As I alluded to in my last post; I’ve been taking on more grapplers than rugby players recently and I have to say it’s a different kind of animal. Principles and science remain the same; however, the psyche of a grappler is unparalleled which means the way in which I deliver sessions are slightly different. This is the art of strength and conditioning. Beyond the psychological make-up is a unique physiological challenge – fighters seem to bend differently. Maybe it’s all those ‘triangles’ and hip popping ‘arm bars’, one thing is for sure: it makes for interesting exercise selection. Again, part of the art of strength and conditioning.
For those of you interested there will be a series which breaks down the science (and art) of training grapplers in future months, which will of course include profiling. For now, I thought I’d show you some of the things I’ve been doing with two new recruits; a wrestler and a judoka.
Forgive me readers for I have sinned, it has been too long since my last post. The truth is I’ve been busy with a few things: taking on more training clients (the grappling population), continued education (degree) and my own athletic development. Unfortunate circumstances have cleared time in my schedule to get back in front of the keyboard, so I hope you’re ready for some cool new training tips/ideas and motivation for 2012.
Before I discovered judo I was in the post-rugby era, where I was training four or five times per week which equated to around six hours. This was mainly based around lifting to increase relative strength and I’d throw in some form of anaerobic conditioning once a week. Then, in the 2011 summer I decided to go full throttle at judo (without worrying about my shoulder history as a limiting factor) and my training time per week doubled. Here’s what a typical week looked like:
Am
Pm
Sunday
Instruct Spin Class
Speed Upper
Monday
Heavy Lower
Submission Wrestling or Edinburgh Judo
Tuesday
Off
Tayside Judo
Wednesday
Heavy Upper
Tayside Judo
Thursday
Off
Speed Lower
Friday
Off
Off
Saturday
Instruct Spin Class
Off
The aim was (and still is) to fight my way to a black belt while developing my own athleticism until I have reached my genetic potential. The above split was designed to help me achieve both of these goals and keep me in-shape for my weight class of -100kg.
WHITE – RED – YELLOW – ORANGE – GREEN – BLUE – BROWN- BLACK
By the end of summer time I made the grade of 5th Kyu (YELLOW belt) and was looking forward to sitting my orange belt grading sometime in the winter. Looking forward is a bit of an understatement actually, I admit it: I had the judo bug. I was obsessed and ambitious. My thinking was (and still is): if you want to be the best then you’ve got to put yourself in situations where you’re going to be challenged, where you’re going to learn, adapt and overcome. I wanted to fight. Most 5th Kyu’s don’t enter into ‘Open’ tournaments for good reasons; their movement isn’t necessarily fluent, they don’t always achieve kuzushibefore a throw, they might not necessarily have ‘throw combos’ and they might not be able to read an opponent due to lack of experience. I was no different – but thought I’d give it a go anyway…
As you might have figured out, the results were not good. That said, I could not have performed any better than what I did. I used the skills that I had at the time and put in 100% effort.
Fight 1: Beaten by a ’second dan’ black belt after 1min 28secs due to ‘ippon’ throw.
Fight 2: Beaten by Jamie (see above).
Fight 3: Beaten by a black belt on points.
Before my fourth fight I was sick three times…Going five minutes with a black belt is one of the most physically demanding tasks I have ever done.
Fight 4: Beaten by pin hold down (unsure of the opponent’s grade).
I wasn’t discouraged, in fact it was quite the opposite. My obsession grew: I was ready to sit my 4th Kyu grading. By the time the next tournament rolled around I wanted to be regularly throwing higher grades in ‘randori’ (sparing) and have an answer if I was to fight a black belt again. That’s when the Tonbridge Camp caught my eye: an international judo camp that was just for ‘randori’. After emailing the organizer to discover if someone of my grading could attend, I learned that the camp would be full of mainly black belts who compete internationally or have international ambitions, yet it was open to any grade that was willing (or stupid enough?) to’ randori’ for two hours per session. Though my ’sensi’ did warn me that I would be rag-dolled for the majority of the camp, my thinking was that I would become better from the experience. Don’t confuse this as naive or disrespectful – I was fully aware of my ability and the level of judokas that I would be facing; however, the aim of ‘randori’ is to throw a person, hone previously learned skills and think on your feet if the text book stuff doesn’t work. The aim is not to injury your opponent or cause harm. Needless to say, I wouldn’t have attended the camp if there was a situation where I had to fight.
Two hour sessions, three times a day. I may have been thrown over 200 times in the space of four days. That said, going to the camp was one of the best decisions I have made regarding judo and I definitely learned from the experience while having FUN. You read that correctly, thrown over 200 times…but it was fun! I managed to get in some throws on higher grades too, after all, that was the aim.
My next fight was going to be in February and I was feeling confident because my judo improved leaps and bounds since my last tournament. Unfortunately, I suffered a shoulder subluxation on my left side during a’ ne-waza randori’ with my regular training partner at Tayside Judo and I’m now out of action for a while. A subluxation is also known as a partial dislocation: the humerus slips out and is back in within seconds. My history of shoulder instability means I have to take this injury seriously and return to judo stronger/more stable than I was. That said, if my scan shows that I have excessive internal damage then I may need to stop the sport forever.
Of course this is a blow to my judo and athletic development; however, you’ve got to make hay while the sun shines which means I’ll be able to get infront of the keyboard and post some new training blogs that will help others develop. Just because I’m out of action doesn’t mean you readers are!
By now most people know that to get big, you’ve got to eat big. That seems obvious; however, sometimes it can prove difficult to increase daily calorie intake when attempting to eat clean. For this reason I like Super Shakes - they’re clean, high calorie muscle building concoctions that are cheap and easy to make. An anabolic meal can literally be done by throwing a bunch of ingredients into a blender.
One great tasting Super Shake that I like to suggest to individuals that are trying to add some mass to their frame is:
This can be used as a snack, a meal replacement or as a post workout shake and will take less than five minutes to prepare. Be warned - Super Shakes will lead to super physique changes!
As I alluded to in my original Super Shakes post, your imagination is the only limitation when it comes to these blended muscle building cocktails. Be creative.
One of many observations I’ve made since I started training people back in 2007 is that adherence to a diet or healthy eating plan can be the most difficult challenge to overcome when attempting to transform the body.
The 21st century is a good time to be in the fitness industry because of the vast amount of information surrounding training and nutrition that is accessible to anyone and everyone. Generally, most of my clients have the right idea when it comes to improving their eating habits and I just need to ‘fine tune’ things…But ’sticking with it’ is a different matter. Time and time again I have had hard working clients that really push themselves in the gym, yet fail to conform to the eating habits that we (myself and the client) established in our first consultation. Of course I have tried many different techniques in an attempt to increase nutrition adherence; punishment through exercises, positive reinforcement, food diary checking and other ineffective strategies. The result was maybe the client would ’stick with it’ for an extra week or two before returning to old habits.
Thankfully, in 2008 I discovered Dr John Berardi (pictured) and his Precision Nutrition system.
In fact, thankful is an understatement. I want to point out at this juncture that I am not professionally affiliated with the Precision Nutrition System and receive no reward or money for mentioning it; however I am a BIG advocate of it because of the system’s simplicity and the fact that it leads to great results! I won’t give you the full rundown on the Precision Nutrition System, instead you can’t check it out here; however, I am obligated to mention it because my technique for achieving nutritional adherence is the one that John outlines in his book.
A Game of Noughts and Crosses What makes the difference when it comes to adherence is ownership and measurability. So here is what to do:
Set two or three healthy eating habits such as; eat foods with less than 10g of fat per 100g, eat a piece of fruit with each meal, or no starchy carbohydrates in the last meal of the day. Remember to make the habits specific to you and your needs/goals – the above are just an example.
On your phone, a piece of paper or computer put down either a ‘O’ or a ‘X’ for each meal that you eat. The ‘O’ represents you ’sticking with it’ and the ‘X’ represents you breaking the habit.
Here is an example of what a good week will look like:
From the above example we can see that the habits have not been adhered to twice during the week, giving a score of 94%. That kind of percentage will definitely allow desired results to be achieved quickly. Needless to say, the higher the percentage the better the transformation; however, if the percentage drops below 80% then there will be a real slow struggle.
Thanks to Dr John Berardi’s book, the ‘Noughts and Crosses’ is a technique I have used with the majority of my clients to great success. I discovered that my time spent discussing nutrition with my clients was dramatically reduced because at the start of each week they would tell me their percentage (from the previous week) and they would know what had to be improved or maintained. As I alluded to, this method provides individuals with a sense of ownership and is very easy to measure. If my clients have less than 80% then it’s a very short conversation; however, if they’re nailing the nutrition and have high adherence I’ll introduce one more ‘healthy habit’. Similar to training, progress is the aim.
Of course, I also use this method when making changes to my nutritional regime and I find it just as effective as my clients because I love that fact that there is an opportunity to increase my percentage each week (I’m aiming for 95% this week and have stuck with the same three habits for the past four weeks).
My advice to someone who has a history of ‘yo-yo’ dieting is to come up with two healthy habits and play ‘Noughts and Crosses’. If the adherence percentage goes above 85% then introduce a new habit, and so on.
For the readers out there that need; meal plans, preparation guides, support, a huge online community and a profound understanding of nutrition then look no further…
Technology is great. Computers, internet, mobile phones and all the other cool gadgets that allow communication and information sharing has shaped the way we live today. The only problem is that when I say shaped, I mean it quite literally. Nowadays it is uncommon to see a desk without a computer and there is a large chunk of the population that spend the majority of their working day desk-bound. Beyond the IT industry, many of us spend hours each night updating facebook, instant messaging, blogging, emailing, or that other thing that the internet is popular for…I’m not going to put forward the message that everyone should spend less time at their desks, instead you will find three movements below that I highly recommend to anyone who finds themselves at a desk (or indeed driving) for over an hour every day. These movements cover flexibility, mobility and strength.
Healthy movement is something quite close to my heart because I know the value of what good posture and technique can do for; strength, power, injury resistance and fat burning. Each year I feel it is my duty as a fitness and health professional to post an article with the theme of posture and improved movement. That’s why in 2009 and 2010I posted articles that address the above issue from a different angle and I would encourage you to give them a brief read to gain additional knowledge in the area.
Practical Help For The Desk Jockey First and foremost, in the seated position the hips are stuck in flexion. That is why the first movement I recommend is hip extension, or more specifically a hip flexors stretch.
Movement 1: A version of the hip flexors stretch
Flexibility isn’t the only issue when considering all the desk jockeys out there – strength is too! I’m not talking about deadlifting twice your bodyweight or banging out 20+ chin ups (though that would be impressive), I’m talking about the strength of the shoulder stabilizers. The image in my post “The Age of the Hunchback” shows exactly the kind of posture (an almighty hunch) that is likely to happen when exposed to long periods at a desk. To combat this there are a few things to consider which include; stretching the pec minor and the upper traps, strengthening the lower traps and strengthening the external rotators. SCAPULA WALL SLIDES! Using this movement will tick all the right boxes and is one way to combat the lack of shoulder strength (stability). Here’s the video again in case you missed it in the 2009 post:
Now that hip flexibility and shoulder mobility/stability has been addressed, can you think of another key to maintaining a preferable posture while you surf the world wide web? Yes! You guessed it – the “core”.This articleoutlines four great movements for building an effective core, but the main thing to remember is that the upright position is most desirable when in front of a desk. That means sit ups are ‘out’ and movements like rollouts are ‘in’.
Of course there are many different movements out there that can also help the desk-bound among us; however, the movements above are the most basic and essential movements that are very easy to implement into your routine.
Taking Out The Guesswork Implement the movements above anyway you see fit or try a tri-set at the end of your regular workout:
Hip flexors stretch 2 x 30seconds e/side
Scap wall slides 2 x 15
Rollout variation 2 x 8
(Repeat until all sets are completed)
That said, don’t let these movements be restricted to the gym. I’ve been known to stretch while working and I would encourage you to do the same. Just ignore the inquisitive looks by your colleagues.
Point to Remember The technology we are exposed to now is fantastic and has help shaped the world today – just don’t let it shape you!
Think of an athlete that matches your ideal physique. Now think of the behaviours that athlete applies to his/her everyday life in order to obtain that physique. If you’re not thinking of a bodybuilder then the body of your favourite sports star is just a result of the desire to increase performance and while I could go on another “focus on performance and aesthetics will follow…” rant, I will restrain myself.
Keep your athlete in mind. Got it? Now don’t get bogged down by the fact that he/she is a professional and has all day to train while you are stuck at a desk. Instead, have a glance at the three behaviours he/she does that you CAN implement into your life.
Athlete Behaviour #1: KNOW WHAT YOU WANT It is ridiculously simple: have a goal. Athletes work hard, we all know that; however, what some individuals forget is that athletes work hard to achieve *insert goal* by *insert time*. It still amazes me how often I see people in the gym come and go because they have no focus. Granted, a bit of recreational exercises is never a bad thing and I could not discourage anyone form a ‘bounce session’. Nevertheless, if you want to progress, impress and work harder every time then behaviour #1 is a must.
Athlete Behaviour #2: HAVE A TRAINING PROGRAM Now that you know where you want to be, you’ll want to start thinking about how you’re going to get there. This is another easy behaviour to implement, just choose a program that matches your goal and follow that program until you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve. Having a program in place allows athletes to track their progress and set targets. Nowadays there are ample programs available on the internet to cover just about any goal. Of course, I am bias and will direct you to here; however, feel free to google what you want and see what comes up.
Athlete Behaviour #3: WEIGHT LIFTING, CARDIO AND CLEAN EATING
There are three key patterns that the majority of athletes do that you can do too. Lifting weights is something that is still misunderstood by the general population but it is definitely a form of training that every athlete will do or has done at some point.
Weight lifting = big muscles?
WRONG! Lifting weights will promote muscle adaptation; however, the speed and amount of adaptation depends on GENDER, age, genetics and calorie intake. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the athlete you’re thinking of has been the benefactor of a good weightlifting program and so you must too. If everyone that lifted weights increased in size each time they lifted then most males would be walking around like Bill Kazmaier (pictured).
Cardiovascular training is another key in the behaviour that most athletes will do that is easy enough for you to copy. For the type of cardio you should be doing, ask yourself what kind of cardiovascular training does your sports star do? Simply try out the activity that your athlete competes in. Of course, there will be a significant difference between the performance of the man or woman you admire and your performance but that doesn’t mean you can’t train for the task. If you’re thinking of a sprinter – hit the track! A swimmer? Get in the pool!
Clean eating refers to having a nutritional regime that helps you get to your goals. Most people know what counts as good or bad foods but the truth is you’ve got to look past the labels. If you’re loading up on your supermarkets ‘healthy option’ readymade meal you might not be eating as ‘healthy’ as a dinner you made yourself…The rules outlined in Fat Loss Fever cover what clean eating habits are a good idea to follow.
Have you still got your favourite sporting hero in mind? Do you want to take a step closer to gaining a physique that is similar to theirs (or more of an upgraded version of yourself)?
Remember that all the above behaviours are things that you CAN mimic. You have control of the little decisions that make a big difference so when you’ve decided the what (behaviour #1), figure out the how (behaviour #2) and be sure to apply the three key steps (behaviour 3).
Let’s start from the beginning – quite literally. It is beneficial to warm-up before a rigorous training session. Everyone knows that, and I’m guessing most people are able to list some of the reasons why it’s beneficial to warm-up before training. Let’s explore the notion a bit further than what you learned at school because if you train hard then you NEED to know how to get going properly to maximize performance. A method that most of the top strength and conditioning coaches use to prepare athletes is the ‘RAMP’ protocol. This acronym stands for; raise, activate, mobilise and potentiate (Jeffreys, 2007).
Raise
Through low intensity movements you should aim to raise core temperature and increase blood flow. Activate
In day-to-day life our body prefers to overuse certain muscles and so this part of the warm up aims to ‘wake up’ the less dominant muscles. Mobilise
Not dissimilar to the activate phase, the intensions here are to increase range of motion around key joints such as the hip joint. Potentiate
This is where the intensity of the warm-up is shifted up a gear. This phase will consist of a movement that is specific to your workout and will be done at maximal speed with the aim that it will increase muscle fiber recruitment and training performance.
Including this method in your regime will allow you to recruit a maximum amount of muscle fibers therefore eliciting improvements in strength and size!
Take a look at the video below – it shows a client going through the first three stages of a warm-up.
The potentiate part of the warm-up should be specific to the main aim of your session and can literally be a couple of light/speed sets of your first exercise. The table below should give you a guide of the sort of movements work well together.
First Exercise of Workout
Pre-work (Potentiate)
Back Squats
Speed Squats, box jumps, tuck jumps.
Power Cleans
Box Jumps, broad jumps
Bench Press
Med Ball Chest pass, Clap Press ups
Get on board with what all the top athletes are doing for their warm up and you will start to notice the benifits. ‘RAMP’ it up!
Reference Jeffreys, I. (2007). Warm-up revisited: The ramp method of optimizing warm-ups. Professional Strength and Conditioning. (6) 12-18
Last year I wrote a series of articles titled ‘Athletic Development’. The series provides a guide to training with an emphasis on performance. If you are not an Olympian then the chances are you are not anywhere near your genetic athletic potential, and while the series isn’t about taking an average Joe and turning him into Chris Hoy, it is about taking an individual and aiding their knowledge – allowing them to maximize their potential!
Have a read through the articles and apply the basic template into your regime.
In the summer of 2009 I posted an article titled ‘Gut Check’ that outlined core exercises for beginners. It’s a great place to start your abdominal training if you’re a beginner because the movements are simple, effective and have several progressions to increase difficulty as you become more efficient.
One of the themes at FMTraining is to train as hard and as smart as possible. It goes without saying that to have visible abs you need to have a low body fat percentage; that said, this article will shed some light on the topic of core training and what should really be done to maximize core strength and development.
A Note on Sit Ups & Crunches Tip 3 of the 6 Pack Attack challenge outlined that regular sit up or crunching movements are not the best way to obtain visible abs. This is not only because leading back health expert, Dr Stuart McGill, has found that repeated spinal flexion can cause disc herniations, but also because of the functionality of the movement. Let’s take this further: when do you need to display strength in a movement similar to a sit up? In everyday life you arrive in the standing position by following a very similar process to the Turkish Get Up. After that you are fighting against gravity to stay in an upright position and many people end up hunched over as the day progresses thanks to muscle imbalances… and gravity. In sports it is seldom the case where efforts are exerted through spinal flexion. Some examples are:
Football players brace themselves in an upright torso position when being tackled.
Rugby players scrum, run, tackle, pass and do just about everything else with a neutral spine.
Tennis players are always twisting and turning but do not repeatedly pull their spine into flexion during competition.
During cricket the bowler’s spine twists without real thoracic/lumbar flexion, while the batsman’s torso is also in an upright position.
The reason that there are limited sporting or real life examples of when strength in spinal flexion is needed is due to the body being able to exert more force through a neutral spine. That said, there are sports where sit ups and crunch variations are essential. For example, in MMA when the fight goes to the ground and a person is on their back, spinal flexion strength will be one of many necessary assets to have. Thus strengthening that movement by doing sit ups and crunches is justified.
The thing to remember is: unless you are involved in a sport that demands strength when the spine is flexed, why risk injury and bad posture by doing lots of sit ups and crunches when alternative exercises exist?
Four Core Movements Regular readers will know by now that when it comes to core training, I like the unconventional exercises. The exercises below are less popular than traditional crunch variations (probably because they are harder to perform) but are way more effective at recruiting all the musculature of the core. Instead of getting a sore neck and back (as experienced by doing high rep sit ups) you will be getting a complete core package.
Wipers This exercise is performed with a 60kg barbell in the video below; however, variations can include placing your hands out to the side or holding onto a fixed object or a partner’s feet. Needless to say, with the barbell the stability of the shoulder will also be trained.
Candlesticks This is an advanced exercise and again involves upper body strength to support the movement. If you can do the full version of this movement correctly then your core is strong.
Barbell Suitcase Deadlift By using a barbell the difficulty is increased. This is an exercise where the body must fight to avoid rotation.
Turkish Get Ups This exercise was featured in the Exercise of the Month series last year and a comprehensive guide can be found here.
Conclusion Unless you are training for MMA or a sport that requires ‘sit up strength’ then repeated sit ups and crunches can’t be justified. Use your energy to get better at the above exercises and you will certainly have a solid core and a healthier back.
Now you know how to train the core smart, it’s time you go and train it hard!
Regular readers may have noticed that it has been sometime since my last post. Unfortunately there was a family tragedy that really took the wind out of my sails (to say the least) and I had to direct my attention on being there for, and with my family. On the training front, that meant I had to forego the running and organising of the ‘6 Pack Attack’ challenge (I did complete the circuit in 5.23mins back in March) and solely focus on my online programming service. I was really enthused about the challenge and was receiving great feedback from clients and regular readers so make no mistake: there will be more challenges coming your way very soon.
Not completing a set task REALLY ‘rattles my cage’ and this post could very easily turn into an inspirational/psychological post; however, that would be beyond my scope of practice. That said, if anyone or thing can express my point of ”if at first you don’t succeed…” It’s Rocky:
Rugby Strength On another note, I recently received feedback from a rugby player who completed my rugby specific 12 week program.
“The FMT programme that I received gave me great results in reaching my desired goals. The programming helped a lot because it focused in on what I wanted to achieve and pushed me to go that bit further and harder. When I started I could only squat 140kg and with the 12 week programming I got it up to 170kg! The best thing about Fraser’s programming is that each session can be completed in under an hour so you are not spending all morning or afternoon in the gym. I highly recommend it.
Arron Dalgarno”
Core Secrets It’s no secret that an abundance of fitness fanatics and gym-goers want to have the abs on display for the summer time and so the next post will be something that has been sitting in my draft box for sometime: core secrets. Stay tuned.
Ice
