I got an e-mail from Aaron and the subject was, “I owe you an apology”. ‘Well, it’s about time,” I thought, not knowing what he was talking about.
I’ve read all of your posts about wearing a belt while training, and each time I’ve kinda rolled my eyes like a douche-nozzle and told myself that I don’t have any need for a belt.
However, this past Friday (deadlift Friday, a holy day of obligation for my friends and I) my friend asked if I wanted to try out a belt, for shits and giggles. I agreed because I saw no harm in using one. Sure enough, I take my 90’s small previous 1RM of 275 and pull it for an easy 5 reps. Despite being exhausted from my previous work sets, I knew that a jump to 300 was an absolute must. I strained for several seconds as my head filled with blood, but I got that son of a bitch off the floor and all the way up.
Despite the fact that the belt was way too big and I had no prior experience with a belt, I got a 25 lb PR. As much as I hate to admit wrongdoing, you are absolutely correct about weight belts and anyone who doesn’t use one is wrong.
It’s also worth mentioning that since I started reading your site I’ve gained 20 lbs, increased my PR’s on every lift, AND taken 1:30 off my Marine Corps PFT run time. Increased size and strength does not always mean a slower runner.
Respectfully,
Aaron
These are Aaron’s PFT improvements.
Crunches — 26 to 67
Pull-ups — 8 to 13
3 mile run — 22:30 to 21:00
Aaron also told me that his PFT score doesn’t do justice to his overall physical improvement, saying, “I also play club hockey for my University and my speed, endurance, and strength along the boards have all gone through the roof.” Nice job, Aaron.
How has strength benefited you lately?
——–
Random video: The mother of all training montages.
I wrote this for a friend of mine and some ladies she trains. I figured I’d post it here, because I spent some time writing it for the specific audience. I’m not saying there will be droves of women wanting to lift after I post it, but if you have any friends that should see it, print it out and show them.
Hi. I’ve heard that you are starting or thinking about starting a new exercise program. Your new exercise program may be CrossFit, P90x, boot camp, or any related intensity based conditioning activity. Your goals in starting this program will probably revolve around wanting to be sexy, healthy, and physically able to enjoy an active lifestyle. I commend you on your choice because it’s the first step in achieving those goals. Your program choice may even be the gateway to sport and/or athletic activity. In any case, there is a lot to learn regarding what is best to achieve your goal, because, well, conventional wisdom hasn’t been truthful to you.
Since you are investing time and money into an exercise program I’ll have to assume you are decently serious in achieving your goals. It’s perfectly fine to want to be sexier or healthier. However, “sexier” is typically interpreted as “losing weight” and “toning up”. What this ACTUALLY means is “losing body fat and having some muscle underneath it to have a nice figure”. Losing weight will just make you skinny. Skinny is not good.
Exhibit A. Skinny=Fail
Losing body fat to get sexy isn’t only about burning and eating less calories: you must alter your metabolism in the short and long term. Exercising in a way that forces your body to optimally metabolize fat and produce lean body mass is imperative for quick results. Nothing does this better than getting stronger through weight training. I realize weight training has a horrible stigma, so I’m taking the time to highlight some of the perks that lifting weights can provide on your journey to a great body and health.
None of the women I have ever coached gained body fat from lifting weights. In fact, they lost body fat while gaining muscle. This happens because lifting weights elevates your metabolism while you’re doing it AND for the rest of the day. A higher metabolism means you’re burning more calories. Doing cardio at a moderate intensity doesn’t elevate your metabolism at all after you stop doing it. High intensity based conditioning/cardio exercise has a similar, albeit lesser, metabolic effect when compared to lifting, but it doesn’t have the same strength and muscle building properties as lifting weights.
When you lift weights, you break up muscle fibers. Your body needs to repair them and improve them so they can either handle more in the future or handle that same load easier. That whole process elevates the metabolism, it makes you stronger, and it will increase the muscle tissue (a little). But you will NOT be getting bulky. You literally have one tenth the testosterone of a guy, and that means you won’t be building muscle very easily. If you haven’t been a muscular woman your whole life, why would you suddenly become “bulky” now? Unless you’re using some kind of steroids, you don’t have anything to worry about.
Lucky for you, muscle tissue is “metabolically active tissue”. This means that the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism and the better it will metabolize fat. Getting stronger means more muscle which means less fat. To top it off, you’ll be building muscle in your legs and rump, and this will garner positive attention from men and women alike. Whether you are skinny or a bigger gal, squatting and deadlifting shapes your booty in the most desirable way.
Lifting positively effects your metabolism for fat burning purposes and can help shape you into that appropriately curvy figure you’ve always wanted, but that isn’t all lifting is good for. More muscle mass and less body fat have tons of health implications. You’ll find that you don’t get sick as much, you’re able to handle viruses/infections easier, you won’t feel fatigued throughout the day, and you’ll start improving on all of those little tests doctors like to give you on your yearly check ups (not the gyno, the real, non-creepy doctor). Bone density will no longer be an issue because you’ll surpass the credentials for “weight bearing exercise” by training with a barbell. When you are stronger, your conditioning workouts will be more effective because you’ll be able to do more work, go faster, and/or go longer. If you are doing any of these three things, then you’re getting more worth out of the time you are exercising than you were when you were weak (i.e. you get sexier/healthier faster). If you’re going to invest the money and time, you might as well use it optimally!
Whether it be feeling better, getting in shape, looking better, or being more healthy, weight training will help get you there. As you get stronger you’ll be delighted to see your lifts increase gradually yet steadily. When you’re squatting 120 pounds, you’ll look back and think, “I used to only squat 45 lbs…I’ve come a long way.” All women who lift cite this sense of empowerment they get from lifting as an exhilarating feeling (in six months you’ll be able to lift more than most “men”). I’m not suggesting that lifting weights should be your primary training method, but when your trainer suggests or implements it, don’t give her so much hell. The fact that getting you stronger is part of her plan means you hired the right person.
Blacking out is kind of a problem when lifting weights. The blacking out itself isn’t harmful, but falling and smashing your face on some dumbbells is.
In most cases passing out can be prevented. Passing out is a little different than just feeling light headed. When an unadapted person does an intense conditioning workout, they may feel light headed since their body isn’t accustomed to using and being depleted of substrates and oxygen. This is analogous to when a person is deadlifting or lifting heavy without being adapted to it. When you contract near maximally, vessels will be constricted and this increases blood pressure. If this isn’t gradually introduced in a training program, there can be some residual dizziness or a “light headed” feeling. I’ve never had anyone pass out from this feeling and if you have as a coach or a lifter, then you probably aren’t going about it the right way. “The right way” would be to increase the weight gradually, even if a person is capable of lifting heavier weight. There are plenty of people who because of prior training or admirable genetics can deadlift significant weight their first workout, but that doesn’t mean they should (observe the video above as a case in point). There are other peripheral adaptations (in this case the blood vessels) that need to occur aside from the muscles themselves being or getting strong.
I notice that when I come back from a break in lifting that my limiting factor isn’t how the weight feels on my muscles, but on how my cardiovascular system must re-adapt to heavy weights. Not in the sense that my heart beats fast, but when the vessels are constricted because of the strain of squatting with heavy weight on my back, my head feels like it’s going to explode. My face will turn the color of this ’67 Chevelle, and I’ll even rupture tiny blood vessels and this produces little red dots on my shoulders, neck, and face (areas where the skin is thin). I’m experienced with lifting, so I know what my limit, but I wouldn’t advise any of my trainees or most of you to do the same. If you have taken a break from lifting and you are still new to it, relatively speaking, then take a few workouts to ease back into whatever your program is. It’s the smart thing to do.
You can prevent blacking out as a result of strain and not being adapted in lifts like the squat, press, deadlift, press, and bench, but what about the clean? The clean and it’s derivatives have the propensity to cause blackouts because of the rack position. Assuming you have a good rack position (bar is sitting on top of the deltoids, upper arm is parallel with the floor, no pain in the wrists/elbows, etc.), you can still have problems with the bar either sitting on or rolling back into your carotid arteries (this happens to me frequently when I pull the bar higher than I need to).
The carotid is that big red one
This occludes blood flow to the brain and can quickly cause loss of vision and consciousness. In either case, it isn’t harmful since when either of these happen the bar is usually dropped, therefore the lack of blood flow doesn’t persist to cause damage. Again, the main harm is hitting your head, so having an open lifting area is important. Even if someone is adapted to lifting heavy weights, the carotids are still susceptible to being occluded, even if it is only partially. Compound that limited blood flow with intense strain that can occur in heavy cleans, and you have a recipe for a blackout.
Grinding through heavy cleans and deadlifts are not only tough, they are sometimes necessary to do in order to win an Olympic or powerlifting meet. At the end of a meet or training session, your body is tired, and having to grind through reps is common. You’ll remember Chris’ third attempt deadlift at 650 that ended in a mid-thigh stalemate. He may have been able to lock that lift out if he had known what to do.
The way that you can stave off the strain-induced blackout is by exhaling a bit of air as you grind through the rep. This is completely different than exhaling as you go up on a rep, fitness style. Instead, you will hiss air out from between your teeth or produce a guttural sound from your throat (grunting/yelling, but not singing). This is like putting your thumb over the end of the house; a little bit comes out, but the pressure stays high inside. Letting some air out relieves some of the pressure overall while the teeth/glottis help keep the pressure up enough so that your trunk is still stabilized as you finish the lift. Completely exhaling would let out too much air and not keep the trunk stabilized. There was a sweet guy at USAPL Raw Nationals who yelled stuff like, “Yeah c’mon babyyyyy” as he deadlifted over 600 pounds at 50 years old to A) avoid passing out by releasing some pressure and B) look and sound awesome doing it.
If you feel yourself starting to black out, then expel some air as I described. I like to push it out of my teeth (makes a loud hissing noise, “ssssssssss”), and this saves me from toppling over like a Gordon. You’ll notice good weightlifters doing it routinely, usually in the form of yelling. It took me falling over twice while cleaning 160+kg to completely learn this lesson. Luckily I didn’t get hurt, but hopefully you can be prepared for when it happens to you.
I guess you could say I’m an unofficial York Barbell rep and this will benefit you if you’re in the market for some equipment. I can get you in excess of 25% off on quality strength training equipment (depending on the product). Unfortunately if you go to the York Barbell website, it’s difficult to find the products you are probably interested in (ex. Olympic weightlifting stuff compared to fitness barbells). I have the catalogs that are full of power bars, Olympic weightlifting bars, plates (iron/bumper), dumbbells, squat stands, racks, etc. If you’re interested in browsing or you know you want to make a purchase, E-MAIL ME and I can help get you the catalog and the quote (including shipping).
I’ve lifted with different kinds of York equipment and seem to prefer it over other brands. Iron york plates that have hard edges stay on the bar better when you’re squatting and since the diameter of the hole is tighter, the bar doesn’t flop to the side when you’re deadlifting. Some of you have probably done some Olympic lifting on a York power bar that has been called something else. I’ve even used this particular bar to power clean and power snatch, and it was pretty fluid for a power bar! If you’ve used a cheap bar for your Olympic lifts, then I feel sorry for you. The other day I did power cleans in a fitness facility and about broke my damn wrists trying to turn the bar over — crappy bars will not spin.
I own the York Olympic training bar, and I love it. I can feel it’s whip in the middle of my pulls, especially as I pull the first part of my clean off the floor and when I dip/drive for the jerk. My first opportunity to go heavy in the Olympic lifts was in early August since nationals (mid June), and I clean and jerked 155kg (157 at nats) and kinda passed out after a 160kg clean (I’ve got the whole passing out thing taken care of). I know the whip of the training bar I was using was critical in sticking the jerks as they got heavier. The bar just seemed to rebound and rubber band it’s way to my lockout position. A beautiful feeling.
So if you’re interested in stuff for your gym or your basement/garage, send me an e-mail and you can browse the catalog. I’ve even used the squat stands, which are standard for Olympic weightlifters and the next best thing to a full rack. Shoot me an E-MAIL and we’ll get it rolling. Dealing with crappy equipment is never fun.
