Archive for January, 2000

The Round-Up Interviews: Alwyn Cosgrove
by Nate Green

It’s time to play catch-up with the Testosterone authors. Nate Green does the asking, Alwyn Cosgrove does the talking.

After being in the fitness industry for almost two decades Alwyn Cosgrove has earned the admiration and respect of, well, just about everyone. And with good reason.

His training philosophy is simple: get results by any means possible. This thinking has led to great success with his clients and a flurry of articles and a couple of books that challenge mainstream fitness thinking, including the ground-breaking work, The New Rules of Lifting, available from Amazon.com.

A two-time cancer survivor, Alwyn turned his life-threatening experiences into life-affirming reminders and now has less time than ever for “all that little bullshit.”

He truly is the quintessential strength and conditioning coach with something to teach.

Pencils up.

Testosterone: A simple question: How’s life after surviving cancer twice? What did you take for granted?

AC: Lance Armstrong once said “after cancer there are only good days and great days.” I think that says it all. It’s hard for any day to not feel good. Going face to face with your own mortality certainly changes your mindset on things.

I think most people just take life for granted. I mean, what would you do if you only had a few more years left? We all think that we have decades of time. But what if you didn’t? What if you don’t make it to retirement age? Would you live differently?

I think being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and then being in remission is like being told that your life is over, and then being given a second chance. You don’t waste it.

After cancer, you just start to look at everything differently. You savor everything positive. Every conversation with someone is enjoyable. Other little things don’t bother you.

It’s hard to spend any time on anything negative at all, really. I’ve even cut some negative people out because I just don’t want that energy in my life. I just don’t have that kind of room to carry other people’s crap, you know?

I still get regular CT-PET scans. It’s actually a weird feeling when you go for check ups. Part of you knows that you’re okay, but part of you is aware that they aren’t doing scans for no reason. It just reawakens every old emotion inside you.

I’m not sure that these feelings will ever go away. But maybe they’re good to bring up. It reminds you of your spirit and the support you have.

As much as they make me uncomfortable, at the same time I feel grateful for these thoughts. It’s as if they are a gift — a reminder to appreciate everything. That’s a gift that most people don’t have.

T: How was the road back to fitness after cancer? What kind of stuff are you currently doing?

AC: It’s been a struggle, but I’m still on the road.

It’s been about 15 months since my relapse/transplant. I’ve done about 215 workouts this year. I still get out of breath going up stairs, and get really tired doing the simplest things. I need about 11-12 hours sleep a night most of the time.

Despite all my training knowledge, resources, and my efforts I’m at about 50% of my strength levels before I got sick. I’m smaller and have less muscle, more fat, less strength, less endurance, and get winded easy. But I’ve come a long way. I have no complaints.

My first workout back (about a month post bone-marrow transplant) I did 20 minutes of walking.

On a treadmill.

At two miles per hour.

And then I vomited.

I also tried to do some push ups. I got 4 before my arms gave out. Last week, though, I did 75 push ups (in sets) as part of my program wearing a 30lb weighted vest. So I’m improving.

Week one I started doing four push ups and four bodyweight squats. I added a rep a day for the first week.
Week two I started with two sets of five of each and added a rep each day. I followed that protocol for the first month and then evolved into an EDT type routine for a while — one where I tried to perform more reps in the same time, and an alternate one where I tried to do the same reps in less time. Then I started back with lifting weights.

I’m probably one of very few coaches to have personally competed at a World Championships, and also been the least conditioned person I’ve ever met (post transplant). I’ve learned a lot from that process.

The rest of my personal programming focuses on mobility, ‘prehab’ (although I hate that word), core work, elasticity, strength training, cardio, and some regeneration stuff. It’s very balanced and challenging despite not being at max intensity.

T: Your studio in California has been compared to a human laboratory. How has this contributed to your “results-based” training programs?

AC: I’d been training people since ’89 but this was my first facility. Since opening day I have recorded every single workout ever performed in our gym. We also check body fat once a week with all clients. I can see what works and recognize patterns and trends. Over time it helped shape our philosophies and refined what we did.

Consider that we have around 200 members training 3 times per week on average. We can see the effects of 1200 workouts per month. And we’ve kept that information for close to ten years now. With that sheer amount of data you can’t help but see what works best.

We have more people at our gym on a given program than most studies have total participants. Regardless of what people think — as far as result go — there is weight in numbers.

T: What’s the most interesting “experiment” you’ve ever tried?

AC: It’s not so much experimentation as it is seeing ineffective protocols fall by the wayside. If certain clients are getting leaner than others I look for commonalities in the successful and unsuccessful programs. For fat loss clients for example, we’ve evolved pretty much to full-body workouts using rarely more than two different resistance training routines in the week.

Actually for most of our clients we use an A-B resistance training split. Whether that’s two full body routines, an upper-lower split, or a lift-specific split (e.g. powerlifting) with a max effort or dynamic effort focus, doesn’t change the underlying principle. Splitting up movements beyond that is always less effective. Frequency of exposure is a key factor in success. That seems to be a constant regardless of goal.

Now we may use a five or six day training program with energy system work and mobility, foam rolling on other days, but the resistance training is typically an A-B repeated.

We’ve used different supplements and cardio approaches over time and eliminated all but the most effective strategies. The only thing that matters is the result we see. That determines everything.

I’m not against any form of training. I’m not anti-anything. I’m just pro-results. If I could see a better, faster result using another method I’ll always change.

It’s back to the Bruce Lee line that I’m sure every Testosterone reader can quote verbatim after reading my stuff.

T: If you could put the kibosh on one method of training, what would it be?

AC: I’m guessing everyone expects me to say “aerobics” right? Ha! Well I won’t. Aerobic training is extremely useful. It’s just that we’ve misinterpreted it so that everyone thinks aerobics equals fat loss.

Good for aspiring dancers. Bad for fat loss.

But I don’t think I’d want to eliminate it as a training method.

Everything can be useful in a specific situation. It’s identifying that situation that determines what tool to use; it’s not the tool in itself that’s at fault.

Recently a lot of coaches have criticized unstable surface training (e.g. balls, Airex pads, etc). It’s an over-reaction. We know that these tools can be useful in rehabilitation settings but have a more limited use with healthy individuals.

But the usual line is, “There are no sports or activities performed where the ground moves under you.”

Really?

What about water polo, snowboarding, motocross, mountain biking, wakeboarding, and surfing? All exhibit a “tilting” reflex — the surface does move under the athlete — and they have to maintain their center of balance over a constantly changing base of support. So perhaps unstable surface training could/should be used with this group.

Good for her.

Bad for him.

I guess the one thing I’d eliminate would be the concept of isolated “qualities” of training. I think most coaches are now training “movements not muscles,” in that we’ve recognized that the body works in an integrated fashion. A squat is more than just a quad exercise right? Even a dumbbell lateral raise creates co-contraction of the obliques. But it goes beyond that.

We still divide training into “strength” and “cardio” portions. It’s still an integrated system. We shouldn’t be thinking about dividing muscular work and metabolic work or programming them separately. I mean, if I had you do front squats and push presses as a combination for 40 seconds with 40 seconds rest, it would be very metabolic. And on the other end of the continuum, walking a mile is really nothing more than 1500 low resistance reps, right?

When does a side lunge stop being a mobility exercise and start being a strength exercise or a metabolic exercise? They are artificial categories that the exercise community has created. We need to start realizing that a total integration approach is the next step.

T: Agreed. You’re into complexes for fat-loss. Are there any other training methods out there that aren’t getting the recognition they deserve?

AC: Complexes just “blur the line” between metabolic and muscular work. There are advantages and disadvantages to using them of course. I prefer alternating sets (biplexes) and trisets (triplexes) for fat loss training, but I’d always get some people who didn’t train at my facility email me and tell me that they couldn’t do some of these routines in a busy gym at 6 PM on a Monday night.

So then I started to recommend using the same piece of equipment (e.g. step ups and DB rows or presses on the same bench), but sometimes the results were compromised as I was using equipment to dictate what physiology should dictate.

But then I thought about the ultimate “complex” — the clean and jerk. It uses almost every muscle in the body at once. All a complex is, is a circuit using one piece of equipment, one load and one space. I thought it might not work as well as the original programs but it did. However, if you have your own gym or work out at off-peak times, it’s still better to load each exercise individually to ramp up your results.

The clean and jerk

As far as under-recognized training methods, I still think that bodyweight exercise can be extremely challenging. I taught a practical fat loss class for Perform Better last year.

Basically I selected a lower body exercise, an upper body exercise, and a core exercise and had the group (all trainers and coaches) perform one minute of work. We did about three “triplexes” (trisets).

Everyone told me that they had a great workout. So you can imagine that if a group of trainers felt it was an effective workout it would probably be effective for most. So body weight programming is still under utilized.

T: Back at the “Test Fest” in early 2006, your presentation was about setting up a sensible program that makes sense. You went on to bash a few of the more popular training methods out there including German Volume Training (10 x 10) and a few others. What’s the big deal? I bet you couldn’t do better!

AC: Yeah I could. Scottish Volume Training. 11 sets of 11.

If 10×10 is good then 11×11 must be better, right?

11 x 11 is 121. That’s 21% more volume right? It must be better.

Please note the absolute sense of sarcasm in my answer — I’m a “fire” type or whatever…

First off I didn’t “bash” them. I just pointed out flaws based on physiology and joint structure. And I want to add that I have no animosity towards any of the authors — I’m just taking an honest look at the programming.

The primary flaw in this system is the issue of balance as regards to loading the joints. You need to balance loading across any joints or you’re going to create a length-tension issue that will create joint injuries. It’s indisputable.

T: Let’s finish it off, eh? What three books have made the biggest impact on your life?

AC: To narrow it down to three is a bit tough. I usually read 1-2 books per week.

Sports Training Principles by Frank Dick is the first sports science book I ever read. The first edition was published in 1980, I think. I must have read that in about ’86 or so. I think it’s in its fifth edition now.

Zen in the Martial Artsby Joe Hyams is excellent. Tao of Jeet Kune Do was great.

Speed Trap by Charlie Francis was another book that every trainer or coach should read.

Winning and Losing by Ian King is written in the same vein.

More recently Tim Ferriss’ book, The Four Hour Workweek, really reinforced my experiences of not wanting to live the deferred life that most people do (working until retirement and then having the free time to enjoy life). Allied with my own experiences I felt it was a great book on reprioritizing what you do.

Shit that’s six. I’m not sure if they are the most influential but they were definitely very valuable.

Testosterone: Some good food for thought. Thanks for the interview, Alwyn.

This article originally appeared at t-nation.com

The Holidays: Still A Fitness Enthusiast’s Nightmare

It’s that time of year again. The most dedicated and hardcore lifters are still in the gym for two hours a day, six days per week, while the rest of us (a.k.a. the non-loser majority) are facing a time-crunched, often unavoidable four to six week period packed full of bullshit shopping, crowded malls, kick ass family get-togethers, boring-as-all-hell family get-togethers, parties with friends, parties with co-workers, parties that you just crashed, and hangovers.

Then your low carb diet goes out the window when your niece and nephew show up with a tray of cookies they’ve just baked for you…

And of course there’s the first class flight to Colorado Springs, being put up in a top hotel, and attending the Biotest/T-Nation annual bash and having to put up with the annoying Spike girls who just won’t leave you alone and keep going on and on about how sexy your accent is, while you and the other writers take turns hitting Eric Cressey (who’s sporting very seasonal rosy cheeks, all year long) with a pointy stick.

Or is that part just me?

Seriously, if you can maintain your regular gym routine through the holidays, then more power to you. Keep on keeping on. In my sporting youth, I can remember training right through the holidays, including running wind sprints on Christmas morning to prepare for a fight in mid-January.

At this point in my life, it’s just not realistic for me not to expect to cut back on gym time during the holidays. And to be brutally honest, my life is more enhanced by spending time with family members I rarely see than it is by doing another leg workout.

I wrote a similar article to this one last year, and also presented some related “short on time” training tips later in 2006. Both articles were misinterpreted by many. I got a ton of emails and comments about how to adjust the workout if you could “make it to the gym five days per week.” And “Is it okay to add extra bench work, or do 30 minutes of cardio, or do extra arm training?” etc.

If you can honestly make it to the gym five days per week during the holidays and continue with your planned workout uninterrupted, then stick to your regular routine and read no further. But for the majority of us, sometimes something has got to give, and when it comes to spending time with your kids and your families, it’s often your workouts.

The mistake most guys make during the holiday season is trying to fit their regular workouts into their busier, more unpredictable holiday schedule. This never works. All that ends up happening is they inevitably miss workouts, feel frustrated, and don’t make any progress. They do too much for it to count as recovery work, but don’t do enough to actually make any gains.

Not us. We, as Chris Shugart is fond of saying, will “display adaptability.”

So this year, why not take a proactive approach and make a conscious decision that for the two to three week period at the end of the year (or perhaps for a few weeks longer to avoid the newbie rush in January), you’re going to switch to a customized workout designed around your lack of time and availability?

Instead of trying to work around the limitations, we’ll use them as our parameters. That way it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll succeed.

So, regardless of our long term goals, whether they’re fat loss, strength, or hypertrophy, maybe we can use the holiday season as a mini off-season. Spend some time with your families and friends, regroup and recharge a bit, and at the very least maintain your fitness qualities. And quite possibly, because of an entirely new training stimulus, we may even come back refreshed and able to attack our New Year’s program with even more intensity.
The Plan

We’re going to try to train three days of the week. If you can’t do that, then training three times over 8-10 days is fine.

We’re also going to focus on undulating rep ranges, so that (should we have to because of scheduling) we can train three days in a row without repeating the same workout. But if we can only get into the gym once every three days, we still hit each body part twice in any seven or eight day period.

Is this optimal? No. But is it practical and doable? Absolutely.

Option #1: The Total Body Enthusiast

We’re sticking with an undulating periodization program that will target all major muscle groups in a variety of rep ranges.

Workout Sample (Cycle through an A-B routine)

Week One

Day One: A workout — 4 x 4 reps, approximately 90 seconds between sets
Day Two: B workout — 3 x 8 reps, approximately 75 seconds between sets
Day Three: A workout — 2 x 12 reps, approximately 60 seconds between sets.

(Workouts will take between 25 and 40 minutes in general.)

Week Two

Day One: B workout — 4 x 4 reps, approximately 90 seconds between sets
Day Two: A workout — 3 x 8 reps, approximately 75 seconds between sets
Day Three: B workout — 2 x 12 reps, approximately 60 seconds between sets

(You can obviously continue if necessary or stretch it out so that you get three workouts in over 8-10 days instead of seven. Whatever works best with your schedule.)
“A” Workout Sample

A: Dumbbell (DB) snatch

B1: Single DB overhead squat (Hold a DB at your side, twice the weight of the overhead load — e.g. 10lbs overhead, 20lbs at your side). Perform the reps for each side.

B2: Bentover barbell row

C1: Single leg Romanian deadlift (RDL)

C2: Incline DB press

D1: Prone abdominal hold ( e.g. plank) 2 sets (30-90s)

D2: Rotational abdominal work (e.g. woodchops) 2 sets of 10-12 reps

“B” Workout Sample

A: RDL bentover row combo (perform one rep of each)

B1: Single leg squat variation (e.g. pistols, Bulgarian split squats)

B2: Wide-grip chins

C1: Back extension or Glute ham raise

C2: YTWL exercise

Note: Full explanation of YTWL exercise HERE.

D: Abdominal circuit: Trunk flexion/ Hip flexion/ Lateral flexion — 1 exercise of each in a circuit. 10 reps of each. Perform 2 circuits.

E: Lower back stabilization exercise (e.g. bird-dog, cobra etc). One set of 60-90 seconds.

Option #2: The Split Routine Aficionado

We’ll use the same workout parameters as the total body enthusiast, but we’ll concentrate on an upper and lower body split routine.

Workout Sample: Cycle through an A-B routine.

Week One

Day One: A workout — 4 x 4 reps, approximately 90 seconds between sets
Day Two: B workout — 3 x 8 reps, approximately 75 seconds between sets
Day Three: A workout — 2 x 12 reps, approximately 60 seconds between sets

(Workouts will take between 25-40 minutes in general and all loads should be heavy enough to bring you close to failure.)

Week Two

Day One: B workout — 4 x 4 reps
Day Two: A workout — 3 x 8 reps
Day Three: B workout — 2 x 12 reps
Workout A: Lower Body

A: Front squat

B: Reverse lunge from a box

C1: Glute ham raise or back extension — 2 sets of 8-12 reps

C2: Swiss ball crunch — 2 sets of 8-12 reps
Workout B: Upper Body

A1: Barbell bench press

A2: Bentover barbell row

B1: DB military press

B2: Chins

C1: DB curls, 2 sets in the designated rep range

C2: Weighted dips, 2 sets in the designated rep range

Wrap-Up

If you recognize the challenges the holiday season brings with it, you’re smart enough to know that you can’t fulfill your regular workouts, and you’re open-minded enough to try these new routines, then I expect you’ll make greater progress in January than any year past.

Enjoy the holidays. Best wishes to all of you!

This article originally appeared at t-nation.com

Minimal Time, Maximum Workout
by Alwyn Cosgrove

Owning my own facility and having access to all the equipment for my clients is awesome. But that’s not where I started, nor is it necessary.

In fact, the first weightroom I was exposed to was in a walk-in converted storeroom at my high school. After that it was a converted racquetball court. I’m sure most readers are familiar with this type of “gym” – the kind where none of the dumbbells match and you have weight plates from about seven different companies lying around. In fact, most of the equipment is from donations.

But in terms of what works, the physiology doesn’t change based on what equipment you have. Quite simply, your gains have nothing to do with what equipment you have access to, but everything to do with the work you put in. I like to think of most of the equipment we have now as “nice to have, not need to have.”

Also, every week I seem to get emails from guys who, due to work, school, or other responsibilities, need to train for a while in their home gym or basement. These guys need to get in, get out, but get the job done.

I’ve also noticed with interest the popularity of the recent “prison training” articles that have appeared here. It seems that right now, you guys are looking for no frills, no equipment, basic, effective workouts.

With that in mind, I’ve listed a few very simple, no frills workout routines that require very little equipment, will take 15-20 minutes to get done, and will hit your muscles in a way you’ve likely never experienced.
Workout One: Chest

I’ve designed a no-frills chest workout first. Why? Because no one in their right mind will ever miss a chest workout! Guys will do whatever it takes to get a chest workout in. But legs? Well, if something comes up on leg day, then missing squats is no big deal, right? But chest? Hell no.

Equipment needed: One pair of heavy dumbbells, an adjustable bench, and a dip station.

1A: Incline Dumbbell Press: As heavy as possible for 6 reps. Take 5 seconds to lower the weight each rep. No rest. Move right to 1B below.

1B: Using the same load, change to flat dumbbell presses and rep out as many as possible. This is what we call a “mechanical advantage drop set.” Instead of dropping the weight and going lighter, we adjust the angle of the exercise to make it easier. No rest.

1C: Dips: Either at the dip station or between two benches. Again, just get as many reps as possible with your bodyweight. No rest.

1D: Wide Grip Push-ups: Rep out with bodyweight. If you can’t get at least 15 reps, then put your knees on the floor and perform “bitch-ups” until you hit 15. If 15 reps is easy for you, then get your feet up on a bench or Swiss ball and rep out from there.

Rest two minutes and repeat.
Workout Two: Back

Equipment needed: Chinning bar, barbell in power rack.

Here’s the order of exercises: Wide grip pull-ups, underhand grip chins, neutral grip chins, overhand grip inverted row (using a barbell in the power rack).

Every minute on the minute (i.e,, you start each set when the second hand is on the 12) you’re going to perform a set of the first exercise to failure.

Once you can’t do half the reps you did on the first set, switch to the next exercise.

So, for example:

Minute One: Wide Grip Pull-Ups – 12 reps. Rest the rest of the minute (until the second hand gets to the 12 again).

Minute Two: Wide Grip Pull-Ups – 8 reps. Rest the rest of the minute.

Continue in this manner until you can’t get 6 reps of wide grip pull-ups. At this point, switch to underhand grip chins and see how many reps you get. Record this number. Continue performing one set every minute until you can’t hit half the reps of the first set.

At this point, switch to neutral grip (palms facing each other) chin-ups, continue in the same manner, and then finish with inverted rows.

Once you begin the inverted rows, the rules change. Just keep going with the inverted rows until you’re unable to perform a single rep.

Workout Three: Legs

Equipment needed: One pair of moderately heavy dumbbells (optional).

This routine needs to be done to be appreciated. You won’t truly “get it” by reading about it.

Start the stopwatch:

1A: Squats (hold the dumbbells at your sides): Perform 24 reps, making sure to break parallel with every rep.

1B: Alternating lunges: 12 reps each leg. Make sure to use a maximal range of motion.

1C: Drop the dumbbells (unless you’re psycho) and switch to alternating lunge jumps. Do 12 reps per leg. Get as high as you can and switch legs in the air. King Kong didn’t just jump on your back, although it might feel like it!

1D: Squat jumps: Make sure you still get below parallel and get off the floor as high as you can. Perform 24 reps.

Stop the clock! You should be under two minutes for the set.

Rest half the time it took you to complete the circuit and then repeat it. Cursing me and my entire Scottish heritage is normal at this point. If you’re able to complete the entire circuit  in under 90 seconds, then start doing two circuits back to back.
Workout Four: Total Body Complexes

This workout hits every muscle in your body, but is actually more of a metabolic workout than a direct muscle-building workout. We use this type of workout quite often as a finisher, especially with some of our combat athletes. It’s also just a great ass-kicker, and it’s popular with my overworked staff if they need to get a workout in and have only a short amount of time to do it.

Equipment needed: A barbell with plates (moderately heavy).

Perform the following complex. (A complex is literally a giant set where you don’t put the bar down between exercises.)

Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Bentover Row
Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Good Morning

Here’s where we get nasty:

Perform 6 reps of each (48 total reps). It should take about 60 seconds. Rest 90 seconds, then perform 5 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 4 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 3 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 2 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, and then do 1 rep of each.

The entire workout should take about 12 minutes, not counting the time you spend sobbing like a little girl in a frilly dress.
Conclusion

Sometimes life gets in the way of your workouts. If that happens, move to plan B and slot in one of the workouts above. Simple, time efficient, and brutally effective.

This article originally appeared at t-nation.com

7 Keys to Athletic Success
by Alwyn Cosgrove

Chris Shugart recently wrote an article about balance. Basically he said, “Balance good, karate good, everything good. Balance bad? Better pack up, go home.”

Okay, maybe that’s not exactly what he said. Chris’s point was that most trainees fell into three camps:

1. The all training, no diet camp

2. The all diet, no training camp

3. The lifestyle self-saboteur camp

And this killed their progress. The solution Chris suggested was an appropriate balance between the approaches. You’ll get no argument from me, but Chris’s article got me thinking about the entire “balance” thing. You see, I train athletes and a whole bunch of regular people, too. The thing is, I don’t train them any different. Oh sure, the exercises change and the relative intensity changes, but my overall philosophy remains the same.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that most Testosterone readers had a training program that was almost exclusively strength training based, or at best 75% strength, then cardio was thrown in whenever they got around to it.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “AC, this is Testosterone, Bodybuilding’s Think-Tank. We don’t care about anything except looking good nekkid!” I understand that. But, in general, most athletes look better than most bodybuilders. In general, the look that the majority of people are after is more Roy Jones than Ronnie Coleman. In general, an athletic approach to physique enhancement might just be the missing link.

So, do not adjust your monitors. For the next 30 minutes we will control the horizontal; we will control the vertical. (Ten TC points for the reference.) So suspend your belief that training consists of only weight training and aerobics and be open-minded enough to accept that there may be more to “training” than just those two areas.
Side Rant

In all fairness, I think the strength and conditioning industry is to blame. Think of the name: strength and conditioning. This sends the message that strength is our number one goal and everything else is just lumped together as “conditioning.”

I don’t buy it.

For example, when I worked with Dave Tate on some injury and mobility issues, I helped design the program, but I didn’t design the “strength” portion. Dave knows more about strength than me. Yet I fulfilled the role of “strength and conditioning coach” for him.

I guess it’s just a horrible term. But overall, whenever an athlete comes to our facility, he’s looking to enhance performance and prevent injury. In my view, this means that all non-skill or technical training is my responsibility.

I don’t like situations where I’m the “strength” coach and we have another “speed” coach or “nutritionist” all working independently. This becomes a chop-shop approach to training, and at this point in my career, I don’t get involved in those situations.

The 7 Keys to Athletic Success

From my viewpoint, physical training is an actual juggling of seven key areas. (I’ve completely stolen the names for these phases from several sources, but special mention would have to go to Mike Boyle and Mark Verstegen, who first brought this stuff to light.)

Now, these phases are almost arbitrary. Where does mobility end and flexibility begin? Where does gluteal activation end and gluteal strengthening begin? I don’t know. And it’s almost a waste of time to try to figure it out. Just think of these classifications as a continuum — you may be on one end of the continuum but your goals remain similar.

This article isn’t going to give you an actual program to follow; it’s designed more as an overview. I realize that some readers will understand that every template needs to be tweaked, so giving an overview is better. The other reason is that every-single-freaking-time I write an actual program that includes, for example, dips or something on an adjustable bench, I get a dozen emails asking me, “I only have a flat bench, so what can I do?” or “I just had reconstructive shoulder surgery; should I be doing dips?” or other such nonsensical crap. So for your education, a template to work from is a better tool.

Can you do each of these as a separate session? Sure. But for practical purposes, I prefer to integrate all of the following into an entire training session. At first glance, it’ll look just like a combination of some body weight exercises and some strength training exercises. And that’s all it is, but each exercise has a separate goal.

So, this is what a “session” under my own supervision will consist of. Every single session in our facility works through the following phases:

1. MAMP: Mobility, Activation, and Movement Preparation

This is a term that essentially describes a “modern” warm-up. The point of a warm-up has been lost over the years. It’s designed not to just get you warm, but to prepare you for the activity that’s about to follow. Jogging on a treadmill for ten minutes isn’t getting the job done, although for psychological reasons we sometimes keep in this type of activity.

I’m not going to cover the issue in too much detail as it has been done to death. For a great starting point, the Magnificent Mobility DVD will be your first resource. Another great resource will be the Parisi Warm-up DVD, which is a really comprehensive resource on the subject.

The warm-up is not an optional phase; it’s designed to prepare the entire body for your workout. Time invested should be related to how poorly you can move. A very tight athlete may spend 20-30 minutes on this phase. An extremely tight athlete may spend longer, and precede it with foam roller work and static stretching.

I think it’s important to say that I have absolutely no problem with a client who needs to develop range of motion doing static stretching before activity. The studies that showed static stretching to be a bad idea were flawed, and it’s only common sense to have a tight client work on developing range before you do anything else.

A more athletic client may only spend 5-6 minutes on this phase. Pre-workout or during workout shakes are introduced at this time.

2. Injury Prevention

I hate this term. I’ve tried to come up with another term, but none really get the message across. Prehabilitation means training to prevent injury. As opposed to what? Training to increase injury?

I feel that all training should be with injury prevention as a goal. However, over the years I’ve recognized the need to pay special attention to “problem areas.” This is part two of your warm-up. This is where we run through the type of exercise I mentioned in the 8 Weeks to Monster Shoulders article and some gluteal activation work.

This is where the yes/no answer determines how much work you do. Does anything hurt? It’s a yes or no answer. “A little” or “only when I…” are “yes” answers. That means we address that area with some additional work.

Examples: The YTWL exercise, push-up plus, reach, roll, and lift for shoulders.

The push-up plus on the Swiss ball. At the end of the rep (the “plus” position), the shoulder blades should be pushed as far forward as possible. There should be no pause in either the stretched or contracted position.

Mini-band walks (also shoulder and rhomboids), glute bridge, hip/thigh extension variations for the gluteal and hip complex.

One to two sets of 8-10 reps of each should suffice. It should take you about 6-8 minutes.

3. Core / Pillar Training

Yep, I do core training first. The logic that you train abs last because it tires them out never made any sense. Even in squatting. The abs don’t work concentrically coming out of a squat, so I’m really not concerned if my athletes did a pillar bridge for 60 seconds or two sets of reverse crunches.

For an athlete, core strength is where it’s at. Most coaches working with athletes would like more core strength. It’s that important. And if it’s that important, why would we ever do it anywhere but first? If it’s a priority, then prioritize it!

A typical core session consists of one stability exercise held for time (e.g. a bridge), a rotation exercise (e.g. a wood chop), and some kind of hip flexion exercise (e.g. a reverse crunch). Basically 1-2 sets of a challenging variation (for your level) for 8-10 reps will be enough. Each workout we’d select a different trio of exercises.

Progression will take place as usual — increased reps, increased loading, increased difficulty of exercise. Time invested will be about 4-5 minutes. Basically, the movement preparation runs right into the injury prevention and core training stage, which is set up as a mini-circuit for all intents and purposes.

4. Elasticity/Reactive/SSC Training

This refers to explosive body weight work or what has become commonly known as plyometrics. Think of it as making your body more “springy.” This will not only enhance sports performance (as in most sports, speed and explosiveness are the difference makers), but will also help to reduce injuries.

This stage gets a wee bit trickier. We don’t count reps; we focus on time, but with quality as our key factor. As soon as the exercise slows down, we stop the set.

Additionally, the timeframe will depend on the athlete and his goal/sport (some athletes will obviously do more than others) but this portion will typically last around 4-8 seconds.

We also classify these exercises in terms of range of movement — from rapid response (think jumping side to side over a line) to very long response (think of a long range squat-jump movement).

We further split this into linear and lateral variations and single and double leg levels.

Intensity is controlled based on the exercise selection, with a box jump being at a low level and a depth jump being at a high level.

Time spent on this phase will again be 5-7 minutes.

5. Resistance Training Portion

This is still the single most important phase for a lot of athletes. Almost every high school kid that comes to see us is too weak (and too slow, too tight, too small, and too fat). And in the world of sport, strength is still a major factor. If it wasn’t, then females would beat males as total body strength wouldn’t be a factor.

Now for you, you might have a hypothetical strength level on a 1-10 scale of an 8 for an activity that requires only a 6. In that case, you’d reduce the volume of strength work and focus more on your weaker areas.

For time management reasons I always use the alternating set system. I have yet to hear a convincing argument for the superiority of straight sets. So we tend to do exercise one for a set, rest 60 seconds or so, exercise two for a set, rest 60 seconds or so and continue.

I think basing your exercise selection on a body part split is an exercise in futility, so we use one of two options most of the time — total body (different exercises each workout day) or an upper-lower split.

For most T-Nation readers (and most of my clients and pretty much all athletes), a strength training portion of more than 20-30 minutes in this type of routine wouldn’t be necessary. Based on the alternating set system, we do a work set plus a rest every 90 seconds to 2 minutes or so, depending on total reps.

So a 30 minute time period could see you doing 15-20 work sets. This is more than enough, so don’t worry about getting shortchanged. Interestingly, although the amount of time for each of these “phases” varies, I’ve never had the resistance portion comprise more than about 50% of the entire athlete’s session.

For a pure aesthetic goal, I’d still be unlikely to have the resistance portion be much larger than 60% of the session. (Again, we’d tweak exercise selection, sets, and reps based on experience.)

6. Energy System Development

ESD = “extra stuff to do.” My friend and co-author Lou Schuler came up with that term, but I think it describes exactly what we’re talking about. The old term used to be “cardio,” but most people tended to think that meant steady state aerobics.

ESD encompasses the entire cardio gamut from steady state aerobic work to interval training to metabolic complex work. We use this as a conditioning tool, although with a little manipulation this can obviously be used to enhance fat loss if that’s a goal.

Typically, the higher the intensity, the shorter the session and vice versa, but on average this will be a 12-20 minute period of time at the most. For convenience, this can be done either during the session or in a separate workout.

7. Flexibility — Regeneration

The first part of this (which I guess is the modern cooldown) focuses on self myofascial release. This is really just an approach to addressing the quality of our soft tissue.

For most of our clients, this means using “The Stick” or the foam roller to work on a type of self-massage. Hold the “hot spots” for 30 seconds or so, or until they release. Problem areas are usually the ITB, the glutes, the quads, and the calves. Think of this as a poor man’s massage therapist.

The second portion in this phase is stretching. A lot has been written on stretching and flexibility work over the past few years, which type is best, etc. The result has been that most people have stopped doing any flexibility work whatsoever!

This is the worst possible solution. Now, for future reference (beyond the scope of this article), flexibility training is always necessary. This just doesn’t mean stretching — it can mean a variety of things.

But for now, I don’t care whether you do yoga, dynamic stretches, AIS stretching, CRAC stretching, or old fashioned deadly static stretching. What I do want is for you to spend a good 10-15 minutes on flexibility through all your tight areas. As this tends to be the most ignored portion of most people’s routine, I prefer this to be done in the gym. Otherwise, it tends to be skipped.

We also have everyone drink a post-workout shake at this point.
Summary

For the anal guys who are trying to figure out how long the entire session will take, in general it averages about 50-55 minutes. A really tight client with energy system work to do may last 70-80 minutes, including the entire stretching at the end. Obviously, time is the biggest factor, so a lot of clients do their flexibility or cardio work in a separate session, which is fine.

So to summarize, start by just considering how much time you spend in each area compared to your current goals. Even adding 1-2 minutes of specific work in each area may help you improve your overall progress!

20 Things that make me shake my head
by Alwyn Cosgrove

Editor’s Note: Don’t blame the title of this article on Alwyn. While having lunch with Mr. C and listening to his acerbic viewpoint on, well, just about everything, I was reminded of the old Saturday Night Live, Mike Myers skit where Myers played a Scottish shopkeeper whose motto was, “If it’s not Scottish, it’s Crap!” Naming the article after that line seemed appropriate.

— TC

This isn’t my usual type of article. Rather than launch into a specific training program, TC’s given me this opportunity to launch into an Alwyn Cosgrove rant. A brief warning for the timid, however: I am the king of the politically incorrect.

It has been said that if you don’t piss off someone each day, then you’re just not doing enough. That has become my mantra. I like to start early, too. There are days when I just wake up, switch on the TV and tell Matt Lauer to get fucked.

So in keeping with that sentiment, there are a few things I’d like to discuss.

1) YARDWORK

As a young lad growing up in rainy Scotland, my Dad used to have me move shit around. I dragged logs, lifted rocks, chopped wood, moved sandbags (to stop the rain from flowing into the house from the hill outside) and generally did manual labor. In exchange for my labors, I received a few pennies to spend.

I thought my Dad was a cantankerous old bastard.

Little did I know he was apparently a master strength and conditioning coach and this was merely my GPP phase.

Now people all over the world pay Master coaches like my dad large sums of money for the pleasure of moving shit around backyard gardens all over the world.

Brilliant!

2) FASTED CARDIO

Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously, are you fucking kidding me? Why are we even talking about this?

Let’s take two twins, both 200lbs, both doing the same training program, taking the same supplements, and following the same nutrition plan in the hopes of getting lean.

One difference, though: one of them eats 2 eggs and does 30 minutes of cardio three days per week. The other does 30 minutes of cardio, three days per week and THEN eats 2 eggs.

So what’s the magical difference in terms of fat loss after six months? Drum roll please…

I’ll tell you — no fucking difference.

However, whenever you bring up this question we get a ton of responses saying, “This is exactly the information I needed!”. Oh fuck off. The reason you are still fat is because you couldn’t decide to do cardio on an empty stomach or not?

30 minutes of steady state cardio will burn about 300 calories. Three times per week – 900 calories. Add that up for 26 weeks and we get a whopping: 23,400 calories.

Or 6.6 lbs of fat.

In six months.

If doing it fasted, burned 30% more (which it doesn’t), you’re looking at another 2lbs of fat in that same six month period.

Or an additional 0.07 pounds per week.

And for those of you who say – I do fasted cardio but I have a small scoop of protein first, then you’re NOT DOING IT FASTED THEN, ARE YOU?

Fat people finish marathons all the time. Aerobic training doesn’t do a hell of a lot for real world fat loss. Even if you’re hungry.

3) BOOT CAMPS

Boot camp is where trainee soldiers go to learn the art of war, get in shape, and prepare to be on the front line. What your gym offers is known to children all around the world as playing soldier.

Dressing up in green camouflage and having someone yelling at you to keep your feet six inches off the ground while you’re lying in the mud is not cutting edge fitness training. Its cutting edge fucking stupid is what it is.

The guys at Camp Pendleton are preparing to go into battle; at Camp Happy Fitness LA or whatever it’s called, they’re pretending to go into battle. And you’re 30 years old. Fucking stop it. Next you’ll be pointing your finger and pretend-shooting people.

And while we’re at it, Tae Bo is not going to make you a ninja.

4) BODYPART SPLITS

I think my mission in life is to rid the world of this ridiculous workout notion. Somehow this highly developed organism that we call the human body is not a remarkable piece of machinery that functions flawlessly as a unit, it’s just random ass “parts” put together — each of which can be worked separately.

My arse.

You didn’t even turn your computer on using only one muscle so why in God’s name are you trying to develop a body using some sort of body part split?

And while I’m on the subject, how come fingers and toes don’t get their own “day”?

Biceps get their own special recognition, what about fingers and toes and sternocleido mastoids? Or left arm on one day, right arm on another day (different body parts)? Because it’s stupid, right? Well, so is splitting up your chest and shoulder “days”.

There are NO athletes other than a small bunch of genetically gifted, pharmaceutical abusing individuals who use a “body part” split with any success. NONE.

Now, if you ARE one of the genetic elite pharmaceutical abusers, then feel free.

Split routines arrived on the scene shortly after Dianabol was popular. Do you see the connection?

Now before you ask me, “Can I split up my routine in some way?” Of course you can. But split it up based on what your body DOES, not based on what “part” it is. Splitting up by parts makes as much sense as splitting up by the number of freckles in that area.

5) PEOPLE WHO BUY THEIR PROTEIN POWDER OR VITAMINS BASED ON PRICE

There is a reason that you pay less for some brands. It’s because they suck.

Why are you making a decision on whether or not to consume something (sometimes two or more times per day) based solely on price? And do not fucking start me up by saying the ingredients are the same.

All cars have four wheels, a seat, an engine, and a steering wheel, but a Corvette is a little different than a Chevette.

Coal is cheap. Diamonds are expensive. Try giving your girlfriend a coal ring for your engagement and explain that it’s the same thing and it’s just marketing. She’ll cut your dick off and put it on display in a pickle jar. Which brings me to my next point…

6) PICKLES

Every restaurant and deli on the face of this country puts a green, lumpy, decomposing, venereal-disease ridden penis on my plate. Or chopped up in my sandwich.

Oozing green fluids.

In the US they call it a dill pickle and it is clearly the sign of the devil. It is a dead decomposing cucumber that looks like a penis, and it’s been kept from rotting by liberal use of vinegar. And you expect me to eat it?

I do not like green penises with my lunch, I do not like them Sam-I-am.

7) DOING BICEPS CURLS WHEN YOU CAN’T DO A SINGLE CHIN UP

Enough said.

8) INTERNET SUPER-TRAINERS WHO HAVE TRAINED ABOUT THREE PEOPLE, EVER, IF THAT. AND GOT NO RESULTS

You know who you are.

9) PROGRAMS THAT VIOLATE BASIC TRAINING PRINCIPLES

You can’t forget that maximal voluntary contractions are necessary to improve. Overload. If you don’t overload the muscles, nothing happens. No matter how cool, big, clever, cutting edge, or exciting it sounds.

10) PEOPLE LOOKING FOR THE FAT LOSS SECRET

I can vividly remember doing a photo shoot at our gym with a male client who had lost 85lbs of fat and now had a nice six-pack to show for his efforts.

My own gym members came up and asked me what his “secret” was.

There is no secret.

They seemed to think I’d given him the “real” information and had withheld it from them! He’s been given the same advice as I give to everyone else — he just chose to follow it a little more closely.

Fat loss is not under the control of the magic fat loss fairies. It’s based on simple changes in behavior. Granted, there are programs out there that work better than others, but it’s more likely because some programs violate number #9 above.

11) “WESTSIDE” TRAINING

You aren’t training Westside unless you are actually in Ohio at the Westside Barbell Club. So stop pretending.

Jim Wendler once told me he sees people doing different things at the real Westside club all the time so he has no idea what “Westside” is when people talk about it.

“If you don’t train at or have trained at Westside then you are NOT WESTSIDE! I am sick of people tagging this to their work especially when they have never stepped foot in the gym. They need to understand Westside is more than a program, far more.”

— Dave Tate

And another thing, understand that the Westside model of training is a very advanced strength training method that combines max effort methods with dynamic effort methods and repeated effort methods in a conjugated periodization model solely to enhance the performance (strength) of three movement patterns – bench, squat, and deadlift.

Is it a great method? Absolutely.

Is it the best method for rehabbing an injury, developing mobility, improving your chin up performance or developing lactate tolerance? Nope.

It won’t work for everything. You can hammer in a nail with a screwdriver, but a hammer will work better. Use the correct tool for each job.

Coming soon though: Westside for triathletes, Westside for window cleaners, and Westside for basket weaving.

12) PERFECT ROUTINE SEEKERS

There is no perfect routine. The fact that your favorite author just published a new workout that is “exactly what I’ve been waiting for!” just shows us that you have no long term plan for any type of success and are unlikely to make any progress.

Stick with the basics, and stick with them long enough so you get an adaptation. Don’t change too often. It’s clear to me that most people follow completely uncomplimentary workouts for short periods of time. Success will only come when you commit to a long term program where each phase complements the previous phase. A program is a long term approach for success. A workout or a phase of a program only works as a part of the big picture.

13) CHARLES STALEY

Okay Charles, we get it. do more work in less time. Enough already.

14) CHAD WATERBURY PUTTING SALT IN HIS BEER

I saw him. Apparently it makes you pee less often. But it didn’t work. I’m still wondering about that. And the fact that I counted who peed the most concerns me also.

15) COACHES WITH NO HAIR

Are Chad and I the only coaches who still have hair? Yes I’m talking to you, Jim Wendler, Dave Tate, Paul Chek, Charles Staley, Pavel Tsatsouline, Zach Even-Esh, Joe DeFranco, Ian King, Jason Ferrugia, and Christian Thibaudeau…

Woah. That list was bigger than I thought! Maybe I need to shave my head.

PS: Dave Tate doesn’t really shave his head–-he has the wrap around going on though. But that’s only because he can’t reach the back of his head to shave it.

16) RYAN SEACREST

Come on America. How did this neo-maxi-zundweebie (points for the movie) become a star?

17) PEOPLE WHO ASK ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS AND DON’T FLOSS

Okay. I stole this one from Dan John. But if you don’t have the discipline to floss your teeth twice a day (which has been proven beyond any doubt to be worthwhile, not only in terms of dental hygiene, but also in terms of inflammation and heart health), then how do you expect to suddenly develop the discipline to take four pills three times a day to see a small benefit?

18) PAPER AND PENCIL PROGRAMS

There are some people out there who write programs/articles that are absolutely shit. They are so desperate to see their name in print that they come up with fictional garbage just to sound cool.

Just because it looks good on paper, doesn’t mean it will work worth a shit in real life.

19) “A CALORIE IS A CALORIE”

F-u-c-k.

100 calories of broccoli and 100 calories of frosted flakes are exactly the same are they? I know JB could lose his mind on this one, so I won’t go too deep into it.

However, we also have to mention that calories do count and unfortunately you cannot eat unlimited amounts of the food you would like and still get lean.

20) SPECIALIZATION ROUTINES THAT SUCK

I spoke about this before but skinny arms are not caused by a lack of curls. So some  trainer suggests you “improve your chin ups” and he typically gives you a cutting edge article that just has you try to do a lot of chins.

Why, you genius trainer, you!!

I can’t do a lot of chin-ups but you, in your almighty wisdom, have solved my problem by suggesting that I just try to do more! Wow! Is that the Weider “do more of it” principle or is it from the Soviets?

Conclusion

Sometimes the training world needs a slap. I plan on giving it one now and again. When the time comes that I’ve shaken my head enough times in the near future, you’ll get part two of this series. Until then – behave.

10 Things I’ve Learned
Ramblings From a Mathematically
Challenged Fitness Coach
by Alwyn Cosgrove

Note: T-Nation asked Cosgrove to tell us his top ten tips. He gave us 34….
1. In training, the only thing that matters is the result. It doesn’t matter what used to happen, what you think should happen, what a textbook tells you is happening, what the experts say, or what a bunch of borderline-retarded pencildicks on a forum post about.
What matters is actually what happens! Once a coach really understands this and can let go of any preconceived notions of what “should” have happened, he can really get results.
2. When designing training programs, resist the pressure to conform to any tradition or system of beliefs, no matter how dogmatically that tradition or those beliefs are presented, or how much you get “slammed” for not conforming. This applies to training and life. It’s also why I stopped wearing kilts when I moved to America.

3. Take training advice only from guys who’ve trained themselves to a reasonably high level or make their living from getting results with real people. Be aware though that “doing” and “coaching” don’t always exist in the same person!The game changes when it’s “put up or shut up” time and you have to actually get a result in order to put food on the table. A lot of people writing and talking about training have never had to do that. The same is true for business and life in general.
4. My favorite Bruce Lee quote is: “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless.” The full quote finishes with “… add what is specifically your own.”
So just make sure you take any advice and tweak it based on your own experiences. A good coach will use all his knowledge and experience to help you; when you add in your ownknowledge and experience, then you’ve got something.
5. A good program performed poorly is worthless. A shitty program done with a ton of effort is worth a lot. But when you get a good program and a ton of effort, the results can be amazing.

6. Keep your own personal attitude pendulum in the center. In training, nutrition, and pretty much everything, we always see an overreaction to anything new in the short term and an under-reaction in the long term. Smart people do neither and take the information for what it is. We went through a massive overreaction – and are currently under-reacting – to static stretching, stability ball training, aerobic training, and overtraining. In other words:
Swiss balls are a useful tool. Don’t ignore them.
Kettlebells are a useful tool. Don’t ignore everything else.
Mr. Spielberg, Tom Cruise is a moderately competent actor. Don’t put him in every damn film.

7. If your training is perfect, your nutrition is perfect, and your supplementation is perfect, and you still aren’t making progress, it’s likely your pickle consumption that’s holding you back.

8. Research in training can only be used as a guide. Research is a perfectly controlled situation; the real world is different.
The best you can take from the research is that with group A for B weeks under C conditions, we experience D results to E stimulus. So under the exact same A, B, C, D, and E conditions, you might have something you can use. Otherwise it’s more of a guide.
And, in any effect, research is typically playing catch up – studying (or trying to disprove) what coaches are already doing. Only a combination of the research and the real world will be useful.

9. A complete training program has to include movement preparation, flexibility work, injury prevention work, core work, cardiovascular work, strength training, and recovery/regeneration. Most programs cover, at best, two of those.
A lot of training programs only cover the strength training portion. Be well rounded; address everything. Adding in one stretching session per week and developing your own good warm-up routine will go a long way in helping your results.

10. “Methods are many, principles are few
Methods may change, but principles never do.”
Keep this in your head when evaluating programs. The principles of boxing are pretty much written in stone, but the methods that Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson used are different. If your program violates the simple principles of training (such as overload) it doesn’t matter how cool it looks, it won’t work.

11. Regardless of pesticides, fructose levels, etc., people who eat the most fruits and vegetables are healthier than those who eat the least. You’re going to have a hard time convincing me that the current obesity epidemic is a result of people eating too many apples!

12. Get a foam roller and use it. Don’t worry about the strength, size, or flexibility of your muscles until you work on the quality of the tissue.

13. I’ve never gotten dumber from reading any book (with the possible exception of “My Life: The Paris Hilton Story”). It always makes me smile when I hear people asking, “Is this book worth it?” I can honestly say I’ve never read anything that didn’t enhance my knowledge in some way. Knowledge is the only guaranteed slump-buster in any field.
Charlie Jones once said, “Five years from now, you will be exactly the same, apart from the people you meet and the books you’ve read.” Read a book a week. Elite coach Mike Boyle once told me though, “Don’t believe everything you read. But definitely don’t just read what you believe.”

14. Most beginners need to train more on a regular basis. Advanced guys need to train less but train harder.

15. No one ever improved from just training; they improved from recovering from training. Training plus recovery = results. Pay as much attention to both to really reap the rewards.

16. I got punched in the spine once in a Taekwon-Do match. Interesting thing is, my opponent went through my stomach and ribcage to do it. I got real interested in core training after that.

17. Your body can’t differentiate between stressors. Stress is like water from hundreds of taps flowing into a bathtub. Financial stress, relationships, health, and training stress are all different taps. When all the other taps are flowing full blast, turn down the training tap a little bit so your tub doesn’t overflow.

18. Ninety percent of all supplements out there don’t do shit.
There are very few supplements that’ll do anything. Supplements are what I consider “progress accelerators.” If your current training and diet isn’t getting you bigger or leaner or whatever your goal is, then adding a supplement won’t help you. Supplements help to speed up the results you’re already getting.

19. If you train lower body twice a week, unloading the spine in the second workout and doing dumbbell step-ups, split squats, glute-ham raises, etc. will make a big difference to your overall strength and recovery.

20. Most athletes and people in general need to focus more on unilateral (single leg) lower body work than bilateral (both legs) lower body work. For non-powerlifters, most of life occurs on one leg. As a result, the single leg versions are more muscularly specific. In addition, by loading only one leg, the load on the back is decreased by 50%, another huge advantage.

21. In training for power, there are two main sides to the debate. Komi suggests using sub-maximal load with fast repetitions. Schmidtbleicher suggests the intent to move the bar fast is more important than the actual bar speed. Both are probably right.

22. My Taekwon-do instructor, Derek Campbell, is in my opinion the single greatest coaching mind on the planet, and by far one of the single biggest influences on my thinking today.
I have no doubt he could’ve coached me for the first half of a fight and had me winning, and switched corners halfway and had the other guy beat me. He took a skinny no-talent kid like myself and turned him into a champion. He’s the kind of person that changed someone’s life for the better. What kind of person are you?

23. Skinny guys always think it’s their training. Fat guys always think it’s their diet. Usually skinny guys need a better diet and fat guys need a better training program.

24. The recent trend to do low reps for fat loss is interesting. Actually, a lot of coaches seem to recommend low reps for everything: strength, gaining size, gaining strength without size, fat loss… everything!
So basically it’s just one program then, eh? Uh, no.

25. In all my years, I’ve never seen anyone lose these massive amounts of muscle that
everyone is talking about when dieting.

26. Training a body part once a week is dumb. The body responds better to frequent exposure. You don’t eat once a week, take all your supplements once a week, or train your heart (cardio) once a week, so why treat the rest of your body any different?
You can’t really split up a workout by body part very effectively anyway. For example, a bentover row is a “back” exercise, but a Romanian deadlift is a hamstring exercise, despite the fact that a bentover row involves one long isometric Romanian deadlift hold! So is it really a hamstring exercise instead? Do you see what I mean? The classification is flawed.

27. At some point, the time taken and risk involved to improve X lift by Y pounds won’t be worth the benefit for most of us. But you may not be at that point yet.

28. Eighty percent of your results come from 20% of your efforts. It’s a cliché, and it’s been said a thousand times, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
The real skill however is in finding out what the effective 20% of your efforts is. In training, it’s pretty much squatting and deadlifting. Make sure, regardless of your goals, that your program includes some form of squats or deadlift variations.

29. Be real. It doesn’t matter what people think of you. What matters is what you think of you. Of course, if I don’t think much of you, you can pretty much take it to the bank.

30. Having cancer changed my attitude on everything. Unfortunately, it took being faced with death before I really appreciated life. As Margaretta Rockefeller said, “Once you’ve been confronted with a life and death situation, trivia no longer matters. Your perspective grows and you live at a deeper level. There is no time for pettiness.”

31. Surround yourself with good people. You don’t have to know it all; you just have to know who to ask to find out. I’m in a lucky position in that I can consider some of the best trainers on the planet my friends.

32. At some point, your parents will pass away. Treasure the times you have with them. You probably won’t appreciate this advice until it’s too late. So call your Mom on Sunday, you bastard.

33. In terms of getting results with people, in a head to head competition I think I could hang with anyone in the field. There are only a few coaches out there that I’d be concerned about. You are not one of them.

34. If this article is “exactly what you’re looking for,” then you are a mindless clown.