For a number of years, when I lived in an apartment in Arizona, I trained with a barbell and some weight plates out in the desert. I’d fit the barbell and plates into my vehicle any way I could. Training with a large variety of implements has always been my forte, but it doesn’t mean I can’t hang with a barbell.

The problem with only training with a barbell is that it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. That’s okay if you are into Olympic weightlifting (the true power sport) or powerlifting (the true strength sport). You’ve got to focus on what you will compete in if you are going to compete in it.

But that has never been me. I’ve always preferred some diversity with my constancy. So I’d take my metal pole and plates, head out to the desert, and find a flat spot to train. No rack, no bench, no spotters, no fans, no mirrors, and no music.

It was just me and the metal, enduring dry-dusty-wind coupled with convection-oven-strength sunshine. Sometimes a coyote or two would meander by, or perhaps some javelina. I always had a good-sized water jug and perhaps some watered-down Gatorade with me. Gatorade was just too sweet, so I’d cut it with water so I wouldn’t consume so much sugar. Boom, baby! You’ve got G2. I like to think I invented it.

So there I was, doing my thing with the metal. What would you do?

When it’s just you, a barbell, and the desert sun, you get creative.

The Sonoran Routine

Most people would probably deadlift. Not too much thought to figure that one out. Many would probably do some rows, curls, or maybe some overhead presses. I did all that on some days.

Often I would do something more like this:

• Hang power clean and press 3×3
• Power clean and push press 3×3
• Clean and jerk 3×1-3 reps
• A few sets of overhead squats

On a different day:

• Hang snatch 3×5
• Power snatch, lower to shoulders and then drop snatch 3×3
• Snatch 3-5×1-3 reps
• Several sets of front squats

Sprinkle In Some Diversity

Keep in mind, I wasn’t training to compete in a weightlifting contest. I was training because I loved it and wanted to get stronger, faster, and tougher. I wanted athletic ability. And to develop that, you need two things I mentioned earlier: constancy and diversity. Constancy is measurable, programmable, and easily tested. You know right where you are at all times. It’s a must for making progressive gains in gym performance.

But the outside world is different. Sports are different. You face diversity all the time – or at least, I hope you do, otherwise life gets pretty boring. This is where adding some diversity in your training comes in. A little sprinkled here and there can open up worlds of ability and competence.

Thus, the articles on bear-hug squats, one shoulder squats, impact training, and other fun little things. These are forms of diversification in your training. You are forced to adapt and overcome in order to perform. Each little bit of diversity gives you something in return. Rotating these around adds to your ability to adapt. Diversification keeps the brain-body connection engaged.

Trade Your Shovel for a Fishin’ Pole

So let’s go back to the desert. Naturally, me being me, I started to get creative. Now, if I showed you everything I did, you might go off and try it all yourself, then end up such a huge hurtin’ unit you might swear off lifting ever again. So with that in mind, I’ll give you one thing I played around with at that time. Some might call it a shovel lift. With a shovel lift people try to imitate lifting a shovel full of dirt and do all sorts of odd movements, twisting and rotating. Also, with the shovel lift people choke way up the handle near the weight. Why? Because it’s easier to lift as you have better leverage.

The lift I’m going to show you is a bit different, so I call it “fishin’ pole and carry.” You will be lifting nearly straight up with very poor leverage. I doubt you know anyone who can do this with a 45lb plate. So, start with just a bar to get used to it. I purposely limited myself to 10lb for the pics. I didn’t want to influence anyone into trying too much too soon. These are brutal. You’ll soon find out why.

The 4-Week Fishin’ Pole and Carry Challenge

Go somewhere by yourself. You don’t want to have to explain what you’re doing to the gym-bros.

So, here’s this month’s challenge:

1. Go somewhere so no one will see you. First off, you don’t want to have to explain what you are doing. Secondly, you will probably be embarrassed about how little weight, if any, you can handle. This is okay, since it’s not about the weight. It’s about how you use your body and leverage your strength.
2. Grab a bar. Get on one end in a staggered stance and with your left hand grab the bar right up near the inside of the collar. Place the right hand right on the end of the bar. You will not change hand positions. Keep your hands welded right where I have them in the picture. You can change hand position once you get vertical only if you are going to do a vertical carry.
3. Lift the end up that you are grabbing and keep your right arm near your groin. Now brace yourself and press down with the right arm as you lift with the left arm. It’s like a giant fishing pole. You are pushing and pulling and leaning at the same time. Keep your arms straight until you get the bar a ways above the horizontal.
4. Keep pressing and pulling and lift that bar to the point where the weight transfers back into your body and it’s fairly easy to hold there. Lower the bar carefully back to the ground, reset yourself, brace and press/pull it up again. Perform 3-5 reps. This is not a high-rep movement. A little goes a long way.
5. On the last rep, pull the bar up to vertical and let it lay back against your shoulder area. Adjust your grip and hand spacing and take the bar for a walk of 60 feet or so.
6. Set the bar down, but remember – if you try to tilt the bar back down from vertical and set it on the ground, you will find it very difficult. I don’t recommend that. Instead, simply lower the end in your hands straight down to the ground. Squat down to put the vertical bar down gently or you can let the bar slide down through your hands until the end hits the dirt. From there simply walk the bar back down to the ground.
7. Now switch everything around and work the other side. Keep working back and forth on each side including the carries, resting as you feel the need. When you’re able to work for about ten minutes with that weight, add a small amount to the opposite end of the bar for the next session. You can simply do 3-5 sets each side if you want.

Once the bar is against your shoulder, you can squat it to the ground (left) or let it slide through your hands (right).

You can also eliminate the carries and just work on the lifts. However, doing the carries in this position with the light weight is a nice recovery effort that hits the body a bit different. Practicing this lift 2-3 times per week is plenty.

Take your time before adding any weight to the end of the bar, and only jump up by a kilogram (2.2lb) or 2.5lb per weight increase. Be sure to get real tight and brace yourself to receive the leverage this will apply to your body. It is totally unlike most lifts you will ever do. Don’t attempt to see how much you can lift or you might pull something. Really, if you push too hard too soon this lift can tear you up. Get tight and stay tight throughout this lift.

Stay focused, and control the lift from start to finish. Don’t relax until you have set the bar back on the ground and are standing fully upright. Gradually build up your leveraging strength and give your body and tendons time to adapt to this strange lift or it will bite you. Remember, “Festina lente”—“Make haste slowly.”

Torque, Leverage, and Unexpected Strength

This lift has teeth, so be careful. It will hammer you and teach you that the body has many ways of using its strength and leverage. Your body will be dealing with torque from various angles. It will develop that odd-ball strength many laborers and multi-sport players have, what I like to call “unexpected strength.”

So there you go. Have at it and let me know what you think. If constancy is the progression, diversity is the application. Improvise, adapt, overcome. Unexpected strength is coming at you!

More Unusual Protocols for Unexpected Strength:

• Rev Up Your Horsepower: An Interval Weight Training Plan
• Build Bulletproof Strength: Rotational Exercises for Athletes
• Take Your Strength to the Next Level With Ipsilateral Crawling

The post A 4-Week Challenge to Develop Unexpected Strength appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I’ve taken elbow shots, been punched, kicked and tackled. And this was just in the work-place environment. Some serious roughhousing was normal at some of the factories I worked at years ago. And the hits I’ve taken (and given) from a wide variety of sports? It’s a long list. I’ve taken plenty of hits and rolled right back up in the game, and my friends would ask how I could do that. Well, here’s part of the answer.

Why Is Tempering Important?

An anvil can take a pounding. It doesn’t give in, it doesn’t quit, and it doesn’t cry for help or run to momma. A hammer is designed to dish out a pounding. Its sole purpose in life is sort of like the saying, “Hulk Smash!” Yet, even as it delivers a hard blow, it has to be tough enough to take that impact. So, if you are going to deliver a hit in any sport, you have to be tough enough to endure the self-inflicted collision.

That is how I view armor building, as toughening up the body and mind to deal with collisions. Even if you don’t engage in contact sports, you might feasibly trip while walking, hiking or running, take a fall, have a spill off your bike – and there you go: contact!

Notice these stats published by the World Health Organization in 2012:

Falls are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide.

Each year an estimated 424,000 individuals die from falls globally of which over 80% are in low- and middle-income countries.

Adults older than 65 suffer the greatest number of fatal falls.

37.3 million falls that are severe enough to require medical attention, occur each year.

37 million! Which then also begs the question, how many people fall, get injured, and never report it? So even people who do not engage in collision sports would be wise to practice learning how to fall. Some easier tumbling or groundwork skills such as Dan John’s get-back-ups and building up some strength and muscle would be prudent. Having some solid muscle on your body can help when the pain-train comes to visit, and it just might save your life.

Dan John is probably the best-known author of the term “armor building.” I’m not going to talk much at all about armor building with barbells. If you don’t know how to do that, then you should go read Dan’s article on armor building (but not until you finish this article, thank you). I’m going to talk about other methods of gaining some armor or collision resilience.

Certain exercises can have a callusing effect on the body, toughening up the skin and underlying tissues. Other exercises help create greater bone density and muscular density. Personally, I’d rather trade punches with some marathon runner than a well-practiced gymnast. If you can’t figure that one out, well, I can’t help you.

Armor building also helps you develop the mental capacity to tough it out, grit your teeth, and keep going when you take a hit. I’ve seen first-hand how proper training helps a person get tougher, bounce back, or keep going like nothing happened. Whereas other people take a good whack and that’s it, they’re done.

Let’s Build Some Armor

First, let’s look at training implements and how we might use them:

• Double kettlebell clean-and-presses or push presses and double kettlebell front squats. Also, odd as it seems, windmills and bent presses with a kettlebell or barbell are also good for armor building.
• Bear hug and/or shoulder carry with a keg, rock, log, or sandbag.
• Slosh-pipe carries.
• Kettlebell carries in the overhead and rack positions.
• Any kind of sandbag cleans, squats, and push presses.
• Sledgehammer hits on tires or old tree stumps.
• Tumbling drills, somersaults, cartwheels, etc.
• Pounding a heavy bag.
• Get ups with kettlebells or sandbags.
• Explosive push ups.
• Hanging leg raises, ab-wheel, clutch flag or full flags on a pole, etc.
• Digging with shovel and pick-axe.

Now, let’s take a closer look at a few of these:

Loaded carries with a sandbag are awesome for developing the trunk of the body. Try carrying a heavy sandbag in the bear-hug position for a while. It’s tough to breathe with that sack of sand crushed up against your chest and abdominals. Your arms take a beating and it builds strong trunk muscles.

Splitting wood was a favorite of old-time boxers. But not everyone has wood to split, so grab a tire and sledge. It’s safer and you can get in more volume in less time. I know. I split wood for years in New York. Every hit sends an impact wave up the handle. That impact wave challenges your bones, muscle, and connective tissue. Your body responds by toughening up those areas.

“Injuries in training are signs of stupidity: too much, too fast, too hard, too soon.”

It’s the same with punching a heavy bag, although the shockwave comes from a different angle/direction. Explosive push ups belong in this category, too, as does digging a hole and refilling it.

Tumbling drills. Every rep you do toughens the body to impact. It teaches you how to fall and survive. If you practice coming back up on the feet after a somersault or roll, then you can train yourself to bounce back up after taking a hit.

Grass drills or up-downs are excellent for the collision sports. Think about the impact from cartwheels, handstands, up-downs, sledge hits, digging, and explosive push ups. The impact is collision conditioning for the hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders – all without throwing a punch.

Safety Measures

In all cases, take it easy with this training at first. Give your body time to adapt to the impact. Skin, bone, muscle, and connective tissue take a while to respond and toughen up.

• Wear wraps and boxing gloves while working the bag.
• Use gloves if you need to while using a sledge. It still toughens up the skin.
• Be sure your tumbling skills are up to par before attempting running or diving rolls on the ground.

You don’t want to get injured. Injuries are not badges of honor. Injuries in training are signs of stupidity: too much, too fast, too hard, too soon. Such injuries take away from valuable training time and can potentially slow you down for the rest of your life. Don’t train though pain if any part of your body is hurting from collision training. Let yourself heal, and then build up more gradually. Figure out what you did wrong and fix it.

Just the weight of an object on the body can cause a callusing effect. Witness the odd little muscular bump that gradually appears on a kettlebell enthusiast’s wrist where the bell rests. If you have much experience with kettlebells – and get ups and racking the bell for cleans, presses, and front squats – you know what I’m talking about. Time under load toughens the body.

Practice cleans with a sandbag and it will slam up against you. Power cleans with a sandbag to one shoulder helps develop the anti-rotator muscles. Of course, try to catch the sandbag gracefully and be braced to receive the sandbag. Learn how to absorb, redirect, or deflect the collision of the sandbag. Don’t purposely try to pummel yourself with it, but don’t be afraid of it either. I also like to take the sandbag to the ground and throw it around like I’m wrestling.

“Impact waves challenge your bones, muscle, and connective tissue. Your body responds by toughening up those areas.”

Start Small

Don’t try to implement all of these methods at once. Pick a few and try them for a month or two. Cycle through them and see which give you the most bang-for-your-buck. Take one or two days a week and play with these various movements and implements, or plug in one or two as a finisher to your routine. Experiment and explore. Have fun. I think it’s good to always have some sort of impact/armor building in your routine. It might just be the added juice you were looking for in your stale routine.

I don’t suffer excuses for not being able to train because of location or lack of equipment. So, if you are lacking in equipment, figure it out. When I lived in an upstairs apartment, I’d load up my car’s trunk and drive out into the desert to train Olympic lifts with a bent bar and rusty metal plates. So, get tough: improvise, adapt, and overcome!

More like this:

• Sandbag Misconceptions: The Truth About Effective Sandbag Training
• Breaking Muscle Video: How to Hold Pads for Boxing
• Basic Tumbling Drills You SHOULD Have
• New On Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. “Falls,” Fact Sheet No. 344, World Health Organization, October 2012.

The post Get Tough: A Beginner’s Guide to Impact Training appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Writing an article aimed at women is new territory for me. I never saw a need to write about training in a different format for females. I write training articles for humans. And last time I looked, women are humans too. Any article I’ve ever written applies to men and women equally. 

Train Like an Individual Human

When it comes to physical training, the biggest mistake trainers make is training women differently than men. And the biggest trap women fall into is thinking they have to train differently than men. If an untrained group of men and an untrained group of women do the same training routine, what happens?

Both groups get stronger. 

The things that build strength and hypertrophy or speed and explosiveness in a man do the same for a woman. A woman on a powerlifting program consisting of the barbell squat, deadlift, and bench press will get stronger in those movements. If a woman trains the Olympic lifts the same thing happens; she gets stronger and more explosive.

The only difference is in the goal of the individual. Where do you want to be a month from now, six months from now, two years from now, or when you hit 40, 50, 60 and beyond? Goals change as a person ages, but basic objectives such as remaining injury free, keeping decent levels of mobility, and maintaining basic strength levels should always be a concern no matter what your age.

If a man or woman plays a particular sport, the sport will dictate what exercises, movements, and skills practice they need to get better. The method doesn’t change based on gender. Rather than looking for a magical routine specifically designed for women, what matters more is following a program consistently, putting forth effort, dialing in your nutrition, and getting enough sleep.

If you don’t apply these elements to your training, you could follow the best routine designed by some guru women’s trainer and you won’t make a step toward achieving your goals. But apply those four points while following a “men’s strength and conditioning routine” and you will make loads of progress.

How well you execute a program matters a lot more than if it has “women” in the title. [Photo courtesy Cara Kobernik]

No Program Applies to All Women

Any program must be scaled to fit exactly where you, as an individual, are right now, on this day. Squats strengthen legs and butts for a man or woman, yet as an individual, perhaps you find it more advantageous to train front squats or goblet squats rather than back squats. It isn’t really a gender thing, it’s a genetics thing.

The size of your frame, length of your legs, or width of your hips all affect how well and deep you squat. You can’t change how you are put together and these inherent physical features determine how well you respond to exercises and movements, particularly at more extreme ranges of motion. Some people are built to squat massive weights, man or woman, and others are built to press weights overhead, or do tons of pull ups easily compared to others.

Ignorant trainers may feel all women should be able to squat deep with a very wide squat stance, because as they view it, they are built to give birth. But that viewpoint doesn’t take into account an individual woman’s bone structure. No matter how hard she tries, the way she’s built may not allow her to deadlift or squat with a wide stance.

In both men and women, muscles are attached to bones via tendons. The muscles contract and tendons pull the bones and voilà! Things move. However, things like pregnancy and monthly cycles can affect training, and women need to understand how their bodies are affected by hormonal levels. This element is as specific to the individual as hip structure.

Your Goals Aren’t That Different

When it comes down to it, what do most women want out of their training? To look and feel healthier, to look good naked, to be stronger and more “toned,” or be more athletic. Same thing most men want, come to think of it. Funny thing is, whether man or woman, if you train hard to be more athletic you get all those other things as part of the package.

There are general things that prove true for most men or most women. Most men want bigger muscles, bigger arms and chest. That’s hypertrophy. Most women want a well-shaped, toned butt and well-toned arms. That’s also hypertrophy. They both want flat stomachs. That comes from eating well. Many women are duped into thinking they need “specialized” programs different from a man to get the same results.

Let’s look at losing body fat for example. Healthy eating comes down to what works best for an individual. Some women respond better to higher levels of healthy carbs and lower levels of fat and protein. Other women are the opposite. Some women do great on a vegan diet and others on a paleo diet.

Guess what? The same is true for men. If a man or a woman responds better to a vegan diet, there is no magical formula the woman should follow different than a man. There is no vegan diet for women or vegan diet for men. There is simply food. Find what types of food and what combination of macro ingredients (fat, protein, carbs) work best for you.

The same holds true for aerobic training. If you follow the Maffetone formula, it doesn’t matter whether you are male or female. Follow the formula and it works.

Women’s Training is a Sales Tactic

I will not sell you a bunch of bull that lunges are the best butt builder for women or that Tae Bo or some spinning class is the ticket. You want a great butt? Track down “The Glute Guy,” Bret Contreras, learn how to perform hip-thrusts, and follow his programs. You want to sprint like a world-class athlete? Look up Barry Ross and his sprint training programs. You want to do strongman-type training? Follow what strongmen and strongwomen competitors do in their training.

The best advice I can give any woman is don’t waste time on “women’s training” programs. Those people have something to sell. If you follow what the fastest, strongest, and best conditioned men and women of the world do, you will get stronger and faster. You will get the body you want and reach the goals you have set for yourself.

A kettlebell swing is a swing whether done by a man or woman. The technique is the same. It builds the same muscles and strength in both genders. How a movement or program affects the human body is not determined by gender. 

The only thing that changes is what works best for you as an individual. You may be in a different age bracket, have injuries others do not deal with, have health issues others don’t have and have different goals. The only thing that may make the performance of a movement somewhat different is how your body is put together. However, the technique you use will still be biomechanically correct even though there is room for play in all skills.

Don’t Be Afraid to Go Heavy

Look for a program that fits your goals. Try it out and then tweak it to fit your individual issues and preferences and weaknesses. Dial in your technique, sleep well, and eat healthy. Don’t be afraid to bump the weights up on that barbell or to grab a heavier kettlebell.

Moving more weight with proper technique and the right amount of effort will get you where you want to be faster, safer, and better than any program designed by somebody selling you on the idea that as a woman you need to train differently. Be smarter than that. If you want to make the best gains of your life, find a well-educated trainer who will lead you, push you, teach you, and treat you with respect as an individual.

Continue by reading The Truth About Women’s Training, Part 2.

Ladies: Want to “tone up?” That’s just adding muscle mass, and here’s how:

10 Commandments of Muscle Mass for Women

The post The Truth About Women’s Training appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Make sure to read part one The Truth About Women’s Training first. One of the things I see in training nowadays is more women getting out there. And by out there I mean outdoors. I think it’s great when women are willing to get dirty while training. Dust, dirt, mud, chalk, sweat, rain, snow…bring it on!

Being adventurous and trying new things is an excellent way for women to branch out, leave the gym environment, and get their hands dirty. To me, it’s cool to see a woman chalking up. It tells me she’s serious about her training. I love the fact that more and more women are using things like sledge hammers and tires, sandbags, bumper plates, and heavier kettlebells.

Today I’d like to discuss some movements that I consider essential for any woman (or man, for that matter) to learn and master.

Whatever it used to mean to train “like a girl” is changing. And that’s a good thing. [Photo credit: Rikard Elofsson on Flickr | CC BY 2.0]

The Kettlebell and the Construction Crew

I’ll tell you a story about my wife, Ginger. One of her co-workers had heard about kettlebells and wanted to check them out, so when I went to pick up Ginger one afternoon, I brought a 24kg kettlebell with me to show him. I demonstrated a few snatches, the bent press, and a couple of Jeff Martone’s moves. It just so happened that a construction crew was there expanding part of the building. As I’m showing Ginger’s co-worker the kettlebell, the construction workers walked over and started eyeing me.

When I set the kettlebell down, a few men went to pick it up and set it right back down commenting that it was “heavier than it looks.” Ginger walked over, grabbed the kettlebell, and knocked out ten perfect kettlebell swings. Then she set it down, smiled, and went back to work. I was like, “I’m with her!” and everyone laughed.

It was fun to see a rowdy group of construction workers get “schooled” by my wife, and she clearly enjoyed it, too. So ladies, don’t be afraid to up the ante and work on getting stronger.

Push and Pull for Upper Body Strength

First up is the good old pull up. If you can’t do them, your new goal should be to be able to do three strict pull ups. And no, kipping pull ups do not count. I hate that CrossFit bull crap. Be a woman and do real pull ups. Get strong instead of learning to cheat. And for the record, I don’t know this girl, but these are real pull ups. Once you get good at pull ups, you can explore other fun options like rope climbs.

Next on the list are push ups. Women can do these and do them better than a lot of guys. Don’t imitate the goofball men you see who only go down part way and pop off 20 reps in 3.3 seconds like it’s a race. Work the pushup properly and it will work for you. Remember, your goal is to get strong. Once you get stronger with push ups, you can build up more enduring strength with them and then explore difficult variations of explosive pushups. Here is a primer on some of those variations.

Lunges and Single-Leg Deadlifts for Balance and Power

The tactical lunge, or what some call a reverse lunge, is a great way to build lower-body strength. I like performing all the reps with one leg first before working the second leg. Focus on being smooth, controlling the movement, and building strength through proper technique. Don’t go fast and wobble all over. Reach your leg back smoothly, plant the back foot, dig in with the entire front foot, and power up.

Once you can do 30 reps per leg, elevate your front foot on a 4-6 inch platform and build the reps back up. As you get stronger, the elevation will allow you to be able to drop the back leg deeper into the lunge and work the front leg more. This will work your glutes like nobody’s business.

The important thing to remember is don’t try to go too fast and get sloppy. Learn to control the movement and maintain proper alignment of the feet, knees, and legs. If you control the movement and the speed you will get much stronger. Once you can perform these with control and strength, then you can graduate to doing lunges with a kettlebell and alternating legs.

Don’t wear bulky gym shoes. I suggest you do these barefoot or with minimalistic shoes like Five Fingers. As a matter of fact, do all of your leg work barefoot or with minimal shoes. Build proprioception in your feet and you will walk, run and hike with more precision and less chance of twisting an ankle. Don’t cloud the message your feet are sending you with bulky cushioned shoes.

My next suggestion is to learn how to do proper one-leg deadlifts. I know a lot of people swear by the barbell deadlift, but if you do not have access to a barbell, single leg deadlifts work great.

I actually prefer them compared to the regular deadlift. Single leg deadlifts teach balance and rooting of the foot, build strong ankles and knees, and can help running mechanics because of their unique strengthening and stability carry-over. For many people, especially those with prior back issues, the single leg variety can work wonders. This video takes you through some great progressions.

Add in some hip thrusts and goblet squats, and you will build a pair of strong, functional, and great-looking legs from the glutes on down. Once you master those, throw in some sled work and hill sprints and there won’t be much you can’t do when it comes to sports.

Explore the World of Athletic Movement

Women’s fitness should be about more than aerobics classes and tiny plastic dumbbells. Try some Turkish get ups and windmills with kettlebells to build total-body strength and stability. I would also include things like rope climbs, rope skipping, sledgehammer hits on a tire, kettlebell swings, and hanging leg raises.

Focus on getting strong and performing any movement with skill and grace. Walk as much as you can. Hike, run, cycle, canoe and get out there and enjoy the air. There’s enough here to keep you busy for years. If you stick with these things for a solid year or two, you won’t believe how much more capable you will be. And your friends will be amazed.

Strong is a lot more than the new skinny:

Beauty in Strength: The Rise of the Strongwoman Athlete

The post The Truth About Women’s Training, Part 2 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Heat exhaustion occurs when the body’s temperature control system is overloaded. Many factors can contribute to this, and a person can experience it even if their body temperature is only slightly above normal. The mechanism can be compromised and the body fails to cool itself, causing body temps to rise rapidly.

Though it might not be as serious as heat stroke, you don’t want to risk getting heat exhaustion, either. It is a small step from there to heat stroke, which can kill quickly. About fifteen years ago, I got heat exhaustion while driving railway spikes on the job. The heat index was over 125 degrees Fahrenheit. I was ill for several days after, and let me tell you, since then I can’t deal with the heat as well as I used to.

Good news is, being proactive and understanding how heat works can go a long way in preventing these problems. 

If this is where you have to train in the summer, you’ll want to keep reading. [Photo courtesy Pixabay]

Interpreting Weather Reports

Most people are aware of the wind-chill chart. In cold weather, low temperatures coupled with the speed of the wind cause the cooling effect, which means the temperature you feel is lower than the measured temperature.

Check this out (quoting the National Weather Service):

“Since heat index values were devised for shady, light wind conditions, exposure to full sunshine can increase heat index values by up to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, strong winds, particularly with very hot, dry air, can be extremely hazardous.”

Training with little clothing in direct sunlight exposes you to a greater heat index by up to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, strong gusts of wind can turn hot conditions into a convection oven. The wind multiplies the effects of the heat, just like wind-chill but in reverse. The wind and dry air suck moisture off your skin so rapidly you often do not realize how much you are sweating. This can cause a person to fail to realize they need to drink more water because they don’t feel sweaty.

Knowing the temperature isn’t enough. You have to take all these variables into account to make your training as safe as possible. Your local weather report might say it’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit. However, in your backyard it might be 100 degrees in the shade. So if you train in the direct sunlight with shorts and a tank top or no shirt, you could be exposed to a heat index of at least 115 degrees. That’s 25 degrees higher than the local weather report, and it can put you in danger if you are not extremely careful.

Here’s a handy chart to refer to to help translate all these variables. For those of us who live in a much dryer climate, use this version instead. Keep this chart handy or keep some sort of app on your techno-gizmo so you can track conditions. Even the northern states here in the United States can reach temperatures of 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit and higher. What people do not realize is that at 96 degress and a relative humidity of 65 percent (which is not rare in eastern states) the heat index is 121 degrees.

Training under such conditions is asking for a death sentence. Relative humidity of about 65-70% prevents the body from cooling by evaporation. So even at lower temperatures, higher humidity can exacerbate training conditions to unbearable levels.

Finally, don’t assume the local weather report of temperature is accurate for exactly where you are training. Temperatures can easily vary by 10 degrees across even a relatively small area of just a square mile. Buy a good thermometer and learn to use these charts. It can save your life or someone you care about.

If You Must Train in the Heat…

Now that I’ve discussed the scary stuff, let’s get into how you can continue to safely train in the hot summer months. Some simple tips:

• Drink plenty of water. Don’t be an idiot and think you can adapt to dehydration. You can’t.
• Use electrolytes.
• Educate yourself on hyponatremia and also hypernatremia.
• Train in the shade.
• Train indoors during the worst heat/humidity of the day. Train outside in the morning.
• Use a water spray bottle if the humidity is relatively low. This works really well for those who just don’t seem to sweat much and overheat easily.
• Soak your clothing with water in dryer conditions.
• Be intelligent and pay attention to heat-index charts. If it’s too dangerous to train outside, then train indoors.
• Cover up with loose-fitting clothing, which catches the breeze easier than tight-fitting clothes.
• Cover your head with a wet bandana. As the water evaporates, it provides a wonderful cooling effect, especially if you live in a dry desert climate like southern Arizona, where I live.

If you’re smart about it, you will be able to adapt to hot weather just as you would to cold weather. It takes a healthy person about 10-15 training sessions to adapt to higher temperatures. Take it a bit easy in your training for a while as you let your body adapt to the heat. Shorter training sessions can help, too. If you train three times per week for an hour each session, try something different if you train outside. Try breaking that down into thirty-minute sessions spread over six days. Thus, you can train outside with less risk of overheating.

Another option is to train 20-30 minutes in the morning when it’s cooler, then hit a 20-30 minute session later in the day. Spread the load out. Remember, not only are you dealing with the heat index, but you are also creating metabolic heat, which adds to the external heat load upon your body.

Train smart. Train safe. If you are a coach or a trainer, you had better know what you are doing and monitor your clients closely. And if you train alone, forewarned is forearmed. There is a time to push things and a time to play it smart and live to battle another day.

Next article, I’ll jump into some ideas for training through the summer.

Got a summer race coming up? You’ll want to check this out:

Success Strategies for Racing in the Heat

The post The Heat Can Beat You: Training Safe in the Summer appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In my last article, I talked about what real food is and how to be sure it’s what you have in your home. Now I’ll jump into a few things that can help you personalize your eating habits so you get the most benefit from your diet.

If you “shop the perimeter” at most grocery stores, it’s easy to avoid processed junk. [Photo courtesy Pixabay]

Step One: Start With the Basics

The first step is to learn how your body responds to food by eating a balanced mix of macronutrients. There is no one perfect ratio for all people. Some people do better with more carbohydrates. Others do better with a bit more fat or more protein – or maybe a lot more. In addition to the normal differences between lifestyles, you may have other conditions that warrant special consideration, like food allergies.

To start out, make sure you get a good mix of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in your diet. Then once you have that locked in, you can begin tweaking things one way or the other to see what type of diet makes you feel, look, and perform your best.

Step Two: Pay Attention

As you begin eating healthier, pay attention to how you feel over the few hours after you eat. How you feel after a meal can clue you in to how your body responds to food and help make any diet tweaks you need. For example, you might get hungry an hour or two after eating a healthy meal. Or you might notice you feel sleepy or unfocused after a big meal.

If you feel that way after your meals, you may be eating too many carbohydrates or perhaps the wrong kind. But keep in mind, carbohydrates are not the enemy. You just need to figure out what whole-food carb sources work best for you in conjunction with eating proteins and fats.

Here are some examples of healthy complex carbohydrates:

• Whole grains – rice, wheat, oats, barley
• Foods made from whole grains – oatmeal, pasta, bread
• Starchy vegetables – potatoes, corn, pumpkin, beans, lentils, peas

Personally, I don’t eat a lot of these foods. When I worked on a farm it’s what you fed cattle and pigs to get them fat real fast. I eat them, but in small, infrequent servings. 

If you notice you feel hungry shortly after meals, you might be eating a lot of greens and vegetables that don’t have many calories. So unless you get more calories from healthy fats and some protein, you are apt to be calorie deficient and get hungry sooner.

Step Three: Shop Smart

Once you’ve spent some time getting to know how your body responds to food, it’s time to work on your shopping. As mentioned in the other article, don’t shop while hungry, and be sure to bring a shopping list.

Most grocery stores have a similar layout. Almost all the processed foods are kept in the center of the store, in the aisles. The perimeter is where you generally find the one-ingredient, whole foods. So shop on the perimeter of the store and buy meat, vegetables, leafy greens, as well as some fruit, nuts, and berries.

A few tips for purchasing whole foods:

• Dairy: If dairy products like milk, cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt do not bother you, feel free to purchase those items. Buy whole-fat dairy foods. Fat-free is usually a code for, “We sneak a lot of sugar in there.”
• Eggs: The same is true of eggs. If they do not bother your stomach, they are perfectly fine to include in your diet. Yes you can find studies that say they are bad. And yup, you can find just as many studies showing they are good and the cholesterol from them does not harm most people. So listen to your body as discussed above, and let it decide. (And by the way, even though they are stored in the dairy section, eggs are not dairy. Dairy products come from milk. We don’t milk chickens, so chickens do not produce any dairy products.)
• Added Sugars: Condiments like steak sauce, BBQ sauce, and other condiments and dressings are often full of hidden sugars. I’ve never seen anyone eat a ton of chicken wings for the meat. People eat them for the sugar in the BBQ sauce. Give them a plate heaped up with just wings and no sauce, and see what happens. I make my own and avoid the sugar. Juices are another source of sugar, so if you want to eat healthy, ditch the fruit juices. If you want a real interesting watch, check out this documentary on Netflix. It will open your eyes about sugar and just how big of a problem it is.

Eat With Your Brain

Here’s one last tip a friend shared with me: Whenever anyone suggests some diet habit that sounds weird to him, he asks the person how much they can deadlift. If they don’t know what a deadlift is, he dismisses whatever diet plan they recommend. 

In all seriousness, when it comes to designing your own eating and meal planning habits, look at the complete picture of who you are: your occupation, your activity level, goals, age, physical environment, current health, and your family history. As your life changes, your eating habits may change too. Just remember to always stop and think about what you put in your mouth. That goes for the food you buy in the grocery store and what you choose to eat at restaurants.

I’ve a lot more to say about all of this, but that’s for another day. In the meantime, eat well to be well or eat bad to feel sad. Your choice.

Once you’re eating well, how do you eat to improve?

The Intelligent Athlete’s Guide to Fueling Performance

The post Real Food Fundamentals appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

As a kid, I grew up eating some junk food, but my family also had a garden. We had apples, pears, plums, peaches, black and red raspberries, and elderberries growing around my parents’ property, as well as garlic, rhubarb, onions, carrots, lettuce, squash, tomatoes, spinach, corn, and potatoes. My mother canned and froze food for future use.

Often we would go to what are now called farmers markets, where we could buy freshly grown fruits and vegetables. We called them food stands. I also worked on a farm that raised real food. There were plenty of crops as well as pigs, chickens, and cattle. On top of all that, back when I was in school, everyone had to take home economics.

These are the experiences that have formed my ideas about food. From them, I have formulated a real food plan to get you started eating better.

If the ingredients label on your chicken lists more than just chicken, it’s not real food. [Image courtesy Pixabay]

Out With What’s Fake, In With What’s Real

Most people do not know how to tell real food from fake food. I kid you not. For example, someone I know well bought what they considered to be healthy chicken. The front of the package said “chicken” and showed a cooked chicken. In an effort to help our friend, my wife and I read the ingredients. The label listed several other things before chicken, and then a bunch of things after chicken. It listed at least three different forms of sugar, plus preservatives, chemicals, salt, and broth. “Broth” listed on an ingredients label is code for, “We put a lot of junk in here that will make you crave this product more.”

After all that, the person still felt it was healthy because it said “natural chicken” on the package.

Here’s the deal. There are only two types of real food. The first kind consists of only one ingredient. For meat we have chicken, beef, fish, turkey, elk, venison, etc. For vegetables we have cucumbers, squash, peas, carrots, etc. For fruit we have apples, bananas, oranges, etc. Nuts? Cashews, almonds, pistachios, etc.

Every one of these foods is one complete ingredient: the food itself. Nothing added. No added sugar (in any one of its 61 other names), no preservatives, no hormones, no antibiotics, no list of ingredients you cannot even pronounce. When you look at the label it says: “chicken” or it says “apples.” That’s it.

The second kind of real food may consist of more than one ingredient, but will have a list of ingredients that looks like this example:

If you took each ingredient by itself, it would be a whole food. Go look at a typical ingredients label and it will be full of things you can’t pronounce. Those ingredients do not grow from the ground.

Get Started With Real Food

So if you’re wondering how to get started with this real food thing, it’s simple:

• Step 1: Go look in your cupboards, on your shelves, and in your freezer and refrigerator. Ditch or donate anything that is not a real, whole food or a combination of whole foods. If there’s no junk food in your home, there’s no junk food to eat for a meal, and no junk food to snack or binge on.
• Step 2: Make a grocery list, and only buy what is on your list. Be sure to eat before you go shopping so you are less apt to buy on a whim or add extra junk food to your grocery cart. Ideally, your grocery list should be based on a weekly meal plan. If you can’t figure this meal planning thing out and you don’t want to buy a book on the subject, do an online search. Type in “whole food shopping lists” and you will be bombarded with plenty of ideas for what to purchase.
• Step 3: Go grocery shopping, and only buy real whole foods.

If you are still lost I would suggest picking up a copy of Josh Hillis and Dan John’s book Fat Loss Happens on Monday.

In my next article, I’ll share some tips, tricks, and ideas with you. I’ll look at things like sauces, condiments, sugar, and juices. I might rattle some cages, but hey, somebody’s gotta do it. Until then, always remember: you are what you eat!

Want some help before you tackle the grocery list?

Tips and Tricks for Healthy Shopping on a Budget

The post Real Food Isn’t Complicated appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Part of the problem of designing a program for yourself is, well, yourself. As Dan John says, “the coach who trains himself has an idiot for a client.” It’s difficult to look at ourselves honestly and see exactly what we need to do to make improvements. It’s too easy to gloss over our weaknesses and focus only on our strengths.

But let’s say you’re going to design your own program anyway. I’m here to help you get your ducks in a row. Let’s take a look at this programming monster.

What Is a Program?

A program is nothing more than a map or a timetable. It is an arrangement of instructions to be followed in a particular order leading progressively to a specific result. It’s a form of optimizing, an act or process of making something as functional and effective as possible.

So how do we begin designing a program for ourselves that will make us better in some way? There’s your first clue: “better in some way.” What is the “in some way” you want to get better? What are your goals?

There. We have arrived at step one.

If you’ve decided to go it alone with your programming, take a studious approach. [Photo courtesy Jorge Huerta Photography]

Step One: Identify Your Goals

Often people have more than just one goal. Once you have your goals listed, start looking at which ones may be impossible to achieve at the same time. Sometimes two goals can be conflicting: looking like Arnold, but at the same time performing like a Navy SEAL. That only happens in the movies. You will not be able to train for and run a marathon competitively while also preparing for the next Olympic weightlifting competition.

Your job is to determine what your most desired goal or goals are. Be realistic. Take a hard look at where you’re at right now. Take into account your age, health and injuries. If you are 50 years of age, 60lb overweight, and have bad shoulders it makes no sense to train like a gymnast on the rings. If that was your goal, it would be smart to re-evaluate your goals and pick some new ones more in line with who you are. Dreams do not always become reality.

Step Two: Do Some Research

Now it’s time for a bit of research. As some people say, follow those who have already been there. Look at what other people have done to achieve the same goal you have. Read, study, and figure out what they did to reach that goal. Take a look at five or six different individuals and make notes on how they achieved the goal you desire. And notice how long it took them to get there.

Highlight the similarities between the individuals’ training programs. You’ll probably find a format they follow; which days they train, which exercises they do, and the sets and reps they like to use. You will notice how they ramp up, deload, scale down, and then build up again. And if you’re smart, you’ll also take down the commonality of their eating habits and recovery habits. This is a huge missing part of the puzzle for many people.

What’s this about ramping up and deloading? Read more here:

Train and Recover Smarter: A Periodization Primer

Basically, you want to take a six-week or longer weekly snapshot of how they train and overlay it on top of the other programs. Where do they mesh, and where do they deviate? You should notice a common thread. Set up a six-week training schedule based on that common thread.

Note the parts where their programs differ. Differences in programming are often due to personality, individual response to particular movements, and individual body differences. Taking note of the differences will be useful down the road as you learn to tweak the program to best suit you as an individual.

Step Three: Find the Missing Pieces

At this point, you should have a list of your main goals, as well as a list of methods and exercises that can get you there and a tentative six-week program. Now take a hard look at what may be missing from this program. 

Dan John sorts exercises into five basic human movements. You want to make sure they’re all present and accounted for in your program. Those movements are:

• Loaded carries
• Squat
• Hinge
• Pull
• Push

Learn which exercises fit into each of these categories. A few other basic movements could be included, such as lunging, rotating, walking, jumping, running, tumbling, and others. Dan lumps those into a sixth category: “Everything else.”

Compare your program to this list. Are things missing? If so, you’ll want to even things out so you can prevent muscular imbalances, which often lead to injuries. Even if you have a specific goal like winning the local small-town strongman competition, the hidden goal in your program should be to build strength, mobility, and ease of execution in all the fundamental human movement patterns.

Step Four: Is This Program for Me?

At this point you should have a fairly decent six-week program set up. Now take a step back to assess it. The examples you started with may have been actors or professional athletes. Keep in mind that these are people who have been training for years. They have tons more ability just from proper coaching and years of practice. Your ability to perform the movements is not going to immediately match theirs. They also have a whole staff of people to push and guide them. They follow eating habits that would make a Spartan wince. With all that help, they can make radical changes in six weeks. It’s all they do.

You can model your routine after what they did, but be aware it will take you longer to achieve the same goal. You just have to spread the workload out a bit more. They might train twice per day, two hours at a time and six days per week. That’s 24 hours per week and 144 hours of training in six weeks. 

With a full-time job, family, and other responsibilities, you might only have 45 minutes per day, three days per week to devote to exercise. That’s 2.25 hours per week and only 13.5 hours of training in six weeks. Get the picture? At that rate, it will take you approximately 64 weeks to accumulate the same amount of training exposure that actor achieved in six weeks.

Basing your program off of a professional athlete is fine, but have realistic expectations. [Photo courtesy Jorge Huerta Photography]

Now Go Do It

Now’s the time to enact your plan. Train that way for six weeks. Record everything in a training journal. After six weeks, look back at what you accomplished by referring to your training journal. Are you closer to your goal? If not, what could you eliminate that isn’t helping? What may be missing? Does one of the exercises seem to cause you problems?

Go back and look at the programs you built your program from. How did the people who used those programs change and adapt? It may be time to tweak a few things in your program. Do not be tempted to change everything. Just change one or two things. It might be using a similar but different exercise or implement that works the same movement pattern, like subbing in double KB front squats for barbell front squats or back squats.

Test the changes out for another period of six weeks. Then re-evaluate and keep repeating the above steps. Keep accurate records. Occasionally, test yourself to see how you are doing.

Evolve Your Program

Unless your goals drastically change, your original program should remain easily identifiable, even after you’ve tweaked it through the years. Once you have a program that’s working, you can use it as a template to develop other programs to target specific attributes. In time, these programs can coalesce into a training system that others can use. This long process is what will get you to your goals, keep you there, and even help you set and achieve new goals.

Or, of course, you could always just hire a coach.

Making the jump from athlete to coach? Read these first:

8 Crucial Principles for New Coaches to Master

The post So You Want to Write Your Own Program appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Before you get started, I want to emphasize: do not go all out every session.

This is not high-intensity training and you should not need a puke bucket after every workout. This program is about accumulating experience and strength; give yourself time to develop those qualities.

At first, you may find the training a little odd, but soon you’ll find it a refreshing break from normal workouts. It allows you to develop seemingly conflicting qualities at the same time. You will transform gym strength into real-world strength and capability.

Are you ready to rock? 

It’s time to transform gym strength into real-world capability.

The Muscles and Might Conditioning Program

The overall program is broken into a pair of two-week blocks that you will rotate for up to 6 months. The first block will build strength, power, and muscle mass, and the second will train work-like scenarios.

The Roustabout Session

First, lay out your tools and get your body ready:

• Set your kettlebell on the ground, and place your tire and sledge hammer 60ft away from it.
• Put the slosh pipe about one yard from either the hammer or the kettlebell. Which end you start with is your choice.
• Set a clock and warm up for five minutes. I don’t care how, just elevate your body temperature and heart rate. Don’t jump into the workout cold turkey.

Now the fun begins:

• After you feel warm, reset your timer and get ready to roll.
• If you placed the slosh pipe near your tire, grab the sledge and pound out ten hits on the tire (five from each shoulder), log-splitter style. (Click here for a refresher on those.)
• Next, pick up your slosh pipe, cradle it in your arms, and walk to your kettlebell.
• Knock out 5 snatches with your left hand and 5 with your right hand.
• Set your kettlebell down and pick up your slosh pipe.
• Walk back to your tire and repeat the cycle for 5 rounds with as little rest as possible. This should take you about 10-15 minutes. Make sure to record your time in a log book.

This workout is not as easy as it looks on paper. The only rest you get is when you carry the slosh pipe, which isn’t much of a break at all. If you need more than a minute of rest between rounds, you are not in conditioned enough to practice this form of training.

Goals and Progressions

Your first goal should be to complete 5 rounds with no rest. Once you can do this, gradually build up to 10 rounds. Once you can complete 10 rounds with no rest, slowly add reps to the sledge hits and snatches. Increase the reps until you are at 10 reps on each side with each implement.

At this level you are performing 200 tire hits, 200 snatches, and 20 slosh pipe carries, and are looking at about 30 minutes of non-stop activity. It’s harder than it looks, so choose your weights conservatively. You should be able to perform this workout comfortably. In time, you will graduate to a heavier sledgehammer and kettlebell. When you do, drop back down to five rounds of five reps per implement and then progress as you did before. This cycle can be repeated for months.

The goal is 10 rounds with the following standards:

• A 10ft slosh pipe with about 4.75 gallons of water (50lbs).
• A 24kb kettlebell for men and a 16kg kettlebell for women.
• A 20lb sledgehammer for men and a 12lb sledgehammer for women.

If you can do more, great, but this gives you a solid goal to shoot for. 

The Weekly Schedule

Perform this routine twice per week on Monday and Friday. But wait, what about Wednesday?

Wednesday is reserved for medleys. You remember those don’t you? They’re the basic wall-to-wall carries with various implements or objects. Go re-read this article if you need a reminder. Medley-carries give your body a chance to recover.

Roustabouts will cook your hands, wrists, forearms, and shoulders. You might get pretty sore, so be careful about trying to advance too quickly. Your entire body is dealing with a lot of impact and odd angles. Tissues need time to remodel and adapt, and it will take time for your body to toughen up to this type of training.

If you find that you are too sore to recover before your next session, adapt the program to the following: 

• Week 1: Perform the Roustabouts on Monday and Friday and the medleys on Wednesday.
• Week 2: Perform the medleys on Monday and Friday and the Roustabouts on Wednesday.

You can run or hike on your off days, but don’t push too hard. I prefer to take long walks on my in-between days and do hill sprints or go for a strenuous hike on the weekend.

Work Capacity to Tackle Real Life

Endurance sports are fine if that’s what you’re into. But sometimes life has you moving furniture, carrying a heavy pack through the mountains, or pushing a stranded vehicle out of the road. Dealing with an unexpected situation takes more than the endurance you get training for a marathon. It takes work capacity and the ability to move yourself and odd objects with grace, strength, and power.

You want unexpected strength? Then go get some!

More Unusual Methods for Surprising Strength:

• Be Able to Do Everything: Match Your Tool to Your Goal
• The 4-Week Real Strength Squat Routine
• Must-Have Equipment for Strongman Training
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Walter J Dorey.

The post Of Muscles and Might: The Workman’s Conditioning Program appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Many studies point to age thirty as when the average person reaches their peak bone density and muscle mass. For those who remain inactive or engage in only normal everyday activities, it all goes downhill from there.

I don’t train to just “get fit.” I want to get strong, tough, and thicken-up my body. We are all in an ongoing to fight to get strong and stay that way for as long as we can.

Many studies point to age thirty as when the average person reaches their peak bone density and muscle mass. For those who remain inactive or engage in only normal everyday activities, it all goes downhill from there.

If you aren’t working to get stronger, everything about you is getting weaker. Even your bones.

I’ve trained plenty of endurance guys who didn’t fare too well as they aged. Many men in their fifties and sixties who were surprisingly frail and weak when I taught them how to use kettlebells.

Something many fail to realize is that osteoporosis, or loss of bone mass and density, is often precipitated or at least exacerbated by sarcopenia, which is a weakening and loss of lean muscle tissue.

Part of this occurs because of a failure to apply Wolff’s Law, the theory that mechanical usage stresses bone and cause an adaptive response or remodeling of the bone to become thicker and stronger.

So, how do you elicit a response in bone remodeling? You have to train hard. Hypervigorous mechanical usage (HvMU) means that you have to stress your bone structure more vigorously than the normal to build and toughen bone mass.

As a bonus, strengthening your body with HvMU also affects the same remodeling response in you muscle tissue. You’ve got to love two-for-one deals!

To get thicker, stronger, and tougher, you have to put in some good old-fashioned work.

Inspiration From the Legends of Strength

Some of my idols are the old-time strong men like Eugen Sandow, Arthur Saxon, and George Jowett. These guys were not only looked strong; they were strong.

The same goes for men in the golden age of body-building: John Grimek, Reg Park, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Draper, Serge Nubret, and Franco Columbu. And don’t forget men training in Olympic Weightlifting like Serge Reding, Pyrros Dimas, David Rigert, Bill March, and Tommy Kono.

Of course we can’t forget the women. Lidia Valentin of Spain is an Olympic weightlifter in the 75kg class and has clean and jerked 147kg. She’s also squatted 385lb for a double. Marte Elverum is a female powerlifting champion from Norway and Lauren Fisher is a CrossFit Games phenomenon; both are strong and conditioned women.

Training to get strong and thicken up your body isn’t just for show. It can combat the effects of aging, like decreased bone density.

Now is the time to take inspiration from these athletes to pack some meat on your bones and strengthen your entire body with HvMU.

Hypervigorous training doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself, but it does mean you have to push yourself enough to create an adaptive response in the muscle, bones, and other tissues.

Unfortunately, this becomes harder as you get older because the body recovers more slowly from injuries as you age.

That being the case, it makes sense to train in shorter, more intense bouts to allow for more recovery time.

The Muscles and Might Lead-In Program

In my next article, I will lay out a strength and conditioning program based around the movements I have shown you in the past few weeks.

But you will need to prepare your body for what you’re about to undertake, as well as know the movements and build or acquire the implements.

The example programs below will get your body ready by helping you build some great strength and muscle mass. Feel free to modify my example plans, or create your own.

Choose three major compound movements to build strength and couple them with two to three assistance exercises designed for hypertrophy.

Be sure to warm up before training. I like to use the major lift for the day as my warm up by incorporating several sets at lighter weights for 5-10 reps.

Others may like a bit more in their warm-up routine, but don’t let the warm up tire you out. Five or ten minutes should be plenty of time unless you crawled out of a meat-locker.

Follow your lead-in program for two weeks before jumping into the conditioning routine that will be in my next article. 

Example Program 1

Day One (Monday):

1. Deadlift: 7 x 2. Work up in weight each set.
2. Hypertrophy work:

• Yates rows: 4 x 8-10 reps
• One-arm rows: 3 x 8 reps
• (Optional) Standing barbell curl: 3 x 8 (heavy). Stay tight and move that weight!

Day Two (Wednesday):

1. Bench press: 7 x 2-3. Work up in weight each set.
2. Hypertrophy work:

• See-saw press: 4 x 8-10
• Dips: 3 x 8
• (Optional) Diamond push ups: 3 x 8

Day Three (Friday):

1. Squats: 7 x 2. Work up in weight each set.
2. Hypertrophy:

• Bulgarian split squats (aka: rear foot elevated split squats): 4 x 10
• Tactical lunge (reverse lunge): 3 x 8

Low reps on the deadlifts and squats help you maintain good form, since the back does not get as fatigued as it would with higher-rep sets.

If you have any energy left at the end the day, knock out a bit of ab work. However, you should feel your entire torso working if you are training the main lifts hard with enough weight and proper body tension.

Example Program 2

Day One (Monday):

1. Power cleans: 7 x 3
2. Hypertrophy:

• Pendlay rows: 4 x 8-10
• Power shrugs: 3 x 8
• Face-pulls: 3 x 10-15 reps

Day Two (Wednesday):

1. Push-press: 7 x 2-3
2. Hypertrophy:

• Pull ups 4 x 10
• One arm press: 3 x 8

This will be enough volume for most people, but if you want to do more, add 3 circuits of 8 reps each of front, lateral, and rear lateral dumbbell or plate raises. Or sub in something else you would like to work on, but don’t use this time as an excuse to do a ton of other things.

Day Three (Friday):

1. Front squats: 7 x 2-3
2. Hypertrophy:

• Tactical lunge (reverse lunge): 4 x 10
• Overhead squat: 3 x 8

Program Tips and Strategy

In the beginning, you may find that you can only handle 4 or 5 of the 7 prescribed sets. That’s okay. Take your time and gradually work up to the 7 sets. Your aim is to add weight to each set, not to do all 7 with the same weight.

Take 2-3 minutes’ rest between these main work sets. For the main lifts each day, focus on building strength using rock-solid form and technique. 

For the hypertrophy work, the weights will be lighter than your main lifts. Add weight when you can, but realize that going heavy is not the focus.

The rep schemes of these movements are designed to create muscular growth; therefore, take only enough rest to be able to jump into and complete the next set.

For most people, performing the first two hypertrophy exercises after the main lift will be plenty. But if you feel you want to do the third hypertrophy movement, be my guest.

If the sets and reps of the bodyweight movements are too hard, sub in something that is easier for you to complete with good form. If the bodyweight prescription isn’t challenging enough, add weight with some sort of harness.

Recover and Get Ready for the Next Phase

These routines might leave you feeling quite sore. To reduce soreness, incorporate a few sets of bodyweight squats and light goblet squats each day to keep your legs and hips feeling fresh.

Walking, cycling, or swimming for 30-60 minutes each day will also help with recovery, but don’t use this as an excuse to pump up your heart rate. This is a good time to play in the pool with your family or take your dog for a walk.

Stay with this program for at least two weeks before launching into the next phase I’ll show you. Laying this foundation will add some meat to your bones, and allow you to take on my conditioning program with gusto.

More Ways to Add Meat to Your Bones:

• Size, Strength, or Power? A Training Method Primer
• The 4 Phases of a Solid Strength Program
• It’s Not the Years, It’s the Miles: Training After 50
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of The Training Hall by Odd E Haugen.

Photo 2 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The post Of Muscles and Might: The Lead-In Program appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I was 24, and worked in a huge factory with my brother Dave. One day on lunch break, a burly-looking guy who I’d never seen before walked up to me and asked if I was Dave’s brother. I said yes and we started talking. I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich and he asked if I was done with lunch.

I said I was, and turned to toss my wrapper away. Just then, he launched into my shoulder and knocked me flat out onto the stack of waist-high cardboard I was sitting on. Me being me, I reciprocated the “nice-to-meet-you-man-shake.” We scuffled about on the cardboard for a brief moment, at which point I managed to twist out of his grasp and back onto my feet.

“You’re wiry,” he said with a laugh, and then hurriedly walked back to work. My supervisor merely shook his head and grinned. It was a lively place to work. At 6’3”and 185lb (depending on how much pizza I’d eaten the night before), I was the physical definition of wiry – lean, tough, sinewy, and strong. 

Getting lean and strong happens all the time, even for people with no gym memberships.

Strong Like an Animal

Most of us could use some of that wiry strength. Coach Dan John calls it anaconda strength. Others relate it to a wrestler’s strength and you often find it in physical laborers. It’s the kind of strength that takes someone completely by surprise if they mess with you. They might even say “Man! You’re like wrestling a gorilla!”

This kind of strength allows you to move furniture without getting sore the next day and withstand hours of strenuous outdoor activities. It goes far beyond bi-lateral barbell strength and gives you the ability to move, act, and react with strength and grace. 

During the last few months we’ve worked on the kettlebell snatch and trained with sledgehammers. I am giving you the tools to develop the kind of unexpected, gorilla-like strength I used to hold my own against my coworker. The next tool you will need for the program I am building to get you there requires some assembly: the slosh pipe.

Build Your Slosh Pipe

A slosh pipe is easy to make and will set you back about $50. Go to a hardware store and purchase the following: 

• One 10-foot piece of black, 4-inch diameter ABS plastic pipe.
• Two 4-inch end caps
• One small container of ABS glue

Do not use the white PVC. ABS is stronger and UV resistant, so unless you can inconspicuously stash a 10-foot pipe somewhere in your house, you’ll want the pipe to be able to withstand outdoor storage.

Unless you plan to stash this bad boy in your house somewhere (and never drop it), don’t use white PVC.

Here’s how to assemble a slosh pipe.

1. Read and follow the directions on the can of ABS glue.
2. Glue one end cap to one end of your pipe. Apply the glue liberally so you get a good seal. Let the glue cure according to directions.
3. Next you need to fill the pipe with water. This step requires some creativity. I leaned mine against a building and climbed on the roof to dump water into the pipe. You might need to recruit a friend to hold it while you climb on top of a car, into a tree, or onto a step ladder to fill it up.
4. Do not fill it completely. You need to leave some space in the pipe so the water can slosh back and forth. More on the weight below.
5. After pouring the water in, dry the end completely. Glue the second end cap on the pipe. It may try to pop off from air pressure in the pipe, so have a piece of tape handy to secure the cap if this happens. Once the glue sets, you can remove the tape.
6. Let the glue cure while the pipe leans against a wall or tree. Measure five feet from one end to the center of your slosh pipe and mark it with duct-tape or paint so you can easily pick the pipe up in the middle without thinking about it.

A 10-foot piece of 4-inch diameter black ABS with end caps weighs about 10lb. Water weighs about 8.3lb per gallon. The pipe holds a total of 6.5246 gallons of water, but remember we’re not filling it to capacity. Therefore:

• For a 20lb slosh pipe, add 1.24 gallons of water.
• For a 30lb pipe, add 2.5 gallons of water.
• For a 40lb pipe, add 3.5 gallons of water.
• For a 50lb pipe, pour slightly over 4.75 gallons into your pipe. This is what I use.

It’s All About the Leverage

When you carry a slosh pipe, the water weight is leveraged away from your body. This, coupled with the action of the water flowing back and forth, creates inherent instability that your body has to fight against. Resist the temptation to make a shorter slosh pipe, as it ruins the properties of the tool. Ten feet is optimal.

Since a liquid cannot be compressed, the only way to get more water weight away from the body with a slosh pipe is to increase the diameter or length of the pipe. If you want a lighter slosh pipe, use less water. I don’t like smaller diameter slosh pipes because you cannot get enough water into them to make them weigh much.

This thing won’t be easy to control, but that’s the point. Handling a 4’’ diameter pipe will develop a strong, dynamic grip as the water sloshes back and forth.

Carrying a thick pipe that moves around irregularly will challenge your grip and balance in new and interesting ways.

Become One With the Slosh

You’ll want to become comfortable wrangling this beast before you use it in a structured program. Get outside and start playing with your new tool. Pick it up and carry it overhead, in the crooks of your arms, in your hands, or on your back. You will quickly find that it is a bear to handle. My wife said I looked like a drunken sailor when I first started carrying mine.

Be sure your hands are equidistant from the center mark on your pipe. It’s easy to place one hand farther away without realizing it. Keep your body tight and use your inner strength to control the pipe. More on that concept coming soon. We’re wrapping up the final touches before I reveal the strength and conditioning routine I’m building for you. Until then, get comfortable with your new slosh pipe and have fun!

More Ways to Get Strong Without a Barbell:

• Must Have Equipment for Strongman Training
• Loaded Carries: The Ultimate Functional Exercise
• Train Your Body to Love Holding Heavy Weights Overhead
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Walter J Dorey.

The post An Odd Implement for Surprising Strength: The Slosh Pipe appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Pavel Tsatsouline says in his book, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: “The one-arm snatch is the Tsar of kettlebell lifts, fluid and vicious.” If you want to display power like a king and don’t already practice kettlebell snatches, now is the time to start.

Train to This Standard, But Don’t Stop There

Knowing how to properly snatch a kettlebell is another prerequisite for the strength and conditioning routine I am building for you. Last month, we worked on sledgehammer training. If you cannot snatch safely snatch a kettlebell, you will not be able to perform the program.

If you do not know how to properly snatch a kettlebell, it would be best to find an instructor. If you already know how to do it, work on improving your technique over the next few months. You should be able to snatch a kettlebell for at least 5 sets of 10 reps on both sides.

The minimum standard is 100 total reps with a 12kg (26lb) kettlebell for women, and a 16kg (35lb) kettlebell for men.

If you cannot do this, build your capacity over the next few months. This standard is only a minimum; if you can do more reps with a heavier kettlebell, you will derive even more benefit from the program.

Mastering the one-arm kettlebell snatch will be an essential element to your new strength and conditioning program.

Girevoy, Hardstyle, or Both?

There are different techniques out there for snatching a kettlebell. The Girevoy Sport style is used in kettlebell sport competition where the goal is to get as many reps as possible in a set amount of time. Therefore, this technique is relaxed and places an emphasis on efficiency. In contrast, the Hardstyle kettlebell snatch technique is dynamic and explosive and places an emphasis on power.

Some like to argue the merits of one style over another. I couldn’t care less, and here’s why:

I’ve done a ton of manual labor in my life. Throwing hay bales for hours requires settling into an efficient, sustainable rhythm. But sometimes in the middle of the job, a storm rolls in and suddenly it’s all hands on deck to stack the hay in the barn before it becomes waterlogged and three times as heavy. You not only have to work more efficiently, but also harder and faster. The workload just got condensed through greater intensity.

It is important to be able to snatch a kettlebell proficiently with both styles. Some days you feel like working on technique, and other times you want to up the ante and bust out power snatches. The greatest human ability isn’t our ability to specialize; it’s our ability to adapt and tackle many things well.

That said, for the purpose of the program I’m building for you, today we’re only going to cover the basics of the Hardstyle snatch.

The Hardstyle Snatch

Like the swing, a kettlebell snatch starts with a hip hinge. The swing is about controlling the kettlebell as it is projected forward with a forceful hip snap. The snatch starts like a swing but transitions into propelling the kettlebell upwards, more like a high-pull.

As the kettlebell begins to pass in front of the legs, it should be above the knees as you snap the hips through. At this moment, start pulling up and back so the kettlebell transitions from an arc away from your body to a more vertical path. It will still arc up, but you are creating a tighter arc than in a swing.

Arm placement against your body is crucial to producing force in the snatch. At the bottom of the movement, your biceps are snug next to your pecs, triceps are snug against your lats, and your arms are lying right over your ribs. As you hip-hinge forward, you incorporate more upward leg drive than you do with a swing, transferring energy directly from the body, through the torso, and into your arm, which remains tight against your body.

You want to maximize this arm-body contact for as long as possible before pulling the kettlebell into an upward path. To transition the forward arc into a vertical high-pull, bend your arm at the elbow while continuing to leverage the biceps and triceps off of your body.

A common fault when snatching is letting your arm stay long, causing the kettelbell to make a big arc away from your body and come crashing down on your forearm. To tame the arc and keep the kettlebell close to your body, imagine a wall two feet in front of you. Don’t let the kettlebell hit the wall.

The snatch begins life as a swing, but the force is directed more vertically as the arm leaves the body.

Save Your Forearms

If you high-pull the kettlebell way over the top of your outstretched hand to perform a snatch, it’s going to flop and painfully smack your forearm. To avoid this, imagine a shelf six inches above and behind your head. You want to pull the kettlebell high enough so it will float for a moment at shelf height. Once the kettlebell gets high enough to clear the shelf, push the kettlebell back to land softly on the shelf.

It’s like the hang-time during a jump shot in basketball. This weightless feeling is your cue to push the handle around and in front of the bell of the kettlebell to guide it into place. When you do it right, it will it merely fall an inch to land safely on the back of your forearm.

When you feel the kettlebell start to float, that’s the time to put it on the shelf.

Polish the Details

The kettlebell snatch starts as a swing, followed by a rapid transition into a high-pull, with just enough power to float the kettlebell into place. There are a lot of nuances that I did not cover, such as how to hold and position the kettlebell on the arm, the placement of the elbow, which way the palm faces, or how to drop the kettlebell. If you can’t find an instructor to help with these finer points, examine the pictures above closely and you’ll pick up on most of them.

The snatch is the king of the kettlebell moves. If you are not proficient, take the next few months to practice and work up to the minimum standard. Then you will be good to go when I reveal the complete program.

More Training in the Way of the Bell:

• Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Presses for Solid Shoulders
• 5 Kettlebell Drills to Add Real Function to Your Fitness
• Power, Precision, and Balance: A Triple-Threat Kettlebell Workout
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Walter J. Dorey.

The post The Kettlebell Snatch: Tsar of Lifts appeared first on Breaking Muscle.