Monthly Archives: September 2012

Q&A – 44

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PR Friday is a celebration of training. Get active in the 70’s Big community and talk about your training. If you aren’t “as strong as everyone else”, it doesn’t matter. We all started somewhere. Post training updates or the week’s PRs to the comments.

The Weekly Challenge was directed at women and was a photo contest. I neglected to post about it on social media, and therefore there were zero entries (despite one gal putting a submission for the manly contest!). Nevertheless, this will make me rethink gender fairness for contests in the future.

Next Week’s Challenge: Cook at least one meat-based meal in the crock pot. Post the recipe to next week’s PR Friday comments.

Week In Review: Monday started with a female post about muscular imbalances. It’s relevant to guys, but it’s common for females to have muscular limitations in their training. On Tuesday I provided a progression and programming parameters for someone who wants to train for a GoRuck Challenge, though most of the advice applies to backpackers and hikers too. On Wednesday I posted a video that shows and corrects the three common mechanical faults with the press. I’ve also started consultations back up and have talked to some very cool people, including a Scot and Australian in the same day (I wish I had a cool accent).

Q&A 

Chad H. asks:
Hey Justin, couple of questions for the Q&A:1. Is there any marker to determine when would be a good time to switch to the TM Split? Just when you feel like it?

2. Think it’s possible to push up both the Press and Bench every week? I know you give a couple of scenarios in the TM Advanced but I’m talking Bench and Press Volumes and Intensities on the same day.

3. I’ve been hearing a lot lately about doing a single heavier than your workset weight as part of the warmup so as to make the workset feel lighter. Any thoughts (specifically doing these on Volume and Intensity days)?Thanks

 

 Dear Chad,

1. Typically when things slow down in a linear progression. Should the linear progression be run until it’s a life destroying affair that renders the lifter useless for a week or so after their final workout? Probably not. As you know, I did that, and I don’t recommend that people do it anymore. However, if there have been several resets, and the lifter gets to the same weight every reset, then yeah, they are probably due for a programming transition (assuming there aren’t extraneous factors like technique or recovery that are causing this).

2. Hmm. I think it would be possible for an early stage intermediate. I’m not a fan of the “alternate the weekly emphasis from press to bench” in stock TM programs. Chad is referring to how in The Texas Method: Advanced I provide many template examples of how to do both in the same week, though usually one day is “press day” while the other is “bench day”. But if someone were going to do try and get volume and intensity work with both exercises, they would probably need to only use a 3×5 for the Volume Day, and doubles or triples on the Intensity Day. Press may need to come first (since it’s less invasive than benching), but that would depend on what the trainee considers more important (perhaps their order could be alternated every week?). The second movement on the Intensity Day could be several sets of doubles instead of triples to avoid inducing any more fatigue on the muscles that would be there from the preceding exercise. Perhaps both lifts could just use doubles so that the total number of reps are lower for better Intensity progress? It’s interesting, and I’ve never done it, but I kind of like it for early stage intermediate and TM users. Or at least I like it better than the stock recommendation of alternating the lifts every week.

3. Doing a single before the work set would provide a neurological effect of making the work set feel lighter, but I would not recommend this. There is still a physiological effect of getting a rep at a higher intensity. If I had Chris, Mike, or AC do this, then they would have less in the tank for their scheduled session, and it may even throw off the weekly stress. By getting a higher intensity rep on the Volume Day, it’s applying a different adaptive stress than what I’m going for. I see this being problematic for them.

Now, if we’re talking about people who are focusing their training on lower intensity with more volume or reps, then it may not matter. Yet, someone in this position would be a) lesser advanced or b) training just to maintain strength or muscularity within the context of their goals. If someone were regularly working to lift heavy weights every week (as in a Texas Method), I don’t see this being helpful and potentially being harmful. There’s a reason volume and intensity are fluctuated for raw, un-drugged lifters.

Besides, the warm-ups are supposed to appropriately neurologically prep the lifter. I would assume that some proponents of this method may not warm-up properly. Some of them probably warm-up fine enough, yet their program may not be finely tuned where a higher intensity single will disrupt progress.

 

Michael L.
Hey Justin, I had to workout with suboptimal weights for my latest intensity day. Weighed all the plates on a scale, some of them were accurate with less than half a pound difference, but some of them were off. 45’s weighed 40 lbs, the 35’s weighed 30 etc.Anyway, I made up for the difference in weight, and I think because I had to use steel instead of the bumpers I’m used to it messed everything up. Squat and press were hard, but I got through them. Deadlift I only got 2 out of my 3 reps.

27 Male 235 lbs

For reference, today I did the following:Squat: 375×5
Press: 182.5×5
Deadlift: 460×2 (wanted 3)

Should I repeat the same deadlift next week when I’m back to the bumpers I’m used to? Switch to 2’s? Or move up? This is my 4th week on the Texas Method. Before this, I did 5-3-1 for 10 cycles, before that Smolov, before that Starting Strength, before that Crossfit. I have both eBooks so if there is a section you can point me to that works as well.

Thanks!

Dear Michael,

Your volume is at 84% of your Intensity Day and you’re only in week 4. Typically the “cap at 85%” applies to 3×5 as opposed to 5×5. This means that the volume is higher than it probably should be at this point.

I think that you started with weights that were too heavy on both the Volume and Intensity Days, especially since you are coming from 10 cycles of 5/3/1. Given that all of your plates were dicked up, you need to account for that in the progression (especially if bar weight is 5, 10, or 15 pounds different). If you are returning to a non-crappy gym with better equipment, then do what you can until then. Otherwise, do not increase your Volume Day and try and let the Intensity Day increase. Since your ID is hard already (as a result of you picking weights that are too heavy), it may take a weeks to normalize. If you think that the Intensity Days should not be hard, then you are probably doing too much volume (since you are doing a 5×5 and just came from a lower volume program like 5/3/1, a 3×5 on Volume Day is probably more appropriate).

Lastly, if you have both books, then review the Intensity Day rep schemes. There are plenty of options you can transition to with clear instructions on how to use them. That means that you could probably use triples, or doubles, or another approach to allow you to hit get decent intensity work in.

 

Brian45 asks:

What are your thoughts on this uncoordination regarding movement patterns? and how to address it (especially in a group setting) without holding back other kids that pick up things faster?

 

Dear Brian45, 

This is where the art of coaching a group comes in. CrossFit does a pretty good job of teaching their coaches to take the group through the progression of a movement together. This allows you to get some eyes on people during the progression. If someone has an issue, you can cue them simply enough. If it’s really bad, then you may or may not have the time to correct it, depending on the severity and length of time the correction would take. In such a case, continue the group’s progression, and you can focus a bit more on that person once the individual portion starts (if there is such a portion).

The effectiveness of this process is dependent on the quality of simple, concise progressions to achieve the goal of a given movement. Rippetoe’s teaching method of the power clean differs from USAW’s power clean progression, but it’s incredibly simple (I taught a 65 year old cyclist to power clean in about three minutes in Rip’s gym). This particular power clean is good for general strength and conditioning, but may not be the best for Olympic weightlifting. On the weightlifting side, Pendlay’s progressions for snatch and clean are very simple and concise as well, yet they put different emphasis on the movement. In other words, the Rippetoe power clean puts an emphasis on jumping whereas the Pendlay clean/snatch puts an emphasis on proper positioning for optimal weightlifting.

The above paragraph’s tangent provides two examples of good progressions that are simple, concise, and accomplish the intended goal. If you lack a progression, you’re not setting up the trainees for success. If the progression is poor, then you’re only going to make it difficult from a mental or physical standpoint.

 

wayniac asks:

Justin, I posted this question under another topic and I’m hoping you’ll give me your thoughts: Do you think that a male having a 5rm that is a higher percentage of their 1rm could be a symptom of low testosterone? When I was younger (25-29) I used to be able to use the (reps x work-weight x .0333)+work-weight = max for bench and come really close. Now that I’m older (37), I’m finding that I can’t bench what my reps at 225 would suggest under that formula. One other fact is that I used to test my max relatively regularly and stopped doing that for a very long time. So, my question is basically: Am I turning into a woman, or do I just need to start lifting more at higher percentages of my max? Have you ever seen this before?

 

Dear wayniac,

Short answer: yes, probably. As males age, their testosterone levels decrease. It’s part of life, and it does not mean you’re turning into a woman. Sure, there could be a variety of factors that are inhibiting your lifting ability, but you know that each five year aging period will result in decreased recovery capabilities. This isn’t just because of the number of years you’ve been alive, but the physiological effect of aging, and lower testosterone does occur.

I’m not going to pretend to know much about aging and hormonal supplementation, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to consider for men getting into their 40s. Testosterone is what makes a man a man, and when it goes down, tons of health issues erupt. I’m not even referring to performance, but health, and nobody is going to look after you other than you. Just a thought.

If anyone has anything to add or information to provide, throw it in the comments.

3 Press Fixes

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Whenever I teach and coach the press at seminars, the same faults show up.

1. Grip width
2. Wrist position
3. Elbow/shoulder position

It’s a little difficult to discuss this without a visual aid, so I made an explanation video below after a press workout. Starting Strength does a good job explaining grip width, but for some reason people usually use too wide of a grip. I first wrote about proper wrist position on the SS forums in 2009, and it still is a common fault. Basically the bar needs to be over the heel of the palm instead of back in the hand or fingers. Lastly, over the last couple of years I’ve put more of an emphasis on maintaining proper external rotation during the press as it will distribute the force application through the full muscle bellies of the triceps and anterior deltoid. If these three flaws are present, then it will inhibit press progress. If you are doing these three things wrong, then it will behoove you to accumulate several weeks of work with lighter loads to develop and train the musculature through proper mechanics and range of motion.

Other pressing related sources:

Better Push-Ups video, external rotations role in push-ups and benching
The Lats While Benching article, discussing the anatomy of external rotation during benching
Internal Rotation Post, showing some MWOD fixes for internal rotation
Pressing a Dead Horse post, talking about some programming, but general methods of improving the press.

GoRuck Challenge Prep for a Lifter

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GoRuck is growing. What started as a small company making high quality packs quickly turned into a challenging adventure type event that is set apart from the en vogue “adventure races”. Again, I don’t know what en vogue means, but I think you can take penicillin for it.

I originally wrote “Challenge Yourself — GoRuck” to provide another avenue of competition, introspection, and to introduce what GoRuck is. I then attended their challenge in Washington D.C. and wrote “GoRuck Challenge Review“. I think the challenge itself is a valuable learning experience relative to the individual. In retrospect, I re-learned that part of leadership is getting people to do things that they don’t want to do when they don’t think they can do it. I also learned how hard my body can be pushed on limited resources before complications arise. In my case, I didn’t get enough water (I let others refill their water systems during the short breaks), but it took eight hours of grueling activity before the cramps started. “Grueling” includes over an hour of smoking PT, carrying a 1,200 pound log with the class for a couple of hours, carrying various people for several hours, running a 5k, and more all while carrying a 40 pound pack and often carrying other objects (team weights like a full jerry can or fire hose). I’ve since completed round trip mountain summits of 16 miles and over 8,000 feet of elevation change with no qualms about my ability to complete it. I had the confidence to know that it would take a lot more physical exertion before bad things happened.

The dogs with the GR2 ruck (middle) looking out over Huntsville from the North Ogden Divide, Utah

The GoRuck Challenge is worth it. It will obviously be hard — for some people it’ll be the hardest thing they’ve ever done and an epiphany in their lives. At the very least it’ll give you an appreciation for what the military and SOF community goes through in their selection, every day jobs, and deployment.

As a side note, the GoRuck gear is of the highest quality I’ve ever seen. Critics often balk at the price, but I’ve compared my GR2 (the largest pack) with 511 gear, and there is honestly no comparison. I’ll do a review on my pack on my personal log since it leaves the scope of 70sBig.com, so look out for that if you’re interested.

A lifter’s approach for training for a GoRuck will be unique. I pointed out some basic points about preparing for an event in the GoRuch challenge review post (under the spoiler below). These general recommendations apply to anyone, yet they didn’t dive into specific programming.

[spoiler]
– Program the S&C portion around the rucking; it can and will jack up the structures for efficient strength/conditioning training
– Commit to daily mobility work; rucking bashes the shoulders, neck, thoracic and lumbar spine, hips, knees, and feet. Learn your problem areas and keep them up to speed; if you slack, they will fail.
– Progress rucking slowly; your body is not ready for 50+ pound rucks for several hours. Start light and short, and linearly progress it slowly.
– Cap the weight at 50 pounds and don’t run; there’s no need to run in training because it puts too much stress on the body. Just trust me. Some infantry guys may need to run a LITTLE bit in training to prepare for a 12 mile road march, but it can fuck things up.
– Progress the overall program slowly; the body won’t be hitting everything full speed with the addition of rucking. Don’t try and squat close to your repetition PR; allow your structures and system to adapt to the new straining stress.
– Aim to toughen the feet. I wore issue desert boots until recently for the sole purpose of toughening my feet. I had a blister in March 2011 on my first ever ruck (a friend was, uh, breaking me in), and the second time I had a blister was a month or so ago when I did 8 miles in 2 hours (some of it on sand). The boots are shitty with no custom work to make them more comfortable (blister was on the back of the heel). I recently got a pair of Rocky C4 deserts and wore them during the challenge (they are similar to Nike Free deserts, but the Nikes rubbed on my pinky toes too much for my liking). I did not have any blisters, and the 12 hours of the GRC was four times as long as I’ve ever gone with a ruck on. Also, my feet were constantly wet (streams, water fountains, rivers, etc.), which is the worst thing for blister development, but I didn’t have any problems.
– Learn about blisters and how to prevent them. This book is the best available if you’re a noob. It would be relevant if you’re into hiking or mountain climbing (I am). Learn how shoes and socks should fit. I wore dress socks under moisture-wicking socks to reduce friction on my feet; it was the first time I did it, and I had zero problems (other than really pruny feet from being wet for 12 hours).
– Learn proper hydration and electrolyte consumption. My longest ruck or hike has been three hours. When the sun started coming up, I started to have some small cramps in my quad (we had to do walking lunges). I was soon the TL, and my various parts of my legs from the hip down tried to seize on me during our movement (have you ever had your adductor muscles cramp?). I later had a full-blown calf cramp in the swamp. This all could have been prevented with better hydration; by the time I needed the water, it was too late. I had a water bladder, but I emptied it several times and couldn’t keep enough water in me. I opted several times during my TL stint to give my water to other people so that we could make time. The problem is that I have a lot of muscle mass, and it burns through water like an engine does gasoline. In the future I would have two bladders and drink on them constantly. My last several hours would have been much easier had I done so (I was pretty hobbled).
[/spoiler]

I’ve rucked or hiked at least once a week almost every week for over a year now. Behind the scenes I work with various military and SOF personnel and rucking gives me perspective on their demands. Recently, I’ve done a lot more adventuring to include more longer, lighter efforts. My week may vary between a 60+ pound hour walk with the dogs in hilly terrain or an 8 hour, 16 mile affair with over 8,000 ft of total elevation change with about 30 pounds. Throughout all of this time, I’ve maintained or improved my strength, lean body mass, and body composition. I’ve hit PRs or almost PRs in the Olympic lifts several days after 15+ mile hikes. I’ve also bounced ideas off of various infantry and SOF personnel around the world; they are the guys that have the most experience with it. I’m giving you my perspective to validate the ideas presented below.

Most of all, this means I’ve learned what not to do. I’ve trained after brutal hikes and at best had poor training sessions and at worst tweaked something. It’s given me insight on preparing guys for combat, but it’s given me insight on how to arrange training in order to be an adventurer. Can you complete a GoRuck with little training? Of course; there’s not much you can do to prepare for a kick in the balls. However, the experience doesn’t have to be injurious. But it all starts with the basics.

A Good Foundation Helps

This should be obvious, but having a basic capacity will facilitate quality ruck training. Guys in the military are often exposed to PT in basic training before loaded with a ruck. The exposure increases until they are finally doing a 12 mile road march, or other service equivalent, in a combat arms job. So it should be for you. If you have existing injuries in the ankles, knees, hip, or back, then work to eradicate or improve these issues prior to loading your body.

You’ll perform better and your body will hold up better when it’s strong. If you’re reading this site, then you won’t be entirely weak, so the real issue is getting you ready to handle rucking stresses. This stuff should be progressed in a respectful manner. I know 30 pound doesn’t seem like much, but put it on your back and walk for 45 minutes. Every non-military guy I know who has tried it was humbled.

I think that some basic pre-rucking qualifications for a non-conditioned lifter will be to run a mile or jump rope for five minutes without complication. Both are simple tasks that every human should be capable of. If either causes significant soreness (mostly in joints), then it would behoove the trainee to adapt to these activities. After all, the GoRuck will have some running, especially in a fatigued state.

Tough feet are important to prevent blisters. As part of the foundation, start going outside with your shoes off. Walk your dogs without shoes and spend as much time as you can outside. This will help harden the feet which only augments them when they are in a boot. If walking on concrete is painful, then toughening the feet is a useful and necessary human skill. You’ll be amazed at how sheltered people’s feet are.

Get Time Under The Ruck

The next important point is that you’ll need to get time under a ruck. Is it possible to do the event with zero rucking preparation? Yes. But if you read the challenge review, a kid named Ray didn’t have any preparation and he was hurting. Ray contemplated quitting a lot, but to his credit he finished. Yet he was literally hobbling to the finish because his feet and ankles were so badly beat up. While CrossFit can prepare folks for elongated activity, specificity is necessary because there’s no substitute for accumulating time with weight on your back.

Waterfall Canyon near Ogden, UT prior to the GoRuck Challenge. I carried about 20kg of rocks up this short trail wearing short shorts.

Start out light and short; 25 pounds for half an hour will do it. If you get done and think, “No sweat! That was easy!” Good. We don’t want to induce harm. Ruck at least once a week and at most three times a week with at least one day of rest in between sessions. If you’re going to train on the same day, then ruck after lifting. After any rucking session, if it spanks you, then repeat the weight and duration again before advancing either. Progressing the load or duration too quickly can inhibit your lifting and even result in an injury. Even minor tweaks from rucking can prevent squatting for a month.

I suggest only doing one or two ruck sessions a week. Feel free to do them on the road, but I prefer trails. You won’t necessarily need to worry about speed; the GoRuck is a team event instead of an individual speed event for time like the Army’s 12 mile road march.

If 25 pound for half an hour was fine, then increase the duration by 15 minutes. Increase duration before increasing load. Work towards an hour with 25 pounds, complete it a couple of times, and then increase the weight to 30 to 35 pounds. If the 25 pounds for an hour was hard, reduce the time to 45 minutes when increasing the weight, otherwise repeat 60 minutes. Your goal is to increase the amount you can carry for one hour. It’s not necessary to exceed 50 pounds — your six bricks plus water/food will weigh about 35 pounds during the challenge, and then submerging your packs in water will add another 5 pounds or so. The weight will range between 35 and 45 pounds for a male, so working with anything over 50 pounds isn’t necessary and can be injurious.

Once you have moved your hour-long ruck over 35 pounds, and you have the time and the gumption, you can start pushing into longer movements. Cap the overall duration at 3 hours, but it isn’t necessary to go above 2 hours, especially since you need to lift during the week. I didn’t do anything over 2 hours before the challenge (I did one movement that went 8 miles in 2 hours on flat terrain with the dogs, who slowed me down to take dumps). Whenever you increase the duration, stick with 35 pounds. For the sake of a GoRuck Challenge, you won’t need to do 2 hours with 50 pounds, so just progressively add 15 minute intervals with 35 pounds. If your body feels banged up, just repeat that same session again before progressing.

At most, you’ll handle 50 pounds. At longest, you’ll go 2 to 3 hours. Stick to around 35 pounds for the longer movements. If you are going to ruck twice a week, then do one short, and one longer. You’ll want more rest after a longer movement, so do it on a Friday or Saturday and rest throughout the rest of the weekend.

While Rucking

Aim to move out with purposeful strides. Meandering like a tourist will be better than nothing, but during the GoRuck your speed can be very slow (when carrying things) or a decently paced run. It’s better to be accustomed to a mall walk. I’ve heard of people getting sore calves from rucking or hiking; don’t aim to “toe off” of the ground, aim to drive your heel back. You want the larger posterior chain muscles to be your motor instead of the smaller calf muscles.

Always bring water. I usually didn’t use it on the hour long movements, but it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Some people have the idea that they will train to plan for lack of water and food, but this is a bad and stupid idea. Don’t put yourself in harm; there’s not really anyway you can prepare for the mental aspect of a GoRuck.

If you’re going for longer movements in the wilderness, then plan accordingly. Snacks, water, flashlight, fire starting capabilities, knife, and gun if you have it. Turn your phone on sleep if so you have battery if necessary and put it in a ziploc bag if rain is on the forecast. Bring a whistle so you can make a bunch of noise if you break a bone and can’t move. When you don’t respect nature, that’s when it’ll bite you in the ass. The same goes for asshole people who may try to take advantage of you or harm you; it’s up to you to protect yourself.

Keep an eye on your feet; they are the most important aspect of rucking. If the feet are blistered, it’ll hinder everything you do. Properly fitted and broken in foot wear is vital. I like to wear boots and have used GI desert boots an infantry friend gave me. They used to chew my feet up decently, but now, without any custom work done on them, they are my most comfortable boot. I have confidence that I can move up to 20 miles without blisters. Note that I purposely wore them in the beginning to toughen my feet. I bought a pair of boots that are similar to the Nike Free boots to use for the GoRuck. They worked splendidly despite my feet being completely wet the entire challenge; I didn’t have any blisters. However, they gave me heel blisters in the first 45 minutes of climbing Ben Lomond, a mountain in the Wasatch Range in northern Utah. I ended up dealing with the blisters for the next 7 hours. Test your foot wear in climbing up hill, going down hill, and on flat terrain. You don’t want your heel to rub on the way up or your toes to smash the toe box on the way down. Most people wore trail running shoes at the challenge and seemed to not have any foot issues.

Lifting Around the Rucking

How to structure the weekly template is most relevant to a trainee. Never train the day after a GoRuck. At best general fatigue will limit the session and at worst you may have lingering joint soreness that is tweaked during the lifting. Always have at least one day of rest after a ruck. For longer movements, take two days of rest. I’ve taken as many as three or four days of rest after long hikes (specifically before an Olympic lifting session).

If you train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, then you can ruck on Saturday. You could also ruck on Wednesday after training. If you rucked on Tuesday or Thursday, then the subsequent training day would need to be modified to be less stressful. There was a point where I did a short/heavy ruck on Thursday, a light lifting session on Friday (barbell rows, weighted pull-ups, and farmer’s walks), followed by a long/light ruck on Saturday. I still lifted on Friday, but I removed any movements that would have been affected by the Thursday rucking. The MWF had a “heavy-medium-light” approach.

If you train Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, then the  best days to ruck would be Tuesday and Saturday. Tuesday’s ruck would be followed by a complete day of rest, and the Saturday morning session will allow the rest of the weekend for rest.

If you only aim to ruck once a week, then Saturday is probably the best option to avoid interfering with your lifting schedule. If you progress it well, as indicated above, then you shouldn’t have any joint or muscular issues. The most likely interference will have to do with limited mobility. Walking with 40 pounds for an hour and then trying to hit a seamless snatch a couple of days later are dichotomous methods of training. Prepare to work on your ankles, calves, knees, hips, and shoulders in preparation of avoiding problems from rucking (future posts will include mobility solutions).

In addition to lifting and rucking, add some calisthenics once or twice a week. If you’re limited on time, just use pull-ups, push-ups, and squats. It’s easy to do a quick “5 rounds of Cindy” after a training session. “Cindy” is a CrossFit workout of doing as many rounds in 20 minutes of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats. Don’t worry about 20 minutes, just work on doing timed sessions of 5 to 10 rounds. Add up your total number of reps for a given exercise and make sure this total progresses appropriately. If you up and do 100 pull-ups in a day (dead hang, of course), then you’ll probably have lingering soreness that interferes with pressing, benching, or deadlifting (fatigued shoulder extensors would not help keep the bar against the legs). You’ll end up doing sit-ups and flutter kicks at the challenge, but you’re going to do so many calisthenics beyond fatigue it doesn’t really matter. As long as you have a decent strength, mobility, and endurance (i.e. fitness), you’ll be fine.

The GoRuck Challenge is supposed to be hard, especially for a goober civilian who has never walked over ten miles with a load. By adding correctly programmed rucks into the training, you can adequately prepare for the challenge while still maintaining your normal lifting schedule. Getting time under a ruck will make the experience less agonizing and let you be a relevant member of the team instead of shutting down and ignoring the world. The challenge is designed to get harder through the night. By preparing for the event intelligently, you’ll be able to more effectively make a contribution to the team. Especially when the going gets tough. And the cadre will make it GoRuck Tough.

 

 

 

Muscle Imbalance in Women

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Mondays are dedicated to female training topics. 

Women come in different types and heights, thick or slight. Yet the time for training is always right…

Two good things will come out of this post: a) the admission that I am a crappy poet and b) regardless of body type, a woman can always improve her lifting efficiency.

Generally speaking, people in their first few years of lifting will have muscular limitations that hold back their potential for progress. Despite the fact that I’ve been lifting for 12 years, it wasn’t until the last couple of years that my musculature distribution — and therefore balance of strength — was balanced. Athletes who have competed in sports their whole lives may exhibit good balance when they start training again, but it’s also the fact that their training history facilitates improvement better than those without an athletic history. In other words, a life-time athlete can address imbalances easier than someone who has recently started training for the first time.

This is especially true for women. Society kind of filters women out of athletics once they leave high school. Sure, I’ve known some tough gals that are in the military, regularly train, or still compete in recreation sports after their sport career ended, yet there is a higher percentage of girls who stopped physical activity once they received their high school diploma. A portion of them attended college and primarily studied, partied, or immersed themselves in social activities at school, and their body adapted to the lack of training stress. Women will have a harder time getting into and excelling in training because of this lack of activity along with the hormonal differences. This, of course, doesn’t apply to all women, but occurs enough even in “active” girls to the point that they need special focus to build certain musculature to avoid an imbalance.

But what is a musculature imbalance? Does it mean their glutes aren’t firing? Barring some kind of abnormal pathology, no. An imbalance means that a muscle, or area of muscles, are under-developed to the point that other muscles have assumed more responsibility in a given movement. An extreme example is the classic experiment with rats; their gastrocnemius (the superficial calf muscle that looks like a “hoof”) was severed, and their soleus (the deep muscle that sits under the gastroc) grew to compensate for the lack of plantar flexion in the ankle. However, in humans, our muscles aren’t normally cut out, and all of the muscles are certainly being activated. It’s just that some muscles may not be contributing to a given movement like they should.

This can be due to many variables. One is that the trainee lifts weights with inefficient mechanics that don’t distribute the force application across the muscles. Another is that the trainee lacks the mobility to achieve proper positioning, therefore not having efficient technique. Poor posture and mechanics can lead to poor mobility, and vice versa. A previous or existing injury can alter mechanics over time or acutely, and create inefficient technique. All of these variables are linked to each other in that they can be the result or cause of one another. This is also why mobility is so important in order to train properly. Even if mobility and mechanics are decent, it can be difficult to perform a movement and use the correct musculature. For example, a pull-up can be done with an emphasis on pulling with the back or the arms. The former is correct and uses larger back muscles associated with shoulder extension while the latter is incorrect and over emphasizes the elbow flexors.

What are common imbalances in women? Typically girls don’t have poor mobility, other than the standard “sitting down for hours each day” hip issues. Instead, they have weaknesses. The most common weaknesses in women are: upper back, lower back, and hamstrings. Interestingly enough, these are the same weaknesses with males too.

When trying to improve the strength and musculature in a lesser advanced trainee, large compound (i.e. multi-joint) exercises that can be loaded are optimal. Pull-ups, rows, and chin-ups are the stock solution for building the upper back strength and musculature. However, many girls aren’t able to do a pull-up, and this inhibits the area’s development. They need to regularly work towards achieving a chin-up, and then later a pull-up. “Developing A Pull-up” and “Programming Pull-ups” show how to do this.

All women can do some sort of rowing to help this musculature. While barbell rows (AKA “pendlay rows”) are effective, I wouldn’t mind if they used a chest supported machine row, like the Hammer strength kind, for 3 to 5 sets of 8 to 10 reps. Egads! Machines!?! Yes, they can facilitate proper muscle activation. Drop them in as regular assistance, drop sets, or even part of the active rest in a high intensity conditioning workout. They’re more effective at helping the area than jumping pull-ups. Note that I would prefer to not worry about single arm rowing — it’ll just take more training time and reduce the load on the structures. Avoid allowing lots of “English”, or body movement during these rows. That kind of stuff is permissible for stronger trainees to allow heavier loads, but it doesn’t apply to someone who has deficient musculature that needs to be worked through a full range of motion.

Don’t be afraid to use the lat pull-down machine with an underhand (chin-up) or overhand (pull-up) grip. 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 10 reps can help progress towards that first chin-up. Vary between heavier loads with fewer reps and lighter loads with reps. It doesn’t really matter; it’s more so the fact that the area is receiving regular, accumulating work. If a woman trains her upper back twice a week for six months, it’s more important than if she did it once a week with an anal approach to the set/rep scheme.

Building the upper back is important because it plays a role in shoulder stabilization and external rotation during any press, bench, or overhead movement. The area also plays an isometric role during pulling, especially the deadlift. For example, if the upper back rounds when the bar comes off the floor, then the shoulder position shifts, which results in the bar creeping forward. When the bar moves forward from the body’s balance point, the lower back will typically round to compensate for the inefficient lever arm. Therefore, you could say that the upper back helps keep the lower back in place during deadlifts.

Extreme hamstrings

Anybody who has read the site regularly knows that I’m a huge proponent of RDLs to build the hamstrings in non-advanced trainees. They are simple to do, don’t require any special equipment, and are crazy effective at building the hip extension component of the hamstrings. Other exercises to use are Good Mornings, glute ham raises (GHR), and banded good mornings. As with all assistance exercises, they can be done for 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 10 reps. I would hit the weak or under-developed areas frequently. The only programming note is that if something like RDLs make the girl too sore to deadlift or squat in her next session (and she’s eating enough protein), then use a lighter stress movement, like banded good mornings, in the preceding session.

As for the lower back, standard lifts like the squat and deadlift will strengthen it over time, but thinner girls will benefit from some direct work. Simple weighted back extensions for 3 to 5 sets of 10 work very well. If the gym has a reverse hyper machine, you probably go to a cool gym, so use that too. The RDLs and Good Mornings from the previous paragraph will also apply some back work too.

Programming these assistance exercises may seem overwhelming at first, but don’t stress it. For lesser advanced trainees, full body sessions work best because they apply a solid systemic stress (whereas the “one lift a day” programs don’t apply good systemic stresses in lesser advanced trainees). A given session can include a main lift (like squat or deadlift), a press, a posterior chain exercise, and an upper back exercise. Technically the two assistance exercises could be done in a circuit if time was an issue. And this type of session would still allow time for a quick 10 minute high intensity conditioning workout at the end of it. There’s not reason a session should be over 75 minutes, and the lifting could really be done in 60 minutes easily (e.g. 20 minutes for the first two lifts, 10 to 15 for the assistance, followed by 10 to 15 for the conditioning).

If a girl had weaknesses or muscular imbalances, following a basic plan like this consistently will turn into progress. Other weaknesses and imbalances can occur, yet these are the most common. Remember that when dealing with assistance work, it’s not about how much weight is used, it’s about how much quality work the muscle receives. Whipping the torso back during lat pull-downs or rows won’t effectively work the shoulder extensors and upper back. At the same time, the main lifts (squat, bench/press, deadlift) shouldn’t be allowed to progress with mechanics that highlight specific weaknesses. Letting a woman deadlift as heavy as she can without any hamstring tension and completely rounded back is standard ego lifting and irresponsible. Get quality reps consistently over time with good technique, and these imbalances will fade away.

 

 

 

 

Q&A – 43

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PR Friday is a celebration of training. Let us know how your week went, whether you hit new PR’s, and what upcoming events you’re preparing for. Ignore the timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

The Weekly Challenge asked you to accumulate manly deeds. The person with the most deeds will win a 70’s Big shirt. This includes wearing short shorts as part of The Revolution. Post your deeds to the comments.

Next Week’s Challenge will be directed at the womenz, because I excluded them with “manly deeds”. You gals will compete in a training photo contest — whoever has the ‘best’ training photo will win a t-shirt. Make it funny, make it cool, or whatever. Submit them to the Facebook Fan Page or Twitter.

Week In Review: It started with a clarification post about the lack of neuromuscular efficiency in females. There’s a difference between the gender result of not being as efficient and the ability to improve a given efficiency in training. On Tuesday I talked about the benefits of warming up, specifically for athletic endeavors (I pulled my hamstring because of a lousy warm-up). Wednesday took a look at why the Anglosphere population is fat and what we can do about it. Thursday celebrated 70sBig.com’s third birthday (which is actually Saturday, the 22nd); thank you all for the kind words.

Q&A

This question comes through a friend of a friend (female):

“My blood results show high cholesterol and high triglycerides. I eat mostly Paleo and train heavy 3-4x/wk. I will tighten up the Paleo and reduce cheats, but what else should I work on?”

 Dear Friend of Friend,

First, I want to point out that having a poor looking lipid profile may or may not be a bad thing. It’s more so the composition of the types of fats you have. I highly suggest you read Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution. He goes into depth on this issue. I’d also recommend The Great Cholesterol Con by Anthony Colpo as well as Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Wolf’s book will give the simple “this is what the situation is, and this is what you do”. Colpo and Taubes will give you a tons of background explaining why the fat hypothesis is just flat-out wrong. Let’s assume you’re on par with the last two books.

Second, I don’t have much information on you. If you have a more unhealthy body composition (i.e. you’re a bit fat), then fix that.

Third, I don’t know what “mostly paleo” means. If you’re not actually doing it, then it’s pretty easy to see why your lipid profiles aren’t where you would want them. Again, check Wolf’s book because he actually gives some ranges on what they should be (the medical doctor’s ranges will probably blow). If the lipid profile concerns you, then commit to 30 days of no shit paleo, then get re-tested. If they improve significantly, then there ya go.

Fourth, are you consuming quality fats? Fish oil is a standard recommendation for a reason as it’s rich in Omega 3 fatty acids and helps the 3:6 ratio. If you’re eating lots of nuts and seeds, then decrease that stuff and increase the fish oil, coconut oil, and olive oil. I’d have to guess that “mostly paleo” means you’re still eating bread or other non-paleo things more than once a week. Give it a month and see what happens. Don’t bullshit the month otherwise you’re wasting your time.

rburak asks:

Joustin’,

Have you ever done specific neck work? Do back squats really isometrically work the neck? I want dat yoke.

Thanks

 

Dear rburak,

I’ve only done specific neck work a couple of times, and it was playing around with light bands to see if they could be used. I would say that back squats are not enough to have a significant effect on your neck thickness. Instead, things like power cleans, deadlifts, and shrugs will. If you didn’t have a neck harness (I do not), you could try using light bands to extend your neck (I’ve stood on the bands, bent over, and worn a hat to keep the band on my head). Note that lots of reps are recommended since the neck muscles are postural and usually activated throughout the day.

An Australian friend, named Stuart, does neck bridges. You can bridge on a bench or couch, but I recommend ensuring that the neck is in neutral alignment (i.e. not extended back). You would push your heels through the floor (like you’re doing a hip thrust for the glutes) and get the whole torso horizontal as the back of your head is on a surface. My Aussie friend, however, would do bench presses from this position and told me he worked up to 70kg. His neck got too big to fit in shirts, so he stopped doing them. I probably should start doing neck bridges.

 

Stonewallwells asks:

Anyway, I have been working on the TM for about 6 months now and have made some pretty decent progress. Recently I have only been hitting the Volume day and the Intensity day due to the birth of my son and not having the time to do much else. I am fine with this for now because I am still making progress; however, I am intrigued by the Smolov squat program and would like to give it a shot in the next few months(when i have more time in the week to lift or have a bar and rack at my house.) My question is if it would make sense to go through a more volume laden program (thinking of Poliquin’s 10×10 idea) for a few weeks to get adapted to increased volume, or should I just forget about the Smolov idea and continue blasting away on the TM?

For reference:
Male / 27 / 5’9″ / 188lb
recent PR lifts (no older than 8/19):
Squat 380×3
Bench 275×3
DL 440×2
Press 187×1

Last Volume squats was 285x5x5 and i would say it was easy to medium difficulty
Last Intensity Squats was 355x3x2 and this was pretty easy as well

Dear StonewallWells,

Before I answer this, I want you to understand my frame of mind. As someone climbs through intermediate programming of strength training, I’m of the mindset that they will need to lift heavy regularly to remain adapted to hitting the big numbers. I’m also not a fan of excess volume (which is the premise behind the Texas Method books and how the model has progressed into the advanced stuff).

I look at Smolov programming as typically having a lot of volume work. Yes there are different cycles of it for different instances, yet the volume does remain high. I also (possibly unfairly) reduce it to a program that is more so benefited from extracurricular supplementation since PEDs use is accepted and prevalent in Smolov’s regional birthplace. Not that it doesn’t work for a raw un-drugged lifter, but that it would be augmented by additional recovery capabilities.

That means that I’m less likely to be supportive of using Smolov. Especially in this situation. You’ve got limited time, man. You’ve got a family and work. Smolov is a rough program. It requires perfect recovery. Sleep. Food. Even soft tissue work to really recover well. I see it as a program that a competitive lifter would use in their off-season knowing that they were going to transition their training too much higher intensity work. Remember that one of the girls that I handled at nationals ran a volume-focused Smolov program and I thin it inhibited her ability to hit heavier loads since she wasn’t adapted to high intensity.

The argument with the TM style of programming is that you can still get that higher intensity work regularly and not have to have that build up period. And you can do it by using relatively less volume (when compared to a hard squat program in Smolov). You could emulate Smolov with squatting higher frequency, but still, you told me that you have a family and limited time.

Does this mean that I think Smolov sucks and that TM is king and I am god? No, but given your life circumstances, I don’t see Smolov as something that’ll be optimal. Especially when you have a lot of progression potential given your numbers (your Volume Day is only 80% of your Intensity Day, and you said the ID isn’t hard). Smolov will work well to boost someone’s squat, especially if it’s lagging, but I’d only recommend it enthusiastically for certain people.

 

Dear Justin,

 

Been a big fan of the site for a few months now and I believe I am fully indoctrinated into the 70’s Big way of life and am quickly becoming less of a hyper-kyphotic, internally rotated douchebag – – But enough about me, this question is actually about my wife…here’s a little background:

 

About 8 years ago, she started experiencing constant pain, soreness, lack of energy, etc…  She was ultimately diagnosed with fibromyalgia AND chronic fatigue syndrome and has steadily gotten worse.  Last week, after a routine blood test, her Doc diagnosed her with full-blown geriatric osteoporosis and a severe vit.D deficiency.  She still has to work (cleaning houses) 5 days a week ‘cause we’re poor and doesn’t have much energy to do much else at the end of the day – – BUT she is willing to try a workout routine in hopes of feeling just a little bit better.  Since I’ve been talking nonstop about the things I’ve been learning on 70’s Big and MobilityWOD, she wants me to tailor a plan for her.  

 

Now, I know you’re not a doctor and you’re one busy dude, but I was wondering if you’d give me some pointers on where we should start out and what she could reasonably progress to.  I was thinking of just starting her out with unweighted or broomstick variations of the main lifts (e.g. – third world squats) and then maybe adding some band resistance as she gets a feel for them.  I currently train at a globo in Gettysburg, PA and have absolutely no weights at home for her to use, but am not averse to purchase some if need be.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Anyway, keep up the great work and stay safe.

 

-Joel (aka. Blister)

 

 P.S. I totally forgot to mention that she is only 32 years old and ~120lbs, since her story makes it seem like she is more like 72 and 240lbs. 

 

Dear Joel,

My mom was told she had fibromyalgia and thoracic outlets syndrome, so I’ve done some reading on this issue. Given the age of your wife, I have to assume that she has some pretty severe nutritional and muscular deficiencies. My stock answer for the fibro and chronic fatigue is to immediately go paleo. Recently my friend Renee sent me this article to forward to my mom. It explores the idea that fibromyalgia is a result of a mineral deficiency. They specifically looked a magnesium citrate, which is in Natural Calm. Magnesium is a mineral that almost everyone is deficient in because of the normal, shitty American diet.

Also, magnesium is critical for bone density (and therefore osteoporosis). Not to mention a lower pH diet (like a paleo diet) facilitates the absorption of calcium and magnesium, which would only help the osteoperosis and fibro. And of course she has the vitamin D deficiency which is going to make all of this worse.

Eat stone cold paleo, supplement with vitamin D and magnesium. I’d have a teaspoon of Natura Calm (it dissolves in water) twice a day. I’d have a gel cap of 5,000 IUs of Vitamin D at least once a day, and I’d consider it twice a day. I’m not a fucking doctor, but if this was my wife, this is what I’d do. She may even feel worse initially if she is used to eating shitty carbs, but she will feel better eventually. I’d say do the 4 week “challenge” and commit to it. I’ll remind you both that complications from these “conditions” are going to be MUCH more costly than buying vegetables and meat.

Your proposal for training is a good one. When she’s ready, you can find weighted objects around the house for her to move around (hold for squatting, press overhead, do push up progressions, hold for lunging, row, hold for RDL/good mornings, etc.). She needs to commit to it yesterday. I’d recommend at least four days a week of at least 15 minutes of this kind of stuff. I’d have her squat, lunge, row/pull, and press in every “workout”. If you need to make it a circuit, then so be it. You could even time it like CrossFit but stress proper technique. Buying PVC and filling it with sand will cost only a few dollars and provide a bit of weight. They also have pipes at hardware stores that you could buy for weight. She will feel absolutely shattered from these sessions initially. Accept it. Fight through it. She will get better. But you and her need to commit to this together.

If you guys need ANY help, any at all, then give me a text or call (my number is in the signature of the e-mail I sent you). I’ll send you Wolf’s Paleo book, send money for quality food, get you some used dumbbells, or just talk to your wife on the phone. She can beat this. It’ll be hard, it’ll take time, and it’ll hurt, but she can do this. I’m going to ask a friend who is a natural physicist to comment — he might be able to be more precise the supplementations. I’ll also be doing a podcast with him eventually, so keep us updated on your situation.