Your training program should also include a level of objectivity. Without you or your coach holding your feet to the fire, you’re just chasing your tail. Today I’m going to share a few things for you to take into consideration when determining the effectiveness of your training program.

Having a coach to help you stay directed is a major component of training success.

Know Your Specific Goal(s)

Before I make some specific assessment recommendations, it’s important that you are detailed about your training goals. About 99% of people will say they want to “lose weight and get in shape.” That needs to become a more specific and detailed target. Here’s a list of steps to get you started.

1. State the goal in a way that is specific, measurable and realistic. “I want to lose fifteen pounds.”

2. State the trade-offs involved in achieving the goal. These are the uncomfortable parts. This step is about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Trading old bad habits for newer better habits. Examples:

• I can’t go out every Tuesday evening to the bar.
• I will not be able to go to eat four pints of frozen custard during the week.
• I will need to skip late-night television so I can get up in the morning.

3. State the benefits you get from working toward your goal. These are the good habits and things you are getting:

• I will be able to wear my old jeans.
• I will not grow weary in the afternoons.
• I will finally perform ten perfect push ups.
• I will sign up for that mountain bike race my friends having been asking me about.
• I will be healthier for the long term.

4. List the tasks required. This would include all the execution steps. For example:

• Make a specific shopping list.
• Prepare lunches and dinners in advance.
• Have water with me at all times.
• Have workout clothes ready.

5. Set a deadline. “I will lose the fifteen pounds in twelve weeks by the weigh-in date of …” You can also set interval deadlines.

6. Occasionally, it is appropriate to set a reward for an accomplished goal. A movie, afternoon off, a new book. But this reward should also come with a contingency: if you regress from your achieved goal within a twelve-month period, then there should be a penalty.

Know Your Training Load

Training load is a measure of your volume times the intensity. This is important in that you want to find your specific load for effective training. If you can only tolerate “X” minutes of training, but your friend needs double that to elicit a training adaptation, then you need to know that.

“Regardless of the assessments you select, it’s important to have a regular schedule to test your program against an objective standard.” 

Training load can be calculated easily by multiplying your training rate of perceived exertion (RPE) by your training time in minutes. You can use the ten-point Borg scale for your RPE. So if you trained 25 minutes at a RPE of 7, your training load would be 175. (25 x 7 = 175)

You can also use advanced methods if you have a heart rate monitor and a tracking website associated with it. Regardless of your tools, relating training load to assessment data is an important connection.

Do Assessments (From Easy to Complex)

Assessments are typically general or specific. Since most readers here seek general physical preparedness (GPP), I’ll focus on those. If your initial level of fitness is low, then you are what is commonly referred to as a novice trainee. You should anticipate crazy good improvement in most if not all of these measures. If not, then your program is broken and you need a different approach.

• Resting Heart Rate – As your fitness improves, so does cardiovascular function. By measuring your resting heart rate upon rising each morning a gradual lowering of pulse will be detected. Measure radial pulse upon rising or better yet, use HRV or a heart rate strap technology.
• Body Composition – An effective training program when combined with a performance eating plan will optimize body fat levels. Measuring body fat requires some technical equipment, along with a skilled technician. Retest (using the same method) every four to eight weeks initially.
• Morning Weight – The whole world owns a bathroom scale. Not the best metric, but it can be useful for observing a trend. Clients who also share their weigh-ins with a coach increase the level of accountability.
• Waist Measurement – While your weight might not change, your waist size typically will. You can also gather import health information by dividing your waist by your height. If your ratio is greater than .5, then you have some work ahead of you.
• HRV – I consider the measurement of HRV to be the most significant performance tool of the last decade. HRV provides a snapshot of the body’s current level of readiness while also revealing long-term improvements that are not necessarily detected via other means.

Take Performance Measurements

I divide performance test into two different tiers. The first tier is lower skill and appropriate for the majority of trainees. The second tier is for a more advanced trainee and athletes with exposure to more complex movements.

Tier 1

• Push Ups (max) – Perform as many as possible in good form without failing. Stoppage in the plank position is permitted. This is a power endurance test.
• Pull Ups (max) – Perform as many as possible without releasing from the bar. This is another power endurance test.
• 500M Row – Fastest time to complete 500m. The O’Neill rowing test can also be used. The O’Neill test is a general endurance measure.
• Tabata Squat – Measures readiness and general endurance fitness. Form is of a premium, so you need to be able to squat. Your score is the lowest number of reps performed in any of the eight rounds. Our minimum is fifteen reps. Note: Serious consequences can result from taking a deconditioned trainee through all eight rounds. When in doubt, four rounds will be more than adequate. 

Tier 2 (and Worthy of Further Consideration)

• 1RM Deadlift – Lower on the technical side, the deadlift measures strength in the pull. The problem comes when poor technique meets weak linkage and an injury results. Possible, but it depends on the athlete. If you have been exposed to other strength moves and are comfortable with them, then feel free to include these as part of your Tier 2 assessment. Just don’t go hog wild with every move.
• Vertical Jump or Long Jump – The tricky part of the vertical jump test is that an athlete could gain quality mass from a well-constructed program and this could result in reduced jump height. Using the Harman Formula you can determine the power produced: (Peak power (W) = 61.9 x jump height (cm) + 36.0 x body mass (kg) + 1,822)

Putting It All Together

Regardless of the assessments you select, it’s important to have a regular schedule to test your program against an objective standard. Novice athletes will improve quickly and can be retested every eight weeks. Depending on the goals, an advanced trainee should consider a quarterly assessment schedule. Without it, you are left with little or no objective data on the effectiveness of your program.

Check out these related articles:

• 7 Articles to Help You Choose a Good Coach
• Feedback From a Coach Can Improve Your Performance
• The Most Underrated Principle of Strength Training is Balance
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photos 1 and 3 courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.

Photo 2 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Coach, How Do I Know if My Program Is Effective? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The fitness industry may be the biggest perpetrator of all, with the constant glut of gym inspiration memes flooding our news feeds to tell us how no one cares about our excuses and we just need to work harder. It sounds nice, and it gives us a convenient fantasy that we like to escape to. There is, though, a pretty major problem.

It’s bullshit.

The internet is littered with images that frame fitness as life-consuming with “no excuses” for a lack of progress.

Do You Have Direction?

Hard work is a great thing and a necessary part of a productive and rewarding life in any pursuit. But hard work is nothing without proper direction. If you don’t have a good plan, no amount of effort will magically make things better. You can’t fix a broken system by just applying harder work.

I prefer simplicity in most aspects of life, and training is no exception. I’m sure you’ve been told you need to vary your workouts in order to keep progressing. It’s true, but not in the way a lot of people understand.

“Sometimes all you need are the fundamentals.” 

I’ve tried a lot of things in the last fifteen years and two of the best training cycles I had were also the most boring on paper. While they were very different programs, they shared one distinct similarity – go to the gym and do the same thing every day.

The two programs I’m referring to are daily maxes and Dan John’s forty-day workout. In this article I’m going to discuss my experience doing the same damn thing every day and why you should probably give it a try.

Program 1: Daily Maxes

The approach I followed for my daily max training was reminiscent of the popular Bulgarian method with some important differences. For one thing, I’m not an Olympic lifter. For another, I don’t take steroids. There are other factors, but those are probably the two most significant.

So, what I did each day was build up to a daily max in squat, then perform some back-off sets depending on how I felt. Then, I would do the same in bench, stretch and mobilize for ten to fifteen minutes, and go home.

Training to a daily max in the squat and bench was a brutal yet rewarding training cycle.

Daily max training was both one of the most enjoyable and most brutal training cycles of my life. There was a lot about the approach I liked. I’m a thinker and frequently an over thinker. Daily max training is simple in the extreme. There’s not a lot of thinking and analysis necessary, though you do have to know yourself and be capable of some serious self-regulation.

You also need to take your recovery seriously. I know that gets said a lot, and a lot of us tell ourselves we are getting proper recovery, but be real with yourself. Do you always get your eight to nine hours of sleep? Are your macros always on point? Do you always drink enough water or do you maybe drink a bit more coffee than you should? If you’re doing a daily max program, those things are going to catch up to you a lot faster than they otherwise might.

“You also need to take your recovery seriously. I know that gets said a lot, and a lot of us tell ourselves we are getting proper recovery, but be real with yourself.”

A common concern with high-frequency, high-intensity training is risk of injury. The popular theory is that fatigue will eventually set in and bad things will happen. But other people argue that the increased frequency of training will actually reduce injury risk by improving coordination and motor control.

I can see both sides of the coin. Daily maxing is pretty much my go-to strategy if I’m not in the middle of a purpose-specific cycle, but during the four months where it was my only program I increased my squat by close to a hundred pounds and my bench by about sixty. I think a lot of those gains were not just strength and muscle, but also technical improvement. Unfortunately, that four-month cycle also ended with a herniated disk. The weird part is I’m pretty sure the injury occurred during my warm up with sub-maximal weights. My mind just wasn’t there that day.

Pros: Simple, effective, requires little thinking. Work up to a max, gauge how you’re feeling, and do a couple of back-off sets if you want. You get to do the lifts you love every day. You get to lift heavy every day.

Cons: Probably not for everyone. Overly intense for general health and fitness. Only sustainable in the long term for certain individuals.

Program 2: The 40-Day Workout

I’m a huge fan of Dan John because he takes big, complex ideas and makes them simple and accessible to everyone. I stumbled across a blog post of his detailing a program where you do the same exact lifts every day for forty days in a row. I just finished my fortieth day this past Tuesday.

I’m not going to waste too much time detailing the program here, as you can read about it straight from Dan, but I will say I was skeptical going into it. If it wasn’t Dan John, I probably would have dismissed it and in doing so missed out on a great workout.

Dan John’s 40-Day Program taught me the value of focus and simplicity in training.

The thing I noticed quickly with this program was how good I felt leaving the gym. I was used to walking out of my facility proud of my accomplishments but beaten up and a bit worse for wear. The forty-day workout had me deadlifting and benching over my bodyweight for reps multiple days in a row – but miraculously nothing hurt. My shoulders didn’t bother me. My back wasn’t an issue. After the second week, I honestly felt better than I have in years.

One of my biggest takeaways from the forty-day workout wasn’t new personal records or more muscle. It was perspective. In today’s fitness landscape, there’s a lot of pressure to leave it all on the gym floor/platform/mat/whatever. We have this ill-formed idea that if you’re not pushing through a puke-inducing workout, then you might as well be on the couch eating French fries. The forty-day workout was one of the easiest workouts I’ve done in recent years and I’m also quite confident it gave me some of the best results.

Pros: Simple and straightforward. Good mix of kettlebell and barbell work. The high frequency and relatively low intensity has a fantastic rehabilitative effect on your joints. Could theoretically be sustainable for as long as you want to do it.

Cons: Boring, some days mind-numbingly so. You may not collect personal records as quickly as you’re used to with other programs.

Back to the Basics

The fitness world has a lot to offer and, for the most part, that’s a good thing. Just try not to forget that flashier isn’t always better and more complicated rarely means more effective.

Sometimes all you need are the fundamentals. Give one of these approaches a try. You might surprise yourself with the results.

Check out these related articles:

• The 21-Day Squat Challenge
• Is It Possible to Squat Too Much?
• The 4 Undebatable Fundamentals of Training
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photos 2 and 3 courtesy of Breaking Muscle.

The post How to Make Your Best Progress By Lifting Every Day appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Warm Up to Lift Big

On a cold day, do you get in your car and speed off at 80mph? Of course not. You turn on the car and let it run for a while (or a long while, depending on how old your car is). The body works similarly to your car. Jumping into your lifting session without a proper warm up can, at best, reduce your body’s readiness to hoist heavy poundage, and, at worst, increases the likelihood of injury.

“Starting each lift with a proper warm up will reduce the risk of injury, enhance your ability to lift heavy weights (which is what we all really care about, anyway), and elevate your superhero status as a whole.”

An intelligently designed warm up activates the nervous system, increases core body temperature, unglues those sticky joints, and generally prepares you. To help you do this preparation more effectively, I’m going to share some tips specific to warming up for the big three: squat, deadlift, and bench press. I’ll explain the lift-specific movements, and then demonstrate how to incorporate them for your next date with the barbell.

Squat Warm Up Movements

Quadruped Rockbacks

Don’t be fooled at the simplicity of this exercise. These bad boys groove the squat pattern neurologically. Observe that the joint angles and movements are similar: neutral spine and deep hip and knee flexion. It is the squat pattern, but you’re on your knees rather than standing. It’s also a hip hinge, which will help pattern the deadlift. In addition, rockbacks encourage joint centration, particularly in the hip, thus encouraging glute activation at the end range, which should carry over to the bottom of the squat.

Another benefit of rockbacks is that they provide mechanical feedback on your hip end range. As you rock back, note how far into hip flexion you’re able to go before the low back rounds or the pelvis posteriorly tilts. This degree of hip flexion should be the same point at which you set your squat depth with a barbell, as anything lower than that would cause your spinal positioning to fall apart.

Hip Flexor Mobilization

There are a number of these mobility sequences out there to choose from. Typically, hip flexors are fairly tight and can restrict the end range of hip extension, so it behooves you to loosen these up. But this particular drill gets at the best of both worlds – hip flexor stretch and glute activation.

Goblet Squat with Prying

Dan John brought the goblet squat to light. The squat itself grooves the squatting pattern, while the “prying” (holding the bottom position and wiggling around a bit) in the bottom unglues any tightness and prepares the hips for deep squats.

Start in the goblet position and then wiggle around to find any areas of tightness.

Box Jumps

These fire up the central nervous system, improve your ability to apply force quickly (important for lifting heavy weights), and are relatively easy on the joints as there isn’t much of an eccentric component involved. Not to mention, they’re fun. Just don’t go crazy – 2-3 sets of 4-5 reps will be plenty.

Deadlift Warm Up Movements

Quadruped rockbacks and hip flexor mobility drills still apply here as the deadlift is a hinge movement that requires copious amounts of glute activation. The rockback and hip flexor drills will help with both of those considerations. But here are a couple more you should also add to your pre-deadlift routine.

Band-Resisted Broad Jumps

Why band-resisted? The band reduces the amount of deceleration your body needs to do, so you can really unleash and jump powerfully on every rep without having to worry about slamming into the ground each time. The other benefits are similar to those of the box jump: central nervous system activation, rate of force development, etc. Again, 2-3 sets of 5 reps will be adequate.

Kettlebell Swings

Swings mimic the deadlift motion almost perfectly, and the explosive hip extension also prepares the nervous system and muscles to do this movement with a barbell. Choose a weight that allows for powerful swings, but not so heavy that you tire yourself out.

Bench Press Warm Up Movements

Yoga Push Ups

These promote scapular movement, specifically upward rotation, and unstick the thoracic spine and shoulders nicely. The scapular upward rotation benefit is especially welcomed, as it will help to offset the downward rotation your shoulder blades are often forced into during the bench press.

Forearm Wallslides at 135 Degrees

With similar activation patterns as the yoga push up, wallslides also turn on the serratus, which helps to keep the scapulae stabilized during the bench.

Med Ball Chest Passes or Get-Some-Air Push Ups

Chest passes are a great CNS activation for the upper body, particularly if you make each pass as explosive as possible, but they do require both a partner and a med ball.

If you don’t have access to medicine balls, the get-some-air push up is a great alternative to the chest passes. Elevate your hands – even if you can do them on the floor – the point is neural activation, not strength (not to mention you don’t want to slam down on your wrists and elbows right before benching).

Light Chest-Supported Rows

I’ve found these excellent to do between warm-up sets of bench. They activate the lats and upper back nicely, both of which are needed to provide you a stable platform from which to bench press.

“The more lift-specific drills then home in on the particular movements, both from nervous system and mobility vantage points.”

In addition to the aforementioned drills, here is a sampling of other movements to include in your warm up (click on them for video demonstrations):

• Kneeling Glute Mobility
• Adductor Rockbacks
• Double-Leg Glute Bridge
• Rocking Ankle Mobility
• Side-Lying Windmill
• Spiderman With Overhead Reach
• Overhead Walking Lunge

Note that these movements address joint mobility and stability, activate the glutes, open up the sticky joints, and, when performed quickly, will elevate the core temperature. Also keep in mind that from a sequencing perspective, it works wonders to begin with ground-based drills, then move into kneeling drills, and end with standing, walking, and more dynamic drills.

Sample Squat Warm-Up Routine

Start with self myofascial release work on the quads, adductors, lats, t-spine, glutes, calves, and pecs. Then work through this sequence:

• Hip flexor mobility x :25/side
• Quadruped rockbacks x 10
• Adductor rockbacks x 8/side
• Double-leg glute bridge x 8
• Rocking ankle mobility x 8/side
• Spiderman with overhead reach x 5/side
• Stepback lunge with posterolateral reach x 5/side
• Goblet squat x 10 (prying on last rep)
• Box Jump 2×5

Sample Deadlift Warm-Up Routine

Start with self myofascial release work on the quads, adductors, lats, t-spine, glutes, calves, and pecs. Then work through this sequence:

• Hip flexor mobility x :25/side
• Quadruped rockbacks x 10
• Double-leg glute bridge x 8
• Rocking ankle mobility x 8/side
• Bench t-spine dips x 8
• Spiderman with overhead reach x 5/side
• Walking lunge with overhead reach x 6/side
• Swings x 10-15
• Band-resisted broad jumps 2×5

Sample Bench Warm-Up Routine

Start with self myofascial release work on the quads, adductors, lats, t-spine, glutes, calves, and pecs. Then work through this sequence:

• Hip flexor mobility x :25/side
• Side-lying windmills x 8/side
• Double-leg glute bridge x 8
• Rocking ankle mobility x 8/side
• Bench t-spine dips x 8
• Spiderman with overhead reach x 5/side
• Forearm wallslides at 135 degrees x 8
• Yoga push ups x 5-8
• Medicine ball chest passes 2×8 (or get-some-air push ups 2×5)

Applications to Your Lifting Routine

You’re sharp if you noticed 80% of the warm ups are the same. That’s actually the point, as all of those similar movements address the aforementioned aspects of general preparedness. The more lift-specific drills then home in on the particular movements, both from nervous system and mobility vantage points.

Starting each lift with a proper warm up will reduce the risk of injury, enhance your ability to lift heavy weights (which is what we all really care about, anyway), and elevate your superhero status as a whole. So give these a try and see the difference it can make.

Check out these related articles:

• Mobility Work – You are Doing it Wrong (and Too Long)
• 4 Drills to Own Your Position in the Big Lifts
• Super D’s Mobility Video Library
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photo courtesy of Andrew Read.

The post Warm Up to Lift Big: a Movement Prep Blueprint for Strength appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Listen to any seasoned powerlifting coach talk and you’ll no doubt hear him or her say that position is key in any big lift. Whether we’re trying to sit in the hole during a squat, pull ourselves to the bar to create tension before the bar even breaks the floor in a deadlift, or drive our upper backs into the bench for the press, the ability to get into good positions will ensure our success.

Every movement has positions where leverages can be optimized to lift heavier weight. If strength is our goal, we should always be trying to get into these positions effectively. So, here are three position tips for the three big lifts that can help you do just this.

1. Learn to Use Your Leverages Correctly for the Bench Press

You may have heard the bench press cue, “Push yourself into the bench. Don’t push the bar away from you.” The idea is that when you bench press, you should focus on driving your upper back into the bench with the aid of the bar and use this as leverage to press the weight up.

“There are little techniques, like these, that can help you take little leaps to improve position and as a result, help you lift bigger weight.”

If you’ve ever done this correctly, you’ll completely understand the concept. If you’ve attempted it but have yet to feel the described sensation, chances are you don’t have the mobility to get into the correct position to take advantage of this strategy. Most of the time, the inability to get into this position is partly due to thoracic spine stiffness and partly due to lack of hip mobility.

To address the first part, you can mobilize at the point of restriction using a roller of some sort. Lay a roller horizontally on the bench and then lay on the bench with the roller across your back under the segment where your lower back (lumbar spine) meets your mid back (thoracic spine). Now get in your bench press position and use the bar to push your shoulders and upper back toward the bench while keeping your feet stay firmly planted.

Using the foam roller is a great teaching tool for getting into a stronger position for the bench press.

This will help you learn to extend through this area and allow for a safe arch that will help keep the pressure on your upper back. Move the roller an inch or so up toward the base of your neck and try to arch at this position as well. Keep moving up, repeating the same thing until you’ve reached the top of your shoulder blades.

To address the hip mobility, take a band and attach it to a post or rack. Step through it and pull it up to the crease of your hip. Step back facing the rack and get some tension on the band. Now kneel down in a half kneeling position and rock forward pushing your rib cage toward the ground. Hold for two seconds, rock back to the upright kneeling position, and repeat.

It surprises some people, but having strong and mobile hips is just as crucial to the bench press as the upper body.

Your hips will never feel so good and you’ll be able to get your feet a little farther back when you lay down to bench press. With this improved range of motion, you can set your feet first, then grab the bar and fold yourself up, trying to push your shoulders toward your bottom without moving your feet, making sure to extend through your upper and mid back. Now you’ll have a much better arch and improved leverage from which to press heavy weight.

2. Work the Bottom Position

Staying tight going in and out of the hole during a squat is a problem for many athletes in powerlifting. All the good intentions and focus on bracing and maintaining rigid tension in the bottom position won’t help you when a heavy barbell is pushing down and crushing you if you don’t have the range of motion to hold this position stable.

To be successful, you’ll need to learn what it feels to screw yourself into the ground and create torque at your hips, as well as how to maintain this as you brace and settle down into this position. To specifically train for this, we can once again use a band.

Creating and maintaing adequate torque in the hips is the key to a powerful drive from the bottom of a squat.

Tie the band to the rack and step through it. Pull it up to where your butt meets your lower back. Now step back so the tension of the band can help you sit way back without falling. Place your elbows between your knees and try to push your knees together but resist it with your elbows. Do and all-out contraction for five seconds then relax your legs and use your elbows to push your knees further out to a new range of motion. Repeat as needed. This will get you used to creating that torque in your hips.

You can also practice breathing and bracing in this position to learn how to maintain the tension and position in the bottom of the squat. As time goes on, you can use a lighter band until you can hold this position for as long as you want without a band.

“If strength is our goal, we should always be trying to get into these positions effectively.”

3. Snatch Grip for the Deadlift

Every serious lifter has gone for a personal record and had to drop the lift half way up. Sometimes the weight is just too damn heavy, but sometimes the miss is due to an inability to hold position.

Your upper back may be weak, making it impossible to lock yourself into place and finish the pull. Or the reason you can’t keep your shoulders and upper back locked may be due to something further down the chain, like your grip strength. Even still, maybe you just don’t have the hip mobility to bend down and grab the bar in a good position with your hips loaded. The snatch grip deadlift can help resolve some of these problems.

Snatch grip deadlifts develop a stronger grip and upper back – two things you will need if you want to pull heavy.

The wide grip makes it difficult to hold the bar. You’ll no doubt have to lower the weight you’re handling, but if you supplement your regular pulls with these and keep trying to progress in them, your grip strength with come along nicely. It has to.

This wide grip also requires that you have a strong upper back to stay upright when pulling any significant weight. So, the practice and work dedicated to increasing the weight you can handle will by itself increase strength in the upper back.

“Listen to any seasoned powerlifting coach talk and you’ll no doubt hear him or her say that position is key in any big lift.”

Lastly, the wide grip requires you to get down lower to grab the bar. To get down in a good and safe position, you need adequate hip mobility. I’m a big believer that doing exercises that challenge position and range of motion can be as beneficial as certain mobility drills. The snatch grip deadlift, if progressed properly, is one of those great lifts that can increase range of motion while increasing strength, provided it is progressed properly.

Conclusion

There’s no hack for mastery of the sport of powerlifting or for true long-term progress in strength training. Likewise, there’s no hack to master the lifts. That takes years and dedication. But there are little techniques, like these, that can help you take little leaps to improve position and as a result, help you lift bigger weight.

Check out these related articles:

• 12 Simple Strategies to Boost Your Bench Press
• Squat Therapy – 4 Drills for a Better Squat
• 5 Tips for a Stronger Deadlift
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

​

Jesse competes in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, and he was also formerly a competitive powerlifter. He was featured in main strength and fitness publications. You can read more of his work on his website.

The post 4 Drills to Own Your Position in the Big Lifts appeared first on Breaking Muscle.