Archive for January, 2000

Interview with Alwyn Cosgrove

By Jason Ferruggia, www.J1Strength.com

For www.EliteFTS.com

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In our continuing effort to bring you the best training information available anywhere on the web, this week we are proud to introduce the newest member of our staff, Alwyn Cosgrove. A highly sought after expert, Alwyn has been training athletes for over sixteen years and has developed a reputation as one of the leading authorities in the strength and conditioning industry. Although he is nationally recognized and writes for several of the top mainstream magazines in the fitness industry, fear not my friends, because Alwyn shares the Darkside attitude of everyone here at EliteFTS.com and always tells it like it is. He is not afraid to speak his mind and call bullshit when he sees it. Aside from being a great strength coach, Alwyn Cosgrove is one of the most genuine people I know and probably wouldn’t hesitate to take a phone call from me at four in the morning to discuss my new found way of tying my shoes faster; that’s just the type of person he is. Recently, after one such call, I had the opportunity to interview Alwyn and welcome him to the staff. Although he wished I had called at a normal hour, he was more than willing to speak his mind.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you get started? AC: I was a competitive martial artist – LOVED to fight. After winning a few fights, and losing a few I realized that the people I beat, or didn’t beat knew the same martial art as I did. This fascinated me. How could one man beat another man, who had the exact same knowledge about fighting? Strategy plays a part, but that’s part of what you should already know. It kind of hit me that the only thing separating the winner from the loser was how they applied the techniques. How fast they moved. How hard they hit. How long they could go for. When technical skill was identical between two competitors, the strongest and fastest athlete will win almost 100% of the time. In other words it was fitness and conditioning that would end up determining who took home the gold. With this in mind, I started studying physiology, and the methodology of training. This engulfed me. I went to college in Scotland to study it, continued on to a college in England to study some more, and to this day over 20 years since I first walked into a martial arts class I still spend about an hour or so each day still researching the best physical preparation methods the world has to offer.

Q: I know you competed for years in martial arts, can you tell us a little bit about that?

AC: My career ended with seven national titles, five titles in five different weight classes and several international medals. I was prepared to fight anyone, at any weight, confident that my superior conditioning methods would carry me through. It usually did, and as a light middleweight fighter I managed to beat the national champions at both middleweight and at light-heavyweight in the same year. My training was actually ahead of it’s time back then. My only mistake was I did way too much endurance training and not enough raw strength work.

Q: When did you decide you wanted to do this for a living and how did you go about embarking on this path?

AC: It was while in college I started being approached by other athletes to help them, with their training including a National level rugby player, and the captain of the track team. And then two Taekwon-do fighters moved to where I was enrolled in college to have me advise them on their training. They both won the nationals that year. This was a good time for me – as I was learning training theory and methodology academically, and actually applying it at the same time –figuring out what works in the research may not work as well with real athletes in real situations – not too many people get to experience both approaches at once. It really helped ‘fast-track’ my development. I think that’s when I realized that my obsessive studying and note-taking wasn’t normal. Maybe I had something to offer. I continually researched and refined what the science showed would work, what the real world showed did work, and what the top strength coaches in the field had shown had worked. This concept of continually refining the training methods continues with me to this day. After graduating college I left the shores of Great Britain and headed for the United States. I ended up at the US Athletic Training Center in New York City, where my learning continued under Gary Guerriero – the owner of the center. With his help I was exposed to the training of Olympic Athletes, Professional football players, dancers – a whole new world. Now I was getting paid for something I’d do for free!

Q: Who were some of your biggest influences when you were getting started and who continued to guide your path as you went?

AC; I studied under anyone and everyone Jay. Seriously I own more training books than most Borders or Barnes and Noble stock!! I fell into the guru worship BS for a while (i.e. brainwashed) but I regret nothing – it was all a learning experience. I’ve been guided by a ton of people. There are those that really helped me, and there are those who are nothing but scum. They all know who they are.

Q: Who do you respect in this business, who do you learn from?

AC: I learn more form conversations or emails from guys like you Jay, than I ever get from a book or a science journal. Guys that are in the trenches, who’s income depends on getting results – these are the guys you need to listen to. They give me more info than you could get in a year of reading books. There are a LOT of top “names” in this industry who don’t have any athletes training under them. In fact they have no clients at all. Yet – with the birth of the internet – these guys have the guru status.

Q: How has your approach to training evolved over the years?

AC: To quote Bruce Lee – Absorb what is useful, Reject what is useless and add what is specifically your own. It has evolved to include more non-traditional types of training – but don’t misinterpret this – the basics are still the single most important part of any program. If you don’t have the “big rocks” in place – your squats, your rows etc, the rest is just details.

Q: How does your approach to training differ from the norm and what do you do that stands out as a major difference from how most people train athletes?

AC: Every athlete needs flexibility. Every athlete needs strength. Every athlete needs speed. I’ve never seen an athlete who was too fast, too strong or too flexible. What do I do that’s different from the norm? The “norm” is so f-ing bad that the main difference is I get results. No bullshit. What do most people do? Aerobics for fat loss. Body part split routines etc I think aerobics is one of the biggest lies in the fitness industry.

Q: For many years, when we were young and innocent, you and I were suckered by many of the same scam artists in this business, if you learned anything from that experience what would it be and what can you take away from that experience as a positive?

AC: Ashwagandha in 3g divided doses does NOT increase your Scott Curl 11.5% (in-joke there). I learned that the Wizard of Oz is nothing but a little man hiding behind his ego. When you pull back the curtains – the mystique is gone.

Q: Ha-ha, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Speaking of that, what are the biggest scams and worst training gimmicks out there today?

AC: Far and way the winner is aerobic training for fat loss. My opinion on most training methods is they have their place (as long as you respect the BIG rocks theory). It’s just that crappy trainers tend to overemphasize them. There’s always an overemphasis in the short term and an under-emphasis in the long term. Think about stability ball work for example. Can it be useful? Absolutely. Should you do every single exercise in your routine on a ball, on one leg and get so good that you could make Cirque de Soleil but still not be able to lift ½ your bodyweight in a Deadlift? Of course not. (And no disrespect to the Cirque De Soleil performers. Those guys are strong.). The overemphasis by certain idiots is a bigger problem than any of the methods themselves. And anything written by __________. (Name deleted in order to be politically correct) That guy’s a complete clown. I can’t believe he’s still around. His big comeback a few weeks ago made my stomach turn.

Q: What are some of the most important tips you could share for some one looking to get into the business?

AC: Commit to being a student. Learn from everyone. If you don’t learn something about your craft everyday – you’re going backwards. Just yesterday I purchased two training books and a DVD. It only takes three years of studying an hour per day, to become an expert in anything you want. And the sad fact is, most of us spend an hour a day doing something. So in three years you’ll be an expert on that same something. So it’s your choice – sports conditioning, business? Or maybe it’ll be ‘Friends’ or ‘Seinfeld’ reruns! Interning with people is the fastest way to get to where you want to go. You’ll learn more in a one-on-one conversation with a good professional in the field than you’ll learn in a year on your own. And remember – you have to invest in your own education. You’re going to have to spend money to learn. But you’ll make it back tenfold.

Q: I know you are big into assessment and body weight training. Why is this so important and what impact does it have, etc?

AC: Assessment – if you’re not assessing – you’re just guessing. That’s the key. I look for certain things when I assess a client, use certain tests. All it does is fast track my program design to get the most bang for your buck. A power lifter has the numbers that they lift – an MMA fighter for example doesn’t have that same feedback. So I’ve developed a system of checks and balances that can really help me get results fast.

As for bodyweight training –I’m constantly amazed by how many people I meet who can bench press whatever pounds of weight, but are unable to perform 10 correct push ups (typically due to a lack of core strength and synergistic muscle stability. As far as I’m concerned – unless you can do an easy twenty push ups, you have no business getting under a bar for bench pressing. In my training facility everyone begins with bodyweight exercises. You have to earn the right to lift weights in my facility.

Q: I couldn’t agree more. If an athlete wants to get faster, what are the five most important things he must focus on?

A: The ability to stop (seriously if you can’t decelerate – your body will not allow you to accelerate) so training the antagonists is key. Maximum strength. Relative Strength. Posterior Chain strength. Explosive Power.

They are in no particular order but if I had to choose only one to focus on – it would be maximal strength. You get a guy stronger and pretty much everything else improves.

Q: Jim and Dave have said that if you over think it makes your program stink. I, for one, feel the exact same way. What is your take on this? Do you think some people take the science end too far and analyze everything to death and suffer from paralysis by analysis?

AC: Absolutely. But people need to remember that guys like Jim and Dave are instinctively writing GREAT programs because of years of experience and years of study. If they over-think it, it will suck, as their initial gut feeling was usually correct. So I totally agree with that.

However some of the programs I see out there – over-thinking it isn’t the problem. I wonder if some of these guys even think at all!!

You need to focus on training the qualities that are: 1- Needed: for example: is maximal strength necessary? 2- Underdeveloped: maximal strength is usually underdeveloped and could likely use some improvement. 3- Highly trainable: maximal strength is fairly easily improved for most athletes 4- Foundational to other qualities: maximal strength is foundational to speed strength and to strength endurance. So we can make the assumption that maximal strength training for most would be a good choice in where to focus your efforts. It is needed, usually underdeveloped, easy to improve and will also improve other qualities. A no-brainer in where to spend most of your training time in other words. This ‘streamlining’ of program design is what I refer to as the BIG ROCKS theory (rocks in a jar). I get asked all the time – what do you think of the Swiss Ball, of chains, of rubber bands, of plyometrics, of speed ladders etc. My answer is the Big Rocks theory. Picture a jar packed to the brim with big rocks. Can you fit anything else in the jar? At first glance, no but if you think about it – you can fit some small rocks. Is it full now? No – you can still fit some pebbles in there. Is it full now? No – we can still add some sand – is it full now? Still no – we can now pour in some water. Now it’s full. So understand that all these bells and whistles and magnificent pieces of equipment are like the water. Its fine, it fits and it can serve a purpose – as long as you didn’t forget to put in the big rocks. By the way – even after you fill the jar with water – there’s still some room for beerJ Which just goes to show you – there’s always room for a couple of beers !

Q: That’s what I always say. Before we wrap this up here, Alwyn, I would like to play a quick word association with you. I’m just going to throw some stuff out there and you say the first thing that comes to your mind.

AC: Okay.

Q: Stability/ balance training?

AC: Water in the jar (See above). But still the single most over rated training factor ever.

Q: Louie Simmons?

AC: Probably the greatest strength training mind on the planet.

Q: Ten sets of ten?

AC: What a waste of time.

Q: Drug testing in sports?

AC: Behind drug usage. An exercise in futility.

Q: Rap or rock?

AC: Rock.

Q: The number one thing some one can do to gain size?

AC: Eat, lift, sleep, and repeat. Add weight to the bar and food to the plate.

Q: As the newest member of our staff, what is it that our readers can expect you to bring to the table and deliver to us on a monthly basis?

AC: A Scottish accent? Hopefully a slightly different approach to training, delivered with no bullshit and no holds barred. I’m not the most politically correct guy in the World so it will be nice to be able to let rip on a censorship free website, instead of a mainstream magazine (where I have to bite my tongue). So if you don’t like what I have to say – you can kiss my hairy Scottish arse.

Seriously, if the elite readers want to see anything specific and think I’d be the guy to go to then drop me a line. In the meantime you can reach me through my site at www.alwyncosgrove.com and at www.martialartsconditioning.com

The Evil Scot
An Interview with Strength and
Conditioning Coach, Alwyn Cosgrove
by Chris Shugart

The Scottish Terror

Alwyn Cosgrove is not politically correct. When he speaks at strength and conditioning conferences, he doesn’t care if he pisses off half the audience. He’s scrappy, he’s cocky, he cusses a lot, but he always tells it like it is. This, of course, makes his presentations a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

Alwyn shoots from the hip, and he has a stable of Olympic and national level athletes that swear by his training methods. A native of Scotland, this former martial arts champion turned performance coach is really starting to make a name for himself in the muscle biz. It was time for T-Nation to buy him a pint and pick his brain.

T-Nation: Let’s start with the important stuff. Are you wearing a kilt right now?

Alwyn Cosgrove: Of course! And I can let the female readers know that there’s absolutely nothing worn underneath a Scotsman’s kilt. Nothing at all. In fact, everything is in fine working order.

T-Nation: Okay seriously, how did a martial arts competitor from Scotland turn into a strength and conditioning coach in the States?

Cosgrove: Part of it was the influence of my instructor. I should mention that I had, in my opinion, the greatest Taekwon-do instructor of all time, Mr. Derek Campbell. One of the best coaching minds in any sport in the world today. People, if you want to win and understand coaching, you need to track this guy down and learn from him!

I received my first degree black belt at age 15. Now, this was in real Taekwon-do, not the bullshit, babysitting McDojo stuff that’s passed off as a fighting system nowadays. I started competing shortly after.

After winning a few fights, and losing a few, I realized that the people I beat or didn’t beat knew the same stuff as I did. This fascinated me. How could one man beat another man who had the exact same knowledge about fighting? Strategy plays a part, but that’s part of what you should already know.

It kind of hit me that the only thing separating the winner from the loser was how they applied the techniques: how fast they moved, how hard they hit, how long they could go for. When technical skill was identical between two competitors, the strongest and fastest athlete would win almost 100% of the time.

In other words, it was fitness and conditioning that would end up determining who took home the gold. If you take boxing as an example, you’ve really only got four possible techniques — jab, cross, hook, and uppercut. It’s not a secret punch that separates the best from the rest.

With this in mind, I started studying physiology and the methodology of training. This engulfed me. I went to college in Scotland to study it, continued on to a college in England to study some more, and to this day, over 22 years since I first walked into a martial arts class, I still spend about an hour each day researching the best physical preparation methods the world has to offer.

T-Nation: Were you still competing during college?

Cosgrove: Yes, I continued to compete in Taekwon-do the entire time I was in college. My career ended with seven National titles, five titles in five different weight classes, and several International medals.

I was prepared to fight anyone, at any weight, confident that my superior conditioning methods would carry me through. It usually did, and as a light middleweight fighter I managed to beat the national champions at both middleweight and at light-heavyweight in the same year.

T-Nation: When did you first start training others?

Cosgrove: In college, I started being approached by other athletes to help them with their training, including a National level rugby player and the captain of the track team. And then two Taekwon-do fighters moved to where I was enrolled in college to have me advise them on their training. They both won the nationals that year.

This was a good time for me. I was learning training theory and methodology academically and actually applying it at the same time — figuring out what works in the research may not work as well with real athletes in real situations. Not too many people get to experience both approaches at once. It really helped “fast-track” my development.

I think that’s when I realized that my obsessive studying and note-taking wasn’t normal. Maybe I had something to offer. I continually researched and refined what the science showed would work, what the real world showed did work, and what the top strength coaches in the field had shown had worked. This concept of continually refining the training methods continues with me to this day.

I’ve pretty much read everything that every strength coach on the planet has written. I doubt they’ve read everything I’ve written, so when our athletes go head to head, we win.

T-Nation: If you had to sum up your philosophy of training, what would it be? Do you fit into a “niche?”

Cosgrove: Bruce Lee once said, “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless.” He was referring to cross training in different martial arts, which was unheard of at the time. Lee died in 1973 yet it took another 20 or so years before cross training in martial arts (now called Mixed Martial Arts) really took off.

My approach to training is the same. Why do I have to be a functional training guy? Or an Olympic lifting guy or a Westside guy? Am I a HIT guy? No. Does that mean I’m a low intensity guy then? Absolutely not. I’m all of those and I’m none of those. I’m a results guy.

I guess my philosophy is “Results by Design, Not by Coincidence.” Get the best results in the least amount of time. The faster I can get results, the more I get paid.

T-Nation: Now, Ian King once said that people overreact in the short term and under-react in the long term. He was talking about new training ideas and training tools. I know you’ve written about this before too. Can you give us some recent examples?

Cosgrove: This is the biggest problem in the industry today: jumping on and off every bandwagon there is. The problem is when you “challenge” a training modality or system, it’s like challenging someone’s freaking religion. People get way too upset about this. But I don’t give a shit about upsetting people, so I’ll go through a couple:

Unstable surface training (stability balls, rocker boards, etc): The argument for these tools is that they work the stabilizers, you recruit more total muscle, blah, blah, blah. The argument against these unstable objects is that they prevent more work being done by the prime movers.

Okay. Let’s think it through with some fucking logic: Which are superior, free weights or machines? The answer is always free weights, right? Why? Because they’re unbalanced; you have to control the weight in three dimensions, etc. If this is the reason why free weights are better than machines, then you have to also accept that your reason is because it’s an unstable environment you’re working in.

Stability ball stuff falls in that same continuum. You can debate it all you want, but the fact remains that it does have its use. The problem has been that in the past we’ve over-reacted to it. No one was deadlifting or benching anymore! Everything was on one leg on a wobble disc with a one pound dumbbell. It’s not the modality that’s the problem — it’s our reaction to it.

T-Nation: Interesting. Doesn’t the static stretching debate fit into this too?

Cosgrove: Yes, the current backlash against static stretching is another example. You know the argument that “it makes you weaker” so you should never do it? Well, in my opinion, the argument that it makes you weaker is correct. However, you have to understand why you’d want to do static stretching in the first place. It’s not just as part of a generic warm-up.

Here’s the thing. If I give you a static stretch to do it’s because a muscle is overactive. It’s too strong in relation to the other muscles. I want it to relax. So of course it’s immediately weaker — I just made it relax. That was my goal. It’s not a detrimental side effect; it’s the effect I was looking for.

But here’s the point: Once I’ve established that I need to reduce the tension in a muscle, why would I then want to directly maximally strengthen it ? That’s the exact opposite of my goal. I’ve already established that it has too much tension there. It’s already overactive. If I spend time strengthening it I’m creating a bigger problem (besides beating my head against a wall).

Now please don’t misinterpret this. If I wanted maximal strength in the workout, then I don’t use a static stretch. But if I use a static stretch I’m well aware that there’s a short term strength deficit as a result, and I feel that’s beneficial.

Several coaches, Martin Rooney and Joe DeFranco spring to mind, do static stretching of the hip flexor prior to vertical jump testing to prevent the antagonistic contraction of the hip flexor from reducing vertical jump — with great results I might add. The static stretching inhibits the hip flexor contraction, which is exactly the goal in this case.

If you think about it logically again (something most people seem unable to do), if I tested your 5RM in the squat and then a couple of minutes later tested your 6RM, do you think that your 6RM might be reduced because of what I just did? Of course. If you interpret this case literally, I just proved that strength training makes you weaker. I think that’s the problem with research.

T-Nation: So static stretching is fine in certain situations with a certain goal in mind.

Cosgrove: Static stretching was never the problem. It was that people didn’t understand how best to use it. Again, it comes back to knowing why you’re using a certain technique instead of blindly following the masses.

Recently we saw an over-reaction to “overtraining.” Everyone stopped training hard. We’ll now enter the under-reaction phase where people will start overtraining again. Right now in the industry we’re going through a major overreaction to kettlebell training. No offence to those guys, but it’s just a weight! Watch for the backlash against kettlebells to begin within a couple of months. We’re also seeing an under-reaction to aerobic training.

T-Nation: Where do you see most bodybuilders going wrong in the gym? Not athletes, but we superficial bastards who want mainly big muscles and visible abs?

Cosgrove: Generally, bodybuilders tend to do too much volume and don’t have a plan. Straight sets (i.e. doing set one, rest, set two, rest, set three, etc.) is an outdated training method most of the time.

Not training what you can’t see in the mirror is still a big problem. Body part split routines are about the stupidest training method ever, yet still the most popular.

Three sets of ten as a loading parameter is fucking archaic, yet still the most popular.

Also, the schizophrenia attached to physique training holds more people back than ever. Skinny guys don’t want to lose their abs so they never gain any size, and the big guys are too scared to look “scrawny” so they never cut up. And the current trend (touted partly by strength coaches that should know better) that it’s “heavy weight, low reps” regardless of your goal, is the most inane crap I’ve ever seen spouted.

In general, it’s a lack of open-mindedness. When I do seminars, people ask me a ton of questions, I got hundreds of emails through my website and my column at Men’s Fitness daily. I’d say 80% of those questions are statements in disguise. People don’t really want answers — they just want you to agree with them.

I’ve been criticized in the past by bodybuilders who “know what works for me.” That’s great. I see about 200 people per week at my facility, each training a minimum of twice a week. That’s 400 workouts per week. That’s over 20,000 workouts per year. And I have the records and results of every program I’ve written for a client for the past ten years. That’s over 200,000 workouts worth of information. It would take the average gym goer years to collect the kind of data I get on a daily basis.

T-Nation: The value of a good coach to me is that he can see what the trainee himself can’t see, so that makes sense. What about the typical athlete? What are athletes doing wrong?

Cosgrove: Sport specific training has really hurt the industry. The last thing a young kid needs to do is to get “sport specific.” They need to get “generally athletic.”

But it continues on to higher levels of sport too. A baseball pitcher doesn’t need to do more internal rotation work in the gym. In fact, the best thing you can do from a performance standpoint is to have him do the exact opposite movement pattern (external shoulder rotation).

Make sure the roles of strength and conditioning and skill training are separate. The role of conditioning training is not skill training. Loading a technique tends to affect the mechanics of the technique negatively.

Don’t get caught up in the numbers game and don’t confuse gym improvements with real world or sports world improvements. The greatest athletes in the world don’t necessarily have the greatest bench presses in the world. The greatest athletes in the world have an ability to produce useable force on their field of play. Usable force is force that propels an athlete toward the ball, knocks another athlete back or down, helps him move at full speed or throw the winning touchdown pass.

Usable force is force properly directed in an unstable real world, an unpredictable environment. The weight room, in general, is a stable environment whereas a field of play or the competition ring is a constantly changing place. A good strength and conditioning coach looks to improve athletic performances, not just gym lift numbers.

T-Nation: Makes sense. Now, the concept of tempo has been under attack here lately. Many say that if you can focus on a 312 tempo or whatever, then you must not be giving an all-out effort. What do you think?

Cosgrove: The lack of good form in most people’s training programs makes that a moot point. Very few guys have such perfect form that I want them to focus on anything but good technique. If that means I need to prescribe a rep speed then so be it. To be honest, if I don’t have them focus on tempo, most people’s form goes to absolute shit.

For most guys, using anything to tighten up a rep will be better and lead to more results. There’s no point in pushing “hard” if your form is garbage. If I made it a national rule that all guys had to use 10% less weight and perfect form, they’d get better results. (I’d also make it a national rule that all females had to use 10% more weight!)

T-Nation: So the 312 type of tempo prescription is valuable?

Cosgrove: Forget the three digit formula. Tempo is just a method to communicate rep speed. Tempo is only getting bashed by people who don’t understand it and I think the use of the three digit formula is partly to blame. A rep is just pretty much a measure of time and distance (an object moved from point A to point B and back constitutes a rep). Most people only think of a rep in terms of distance.

If I wanted you to do bench presses and you were only doing half reps, then you’re not doing what I wanted. I’m assuming that you use full range. Similarly, I’m assuming that you do all your reps at the same speed. But what if you don’t? If I change your program from 6 reps to 12 reps I have effectively doubled your time under tension assuming your rep speed was constant. If your rep speed changes then I won’t get the training effect I’m looking for.

I think the people that criticize tempo have never fucking trained anyone. The average rep of the average guy in the gym takes about 0.1 seconds for the negative, no pause, and maybe a second on the concentric (while his arse wiggles off the bench). No one thinks that’s correct.

So unless you tell this guy how to perform a single rep, you can’t prescribe sets of multiple reps. We can prescribe full reps, half reps, one and a quarter reps etc. to change the distance you move the bar, so we also have to tell you how fast that bar is supposed to move.

It’s the three digit formula that people don’t seem to like. Everyone understands the difference between me saying “lower it slowly, pause, and lift as fast as possible” and “do the entire rep as quickly as possible” as being two different training methods. So if I prescribe “slow with a pause at the bottom,” “pause and reset between reps,” “rhythmic,” “accelerative,” “ballistic,” “explosive,” as the rep tempo, would that be better? I think maybe it would.

All the three digit formula does is it gets more specific than that. Is there a need to get that specific? Maybe, maybe not. But our only alternative is to have one generic rep speed or to let people do whatever the fuck they want. This tends to mean sloppy reps.

My feeling is that rep speed is a potential source of training variety that a good coach can use. But all that said, I should add that crazy tempos like 818 are just shite.

T-Nation: Careful, you’re going to upset the SuperSlow cult! Now, let’s talk fat burning. What approaches do you use when a client needs to drop some fat without sacrificing muscle?

Cosgrove: I think it’s funny how aerobics on an empty stomach has become the most widespread method of fat loss exercise. At the same time we’ve hammered home the point that you shouldn’t go three hours without eating.

Which is it then? Do exercise on an empty stomach after an eight hour fast, or don’t go more than three hours without eating? These are opposites!

And if long, slow, steady work was the fat loss panacea, then short intense burst (i.e. sets of weight training or sprints) would have to be wrong because it’s the opposite right? Talk about confusing the general public!

Anyway, what I’m getting at is none of that makes any sense. I don’t do the norm. I don’t do any steady state aerobic training. For the purposes of fat loss I think it’s almost worthless.

Now, note that I’m talking about aerobic training here — not cardiovascular work (which can encompass a ton of other modalities). Aerobic training has been the backbone of fat loss programs for years, but that was based on the volumes of endurance athletes. We can’t extrapolate that to the average gym goer who’s got about three hours per week to give you.

I started to look at every successful fat loss program out there. While most people were arguing about the differences between them, I was looking at the similarities. Based on these similarities I created a fat loss “system” called Afterburn which combines everything I knew about fat loss at that time into a 16 week program.

It’s essentially a combination of interval training and full body workouts (think along the lines of Alessi’s Meltdown Program and Poliquin’s German Body Comp program — just tweaked and ramped up a bit). It sucks to do as it’s brutally hard, but it’ll rip the fat off you pretty fast.

Recently though, through my work with Robert dos Remedios (one of the best collegiate strength coaches in the country) I’ve begun to prefer the use of hybrid exercises and complexes to achieve fat loss without muscle loss.

[Editor's Note: Alwyn has conducted a D-Tap audio interview with us on the topic of hybrids and complexes. Look for it soon!]

T-Nation: What’s one of the most effective yet overlooked training “tricks” you can give us?

Cosgrove: The trainee needs to look past the obvious solution to any problem and look for the real solution. For example, every arm training article in the last ten years to improve your arm circumference has included a workout based on curls and triceps extensions. Do you really think a lack of doing curls is the reason why most guys have less than impressive arms?

Every article on how to improve your chin-ups includes a program with a shitload of chin-ups in it. Is that all you’ve got? Improve your chin-ups by just doing more of them?

Really fucking cutting edge that is!

In the arm example, it’s often the ability of the upper back to stabilize a load out in front of you (i.e. the midpoint of a curl). If the back can’t stabilize that load, it’s not going to risk a spine injury to curl the weight up — it just “shuts down” your biceps. You just need “tae use yir heid!” as my dad used to say in a heavy Scottish accent.

T-Nation: That’s interesting. You may need to write us an article on that topic! Let’s move on. How do you think steroids have impacted the science of training and nutrition?

Cosgrove: A great deal. Unfortunately, it’s impacted it negatively. Most guys are still drug free, yet most training programs that these guys are on are written for drug users. You simply can’t use a drug-based program with a drug free athlete and hope that you’ll get the same results.

The drug free athlete can’t recover from the workloads of the drug-using athlete. Period. Instead of trying to figure out ways that we can help them recover from drug-using workloads, why not start thinking about ways to improve their training programs in the first place?

T-Nation: Now that you’ve been in the business for 17 years, looking back, what really surprised you? What shocked you?

Cosgrove: That there are so many fucking arseholes in this industry. And so many weirdoes. That most of the guys writing training articles have never actually had to train anyone in order to make ends meet. You’d be surprised if I started dropping names.

All I do is train people. I put food on the table based on my ability to produce results. If I can’t do that then my life suffers, so I have to deliver. There are a ton of Internet experts out there who are making more money writing about training than they are training people. And they tend to just make shit up to get a new article published, because they can’t talk about what works.

Interestingly, I’ve seen this with good trainers too. I’ve seen firsthand how trainers make up stuff just to get in magazines. They try really hard and mean well, but it’s stuff that doesn’t help anyone. You’ve seen guys who you know are good trainers give advice that they’d never give a client just because an editor asks for something cool, which is stupid.

This industry is full of arseholes, Chris, except you and me. And I’m not totally convinced about me.

T-Nation: Where can T-Nation readers go to learn more about your work?

Cosgrove: I have my own website set up — it’s at www.alwyncosgrove.com. I have a pretty cool newsletter where I can talk uncensored about whatever I want, and I also have some very cool coaches in the industry contribute to it. It’s free but its subscription only.

I also write for Dave Tate’s Elitefts and I have a book coming out with Lou Schuler in December called The New Rules of Lifting. You can get my martial arts training manual at www.martialartsconditioning.com and my fat loss manual at www.afterburntraining.com.

Apart from that I’m appearing at a few conferences later this year — the IDEA personal trainer conference in NYC being one. Hope to meet some T-Nation readers at this!

T-Nation: Cool. Thanks for the uncensored chat!

Cosgrove: Thanks for the opportunity, Chris. I really appreciate it.

© 1998 — 2005 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

From Turbulence Training.com

The Secrets of Alwyn Cosgrove’s Fat Loss Programs: Part I

The secrets to achieving the lean athletic physique that you’ve always wanted are held by top trainers, such as Alwyn Cosgrove. Alwyn is a superstar in the world of physique transformation for men and women. He’s trained champions in multiple 12-week body transformation contests and he owns and operates a training facility in Santa Clarita, California. Alwyn has also written his own fat loss book called “Afterburn”, available from the Online Store.

TT: Hi Alwyn. What is your general approach to helping people lose fat? Is this approach outlined in your book, “Afterburn”?

AC:

Pretty much Craig. The basic concept for any fat loss program is to burn as many calories as possible and maintain or increase lean tissue (which is what burns the calories in the first place). Regardless of how many calories you burn in training – once you lose lean tissue (a typical problem) you burn less calories overall – so your focus has to be on burning calories while trying to offset that problem.

A study in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition (8(3): 213-222, 1998) showed that 5 days a week of 45 min aerobic training for 12 weeks had no effect on body composition over dieting alone. Obviously even at these high levels of activity there is still a problem.

TT: Where do you start working with an overweight person?

AC:

With a full lifestyle and structural evaluation. Typically the overweight person has so little structural integrity that a resistance training program to target their weaknesses and imbalances is my first approach. By manipulating rest periods I can always get a cardio workout without the overuse injuries that often occur in the untrained.

Research (Jones et al., Sports Med. 18(3): 202-214, 1994) has shown that the intensity required by the average sedentary person trying to improve their cardiovascular system will likely create an excessive structural overload – in fact in this study there was a 50-90% injury rate in the initial six weeks of training.

It’s interesting that the typical program for an overweight person is usually 1000’s of reps (i.e. aerobics) which will cause more problems. A superior system would be to target the muscular system and control set duration and rest periods in order to create the same metabolic and cardiovascular demand.

TT: What type of questions and lifestyle review do you do with overweight clients? Are there any common factors among overweight clients?

AC:

Primarily we see people with more structural weaknesses – it’s their ability to move their body that is the biggest problem – not just their ability to transport oxygen! So we need to begin with a full body strength and stability program.

Trying to address purely the cardio system is like trying to put in a new engine in a car while the front end is still out of alignment. We can increase engine “output” by working on alignment first.

Common factors: structural weaknesses, flexibility issues (i.e. they would be unable to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes continuously), lack of nutrition (funnily enough we see overweight, almost malnourished people all the time).

TT: What physical concerns do you have to be careful of when working with overweight clients and how do you take these into account?

AC:

Typically the biggest physical concern is that they are overweight and reconditioned. That’s a big enough problem right there.

But it’s not just overweight clients – it’s EVERYONE! Every client is different and presents different challenges – the one size fits all cookie cutter approach is long gone.

Everyone should have a full evaluation performed by a qualified professional. Any serious health and medical issues should be cleared by a medical professional first.

Most trainers have a program in mind when someone walks in the gym. I have NO IDEA what I’m going to do until I see the client and evaluate them. If you’re not assessing – you’re just guessing!

TT: So for beginners, a good nutrition program is possibly the most powerful factor?

AC:

Obviously a nutrition program is vital – you must create a caloric deficit through a combined exercise and nutrition approach.

So the key for the fat loss programs we use is exactly that – how can we force the body to burn as many calories as possible, and continue to burn them between workouts. The idea is to demand as much work from the body as possible – and maintain that caloric burn for as long as possible (by EPOC, increasing LBM etc).

Now the ONLY reason the body burns calories is because the muscle tissue is working. It doesn’t matter what activity you are involved in – aerobics or weight training – its muscular demand that determines caloric burn. So you have to begin with that in mind.

Let’s think about this:

You can run a mile in ten minutes.

You can swim a mile in twenty minutes.

After a year of swimming every day and not running – you can now swim a mile in 16 minutes.

Without running – how much has your running improved? Very little.

Why? We only have ONE cardiovascular system – so why doesn’t improving your swimming (and cardio system) automatically improve your running?

Because the ONLY reason your cardio system was involved in the first place was because of demand from your muscular system. So you adapted to the SPECIFIC MUSCULAR demands of swimming which by default then involves the cardiovascular system – it’s not the other way around as most people think. The muscles don’t move because of cardiovascular demand – the cardio system is elevated because of muscular demand.

TT: What’s the takeaway message?

AC:

Hopefully the readers can understand – that we need to program the body based on the movements it’s going to perform – not based on the cardiovascular system. That’s an upside down method.

TT: What methods work for fat loss? What methods are ineffective or inefficient for fat loss?

AC:

Circuit weight training and interval training always work. Steady state aerobic work never works long term in the real world. Now for those of you out there who will no doubt get caught up talking about health, cardiac heart disease, cholesterol etc – I’m not arguing with you. Craig has asked about fat loss and that’s all I’m addressing.

However – for fat loss, the research (as presented by you Craig in our book Shapeshift) is unequivocal – high intensity work is superior.

I think the problem is this:

Aerobic training by nature is lower intensity. At some point you get so good at it that it just doesn’t burn as many calories, and in effect, you are burning fewer calories than you used to for the same time investment. So what do you do? Go for longer and inevitably run into the same problem? Or increase the intensity? Increasing the intensity is the obvious answer.

TT: In a previous interview you commented that aerobics were useless for fat loss. This caused a lot of controversy (see what all the fuss was about here: What did you mean?

AC: I’m sure you’ll agree Craig that it only seemed to cause controversy with people who don’t do this for a living. Most of the good practitioners in this area didn’t even blink. It’s not controversial at all in terms of fat loss and I’m getting bored going over it.

I don’t think anyone who has trained themselves or anyone else has ever seen low intensity cardio to be a very effective fat loss tool. The loss in lean mass that is typical in most weight loss programs needs to be offset – and steady state aerobic training (despite it’s plentiful health benefits) only adds to that problem.

So let me expand on what I meant:

When I said “Aerobics are useless for fat loss” what I meant was “aerobics are useless for fat loss”. Is that clearer?

Ok – to be less antagonistic, let’s just say that aerobic training for fat loss is the most overrated and overemphasized method in use today. It’s completely outdated as a fat loss modality.

Here’s a quote from Paul Chek:

“First of all, lifting weights in the intensity zone of 8-12 reps coupled with short rest periods has been shown beneficial for releasing the androgenic hormone testosterone and growth hormone. These important hormones encourage development of lean muscle mass, which is a metabolically active tissue consuming calories 24 hours a day. Fat, on the other hand is just along for the ride! Aerobic exercise has been linked with the release of the catabolic hormone cortisol, which is antagonistic to the development of lean muscle mass. Cortisol also promotes conservation of glucose and encourages the use of fat. This might sound good on the surface, but you also become as efficient as a Honda Civic running for 80 kilometers on one gallon of gas. Then you are just like those people going for hours at a time on machines, only to utilize miniscule amounts of fat!”

The efficiency argument is interesting. Does weight training build muscle? No. It breaks down muscle and the body ADAPTS by building more muscle. So in aerobic training – when we “Encourage the use of fat” – do we force that same body to adapt by storing more fat? Interesting…guys like Poliquin, Chek, Jim Liston, Eric Serrano, etc., etc., all seem to think so. And most of the spinning and aerobic instructors at the local gyms in my area who’ve hired me to get them lean can anecdotally tell you that the more aerobic training they do – the harder it is for them to lean out.

Seriously – there are thousands of overweight individuals each year who complete marathons. Now completing a marathon is damn impressive to me. However it shows that the aerobic fitness needed to complete a marathon doesn’t have anything necessarily to do with creating a fat loss effect. So if you are capable of two to three hours of steady state running and still not be burning enough fat – we can either go to a higher intensity or you can try four hours of running. Any takers for the latter?

In terms of fat loss – calories burned are the most important factor. And aerobic training burns less calories than anaerobic training and weight training overall (besides doing very little to increase your metabolism -your body’s calorie burning engine).

So if we accept that lean mass is a major factor in your fat burning engine – and aerobic training makes that engine smaller (i.e. less muscle) and more efficient at burning fat (remember more efficient means it burns LESS) – how can having a smaller more efficient fat burning machine burn more fat? It doesn’t.

TT: So you are saying that cardio is the least important component?

AC:

I don’t think I explained why I think cardio is the least important variable. So I’ve been trying to come up with a better statement as to “why” I do strength training prescription before I do aerobic prescription.

The basic systems of function that react together within the body are the nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems, as supported by the cardiovascular system. (Ex: Running on a treadmill with over pronation syndrome will eventually cause injury and will therefore defeat the purpose of a fitness program).

TT: Thanks for the great information Alwyn. I hope that it will make readers and trainers think about designing their fat loss programs. Can you leave us with your thoughts on the Turbulence Training workouts and principles?

AC:

As I’ve said before I think the TT program is excellent. It’s based on sound science, wrapped up with real world training experience. It’s quite simply one of the most rapid fat loss programs available, but the key that really separates it from the pack is the time effectiveness of it all. Rarely have you been able to get such great results with such a minimal time investment.

TT: Thanks Alwyn. We look forward to future fat loss interviews and articles from you for TurbulenceTraining.com.

The Best Mixed Martial Arts Training Interview Ever!
(reprinted with permission from CBathletics.com)

What happens when you put 3 of the top MMA strength coaches in the same room? I don’t know either. But when you email them a list of questions, you get some amazing answers.

I’d like to introduce to you Alwyn Cosgrove, Joe Dowdell, and Martin Rooney, the 3 best strength coaches in North America when it comes to training Martial Artists (in addition to the thousands of other athletes that they train).

If you are at all serious about improving your athletic performance (in any sport), losing fat, or improving your nutrition and training, you must pick up Alwyn and Martin’s training books. Let’s find out a little bit more about each coach.

Alwyn Cosgrove:
Personally I have a Fourth Degree Black Belt and had National, European and World Titles over five different weights in my career. I was fourteen when I got my first degree black belt and started competing in the men’s division. It was competition that got me interested in sports science – which led to my going to college and ultimately my career as a sports training consultant today. I began training other martial artists in 89/90 when I was still competing and had good success.

Currently I have trained the entire gamut of martial athlete – from the rookie to several national champions, five world champions and a Commonwealth Games Gold medalist. I own and operate a training facility in Santa Clarita California and have authored an e-book on “Secrets of Martial Arts Conditioning” available at www.alwyncosgrove.com.

Joe Dowdell:
I began studying both Tae Kwon Do and freestyle wrestling during high school. While in college, I was training at a place called Waering’s Gym in Virginia Beach, VA where I began to box. After college, I moved to Paris, France for work and began studying Muay Thai at a place called RD Sporting Club. Today, I still enjoy kickboxing and I continue to incorporate it into my weekly training regimen.

As for my practical experience with working with MMA fighters and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners — I conduct all of my instruction at my facility in NYC called Peak Performance (www.peakperformancenyc.com). Several of the fighters that I have worked with or consulted with on their strength & conditioning programs, include Colin O’Rourke (Team Renzo Gracie), Rolles Gracie Jr. (Team Renzo Gracie), Igor Gracie (Team Renzo Gracie), as well as several other Renzo Gracie students.

Martin Rooney:
I have been lucky to be working with many of the top MMA and Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners in the world for the last 5 years (Renzo Gracie, Ricardo Almeida, Rodrigo Gracie, Sean Alvarez, Roger Gracie, and many others). I have set up everything from their physical training, to nutrition, to strategic development, to even help corner them at events such as Pride, UFC, and the ADCC world grappling championships all over the world. I currently am on the editorial counsel for Gracie Magazine in Brazil and write all of their training columns. I am also a 2 stripe blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and am currently training wrestling and Muay Thai as well.

All of the last 5 years of experience have led to my newest book “Training for Warriors: the Team Renzo Gracie Workout” which can be purchased at www.elitefts.com. The book is what I consider one of the most comprehensive training books for MMA. I have spent the last 2 years writing it, and it contains everything our team has done from physical training, to weight cutting and diet, to pre-fight warm-ups and strategic preparation. We are lucky to be training at the 30,000 square foot Parisi Speed School. This state-of-the-art facility boasts everything a fighter could dream of for training.

CB: Everyone has very impressive credentials. You guys are definitely the top guys for MMA training. Let’s talk about the athletes. What are the physical characteristics of a top MMA fighter? How much muscle do the top fighters need?

JD:
First of all, physical characteristics can vary from fighter to fighter based on their genetic physical attributes (i.e., limb length) as well as their dominant style of fighting (i.e., grappler, striker, etc.). But, usually, the top fighters excel in several of the following areas:

 Strength
 Speed
 Power
 Endurance
 Quickness
 Agility
 Flexibility

That being said, I think the real key is to figure out which area or areas that your fighter is weak in and then improve his or her ability’s in those areas while maintaining their strengths in the other areas.

The really top fighters also exhibit really high levels of relative strength for their desired weight class. So, rather than looking at it from the perspective of how much muscle does a top fighter need, I think it’s most important to look at their relative strength. Furthermore, an increase in muscle mass could ultimately move that individual to higher weight class–where they may no longer be able to dominate their opponent.

MR:
Obviously, if you asked me to just list the most important characteristic, that would be impossible, but a few is easier. A top fighter today should possess anaerobic endurance, strength, speed, power, and flexibility.

Interestingly, many of the top fighters have different amounts of different styles of fighting technique (striker, grappler, or wrestler) so there is no physical characteristic that I feel is most important. For instance, a fighter can be weaker than another, but have better technique which makes him look stronger. Or a fighter can be less flexible than another and still successful. I do believe that anaerobic endurance is at the base of my ideal fighter. Strength, speed and power all disappear when a fighter is dead tired.

There is no muscle mass amount required to be a top fighter. There are many muscular fighters that are successful (Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Ken Shamrock) and then many less muscular as well (Pete Williams, Sakuraba, Royce Gracie). Interestingly, the fighters I just listed in the less muscular category beat the fighters in the more muscular. What I will say is that top fighters need enough muscle mass to be strong for their weight and need to have a highly efficient nervous system. Hypertrophy is not the key as many would suspect, strength is.

AC:
Speed. Power. Flexibility. Strength. Lactate Tolerance. And the ability to develop high levels of these while keeping bodyweight low! Really they have to have it all. To step into a ring against another fighter who is equally skilled is like preparing to go to war. One chink in your armor can make the difference.

They need to have explosive power and speed to attack and defend effectively; they need to be able to have the physical “armor” to withstand attacks. And they need to have the physical and mental endurance to continue to withstand and deliver punishment over several rounds!

Muscle mass is a function of the athlete’s need for this physical armor, and their need for strength with respect to their weight class. Basically the more muscle the better within the weight.

CB: Describe the strength training portion of a fighter’s program. What type, how much, what exercises to avoid, and when in their schedule is strength training performed?

MR:
I perform some form of strength training all year long at the Parisi Speed School with the fighters. I have been lucky that my fighters are consistent and we usually do physical training 3-4 times per week. Depending on where certain fighters are physically at is going to determine what I do with them. Since each is on a different level, each is working on different things.

For the most part, easy rules of thumb for my training are that we do general heavier work and eccentric training further out from a fight, and move to light faster, more specific movements as the fight approaches. We avoid super heavy work and eccentrics to prevent the trauma and subsequent soreness that follows.

AC:
Typically I only use ground based lifts (deadlifts, cleans etc). I have a great photo of Tito Ortiz in full triple extension – exactly what the Olympic lifts develop. Who says the Olympic lifts don’t transfer to sport?!

We tend to use a lot of offset lifts (i.e. loading in one arm, DB snatches, etc.) to better simulate the lack of balance in a fight.

Prior to any weight training we use bodyweight exercises – a fighter has no business using loads if he (or she) cannot stabilize and control their own bodyweight.

And as far as the lower body goes – a fighter spends so much time in a split stance or on one leg we use a LOT of unilateral work.

As far as typical weaknesses – every ATHLETE I have ever worked with needs more posterior chain work. Fighters are no exception.

The other main thing to look at is that most training programs take place in the sagittal plane. Fighting takes place in all three planes – but particularly the transverse plane. So a training program needs to have frontal plane and transverse plane exercises in addition to sagittal plane exercises.

I avoid isolation exercises unless there is a clear reason to do so (imbalance, injury etc).
We periodize the training according to upcoming events – increasing intensity but backing off on volume AND frequency as we approach fight night.

JD:
Strength training should be performed all year round with the exception of several weeks of active rest built into the fighter’s yearly training schedule. I will vary the type, duration, frequency, intensity and volume of training depending on the following situations:

1) The amount of sport-specific training the fighter is performing.
2) The number of Energy System Development sessions they are performing during the training phase.
3) Their ability to recover from workout to workout, particularly on multiple training sessions in a day.

As they get closer to a fight, I will decrease their volume & frequency of strength training, but will maintain &/or slightly increase their intensity. As a rule of thumb, I don’t believe that there is such a thing as a good exercise or a bad exercise. Rather, I look at exercise prescription from the perspective that one chooses a particular exercise at a particular time in the training cycle either appropriately or inappropriately. Furthermore, when choosing exercises, we must always evaluate whether the benefits of the exercise outweigh the risks.

CB: How can a fighter develop a stronger punch and kick?

AC:
Two main methods: By training the core in the transverse plane (all kicks and punches are a result or powerful ROTATION – they are not linear), and by training the ability for the antagonists to decelerate the limb. If you cannot safely decelerate a movement – your body will not allow you to accelerate the movement.

So training forced eccentric loading (lunges, landing from jumps, etc.) and strengthening the antagonists are keys. We also do a lot of release work (dropping and catching a DB at speed) that I picked up from Jay Schroeder’s work.

JD:
I find that a fighter can usually develop a stronger kick &/or punch if they improve their core strength. In particular, they usually need to improve their strength and stability in the transverse and frontal planes.

At my facility, I have a high speed-low inertia device that I will have my athletes perform exercises such as a Reverse Wood Chop, Resisted Hip Flexion, etc. By utilizing this apparatus, they can safely explode into the movement without having to deal with a flying weight stack. I also like to utilize medicine ball drills because they allow the athlete the ability to release the apparatus as well as force them to learn how to decelerate an object.

MR:
First off, I would say get a great coach and practice your technique. When I began training Muay Thai, I found out I was a 200 pound guy punching and kicking with the power of a 140 pound expert fighter. Even though I was more physically powerful than these guys that were much less strong, they just had impeccable technique. So first learn the technique inside and out.

After your technique is awesome, then build strength and speed in specific areas. The hips and legs are the most important for both powerful kicks and punches followed by the core. This is where we spend most of our time training, when the athletes are not focused on technique. We perform a lot of squats, deadlifts and single leg movements. Heavy bar lunge walks are a killer in this area.

CB: How do you improve a fighter’s fitness with intervals, cardio, sprints, and other creative methods? What works? What doesn’t work?

JD:
First of all, you need to look at the breakdown of the fight. How many rounds is the fight? How many minutes per round? Will there be an additional round in the event of a draw? How many fights will they have in a single night? Etc.

Once you have this information, you can determine the appropriate work to rest intervals for your fighter. Generally speaking, I will utilize many different methods of training (and tools) including the following:

• Sprints
• Hill Sprinting
• Stadium/Stair Sprinting
• Rowing
• Rope Skipping
• Sled Dragging
• Farmer’s Walk
• Super Yoke
• Circuit Training

Again, it really goes back to what they need and what energy system they are weak in. For example, do we need to improve the capacity of their Anaerobic Lactate System or do we need to improve the power of their Anaerobic Alactate System?

MR:
This is probably our most dreaded aspect to train. Our workouts have become legendary in the fight community. Over the years we have done sprint work, high speed treadmill work, stadium stairs, extended sled pulls, advanced weight circuits, kettlebells, sandbag lifts and drags, isometric sessions, obstacle courses, and many others.

At first, I tried to be too specific, working kicking, punching and ground work into the training. I have had better results (and less injuries) keeping them separate. My advice would be to leave the physical training and fight technique apart.

I have found that sprints mixed with Olympic lifts for my advanced athletes have been great. The 20-minute straight sled pulls are also a mental challenge. Overall, the key is to have everything mapped out, but add great variation to the training to keep the fighters excited and keep it interesting.

AC:
Interval sprints, sled dragging, circuits – anything that trains the fighter to tolerate maximal effort work and lactate build up will work. We use DB matrix work, combination lifts, complexes, bodyweight circuits, and speed ladder drills, all to take the heart rates through the roof and tolerate the lactate.

Ideally the more specific the energy system work the better, so doing bag work, pad and shield drills etc in an interval manner is usually a more effective tool than running or cycling.

Always have the fighters wear a mouthpiece when doing any endurance work – you’ll be wearing it in a fight and it does restrict air flow somewhat – so you have to prepare for that. It’s also important for fighters to learn to keep their mouths closed, and breathe through their nose as much as possible – an open jaw is a lot easier to break than a closed one!

One more thing that most trainers won’t think of is training muscular endurance and in particular isometric work. In a MMA match, submissions and defending submissions are often completely isometric.

What doesn’t work? Anything that is just aerobic in nature – anything that’s long slow distance type of work really doesn’t help. The sport is too fast and too intense.

CB: What are key factors for injury prevention in MMA fighters?

MR:
Make sure the athletes are not overtraining. These guys are still in the mindset of more is better. I have had to bring my athletes down from 3 different training sessions per day where they had nothing they were specifically working on to sometimes one a day and making sure they were getting the right rest and recovery.

Make sure that your athletes plan their workouts and know what they are trying to achieve each session. Just rolling or sparring is not enough. Instead of getting better, you just get beat up. By recording all past workouts and really knowing your fighters you will be able to monitor this and shut them down if you have to. The beating they take is unreal, you need to know when you are doing too much.

The simplest way you will know your fighters are overtraining is that they will tell you. If they complain of soreness, being banged up from previous sparring, being tired, or not up for the training, you need to back off. We also look at heart rate pre session with our guys and record everything.

AC:
Again the ability to decelerate a limb is paramount so training eccentrically, and training the antagonists is a key factor. FUNCTIONAL flexibility (my term – relating to range of motion WITH strength in the range) is important.

JD:
Make sure that your fighters perform strength training exercises in multiple planes of movement. They should also perform exercises at varying speeds of movement. In addition, make sure to incorporate exercises that target the following areas:

1) Rotator Cuff {especially the Teres Minor & Infraspinatus musculature)
2) Neck
3) Lower Back

CB: Describe the abdominal/core training component of MMA programs. Do fighters need to do thousands of repetitions?

AC:
We do as much core work on the feet as possible (barbell contact twists, cable work, chops and lifts, med ball rotations and throws) before going to the floor. Recently I’ve been experimenting with some of the kettlebell lifts with my fighters and have had excellent results.

I do use the Swiss ball quite a bit for core work (jackknifes and pikes in addition to crunches and twists) and we almost always use external loading, rarely exceeding ten reps per set. If you can do thousands of reps, the exercise is too easy for you. In fact if you can do more than 20 reps I’d suggest the exercise is too easy. We normally finish with prone vacuums and side planks for time.

JD:
I like the following exercises for increasing the strength and power of the Posterior Chain:

1. Reverse Hyperextensions
2. Glute-Ham Raises
3. Caber Toss with a Medicine Ball
4. Kettlebell Swings (Single Arm and Double Arm)
5. Good Mornings
6. Westside Style Cable Pull Through

I like the following exercises for increasing the strength and power of the Abdominals:

1) Swiss Ball Crunches with Medicine Ball Toss
2) Cable Wood Chops
3) Reverse Cable Wood Chops
4) Russian Twists
5) Turkish Get Ups with a Kettlebell
6) Kettlebell Windmills
7) Super Yoke
8) Asymmetrical Loaded Farmer’s Walk

I feel that for the most part, individuals should utilize fewer repetitions (less than 20 reps), higher intensities and with moderate to explosive tempos. In addition, I would also incorporate some muscular endurance work for the core–especially some isometric work. In particular, I would vary the length of the isometric holds by utilizing15, 30, 45 and 60 sec. holds at varying joint angles. As for training the muscular endurance capabilities of the core, I would employ many of the above exercises, but I would just increase the number of repetitions performed in a set.

MR:
The Core is of course, a key in my training. Not just for fighting, but any athletic endeavor. We do a ton of med ball work, reverse hypers, deadlifts, partner body weight lifts, and a lot of stability work. Most people just work tons of reps of only certain exercises, but not enough movements. We work in all planes of movement to make sure that we are developing complete fighters. The core training section in my book covers my favorite 15 core exercises for fighters. I challenge everyone to try the Alligator and the Hoover.

In jiu jitsu the hip movement is key. The core controls that movement on the ground. In addition to that, I do believe that endurance for the abs for MMA is important. If you have ever seen one fighter on his back taking kicks from a standing fighter, you know what I mean. Try to keep that isometric crunch up for a few minutes while a guy like Fedor is trying to smash your teeth out. It will get you hitting some extra ab work.

CB: What is the role of a dynamic warm-up in fighter preparation? Any exercises you insist fighters use before a workout?

JD:
I feel that a dynamic warm up is extremely vital to any athlete’s pre-training &/or pre-competition process; but, I think it is especially important for combat athletes. I like having them perform exercises like agility ladder drills, the dot drill sequence, body weight squats, walking lunges with a torso twist, etc.

In addition to a brief dynamic warm up, I will use a specific warm up prior to training. The specific warm up consists of the first two exercises such as Box Squats and Flat Barbell Bench Press with Chains. I will have the athlete perform several sets of each exercise before beginning the actual work sets. For instance, I will have them perform two reps of Box Squats with a load that is about 60% of their 1 RM followed by a 20-30 second rest. Then, they will perform 2 repetitions of Flat Barbell Bench Press with a load that is about 60% of their 1 RM followed by a 20-30 second rest. They will repeat this process two or three more times, but they will progressively increase the weight until their last warm up set is very close to their first working set.

If it pre-competition, then they will perform several drills such as Shadow Boxing, Focus Mitt work and some take down drills as a specific warm up for the fight.

MR:
My new book’s first chapter has 20 pages on the dynamic warm-up. There is another chapter strictly dedicated to pre fight warm-up as well. This is because I consider it to be the cornerstone of my program. Many of the fighters I work with like Ricardo Almeida and Rodrigo Gracie have adapted it into their academies and are experiencing tremendous success.

We go through the 37 exercises listed 3-4 times per week. Not only is it great for stability, strength, balance, coordination and flexibility, but anaerobic endurance as well. Just try blasting through all 37 exercises for 12 reps in 16 minutes like we do at 7am. It will wake you up.

AC:
I don’t insist upon anything. But I educate my athletes well so they start to understand why we are doing certain things. Everything we do is developmental – we start warm-ups with slower movements and ranges of motion and work through until we are moving through maximum range at maximum speed. The whole point is to prepare for the session and the demands it is going to place on the body. I always like the hips and lower back to be well warmed up, but everything else will vary according to the planned workout.

CB: What’s the biggest myth in MMA fighter preparation?

MR:
I think the biggest myth is that many fighters out there think they can get ready in a few weeks for a fight. MMA is a rough gig. These guys may not know they are fighting or who they are fighting until a few weeks before the event. I have watched so many fighters come into fights out of shape as a result and lost.

Just like cramming for a test in school, cramming for a fight is not going to give you the best results. If you want to fight big time, you need to be training all year. If not, you should look for another way to punish yourself.

AC:
Probably the early morning long distance run and the weights will slow you down stuff that’s typical with ALL sports.

There’s also a misconception that because of the ‘street’ or ‘thug’ image that MMA has, that these fighters are not intelligent conditioned athletes. If most sport coaches had their athletes develop the conditioning levels of fighters – they’d be extremely happy.

I’d add also that because the martial arts are thousands of years old, people think that your training program should be too. Science has shown us better ways to train.

JD:
There are many myths in preparing a fighter for a mixed martial arts competition.

The first one that sticks out in my mind is that some people still believe that lifting weights will make you less flexible. The reality is that resistance training through the entire range of motion will actually increase an individual’s strength and stability throughout the entire range of motion.

On a side note: Increasing flexibility without a corresponding increase in the individual’s strength in the newly acquired ROM will actually promote joint instability and thereby increase the likelihood of injury.

CB: Let’s not forget about female athletes. What special considerations do you take into account when training females for MMA?

AC:
Females tend to have weaker posterior chains and in particular upper backs, and exhibit excessive thoracic curves and forward head posture (having breasts will offset COG and wearing high heels). So our corrective stage programs address this. They also tend to have short, tight hip flexors.

However, the training to correct these imbalances is the same as if they were male, and the other training remains the same. We also try to get a little more aggression out of females. Society has made this a negative trait for a woman but we try to encourage it.

JD:
Females tend to be more flexible than men, which often creates more instability around their joints. Also, because females have a greater “Q angle”, they tend to have a greater incidence of improper force distribution through their lower kinetic chain. Therefore, it is important to increase the strength and stability around their hip, knee and ankle joints.

Women tend to be weaker in their upper extremity due to a lack of loading which is usually the result of a fear of looking to muscular. As a result, they tend to have weak upper and lower backs as well, which once again can lead to lead to a greater incidence of injury due to improper force distribution through the Spine.

MR:
I just trained Celita Schutz for the last Olympics in judo, and I have to say that she changed the way that I thought about female combat athletes. Although she is a 3 time Olympian and one of the best judokas in the world, she proved that women can be incredibly strong, fast, technical and mentally tough with the proper training. I have also worked with jiu jitsu women that also used their flexibility to their advantage.

In terms of training, I often have to start more on the base because unlike many of their male counterparts, the females are not usually strength training. Common areas of weakness are the hips and low back. Once we have added this component though, I have been able to work a similar training regime with the girls. (Just less weight on certain activities, of course). Interestingly, Celita trained with many of the high level guys and topped them in a number of activities.

CB: Any final comments?

JD:
I just want to say thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be involved in this Q & A. It looks like I am going to be opening Peak Performance LA within the next 6 to 12 months so I’ll let you know. Also, my web site is www.peakperformancenyc.com.

MR:
Thanks for having me in for this interview. It was my pleasure to share some of the lessons my team and I have learned over the last few years. I hope the information helped some people out there to take their game to the next level. Please check out my new book at elitefts.com and let me know what you think.

AC:
Alwyn Cosgrove is the author of “Secrets of Martial Arts Conditioning” available from: www.alwyncosgrove.com.

Taken from www.rawintensity.com When Strength and Conditioning Coach, Alwyn Cosgrove, agreed to write for this website I was very excited. Why? Well, there are many in the field that speak a lot about training theory and methodology, but very few that produce great athletes. The ability to help an athlete reach their athletic potential is what makes a great Strength Coach. Coach Cosgrove had done just that. He has helped several atheletes get to the top of their sport. So, now we are fortunate enough to have him share with us his philosophy of training with us. RI: Coach Cosgrove, how did you first become involved in the Strength and Conditioning field? AC: I first became involved by accident really. I was fighting competitively (Taekwon-do) and the realization hit me that at the top level skill levels were pretty much the same. For example,if you think about boxing — there are really only four punches and a few variations (jab, hook, cross and uppercut)– it is the physical application of these skills that made the difference –if you could consistently hit faster and harder than the other guy – you’ll probably win most of the fights !! So this realization gave me a greater appreciation of physical conditioning and as a result I spent a greater amount of my own time on this aspect. This in turn took me to college to study sports science (partly this and partly the fact that I could basicallytrain like a full time athlete while in college). When in college I quickly got a reputation for being able to produce results(looking back – I sucked – but was still better than the average personal trainer in the area) – so I got approached by several athletes to design their strength programs – including two junior national rugby players, the college track team, a Taekwon-Do fighter moved so he could work with me and another national TKD fighter actually quit his job and returned to college to train with me (he’s now the strength coach for the England National Netball team and has become quite an authority in the field himself). This was a good time for me — as I was learning training theory and methodology academically, and actually applying it at the same time –figuring out what works in the research may not work as well with real athletes in real situations — not too many people get to experience both approaches at once. It really helped ‘fast-track’ my development. After college I moved to New York and began working at the US Athletic Training Center with a few Olympians and a few regular people and my learning continued ….. so here I am !!! Still learning. Still working. And still having a ball doing it ! RI: You have been able to produce World Champions, what is it about your training philosophy that allows you to produce such great results? AC:First off — while I would love to say I have ‘produced’ them I am more akin to taking a leaf out of Ian King’s book (a man who has been a great help and influence to me) that I don’t take credit for these top athletes success. If you won’t take the blame for your athletes who AREN’T World Champions, then you shouldn’t take the credit for those who are. Essentially I have been lucky to work with some supremely talented individuals who had great work ethics. The only factor I had to play was that I was able to identify weak areas that they had and help with a solution. I mean if Michael Jordan walks in to your gym and you do an assessment — you might find ZERO weaknesses — you might not be much help !!! I always hope that the athlete arrives with a whole bunch of ‘issues’ — that way our job is a whole lot easier !!! I’m not sure I have a training philosophy per se — I have been positively influenced by so many people that I’m not sure which opinions are uniquely my own ! Bruce Lee once said – “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add what is specifically your own” (- at the time that approach was revolutionary – now all martial artists cross train, definitely ahead of his time) and basically that’s my approach to training. I’ve been lucky enough to have met several good people and learn from them, so my method is basically a scientific treaty of an eclectic approach to total training – gathered from the best sources the industry has to offer. RI: You have worked with several combative sports, what are some key training concepts to becoming a successful athlete in those events? AC: All the atheltes are different but the biggest single thing Josh, is that most of these sports are soooooo rooted in outdated tradition (the early morning long run – weights will slow you down etc.) that if we can even take a 1% move towards a more modern or scientific approach, we will yield HUGE results. You just have to get the athlete to trust you and ‘empty their cup’ so to speak, so they will work with you. Most of these athletes do no strength or speed development work, and the only energy system work they do is aerobic. Dumb as there are no aerobic dominant combat sports. Combat sports are unique (the full contact ones) in that they are the only sports where the primary aim of the activity is to render your opponent unable to continue – so as a physical preparation coach I need to develop a system where we develop the ability to deliver a more powerful strike, but also prepare for the energy sapping mechanisms of receiving a strike. So we need to work on the give and take conditioning effects of combat. I think the key worry of a lot of these athletes is that strength work will put on weight — making the weight class is always a real struggle for most of them – so a sound approach to maximizing strength/weight ratio is always paramount. Charles Poliquin once mentioned to me that the average male gymnast can bench 315 the first time they ever try — the average fighter who hasn’t yet strength trained averages about 75% of their bodyweight in my experience. Not good. My focus is always — injury prevention first, performance enhancement second. RI: Do you find many of your athletes come to you with well structured training programs, or do you see some common flaws in their approach? AC: It’s improving but still very poor. I generally see either a bodybuilding program which will not do too much to improve sports performance (unless hypertrophy is essential) or an Olympic lifting or Powerlifting program — aimed at competitive lifters, not multidirectional sprint athletes. The volume of other training needs to be taken into account and it rarely is. The days of athletes following a generalized program, with no room for individual differences are (hopefully) gone! One size does not fit all! Just as we all require a specific shoe size, we all require a specific program. Every athlete has a different goal, different strengths and weaknesses and a different body. For customized results you need a customized program — but often I see entire teams doing the same program –just by applying the bell curve rule — only 68% of those athletes can possibly be getting anywhere close to an effective training stimulus. Aside from that – the main common flaw that I experience is usually an overemphasis on strength training with a lack of speed/flexibility/muscle length-tension and postural issues. You can get strong but if it doesn’t transfer to improved scores on the field of play then so what ?? Athletic performance involves more than just strength but a lot of coaches programs just don’t reflect that – I know of a well-known strength coach who is exceptionally strong but can’t touch his toes !!! That’s not well rounded and his programs reflect that, despite lip service to flexibility enhancement. An integrated approach to athletic development is far preferable. RI: Do you have any advice for athletes that may be reading this interview and wondering what would make their training program take them to the next level? AC: Either hire a physical preparation coach — or become one !!! Basically if you don’t do your own legal work, your own taxes, cut your own hair or do your own dental work — you really have no excuse to be trying to design your own conditioning program. If you don’t want to hire a competent person (and I admit there are a lot of garbage guys out there) then at least seek out quality information and develop your own plan — but put some thought into it. Lose the bodybuilding mentality and get some assistance. The fastest way to improve your performance is to have a qualified individual take a look at your performance and your training — if you are not constantly improving your on the field performance then something is amiss. RI: Coach Cosgrove, thank you for your time and knowledge. Do you have any comments you would like to add to our readership? AC: Keep reading Raw intensity !!!! Seriously, I’m really looking forward to some of the articles that will be coming out from some of the other authors. When I think about it — some of the best physical preparation people I have met have a lot of fantastic information that just isn’t out there (Mark Verstegen, Jim Liston, Mike Mejia for example) — so I’m excited to be exposed to the ideas and methods of a few new people. There is probably a lot of excellent stuff out there that we never get to see so Raw Intensity will perhaps be the changing of the guard !!! The new generation is here !!

Reprinted With Permission from www.cbathletics.com

ALWYN COSGROVE PROFILE – MARTIAL ARTS STRENGTH COACH

Alwyn Cosgrove
Location: Santa Clarita California
Website: www.alwyncosgrove.com

Alwyn has worked with about 30-40 competitive martial artists, as well as athletes from these sports: figure skating, motocross, supercross, running, mountain biking, boxing, football, soccer, rugby and baseball.

Alwyn has worked with about 30-40 competitive martial artists, as well as athletes from these sports: figure skating, motocross, supercross, running, mountain biking, boxing, football, soccer, rugby and baseball.

CB: Alwyn, Thank you for the interview. Why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about your current coaching commitments?

AC: Well right now Craig I’m involved full time in running a fitness coaching facility in Southern California. We serve a wide variety of clientele from high school athletes to corporate executives. I’ve just finished working with the England junior Taekwon-do team, who returned from the World Championships with 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.

We are also working with Damon Huffman, a pro supercross athlete and Bebe Liang who just placed sixth at the US figure skating championships she’s only 12 years old and competes in the same division as Sasha Cohen, Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes, so we’re very proud of her.

CB: Sounds like a very exciting line-up of clients that come through your facility. Can you tell the reader your educational background?

AC: Formally I have a diploma in sports performance studies and a graduate honors degree in sports science. I am certified with the NSCA as a CSCS with distinction, the ISSA as a Master of Sports Sciences, the CHEK institute, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, USA Weightlifting and the American Council on Exercise. I’ve also studied extensively under Charles Poliquin, Paul Chek, Charles Staley, Eric Serrano, MD, and Ian King, both in seminars and internships.

CB: Extensive! So what is your competitive background?

AC: I competed both nationally and internationally in Taekwon-do from 1988 to 2000. Along the way I won seven UK national titles in continuous sparring (basically fighting).

CB: Congratulations. You’ve already touched on this briefly, but what is the range of your clientele?

AC: It is very broad. My youngest client is a 9 year old figure skater. My oldest client is 69 years old and is coming to us for spinal rehabilitation.

CB: Thanks. What are your personal achievements as a coach?

AC: A saying I stole from Ian King is “Don’t take the credit if you won’t take the blame!” so despite my involvement with a few World champions I’d like to think my biggest achievements come on a day to day basis helping all my clients achieve their goals.

My own “favorite” so to speak though is a young ice skater called Brittany MacDonald – who came to me as a timid little girl, several years ago, has trained her butt off and has all the potential in the World. Watch out for her-she’ll be a name for the future.

Another name I must mention is a lady from New York called Patie Wilson, she lost almost 150lbs training with me and remains to this day the hardest training individual I have ever worked with.

CB: Alwyn, you’ve also used Turbulence Training (from my GET LEAN and Executive Lifestyle Manuals. What did you think of it?

AC: It is the single most effective fat loss training system in the world today. I’ve used it. I’ve studied it. It works faster and more effectively than any other method.

CB: Awesome! Can you describe a typical training day consist of for your clients?

AC: OK – typically we start with a warm up which consists of something basic like a treadmill general warm up, or something more dynamic like an agility ladder exercise or a dot drill

Following that is stretching — either corrective stretching for my beginner clients, or dynamic or functional stretching for my more advanced clientele.

Following that will be the bulk of the strength workout — typically a full body workout with everything from Olympic lifts, traditional lifts, Swiss ball training to medicine ball work likely to make an appearance.

To complete the work portion we’ll do some metabolic conditioning work (sometimes done on separate days) — doing interval type training, or some kind of DB matrix.

We’ll usually finish with another ten minutes of cardio work, some developmental stretching or self myofascial release work. Then it’s post workout drink time ASAP (I’m a big believer in the benefits of post workout nutrition).

CB: Everyone loves to talk about nutrition. What is in your post-workout nutrition and how does it vary from the figure skater to the martial artist?

AC: It’s individualized to the athlete and their needs. Figure skaters and martial artists are generally very similar to be honest – both athletes need to maintain low body weights for their sport.

Basically – everyone’s shake is built around x amount of whey protein or free form aminos. Carbs are added accordingly but it varies too much to give you any real formula.

The top level athletes at my facility usually consume a glutamine-BCAA mixture before and during training, and consume up to 30-40g of free form aminos post workout. 30-45 minutes after that – they consume a post workout shake.

My general fitness clients usually consume the post workout shake immediately.

CB: Thanks for summary. In terms of training, how far do you push your athletes? When do you know that they have had enough?

AC: Usually when they puke or pass out I back off 2-3%! Seriously we use a four week mini -periodization. Every client repeats a workout four times or so.

Workout One: 80% of previous bests. Focus on technical skill, low fatigue and no failed lifts. In rep terms we stop -2. That is, I want the client to end the set when he/she has two to three good reps left in them. I am also conservative with volume in this phase – for example if I have planned to do 4 sets of each exercise we may only do 2-3.

Workout Two: 90% of previous best. Focus on good recruitment patterns, excellent technique, higher levels of fatigue. -1 rep. Complete all sets however.

Workout Three: 100-105% of previous best. Maximal work. However do not attempt a rep you are not sure of completing.

Workout Four: Set new records. This is the workout to give everything you have got. Technique must be maintained, but we are likely to go to failure on some lifts and I may use some drop sets or some other type of intensification tool here.

Workout Five will be a new routine.

CB: I’d really like to hear your tips on training the female athlete. Is it any different from training your male clients?

AC: Not really.

1) Get a coach to help you with your conditioning training – if you can’t afford one – hire them to design your program and train on your own. Everyone needs a coach of some sort.

2) Do not be afraid to get strong. Females seem to have an unconscious fear of lifting heavy. Do not succumb to this. Get as strong as you possibly can.

Psychologically however I tend to train females and males differently. I compare males to standards for their sport or to other athletes that I work with. This tends to motivate them more. I ONLY ever compare female athletes to their own performances and their own goals – never comparing them to anyone else.

CB: Are there notable differences between female athletes of different sports when they first come to you for training?

AC: The biggest difference in males and females is that males generally come in to meet me for the first time on their own. Females are typically brought in by coaches, parents or boyfriends.

Females in my opinion have the potential to train harder than males and make faster progress yet they often seem to be afraid to fulfill that potential.

CB: Briefly compare the training of the supercross athlete to the training of a figure skater. Where are there differences? Do you use Olympic lifts with both?

AC: I use olympic lift variations with the supercross guys. In my experience they usually have extremely tight forearms as a result of arm pump and impact through the handlebars so they have real difficulty in the catch phase. The time taken to correct this just so we can do cleans is not worth the return in my opinion so I use pulls.

Supercross athletes need to be trained by developing their “tilting” reflexes, as basically the ground moves under them when they compete – they need to handle the movement of the bike. They also need high levels of scapular stability.

Figure skaters need to be trained by developing their “righting” responses as they move at high speed over a fixed object (the ice) although they are balanced on a less than an eighth of an inch piece of metal.

Core stability is real important for both athletes.

CB: When young athletes come to you for training, does any particular sport stand out as being better than another?

AC: The young kids who have been exposed to a wide variety of sports tend to improve faster. I think parents need to focus on overall athleticism in their kids as opposed to specificity in training.

CB: So in terms of young athletes, do you see any sport producing the most athleticism? For example, some experts suggest that gymnasts are the best athletes at a young age because they have the greatest body awareness. Any comments?

AC: I agree – gymnasts and martial artists tend to have better overall athleticism however with regards to gymnasts it is a moot point.

Gymnasts, along with figure skaters need early specialization. So they violate the rule. The current Olympic figure skating champion is 16 years old. Basically in sports like that – you require such an early degree of specialization to succeed that the rules change.

CB: Do you see young athletes hampered by premature concentration in one sport? Lots of coaches see that in hockey players here in Canada.

AC: Unfortunately yes. It’s more typical in the team sports such as football, baseball etc. I’ve met a couple of kids who have been playing baseball almost full time their entire lives – who have great baseball skills but have no basic concept of how to move. We had to teach them how to run without tripping up! It happens more often than you would think.

CB: This is excellent information for parents and coaches that are reading right now. What are your goals as a coach?

AC: To improve constantly. I demand more from myself than anyone else ever could. It only takes on hour of reading /studying per day to become a World expert in three years. I predict that everyone reading this will be an expert in something within three years because they will have spend an hour a day studying.

Now whether they are studying “Friends” re-runs or advanced sports training remains to be seen – but trust me – everyone reading this will spend an hour a day doing something!

I reserve the right to keep learning, refine my skills and improve. Other than that – I have a lot to be thankful for.

CB: What is your coaching philosophy?

AC: The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. Champions are NOT born. Not nowadays. Champions are MADE and titles are won and lost in training.

CB: You use Olympic lifts. What can you tell the reader is the extra benefit from these lifts as compared to regular strength training?

AC: Time saving. More effective. Higher amounts of muscle recruitment due to the velocity of the lifts. Better transfer to sports. Ground based, explosive, multi joint functional lifts win out every time.

CB: What training gadgets have you used and which ones have you found to be of value?

AC: I’ve tried almost everything. What I still use is a different story. I do use the agility ladder, jump stretch bands, chains, balance boards, swiss balls, med balls and EZ grips. Other than that it’s dumbbells and barbells.

CB: Thanks. Training tools are a hot topic these days. Walk us through your athlete assessment you described in your interview on www.sportspecific.com.</p>

AC: After we do a basic health history and goal assessment we begin the evaluation. Basically we assess posture and ROM in three ways – statically, passively and actively.

Stage one is a static evaluation where we are just looking for postural discrepancies, etc. I get a little more exact – using inclinometers to measure spinal curve, head carriage, etc. but basically it is a gross assessment.

Stage two is a range-of-motion assessment – again we can use goniometers to give a specific “score” to each joint angle and compare that to norms, but again it can be taught as a very simple pass-fail assessment.

Stage Three is what we call the functional movement screen (as devised by Gray Cook) – it’s basically seven “exercises” that are scored 0-3 based on your performance of them.

We finish with some basic rotator cuff stability assessments and two abdominal strength tests. Depending on the client we would then use some more performance based tests such as vertical jump, etc.

This gives us the blueprint of the client – where we then design a specific training program.

We also utilize a more advanced assessment with post rehabilitation clientele – this is taken directly from the CHEK institute and is a lot more in depth obviously as clients who are in pain need to be evaluated a little more accurately.

CB: How does the gross assessment determine how you will train? Can you give an example?

AC: For example: If an evaluation reveals tight hip flexors, and weak glutes – we will design a program around stretching the hip flexors and strengthening the posterior chain. Usually by improving an athlete’s weak links we improve their on-field performance at a faster rate.

A typical training program would give stretching for everything, and strengthening for everything – giving a net result of ZERO. There is no point in stretching long muscles and strengthening tight muscles – we end up changing absolutely nothing.

CB: Could you list the 3 top tips you could give to an athlete that is just beginning structured training?

AC: Number one – design your plan in advance with your coach.

Number Two: Stick to the plan – be flexible, not dogmatic, but stick to the plan in general.

Number Three: Train to progress, not to impress. Be concerned more with your own development – not what other people think.

CB: Switching topics for a second, can you elaborate on the use of strength training for an endurance runner?

AC: Running is a TOTAL BODY activity. A lot of runners seem to think that they are involved solely in a lower body activity. That’s not true. Try running a half mile with your hands in your pockets and you’ll soon see how much the upper body contributes. So if it contributes – we need you to TRAIN it to add to that contribution.

As a basic rule – train unilaterally (dumbbells) for running and throw in as many total body exercises as you can think of.

CB: What are key training methods to prevent injuries?

AC: An equal focus on TOTAL training. Cardiovascular, strength and flexibility need to be given equal priority. Movement pattern balance in the program is also important – loading balance, sequencing balance and volume balance.

For example: Doing 2 sets of horizontal pushing with 200lbs on Day one, needs to be balanced with 2 sets of horizontal pulling with 200lbs in that phase, and by doing horizontal pulling first in the next phase.

CB: We’re coming to the end of the interview, so let’s discuss the end of a workout. Do you use advanced recovery techniques?

AC: Post workout nutrition is number one, along with stretching. If you don’t have those two in place, everything else is just a gimmick.

CB: Any use of post-workout ice massage or hot-cold contrast therapy?

AC: I like hot-cold contrast showers. I haven’t used the ice massage, as I tend to use more full body workouts. I think it has a big place in hypertrophy specific split routines however.

I also really like self myofascial release work on the foam roller, and “The Stick” – a very cool massage tool that athletes can use themselves.

CB: Thanks Alwyn. Everyone really appreciates your time. Good luck with your new websites and training center. Where can people read more about your theories and programs?

AC: Well Craig, like you, I contribute on an almost monthly basis to Men’s Health magazine. I suggest that readers check out the magazine to see more of our work. And again, like you, I write articles and training programs for sportspecific.com – a fantastic strength and conditioning website put together by Ryan Lee. I encourage everyone to check out these resources.

CB: Great advice as always.