I am training a new lady at the moment that lives down on the central coast NSW.  I put bridges in her program.  For me, bridges start the hip-dominant movement.  At the end of the movement is a body-weigth deadlift.  As part of the beginning cycle of hip extension / lower back strengtheners that will lead to a gorgeous deadlift movement.  Within 12 weeks this woman, should pull her body-weight off the floor.

One of the major contributer to deadlifts are the glute muscles.  I need to activate those muscles.  Anyone can muscle up a body-weight deadlift with their upper-body .  But they have failed to engage the glutes and hamstrings and of course the quads.  Bridges are a great exercise to do learn on how those glutes can be activated and as such are important in a deadlift.

Lets continue.  So the lady turns up at her new gym.  She has to show the PT at the gym (Snap Fitness) her program.  He comments to her that it was quite unusual to do an “abdominal” exercise in the middle of a workout.  Abs should be left till last.  He also asked her to ask me, “If I knew what I was doing!”

I haven’t slept for about 3 nights knowing that this personal trainer thinks that the abdominals cross the hip joint, and that the classic bridge is an abdominal exercise.

The bridge is a classic hip extension exercise.  It’s main purpose is to extend and strengthen the lower back.  It also a great way to stretch the hip flexors and I love this exercise for women who have anterior tilts (short hip-flexors).  Sure the abdominals come into play in a supportive role, but doesn’t it anyway with any type of closed-chain exercise?  Squatting involves the abdominals, but he didn’t mention that!!!

I reassured this lady that the body-building / gym mentality is quite different to what I do.  I use human movements, a woman’s physiology and her posture and of course my Olympic weightlifting knowledge to mould a strength training program to fix a whole array of issues for women.  The programs address more than strength.  I’m also addressing postural issues as well – where muscles are tight and/or hypo (lack tone).   To change someone’s posture – you can’t do bicep-curls!  You have to engage your central nervous system, and what better way then to learn to pick up 60k off the floor, squat 40k and press 30k!!

Sure it’s quite strange to him to see a woman performing movements standing on her own two legs and asking for the squat racks and the chin-up bar.  But you know what, get over it, and look in an anatomy book to confirm that none of your abdominals cross the hip joint.

Most PT and gyms have you performing bicep-curls (apparently this woman can feed herself), knee-bends and maybe the ubiquitous sit-up which does nothing but tightens the hip flexors.  The above 3 exercises makes women shorter in the front, and longer in the back.  That classic flexed / anterior tilt look.  And don’t get me started on what those dreadful pump classes do.

Ladies, the abdominals don’t cross your hip joint.  And a bridge is a beautiful hip extension movement.  I mean what the hell are they teaching Personal Trainers these days?  My goal in 12 weeks time is for that lady to be picking up her body-weight off the floor.  But you have to start somewhere.  And that is to learn what muscles are responsible for what movement.  Not much point using the upper body for a hip-dominant movement.  And bridges are the most beautiful starting point for that movement.

The schools of thought between bodybuilding and weight lifting are chasms apart.  One is about appearance and the other about ability.  You can make that choice.  But never the twain shall meet.

The squat is not only a birth right but a very important weight lifting movement in any type of strength workout routine.

Carolyn and I have been missing each other for some weeks, but last night we finally made it online together via skype. Carolyn lives in Darwin, Australia and I live in Brisbane, Australia. For you US folk it is a 3 hour plane flight.

Carolyn is not new to exercising, gym workout routines or weight lifting for that matter. But what has been stumping Carolyn for many many years is the beauty and the magic of the basic squat.

The squat is one of the basic human movements, and as a fitness coach I find it integral to weight lifting training. It has to be, it conditions both side of the legs (anterior and posterior) and builds beautiful tone into those leg muscles. Fancy that one movement, and it does both sides of the legs. There is a disclaimer here, the squat needs to performed and executed correctly to condition both side of the legs….so keep reading!

Carolyn has known for many years that she has been performing below par or sub-type programming workout routines, because of one nemesis – the squat.

Last night, this weightlifting & fitness coach changed all that! And in 30 seconds.

You can see here the progressions we went through in 20 minutes. In the first photo I got Carolyn to do a pre-test and to show me her current squat. And yes, it is well below where it needs to be.

I explained to Carolyn the biomechanics behind the squat and how the squat does not start with the knees but the hips. She was quite bemused. As I keep saying, the “sequence of events, will determine the results”. Nevertheless, I convinced her to start her squat by hinging at the hips and then squatting.

You can see the evidence in the second photo. The remaining shots are just Carolyn with a broomstick demonstrating to me her new front and back squats with the same squat pattern.

Now, with her new squat, Carolyn can comfortably move onto into weighted back-squats and front squats in her weight lifting workout routines.

Another online personal training happy customer! Next week is the dead-lift! Stay tuned. I may just very well run a series of Carolyn and her journey with me.

a) high energy exercises for one’s own heart and bones;
b) this should be coupled with standard aerobic fitness;
c) strength training when it comes to muscle and bone mass;
d) and stretching to maintain flexibility; and
e) mobility exercises to increase mobility.

A lot of women feel confident with aerobic exercise or typical exercises for women, however are hesitant when it comes to strength training or also commonly known as resistance training. For women, this improves a stronger heart and connective tissue; it helps her to control weight by stimulating metabolism and offers a defence against osteoporosis, a degenerative bone disease known mostly in postmenopausal women. It can easily help a woman to sustain energy and control over her own life.

Other then just competing in the 4 rounds, I am aiming to compete at this years Australian Masters in July at Chandler, Brisbane.

On 18th February, I set a new QLD record here at Cougars Weightlifting for the first QWA League Round.

I lifted well below (who doesn’t) my current PB’s, but did what was capable on the day.  Really our strategy was to nail 6 out of 6 lifts and I managed to achieve this.

I had a great day, despite weighing in .5k over the actual class I would’ve liked to have been competing in.  I blame this for eating too much chocolate cake the day before.  Seeing I turned 43 the day before.  Did I just type 43.  Anyway, thank you to all the people who came and supported me, especially Leah W, who drove up from Southport to see me.  An online skype client.  I got a pleasant surprise.

I’m taking a rest now for 2 weeks, and then will get back more into strength training especially the front-squat and a lot more technical drills.  Personally, it is great to train for something.  For me, I think it is important to have a goal whilst I train.  Or sometimes I think, “why am I doing this again?”

The next round is at Toowoomba on 26th May.  Watch this space!

Most of them though, including the Personal Trainers are reluctant to advocate strength training because they are uncertain about the meaning of the term and what type of training elicits and builds strength. Large numbers of women and Personal Trainers see Olympic weight-lifting synonymous with overweight grotesque looking women; their cacomorphobia (fear of big people) lead them to reject associations with any group identified as “large” – such as power-lifters or weight-lifters. They shun the word “strength” or “heavy” and shun any identification with these training modalities. Little did they know (this proves to show you that they know diddly squat) that women compete from 48k to 95k.  You ever seen 45k weightlifter.  Glorious specimen.  What about a 53k weight-lifter?  You seen one of them.  They got more muscle then 5 body-builders put together.  No-one has seen them.  Because the Public Press continue to perpetuate such BS about women and weights.

You then have another breed of women.  The women editors who do not wish to be associated with women training heavy in any form so they reject, oppose and spread BS about “heavy” weight-training. Most women are more familiar with negative perspectives on strength training than the positive influences and significance of what it can actually do to you. It is this positive significance and power that I must struggle to communicate and ensure that women do not miss out on this vital part of your overall exercise regimen.

When they try to do it, they fuck it up badly.

When they do try and mimic strength and power training, I call this “namby-pamby” strength training.  Their routines are nothing but another crop of disappointments as they have you lifting nothing heavier then a cheesecake or have you jumping any higher then 12 inches.  They have totally ruined the definition of true strength and power training, mistaken the intelligence of true athletes and ruined the magic these movements elicit.

What do I mean by “namby-pamby”? Well usually it is a woman and her Personal Trainer or worse, just a Personal Trainer or even more tragic a body-builder who tries to achieve a sense of “gym-equality” and as a result they label work-outs that look and read like strength training. For example, take this work-out recently publicised.   “Legs of Steel”.  There was a 50k woman holding no more weight then a new born baby.  And doing squats.  I held this stare of deprecating horror when I was reading this article.  I loved the exercises that they were demonstrating, but lady you’ve forgotten to hold 50k?   This is by far one of my favourite titles – written by none other than that wanker from Shabby and Soul  – “Have power like an athlete” I mean how can anyone label these workouts as a paradigm of strength and power is beyond me, when the woman is jumping on and off a half-chopped up Bosu Ball.  I know its laughable.  Part of the theory behind power is strength.  With no basic strength behind you, how can you possibly build or obtain power.  How heavy can this woman back-squat?  How much can she dead-lift?   If she can’t do both in body-weight, Huston we have a problem.  How does one build power without basic strength?   The routine completely misses its marks to fail to even discuss countermovements with compound exercises.

These “namby-pamby” workouts evoke nothing but a romantic notion that women can be strong and powerful by depicting the workouts within a framework far more acceptable in terms of women’s health and fitness.  Sadly, it is nothing but a misrepresentation and an emphasis on sub-par programming for women.

For power type movements what exercises are performed?

Wow – I could go on forever with this response!

I am a firm believer of maintaining some form of explosive / power work throughout the whole year. Sport is a dynamic, explosive beast and we must continue to work this quality. Saying that, the emphasis I place on the explosive / power movements will vary as the year changes through the training phases. For example- in the general preparation / off season I may maintain 2 or 3 power exercises over the week (for eg – Power Cleans, Drop Jumps, Bench Throws) where as during the comp season I may retain 1 or 2 strength lifts as maintenance, and the remainder of the program will be power or velocity based movements.

Exercises I will use most often – obviously the Olympic lifts and their variations as I outlined above, Jump squats – both loaded and unloaded BB countermovement and static squat jumps – depending on the sport or position within the sport (eg – volleyball Middle Blockers will use static squat jumps, passer/hitters for countermovement jumps), Loaded Smith Machine Bench Throws, Dynamic push ups, dynamic chin ups… I use a lot of Medicine ball throws (this list is endless!) and contrast movements in specific preparation phases (eg : Bench Press followed by a standing med ball chest press, or heavy pullovers into soccer throw ins or squats followed by box jumps).

To train the reactive element I will use reactive jumps – so drop jumps with various rebounds, and from various heights.

Does the AIS have a preferred female athlete profile – with respects to BW vs squat vs bench-press vs deadlift vs body-fat composition – as an example.

No. This is very much dependant on the sport they play, even the position / event within that sport they play, and then down to the individuals own physical characteristics.

Ultimately, in my opinion, it comes down to answering this question – Are the physical characteristics (body composition, strength, power, fitness, speed, flexibility etc) that this athlete possesses optimal for that particular athlete to succeed at their sport at the highest level possible? If not, what do we need to tweak to obtain that level?

Individual sports may have their preferred skinfold ratios –from my experiences with Men’s Volleyball we have said that all our Snr Aus team to be within 40-50mm skinfold (sum7) range as excess body fat significantly increases the risk of injury to these already at risk guys (due to the really high jump volume they already do).

With netball we are less strict with a specific range, and work more along the lines of “can they use what they’ve got efficiently, and is it optimal”. And there is usually a whole range with those girls between needing to increase muscle mass, maintain what they’ve got and become more efficient at using it, and those who need to decrease body fat.

In terms of strength levels… very general aims for my netballers that I put together last year (which was a 6 month program with high travel components): please note level 2 are 2nd year athletes, level 1 are first year athletes. And please note this was my first year with these girls and this sport:

Hang Clean

• Lv2 0.75BW by July
• Lv 1 technically satisfactory – focus on start position, jump shrug and progress to hang clean aiming for 0.5BW

Back Squat
• Lv 2 1 – 1.25BW by July
• Lv 1 technically satisfactory – then 0.75 – 1BW by July

Bench Press
• Lv 2 0.75BW by July
• Lv 1 0.50BW by July

Bench Pull
• As above for bench press for both groups

Chin Ups
• All athletes able to do @ least 3 full rep BW chin up

Push Ups
• Lv 2 min. 5reps with 10kg vest/plate
• Lv1 min. 5reps with 5kg vest / plate

Keep in mind that is just the world according to me – based on nothing scientific, just 8 years in the industry working with elite and sub elite athletes, and what levels I felt would be challenging but not unreasonably demanding on these particular group of girls and create a good base to build on for subsequent years. Guaranteed it will not be the same for the girls coming in this time around – completely different athletes and levels!

Next week, is the last part of this series.

“Listen lassie, you seem to be holding more then 5k above your head, can we get some type of prop in here to soften this image.  I mean for Christ-sakes its 5k, we don’t want other women thinking you’ve got balls.  Actually speaking of balls, where is that pink Swiss stability ball.  There it is.  Stage Left Harry.  Ah perfect shot.  Actually no, I think I want you sitting on it now, you can’t possibly stand with that additional weight – could you?”

The conclusion is irresistible; the industry directs women to exercise to the beat of a body-builders drum. Every magazine, every public-press article, everything on the Internet are deliberately placing themselves in the hypertrophy category and show no interest or attention to real strength and/or power training or lets just face it – just functional movement.  I mean can we please get a lady doing a proper squat.  Instead we are reminded every day that when we look at this current “mad woman’s breakfast” of exercise routines on offer that we do not share a common status or an equality with men. Men’s magazines seem to have this privilege that enable them to do beautiful strong compound movements accompanied by the correct technique (sometimes) and the rhetoric on how to correctly perform this movement (sometimes).

From the very onset of women’s health and fitness, Personal Trainers and lets face it women body-builders are suspicious of strength training precisely because they endorse the limitations inherent in its definition. Strength training won’t elicit the “pump” or the calorie-burn that an hour of cardio promises, oh but ladies, the benefits of converting non-functional fat into muscle far out-weighs (pun intended) any cardio class or pump-class.

The real truth behind why body-building routines over-shadow strength training is that if you were to put strength over hypertrophy it would primarily affect the influence of the supplement industry; not in a marginal way, but in a huge way. The supplement industry drives women’s health and fitness magazines.  Without these advertisements they wouldn’t have a magazine would they?  They’d be out of a job. Every health and fitness magazine promotes, endorses and advertises uppers and downers, protein bars, whey-protein drinks, thermogenics that enhance fat-loss. You see body-building is artificial and concentrates primarily on the superficial muscles. Strength training engages the deeper muscles, makes you more functional and you do not need uppers or shit-loads of caffeine to lift heavy. Is this what being a healthy and fit woman is all about? You have to take an upper before you do your cardio? You have to take downers to sleep correctly? You have to indulge in creatine, branched chain amino acids, to recover more quickly so you can wake up the next morning and go again?  Are you FN kidding me!  Because ladies, if you read between the lines – this is the singularly most prevalent message.  Supplements.

When I was young (about 20 years ago) and I was representing my State across various sports, I knew, or we thought we all knew that cardio involved running around an oval until we puked and that strength training was doing simple weights such as the back-squat, a press, some push-ups and pull-ups.  Did we do core work.  I think we did – but a stability ball or a wobble board were never present nor heard of.

Nowadays, I think these fine simplicities are lost:  The gyms assure us that there is no such thing as free-weights for women and women’s health and fitness magazines assure us that there is no such thing as a good run.  This is happening at an unprecedented rate of occurrence.  Who ever heard of reebok or nike coming out and saying that there’s no such thing as bare feet or Lorna Jane maintaining that for us girls to sweat, that we need to do it in a $100 outfit.  Yet, that is no odder than what gymnasiums and the Public Press have been doing.

To begin with the latter, the Public Press reduce women’s health and fitness exercise down to ridiculous passive and submissive like poses as if we are stuck in the 18th century.  There are, however, various consequences in the way of reducing women down to 18th century type figures when performing physical activity.  I do think that these consequences are insuperable.  What I can say with authority is that based on the basis of human movement itself, is that what we have until now is that our body is quite an elaborate machine and construction not really corresponding to any of those exercises that they prescribe.  Our bodies are elaborate constructions, and yet what they prescribe is conveniently lazy, isolated, basic type exercises.  You will find yourself going around and around and around – typically in a circle, as that’s what circles do.    Our body should be an emanation of exercise, and exercise should be performed to honour our body.  Performing isolated type movements with little to no weight is not right, and you have to look for something that is neither basic nor light, for which your body can become both advanced and functional.

I am a huge opponent of both gymnasiums and the Public Press.  That I make quite clear in all my writings, but are actuated by my two main desires:  the first to prove that the body is capable of achieving anything, and the second is to prove that the ultimate in achieving greatness is mental rather then physical.  In both these respects when I exercise I honour movement and not muscles.  I listen to my heart and not my head.  I pour all my energies into the technique and to the form and I never waiver.  If I cannot perform a perfect movement, then I stop.  I either reduce the weight or I perform a less complex move.  Do I give up on the movement?  No.  I come back another day and retry.

It is of course rash to dogmatize as to what exercise science may achieve in the future. We may learn to run less then 9 seconds for 100m, learn to jump higher then 3m, it all seems quite possible and plausible.  But if there is any truth in modern physics, and more in particular with Newton’s second law of gravity, we cannot presume that records will continue to be broken forever.  I love this conclusion, fancy things come and go, but if we are honest with ourselves, and if I can dilute your pretensions, there is nothing better then performing basic human movement to increase our functional existence and comfort.  That is why, in spite of the horror of both what happens in the gyms and the Public Press, you can not escape the beauty of movement.

What should we honour?

Where is the honour amongst us when we train, or what constitutes our code, or better still what principles should we be practicing and undertaking when we exercise.  Why is that you turn to strength training or exercise?  Did you just have a baby?  Do you want to increase movement and flexibility?  Reversing or prevent osteoporosis?  Maintain everyday living?  Training for that one day you hope never comes.

I’m sorry to tell you ladies, but exercise is not about losing weight.  I’ve been excising all my life, so you’d think I’d be that 52k skinny bitch – hardly!    Being thin is associated with nutrition not exercise.  Actually, for an average woman being less then 16% body-fat is all about starving oneself, but I’ve digressed.  Exercise is about movement.  It’s about quality of movement, gaining movement and honouring movement.  You can not keep exercising away sugars, stimulants, seconds, shit-food and spirits.  Exercise is meant to invigorate, mobilise, adapt and help you to survive in this ever-changing world of ours.  We are a living, breathing organism in an environment that is hell-bent on making us fat, sick and stupid.  We should exercise in a way that helps us to survive.  Lifting 2k dumb-bell, when you can feed yourself isn’t going to achieve those tenets.

What we currently honour?

What we are currently honouring are a coven of women (he he he)  who are obsessed with their appearance.  Women who flex a dumb-bell, who are disillusioned about a 6-pack and doing an hours cardio before going to bed at night as the holy grail of being fit and healthy.  Ladies, these women are not healthy, and they are certainly not fit.  We are honouring women, who can’t train without having a:

1. a pre-workout “buzz”,
2. a workout energising drink;
3. a post-workout protein drink to help them “build muscle” and “recover”.

I mean they can’t even lift weights without being full of whey, casein and caffeine – and there is nothing overstated in that description.  I’d hate to think what kind of shit they’d have to drink and the drugs they would have to take to actually undergo something really difficult – like grocery shopping with 2 kids under the age of 4.

I’m not sure about you, but I am growing increasingly agitated by the monotony of the journey on how to achieve low-body fat (unhealthy) and the suppressant of truth being held by this industry to achieve this.

Why is there a common disinterest in strength training? Has anyone seen a woman in a magazine hold something heavier then 10k above her head? Deadlift her own body-weight (a simple feat), what about a pull-up or a chin-up?  How about a men’s push-up (once again, a simple feat, but most women pictured are on their knees and every push-up is done incorrectly – take note – I’ll be doing my next blog on the biomechanics of a push-up).

“Strength training remains a standard element of any core exercise program. As a working definition, strength represents the ability of skeletal muscle to develop force for the purpose of providing stability and mobility within the musculoskeletal system, so that functional movement can take place.”

So it is a despairing gesture expressive of the belief that being strong as a bison is not possible for women or should be warranted. Or worse, being strong is associated with becoming huge. Ladies, I train with and train a lot of strong women, and none of them are huge and ALL of them are stronger and more functional then any of these women depicted in these mags.  Sure I understand your scepticism when you see 95k women weight-lifters, but come on now, you try holding 130k above your head only weighing in at 55k and see how successful you are.  Once again it’s a matter of physics and nutrition.  They didn’t get to be 95k of muscle.  That’s just ridiculous.  They eat themselves or maybe even started out that way,  They are 95k because they want to be, not purely because of how they train.  This is one gross piece of stupidity that this hypertrophy crowd want you to believe in.  They have this really bad habit of riding the “if you lift heavy you get big thigh” theory too hard.  It is nothing but BS and I’ve done the research to prove it.

Do you have benchmark core tests – such as the Bunkie test? Or does the AIS have their own functional core tests?

I don’t have a benchmark core test as such. Each of the athletes will do a standard physiotherapist based musculo skeletal test, and our team sports will do a targeted functional movement screening upon arrival and this gives us a fairly comprehensive snapshot of the athlete, including their core / trunk stability, control and strength.

I am still in 2 minds as to how much added value these functional movement testing protocols actually give you that you don’t pick up with your own ‘coaching eye’ during your initial strength sessions… and given the technical element of some of the tests and movements – people who have never done it before may give you a false reading due to not being ‘taught’ but in fact can control, stabilise and be strong through the area and pick it up very quickly once shown. I don’t mind the Bunkie test, but as such have not used it.

What is your #1 tip – or in other words, what’s in your bag of tricks that isn’t in mine

I probably have nothing different in my bag of tricks to you Lisa! It is essentially down to how you apply those “tools” or tricks to the population you are working with!

For coaches – I cannot emphasise how important it is to develop the “art” of coaching, not just your knowledge base.

Anyone can read a book, training theory or model, but it’s how you deliver it, coach it, correct it, and apply it to your select group of athletes that makes ALL the difference. I’m a believer in having first hand personal experience of the movements you are trying to teach (know what it should feel like in the positions you are asking for), develop a deep understanding of the movements you are teaching – know their ins and outs, what that error means or stems from, and be able to justify why they are in your program to educate your athletes / clients and create buy in.

I guess also another point I’d make is that it isn’t always necessary to “reinvent the wheel”… don’t be seduced by the fancy new pieces of equipment or training tools on the market… there is a reason why the tried and true methods of traditional weightlifting, powerlifting and free-weight resistance training have been around for so long and remain reasonably unchanged… they work!! And they work bloody well! But also don’t write off other peoples programs or training theories because it is not of your own thought or creation… try them out (on yourself or a test client) and validate their method. Why did this element of it work, and that element of it not work? Or it didn’t work at all! But always look to learn and experience and justify before discounting them.

And what is your favourite set / rep scheme / exercise for building leg strength / power.
Another wow question I could go on forever with…

To go back to something I’ve referred to a lot, but it really is a very important thing to consider, this again is a very individual response and not all athletes will develop optimal leg strength through the standard 1-3 (max) or 3-6/8 (general) strength ranges… Some need additional volume to get strength gains, and some respond fantastically to sets of 5’s or 3’s.

I don’t have a set scheme that I will follow – I look at the outcome I want to achieve by the exercise – eg general leg strength may prescribe 5 x 5 back squats with increasing intensity over the sets for a heavy day, max strength I might prescribe 3,3,2,2,1 for Back squat for a heavy day with 1rep = 95%, and for power I might prescribe Clean Pulls 5,5,3,3,3 with 70%, 80 & 85% loading. I tend to use 5’s and 3’s as my “standard” prescription, but not exclusive to others.