Mobility Stand in the Way of Your Gains
• Joint Safe Strength and Conditioning With Kettlebells
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Teaser photo courtesy of Craig Marker.

The post Movement Medicine: Breaking Down the Turkish Get Up appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Researchers have found that people burn up to 2,000 more calories a day just by their non-exercise related activities. It seems the small changes in your life can be the difference between seeing your abs and not.

Pushing a mower instead of riding on one for an hour a week can add up to a big change. (Photo courtesy Pixabay)

Tip the Calorie Equation

James Levine has done a great deal of research on the topic of energy expenditure. The “calories in” side of the energy expenditure equation is pretty simple. “Calories out” is more complicated, and is affected by:

• Our body composition (more muscle burns more calories)
• Thermic effect of food
• Our activity (in and out of the gym)

Levine found that for two adults of similar size, daily energy expenditure varied by as much as 1,000 to 2,000 calories per day. He hypothesized that much of this variation comes from our non-exercise activities.

We often focus on programming our training, but we spend most of our time outside the gym. We can boost our results from the gym by engaging in healthier behaviors in day-to-day activities, such as these:

Ditch the Car: Years ago, I read French Women Don’t Get Fat. I might have missed the point, but what I remember is that many Europeans walk much more throughout the day. My Dutch friend, Ellen Hamaker, describes riding a bicycle everywhere. In the United States, we often can’t ride our bike or walk to work. We don’t build communities that encourage physically moving ourselves from one location to the next. Instead, we rely on cars.

Take the Harder Route: Most of us opt for the elevator, rather than taking the stairs. We often look for the closest parking space, although the longer walk would do us well. Those less convenient non-exercise activities account for a great deal of our daily expenditure. Find those opportunities in your day-to-day life outside the gym. For example, one of my most relaxing activities is mowing my lawn with a human-powered reel mower. The more active you are in everyday tasks, the more fitness you will have.

Stand at Work: James Levine also coined the phrase, ‘Sitting is the new smoking.” That may be a slight exaggeration, but sitting definitely prevents you from being in a more active position. Juliet and Kelly Starrett have been advocating standing desks for schools in their Stand Up Kids program. This program has made great progress in helping kids live less sedentary lives. I made the switch to a standing desk about three years ago. I have a university office and a home office, with different standing desks in each. Both are excellent. You can start out with an inexpensive solution by putting blocks under an existing desk. Test standing incrementally if you are used to sitting all day.

Compounding Effects of Small Changes

Many people think of change as a large and overwhelming task. But just like investing money leads to compounding interest, making small lifestyle changes creates compounding effects.

For example, standing at work made me focus more on my posture. I stopped letting my pelvis have an anterior tilt and starting holding it in place. This in turn, helped my shoulder pressing, as it lined up my spine in a stacked position. At the same time, I started thinking about my feet. I now grip the ground more, and I have improved my arches. This patterning has changed the pronation of my feet and affected my knees in a positive manner when I squat.

Increase your non-exercise activities throughout the day. You might notice more fitness improvements than you would if you switched up your programming. 

Here’s another way to plow through the calories:

Water Burns: Tread Water to Lose Fat

Coaches: Are you considering your clients’ lives outside the gym?

The Whole Elephant: How to Start New Clients

The post Increasing Fitness in the Other 162 Hours appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

This program will help you get strong and stay that way for years.

The half-bodyweight kettlebell press takes serious strength. This program can help you get there. [Photo courtesy Craig Marker]

The Soviet Discovery of Training Waves

Many Western periodization programs have an inverse relationship between training intensity and volume. These programs are linear in that you add weight in successive weeks and reduce the total number of lifts. Research from the Soviet weightlifting programs of the 1970s and 80s reveals that waving the volume and intensity might be the key to long-term strength gains and durability.

Again, I need to rely on my mentor Pavel Tsatsouline for his insight into the Soviet training methods. The Soviets were methodical about keeping records of every training session, but most of this research is still published in Russian. The leading Soviet scientists looked at the data and found interesting patterns. From those patterns, they created the training principles that produced some of the most successful and durable athletes in world history. 

More Soviet Training Secrets:

Why You Should Warm Up Less (Like the Russians Do)

Don’t Train Heavy All the Time

First, the Soviet Olympic weightlifting team did not often attempt 1-rep maxes (1RM) in their training. Most of their training was done with 65% to 85% of their 1RM. This method is contrasted with the Bulgarian style training systems, which rely on much heavier weights in training.

The Bulgarians were also successful in Olympic lifting; however, their athletes were not known for their long-term durability. Many of the Soviet lifters broke Olympic records long into their thirties. Leonid Taranenko won his first Olympic medal in 1980 and his last in 1992 at the age of 36. Taranenko’s combined total in 1988 for the snatch and clean and jerk was 475kg (1,047lb), and remains the heaviest ever lifted in a competition.

A close examination of Soviet training records reveals that their record-shattering athletes rarely approached their 1-rep max in training.

Decouple Volume and Intensity

If we define volume as the total number of lifts and intensity as a percentage of 1RM, we often see a pattern in Western programs. Most programs start off with more reps at lower weights and work toward weeks with few lifts at heavier weights. These programs are called linear because you add weight each week. A simple example is Wendler’s 5-3-1 program. In the first week, the person lifts 5 reps at around 75% of his or her 1RM. By the third week, the person is lifting one rep at 85-90% of his or her 1RM.

The Soviets decoupled volume and intensity. One week might be high volume and high intensity and the next week would be low intensity and medium volume. Waving the volume and intensity allows for more natural recovery and greater strength gains. 

Varying volume and intensity independently can lead to better gains in strength, and increased longevity for the athlete.

The Wavy Strength Periodization Program

This program can be done on days when you are not completing endurance work. There will be some days that seem too simple (e.g., week 3, day 1) and some days that are not so easy (e.g., week 2, day 3). Stick to the program. Do not add weight because you feel better that day.

I would suggest sticking to one exercise for the month. If you are also following the endurance program described last week, the kettlebell swings will maintain your explosive leg power. In combination with the endurance program, this program would work well for a press.

The chart below provides values and reps for each day. For example, if your kettlebell press 1RM is 100lb, then you only need three weights: 75lb, 85lb, and 90lb. Please don’t worry if you don’t have the exact weights. A 32kg (72lb), 36kg (80lb), and 40kg (88lb) could easily be substituted. Start with lighter weight to warm up. You shouldn’t start right away at 75% of your 1RM. Rest periods should be greater than ninety seconds as you want to have as much power as possible on each set. You might take up to eight minutes before trying your 90% weights.

To read the chart, take the weight that is listed and do the number of reps. For example, on day 2 of week 1, you would do:

• A set of 2 with 75%
• A set of 2 with 85%
• A set of 2 with 85%
• A final set of 2 with 75%

Feeling stronger than the prescribed weight for the day? Great. Stick to the program anyway.

At the end of the month, start the program over. This program is well-suited to beginners and advanced athletes. There are many fine nuances to these programs, but they are a bit much to discuss in this article. For example, you could create even wavier volume and intensity programs.

Get Stronger Now, And In the Long Term

In my experience, everyone who has used this training program has reported a great deal of success. Fabio Zonin, Russ Dunning, and Tony Gracia have trained high-level athletes using these methods. Pavel based the keys of his program on the Soviet training systems. Soviet athletes were not only known for breaking all the Olympic records, but also for maintaining durability.

I have heard of many beginning athletes starting a linear style program and staying on it because of the initial success. Usually they get injured, which causes them to take a break before starting another linear program. Ultimately, the linear program becomes a wavy program as injuries stop their progress. 

The above program builds in the ups and downs to keep you durable. The key is to wave the volume and the intensity without coupling them together. It might mean that some weeks are low intensity and medium volume (easy) and others are high intensity and high volume. In my work with the program, there have been 15-minute sessions and 2-hour long sessions. Stick to the program, and you will notice great strength gains and long-term durability.

The post Waves of Strength: Soviet-Style Periodization appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Your coach may feel that four minutes is not enough work. But science does not care about your coach’s feelings, nor do I. I care about results.

Simpler programs from elite endurance athletes might be more optimal than high-intensity training for strength training athletes. The program below utilizes the slow aerobic energy system to burn fat, while still providing enough energy for strength training.

High intensity training gets the headlines, but properly paced conditioning gets the job done.

The Science

Understanding how this program works will keep you from being tempted to change it based on how you feel, and that is imperative for success. The goal of the program is to avoid the burn, which many have come to crave and is often associated with hard work. This program allows you to work efficiently without going deep into the pain cave to achieve even greater results.

The three main energy systems described below are divided based on how they create fuel. You engage all three during training, but you use more or less of specific systems through different activities. Read this primer on the energy systems for additional information.

The Alactic System

This is your turbo system that supplies quick, intense bursts of energy. It also runs out quickly. You primarily tap into this system during sprints or heavy lifting. It is also referred to as the anaerobic (without oxygen) system. Without getting too heavy into the mechanics of this system, it relies on your storage of creatine phosphate. Mitochondria turns the creatine into fuel. Taking creatine as a supplement helps this system, but your body can only store so much. The program below will make this system as efficient as possible so you can lift heavier weights.

The Glycolytic System

This is the in-between system; both anaerobic and aerobic. It turns on if you try to sprint for as long as possible, do more than 15 reps of an exercise, or complete a 20-minute high-intensity workout. This is where you feel that addictive burn and that makes you feel like you have “worked out.”

Our goal with this program is to train the body, not to “work it out.”

New athletes often see impressive fat-loss results when starting a program that relies on the glycolytic system. Eventually, the stress response causes the body to break down. The neuroendocrine system kicks in during stress and utilizes our resources, a response that comes at a cost your body. Over time, this stress can cause damage to mitochondria. This is a bad thing, since you want more mitochondria to facilitate the development of fuel.

Additionally, this system relies on glucose to create creatine phosphate molecules. You want your body to learn to burn fat for fuel. High intensity programs can lead to cycles where you crave sugar as your body is using so much of it for energy. For this reason, the glycolytic system will be avoided in the program outlined below. 

Elite athletes seem to spend a lot of time doing glycolytic training, but at their level, the work is mostly aerobic. They utilize glycolytic work sparingly.

For the rest of us, it can be hard to move away from glycolytic training. First, people become addicted to the feeling of satisfaction after completing a hard workout. Second, the initial success in fat loss often leads people to want to do more glycolytic work. This is why it’s important to understand the science behind the program. You cannot listen to the post-workout high or the initial fat loss because over time, too much glycolytic work will break down your body.

The Aerobic System

This is the long-term system that relies primarily on fat sources for fuel. It is highly efficient, but low in power. The program below will utilize this system to burn fat, build peak endurance, and rely less on the glycolytic system during competition.

Phil Maffetone has trained many elite athletes by building a strong aerobic system. The off-season is the time to build an aerobic base where no training in the glycolytic zone is allowed. The key here is to avoid going into the glycolytic zone as it triggers a stress response. Peter Park trained Lance Armstrong in this manner during his peak years.

The simplest method to know if you’ve entered the glycolytic system is to use the “talk test.” If you can keep a conversation during a workout, then you are probably in the aerobic zone. If not, you’re probably in your glycolytic zone. Maffetone’s “180 Rule” is a simple method to use to know if you’re training in the right zone. The maximum heart rate you want to achieve to stay in the aerobic zone is 180 minus your age.

The goal of conditioning is to increase your body’s efficiency to the point where work that was glycolytic becomes aerobic.

The Hybrid Power Conditioning Program

Pavel Tsatsouline and I have conducted research using these types of conditioning programs. Our pilot study improved strength, endurance, and body composition among CrossFit athletes.

Al Ciampa, working with Pavel Tsatsouline, has called this program the A+A (Alactic + Aerobic). It uses the two outside energy systems and avoids the middle glycolytic system. The goal is to harness the fat burning aerobic system to replenish the quick alactic system. This program does not rely on hour-long treadmill sessions. Rather, you will train your body to use the alactic system, back off before you get too glycolytic, and then let the aerobic system replenish your creatine phosphate stores. Basically, you push to the edge of discomfort and then retreat to fight again later.

How It Works

This program consists of 3 days of conditioning and 3-4 days of strength training. In this article, I am only discussing the conditioning piece. You are allowed to do strength training as you desire, but stay away from going too glycolytic. Aim for 3 to 7 reps of 70 to 85% of your training maxes. You can combine strength training and conditioning on the same days. I suggest that you perform the conditioning first thing in the morning as you will be able to burn fat more efficiently on a fasted system.

Conditioning will require only one exercise: the kettlebell swing. If you don’t have a kettlebell, you can adapt this program to running stairs, sprinting, or jumping rope. I like the kettlebell swing as it builds explosive lower-body power. The basic concept is to do rounds of 15 seconds of work followed by 45 seconds of rest. If you are sprinting, you would sprint at 85% effort for 15 seconds and then rest for 45 seconds.

You repeat a round every minute on the minute. When you begin the program you will do ten rounds (ten minutes). It should feel easy. Don’t be tempted to do more. You want to allow the alactic system to go at full speed and then let the aerobic system refill your creatine phosphate stores. You will not feel the burn and you will not collapse to the ground after this type of training. If you do, then you did it incorrectly.

Here is the format for the program:

• 10 kettlebell swing every minute on the minute
• 3 days a week for 6 weeks
• Make one day longer than the other two (e.g., Monday 10 minutes, Wednesday 14 minutes, Friday 12 minutes).
• Each week, try to add two minutes to your average time (do not go over 30 minutes)
• Use the talk test to make sure the rest is long enough. If you can talk comfortably before the next set, then you are okay. If you are too out of breath to talk, then you need to add more rest in between sets. If you have a heart rate monitor, make sure it does not go above the number given by the Maffetone formula (180 minus your age).

This table outlines 6 weeks of conditioning using kettlebell swings. Numbers represent rounds performed every minute, on the minute.

Tips for the Swing

Hinge, don’t squat: The swing is a simple exercise that is done wrong in so many popular media sources. It is not a squat movement, rather it is a hip-hinge movement. That means that the hips go back (hinge), and the knees only bend slightly (they bend fully in a squat). Think about this position as a jump. If you try to jump as high as you can, the bottom position is the same position that you use at the bottom of the kettlebell swing.

Be explosive with the hips, not the arms: The swing is a ballistic movement. If you think of a bullet fired out of a gun, it receives all of its power initially and then relies on momentum to get to its destination. The same goes for the swing. The hips provide the explosive power throwing the kettlebell up in the air and the arms are there just for the ride. Do not worry about how high the kettlebell goes. Your goal is to let it float up once the hips have used up their power.

Protect the back: Do not let the kettlebell pull the lower back into a bad position at the bottom of the swing. Pull your shoulders back and down to engage your lats. I like to approach the kettlebell like a gorilla with my arms out. By keeping my upper back tight, I provide more protection to my lower back.

Also, ensure the kettlebell passes between your legs on your upper thighs. As Dave Whitley says, it is like playing chicken with your man or lady parts. Wait until the last second to hinge back and let the kettlebell go between your upper thighs. If you find your forearms hitting your lower thighs, you are putting too much strain on the lower back. 

Use the Right Weight: If you are proficient with your swing, a heavier weight will use up more of your alactic system. 24kg (53lb) for men and 16kg (35lb) for women will work fine for most people. Extremely strong men can use a 32kg bell (70lb) and extremely strong women can use a 20kg bell (44lb). Adjust the weight according to your experience and proficiency with the kettlebell and your heart rate. If you do not feel comfortable with swings, short sprints and stair climbing might be a better alternative.

Fat Loss and Endurance With No Treadmills

Follow this program for at least six weeks, and you will lose fat and increase your endurance. Test yourself after 6 weeks by doing a high-intensity style workout or endurance event. Do not do any high-intensity training during the program as it will reduce your results. It is important to continue strength training in this cycle, but do not go into the glycolytic zone.

Resist the urge to push a bit more. The program may not feel challenging, but it is optimizing your energy systems for maximum fat loss and muscle gain. If you feel like you are bored or this program is too easy, then you are probably doing it correctly. Give it a few weeks for greater fat loss, endurance, and strength.

More on Conditioning and Kettlebells:

• Tune Up Your Conditioning: A Primer on ATP
• Easy Endurance: Using the Magic 180 Rule
• The Definitive Case for the Russian Swing
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Craig Marker.

Photo 2 courtesy of J Perez Imagery.

The post The Hybrid Power Conditioning Program appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But is there a case for a dedicated glute exercise?

When Isolation Makes Sense

Greg Dea wrote a recent article arguing against using isolation exercises, specifically the calf machine. He argues that our calves are built to act as springs to absorb shock and propel us forward, and that performing slow calf raises can decrease reactive abilities over time. His thought process against using specialized equipment is shared by many strength coaches, whose ultimate goal is to create high-performing athletes.

But Charles Staley makes the case that isolation machines can sometimes be beneficial to athletes if the exercise has these two qualities:

• Efficiency — the exercise does not divert resources away from movements more beneficial to sports performance.
• Positive Transfer — the exercise improves the sport-specific skill or activity by improving strength.

For quad-dominant athletes, isolation training of the glutes might provide that positive transfer. Research has shown that explosive movements and heavier weights activate the glutes well.¹ In slower movements, such as squats, the glutes are also prime movers, but not for everyone. Athletes who lift in a more upright position (with less hip hinge) recruit their thighs to do the bulk of the work, while their glutes remain less active. For these athletes, it might be helpful to do more specific training to learn how to turn on their glutes.

A Test and a Solution for Sleeping Glutes

With a partner, lay down flat on your stomach. Lift your heel toward your butt and raise your leg off the ground. Have your partner press your hamstring toward the ground. If you can resist your partner pressing down, then you can activate your glutes well. If your partner can press your leg back down, you might have a problem waking up your glutes, otherwise known as gluteal amnesia.

The hip thruster is an excellent movement to combat glute activation issues because it isolates the hip joint so that there is little knee movement. It is usually done with the feet planted on the floor and the knees bent and thrusting your hips into the air by contracting your glutes.

One method for adding weight to this movement is to place a barbell on your hip bone and put your back on a bench. By raising the upper body, you prevent the bar from rolling down onto your face. When using a barbell, wrap a squat pad or towel around the bar to protect your hip bones. Over time, you should be able to lift 1.2 to 2 times your body weight, so protecting the hip bones is important.

A traditional bench is often too high and unstable for this exercise. It can be difficult to get up onto the bench using heavier weights. Recently, I tested a machine built specifically for hip thrusters. The bench is shorter and it is connected to the platform. This unit also has pins so that bands can be used to place more demand on the top of the movement where you squeeze the glutes (i.e., Compensatory Acceleration Training).

Is the Hip Thruster Worth Your Time?

Does the hip thruster fulfill Charles Staley’s requirements for usefulness, namely efficiency and positive transfer? Yes. It is an efficient use of time as it is working multiple glute muscles at once. Adding this movement to your training routine will create positive transfer for your squat and deadlift. Many newer athletes would benefit from this machine to learn how to use their glutes properly, and it patterns the proper movement needed in deadlifts and kettlebell swings.

The hip thruster is also a tool that might have uses beyond specific glute training. I have heard of someone using the hip thruster for rehabilitation after a knee injury because they could not do squats. Once he returned to squatting, he found that he had not lost much strength and had new power in his glutes.

A Place for Isolation in Athletic Training

I do not have a great deal of space for unnecessary equipment, but the hip thruster is important enough to make room. Deadlifts and kettlebell swings are great movements for building strong glute muscles, but the hip thruster isolates the glutes in a way that can teach athletes how to hinge properly, and with weight. Complex movements are generally the most efficient and transfer to athletic endeavors, but the hip thruster is one isolation exercise that I would recommend for athletes at all levels.

More on Glute Training:

• 4 Simple Exercises to Get Your Glutes Fired Up
• The Physics of Lifting: Don’t Forget to Hinge
• Butt-ology 101: How to Enhance Your Gluteal Muscles
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo courtesy of CrossFit.

Reference:

1. Beardsley, Chris, and Bret Contreras. “The Increasing Role of the Hip Extensor Musculature With Heavier Compound Lower-Body Movements and More Explosive Sport Actions.” Strength and Conditioning Journal 36, no. 2 (2014): 49-55. doi:10.1519/ssc.0000000000000047. 

The post The Case for Specialized Glute Training appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Here, we will examine two long-time affiliates that have given up their CrossFit affiliation. These two case studies might provide evidence on how CrossFit can adapt to a changing fitness landscape before more affiliates jump ship.

As the CrossFit brand has become more rigid, affiliates are evolving past them and leaving. Will CrossFit, Inc. adapt or be left behind?

ATP Performance

When ATP Performance was CrossFit ATP, the owners constantly struggled with athletes who came in with the goal of lifting as much weight as possible. They believed that movement quality was key and felt stuck between keeping their CrossFit athletes happy and following their beliefs. They chose to follow their beliefs, change their gym format, and give up their CrossFit affiliation. 

The owners lost about a third of their membership during the initial change, but they also gained new members. Current athletes report feeling as if the change has emphasized health and performance, rather than how much weight is on the bar.

Today, new athletes spend a great deal of time building correct movement patterns before adding weight. This follows Gray Cook’s directive, “do not add strength to dysfunction.” ATP also offers jiu jitsu and StrongFirst kettlebell classes, so members have choices on how to improve their fitness.

Move Functional Fitness

Move Functional Fitness, formerly CrossFit East Decatur, also relinquished their affiliation. Shana Alverson, owner and former CrossFit Games athlete, described her reason for leaving:

“The people, the real people in the world around me where I live, ARE. SCARED. SHITLESS. of CrossFit. And while I could continue to try to run a business with a name that pretty much universally scares the bejeezus out of people, I decided that it made much more sense for us to develop our own identity. The people who know us and love us and sing our praises daily have done a great job of bringing us word-of-mouth business and helping us keep our heads above water. They’ve certainly done their part to try to undo some of the negative ideas about what CrossFit is. … Having a new name and new identity means now I get to spend my time telling people WHO WE ARE instead of who we aren’t. And I really love that.”

Like ATP Performance, Move Functional Fitness was one of the first affiliates in their area and had a thriving membership. The owners did not change models for business reasons, but because of their beliefs.

Open-Source Fitness

Gyms are leaving CrossFit. One explanation for this is that CrossFit has left their roots of being open-source and stopped listening to the affiliates in evolving the brand. Open-source is a software development concept, referring to code that is open and available for anyone to edit and redistribute. Open-source software allows for many individuals to add ideas to a project in a collaborative manner.

One of my first exposures to CrossFit came from a 2005 article comparing CrossFit to open-source computing. As a researcher, I liked the idea of a program changing based on feedback from the system. The open-source model relies on the system disseminating the product to the community and adapting based on feedback from the community. How does CrossFit do in relation to these two goals?

CrossFit has been excellent at freely disseminating their product. They put up daily workouts, create thousands of videos, and provide articles and teaching references, all of which are free for anyone to use. As Greg Glassman indicated, “the more video we give away, the more money we make.”

CrossFit still does a great job disseminating its product. But are they listening to the people using it?

Fighting Against Feedback

In 2005, Brian Mulvaney wrote, “The feedback loop between developer and user is essential for the viability of any product.” This is where CrossFit is falling short. A fine line exists between defending a brand, and utilizing feedback for improving the brand. Incorporating feedback from the community is vital to building a better and safer product, and CrossFit has a long history of fighting that feedback, rather than using it.

Russ Greene and Russell Berger (aka The Russells) run an entire website devoted to attacking challenges to the CrossFit brand. If a study describes injury risk, it is often ‘debunked’ by the Russells as junk science. While there are sometimes issues with the quality of the research, The Russells have created an environment where people are punished for talking about injury or what can be done to reduce it. As Patrick McCarty wrote, “Rather than taking a tobacco-industry ‘there is no proof that smoking causes cancer’ position, I would much rather see a conversation around long-term fitness that allows CrossFit participants to remain injury free.”

Mulvaney also wrote, “Engineering that does not get tested in the real world—especially against competing approaches—is rarely of high quality.” I would like to see CrossFit open up to a discussion on how we can reduce injury (every sport has it), how to improve fitness, and how to compare its system to others in an attempt to improve. As it was in the early days, there are many great ideas that can be borrowed from other fitness programs that could improve the lives and health of its community.

Microsoft as an Analogy

CrossFit’s journey is much like that of technology giant, Microsoft. As a developing company, Microsoft borrowed many ideas from its competitors. They back engineered DOS, created Windows based on inspiration from the Mac operating system, and bought out competitors to add to their products. In its heyday, Microsoft was a near monopoly in business computing. But their development languished and eventually fell behind upstarts that were more innovative and responsive to customer’s wishes.

Similarly, CrossFit brought together many great ideas from gymnastics, powerlifting, Olympic lifting, and kettlebells to create an all-encompassing and exciting new product. Today, CrossFit is at the same stage Microsoft was when their authority began to wane. CrossFit has built an international fitness empire, supported by one of the best marketing tools, the CrossFit Games.

But in pouring so many resources on developing and promoting the Games, they have lost responsiveness to their customers (athletes and gym owners). To protect their enormous investment in their current model, they have closed off the feedback loop. It is much easier to take criticism and modify a beta product than something that has years of code built around it. CrossFit as a brand has a huge amount of capital invested in their current product, and thus fear they have a lot to lose by changing it.

CrossFit, Inc. has spent a lot of time and energy developing its brand. But has that come at the cost of stagnation?

Adapt or Be Overrun

Last week, Microsoft announced that it was adding bash script commands to Windows. This announcement signaled the company’s intent to make their software available to open-source developers. Microsoft has made similar moves in the past few years in an effort to stem its losses in market share. They opened beta product testing programs to get more user feedback. They started listening to customers again. They have belatedly realized that the more the community is involved in developing its software, the more the company benefits by making the best possible product.

At some point, CrossFit will have to make a similar decision to adapt and evolve. When a company is as successful as CrossFit, it is difficult to take in feedback and make changes. It is much easier to run it as it has been run. But if their success is to continue, CrossFit will need to look to the community for ideas as it once did in the past.

Does CrossFit still follow the open-source model? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

More Ideas to Evolve the Sport of Fitness:

• It’s Not CrossFit’s Fault, It’s the Reinforcement System
• Defeat Poor CrossFit Movement With These Work-Rest Strategies
• 7 Markers of a Solid Strength Program
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 and 2 courtesy of CrossFit Empirical / Jeff Nguyen.

Photo 3 courtesy of CrossFit.

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