It seems that King Ass Clown Wadler and his Duschbag Gang of Paranoid Drug Elves are at it again. They are trying to find a link between world famous Orthopedic Surgeons Dr. Richard Steadman/ Dr. Marc Philippon and Dr. Anthony Galea, a rehabilitation specialist in Canada.
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When are the most powerful people in sports; commissioners of the major sports, heads of the television networks, owners of the teams, heads of the international sport federations, going to get together behind closed doors and “ask” these drug nazis to stop f$#%ing with their livelihood. Trust me, it will happen.

Throughout my years as an athlete and coach, I have had the opportunity to meet and speak with television executives, team owners, and heads of international sport federations. Most of the ones I have spoken with are concerned about drugs in sport. Not from a performance standpoint but how all this negative attention will effect their bottom line.

If and when Wadler’s Wackadoos start effecting the bottom line, he and the rest of his henchmen will wake up one day with a horse head in their bed and that will be the end of the drug problem in sports.

Fight until your very last breath!

-Wax-

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1. DO NOT buy any books or manuals that tell you how to lose fat, you don’t need them. If you already have, then you will be better served eating them for their fiber content than actually following them.

2. DO follow a training program that uses compound movements (squatting, deadlifting, presses, Olympic lifts) with progressively heavier weights. You must train hard in order to stimulate the anabolic hormones in your body. When you train this way muscle magically appears and the body uses a tremendous amount of calories; two very important factors involved with losing fat. (Try Bill Star’s 5×5 workout.)

3. DO eat 6-8 times a day.

4. DO include a protein with each meal that either walks, flys, or swims. (no F$%@ing vegetable products unless you have the metabolism of a beef cattle.) Protein meals elevate metabolic rate.

5. Do include a low glycemic carb with every meal (less than 70 GI), This keeps insulin levels in check.

6. DO include a good fat with every meal (olive, high oleic safflower, CLA, flaxseed oil, ect.) This will further reduce your insulin response.

7. DO include a soluble fiber with every meal. This will lower the GI.

So to sum it up train hard and eat like an athlete, not a yoga instructor!

–
Fight to your very last breath!

-sw-

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I cant tell you how many times I have heard certain coaches rationalize not using particular barbell exercises such as the squat or power clean because the were dangerous. I will say this, judging from some of the videos I have seen of their athletes lifting, there 100% correct. What they had them doing was absolutely dangerous however none of it resembled a squat or power clean.
Program design is the easy part of coaching beginning, intermediate, or untrained athletes. Anybody who passed the CSCS or reads a book on periodization could write a program. However that program will not work if the exercises are not performed with efficient technique. If you could teach an athlete just to squat correctly, they would be better off then implementing some elaborate program with dozens of exercises performed incorrectly.

With any trade there are particular skill sets that are required in order to do the job properly. Just because somebody doesn’t know how to do what’s needed, doesn’t care to do what’s needed, works for a company that doesn’t support what’s needed, or cant figure out how to make money doing what’s needed, doesn’t mean they should do things poorly. Where is the fucking integrity?

This seems to be really prevalent in strength and conditioning. You would never see a doctor who is scheduled to perform a double bypass decide to do a teeth whitening instead because he didn’t feel like going to school the day they were teaching heart surgery. Then, have the balls to tell the patient that teeth whitening is the future of bypass surgery! So why are so called Strength Coaches allowed to do this to their athletes? It’s our responsibility as coaches to know how to do and to teach the exercises that our athletes need. Don’t make the excuse that you are 20 years ahead of the science of training to justify some bullshit training methodology just because you figured out how to make money doing it.

When somebody pays money to a coach, they trust that you are doing everything you can do to help them meet their performance goals. They trust that you are a professional who took the time to hone their craft. Not some snake oil salesman only interested in forwarding their agenda. How would you feel if you spent your hard earned money on a diamond and it turned out to be a petrified piece of shit? Probably the same way you would feel if you hired a strength coach and got a glorified personal trainer with a fear of science, a big mouth, and a bad attitude.

Fight to your very last breath!

-wax-

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Using Supportive Gear

The Problem

There is an age-old argument at every gym; to wrap or not to wrap. You will find equally passionate arguments on either side; However, I am here to help stop this argument in its tracks.
Using supportive gear has gotten out of control. I have seen people walking into the gym with their belts already on. If they weren’t outside lifting cars then the belt should have been in the bag!
I am not saying you should never use supportive gear, I am saying there is an appropriate time and a place for its use.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make, especially as a beginning lifter, is relying on belts, straps, and wraps. Although using them could initially raise your poundage, you could be hampering your performance down the road.
Supportive gear hampers the development of the structural support mechanisms of the body such as the ligaments, tendons, and the smaller support muscles of the joints especially the knees and back. If you use gear too often you will create an imbalance in your muscular development and greatly increase your susceptibility to joint and muscular injury. The supports do the job your body is supposed to do. The larger primary movers will get strong but the tendon the muscles are attached to, as well as the ligaments that hold your joints together, will not respond at the same rate. You will get to the point of having to don a belt and wraps for your warm-ups because you feel weak without them. Never mind lifting weights, what about real life? How are you going to lift groceries out of your car or your child in to a car seat? Are you going to take a couple of minutes and wrap up? This is an issue that has ramifications far beyond the gym.

The Solution

The first thing you can do to break your equipment addiction is decrease the amount of weight you are lifting by 10% to 20%. I know that is blasphemy however; some times you have to take one step back before you can take a giant leap forward.
Now that you are using lighter weight, there are two things you can focus on, proper technique and full range of motion. Making sure you are doing the exercise properly, assures that you are getting maximum muscular involvement. Doing an exercise in a full range of motion assures that your connective tissue is getting the work it needs in order to get strong. Connective tissue,(ligaments and tendons), get stronger when you stretch them under load. This happens when you perform an exercise in a full range.
Training this way will make your body strong all over, with no weak links.

Conclusion

Don’t burn your belt just yet. As I mentioned earlier, there is a correct time and method to using supportive gear. I like to follow these parameters:

1. A minimum of three years of serious training
2. Intensity range of 90%-100%+ (if you are doing 10 reps, then you are not in the 90%-100%+ range)
3. Rep range of 1-3 repetitions.
4. Only with squats, deadlifts, pressing movements and the Olympic lifts.

Once you have met those parameters, feel free to start using your gear. Here is some simple advice to help you get the most out of your equipment.

5. Knee wraps
a. Use standard wraps found at any sporting goods store. Gold line or Red Line triple thick wraps are unnecessary unless you are squatting three times body weight or more.
b. Do not wrap directly over your kneecap. This will prohibit your kneecap from tracking properly and cause knee irritation.
c. When your knees are wrapped properly, you will feel a nice spring out of the bottom of the squat.

6. Wrist wraps
a. I don’t like the standard wrist wraps found at the stores; they are usually too short. I prefer using knee wraps; cut in half or quarters (depending on your preference). Have the cut ends hemmed so they don’t fray. These will provide the wrist stability you will need for the heaviest pressing movements.

7. Belts
a. Use a four-inch all leather belt with a metal buckle. This will last forever. The six inch and above sizes do not provide any more protection and are cumbersome.
b. A belt will provide you with the increased intra-abdominal you will need to handle those big squats and deadlifts.

–
Sean
Pure Strength

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If you step foot in almost any gym across America, including most high schools, universities, and professional sport teams, you will see exercise technique so wretched it will make your eyes hurt. So this brings us back to the original question; is good technique really important? If you ask the coaches doing the teaching they would most likely tell you “Of course it is.” Then they will proceed to tell you that everybody in here has a degree and is a trained professional. Anybody who manages a McDonalds and graduates from Hamburger U is a trained professional. It doesn’t mean I want him teaching me how to lift a barbell properly.

Generally most coaches learn technique from a book, magazine, or other unqualified coaches. The information they are getting is often convoluted and disseminated by people who have spent their lives in a state of atrophy, or even worse physical therapy. They then pass this “knowledge” on to you. It would be difficult to learn how to tie your shoes under these circumstances let alone a complex movement such as the snatch.

It’s Not Just What You Do, Its How You Do It.

I have trained in gyms and weight rooms across America for the past twenty-five years and I have come to one conclusion. Most trainers and strength coaches haven’t a clue as to what efficient technique looks like. I’m just talking about basic exercises; squat, bench, RDL, etc. I am not even talking about the Olympic lifts! Rounded backs, partial range of motion, improper bar trajectory, twisting torsos, and shifting hips are just a small sampling of the assault that my eyes have endured over the years. It is only getting worse.
Because strength and conditioning or “sports specific training” has exploded over the last fifteen to twenty years, there is a shortage of “certified” (and I use that term loosely) strength coaches. People have recognized this shortage and rushed out to create companies that for a price will certify anybody. Some companies require a four-year degree while others just require a heartbeat. However, both will give you a certificate proclaiming you as a certified professional.
It requires much more than book knowledge and a four year degree to become a highly qualified coach. It takes years of “lab” time. When I wanted to become a strength coach I sought out the best mentors I could find. I transferred to Cortland State because they had the best Physical Education program in the country. After graduating, I packed up my car and drove from New York to California and enrolled at Long Beach State’s Masters Program because Hall of Fame Strength and Conditioning Coach Dr. John Garhammer was teaching there. He is one of the top sport biomechanists in the world. I showed up at Van Nuys High School to learn how to be a weightlifter because that’s where Hall of Fame Weightlifting coach Bob Takano was training Olympic weightlifters.
I made a conscious decision 15 years ago to be a strength coach. I realized there is only so much you can learn from a book. If you truly want to learn how to do something properly, you need to get your hands dirty and sweat. There is no easy way, and there is no substitute for experience.

Yes, Efficient Technique is Important!

Why is technique important? Simply stated, performing exercises properly insures that you will receive the results the exercises are supposed to provide. Make no mistake, there is a right way and a wrong way to lift weights!
I feel better now, except my knee is a little sore from stepping up on this soapbox.

–
Sean
Pure Strength

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What is this functional for…Doggie Style

Paraphrasing Dr Mel Siff from Facts and Fallacies Fitness, the term Functional Training came out of the scientific and therapy worlds from the terms “structure” or form referring to the “phenomenon of growth of the substance forming the organism, and function referring to the way in which the organism operated. “
If we apply these definitions to training for sport, structural training would be directed towards “enhancing, maintenance and growth of the various systems of the body, whereas functional training would refers to the way these systems operate and produce motor output.”
Out of this work the principle of form follows function emerged which we find today in many forms of Physical Therapy
So now these so called “Functional Training” experts are confusing training for healthy athletes with “functional training” Just because they are not using machines, balancing on a ball and training in multi-dimensional space does not necessarily make it functional. This is not how the functional process was ever defined and it is not an accurate description of the training processes that are intended to enhance athletic or sport performance.
What is more alarming is that these same Functional freaks have gone ahead and labeled some training functional while saying other training is nonfunctional.
Doesn’t function really come down to the requirements of the activity? If you need to rehab a torn labarum gotten while performing stupid human tricks on a swiss ball, than perhaps jerking from behind the neck would not be an appropriate choice of exercise. But does that make it a non-functional exercise? It makes it the wrong exercise for the job at hand.
That being said, it is a fact that the Olympic Lifts produce the highest power output in the human body. I would say that power is a coveted trait in sports, then why is it not included in the “functional training” arsenal. There are companies dedicated to “functional” training for athletes, yet if you take a look at the information they are producing, you will not find anything on using the Olympic lifts for power development. Are they really helping athletes become more functional?
All training is functional if it is applied correctly. As far as it applies to training athletes, if the conversation includes wobble boards, wrapping yourself in theraband, or any other physical therapy toys, then you are talking about rehab. If that is the case then get the hell out of my weight room, and go to the training room!

–
Sean
Pure Strength

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A few weeks ago I was walking thru the parking lot to get to the weightroom at Long Beach State to train with Nomad Weightlifting Tribe when a flyer on a car caught my eye. I picked it up and started to read it. As my eyes gazed onto the page, I started to get a pain in my ears. The more I read the more the pain intensified. I then realized it was my head exploding! I quickly diverted my eyes and the pain subsided.
Below is the cause of this near fatal head trauma.

Please read at your own risk!

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