The Contreras Files: Volume I

Volume I

by Bret Contreras – 12/07/2011

To say I'm a workaholic is like saying Tiger Woods has commitment issues. Through all the lifting, training, reading, and researching that I do, I'm constantly being exposed to and coming up with new ideas.
This column will introduce T Nation readers to just some of what I happen to stumble upon every day, in no particular order of importance. The typical lifter, athlete, personal trainer, strength coach, or physical therapist is bound to find something useful in this article.

1. Low Load Glute Activation is Legit

One thing I love about T Nation is that often the best coaches in the world are years ahead of the research. You might remember Mike Robertson and Eric Cressey writing about glute activation as early as 2004. I can remember thinking, "Why in the hell would I do some silly Jane Fonda exercises?"
When other top coaches including Mark Verstegen, Mike Boyle, and Martin Rooney started recommending glute activation, I could no longer ignore their advice. I got down on the floor and got my bridge, clam, and bird dog on and immediately recognized the potential in these simple movement patterns.
And thus began a love affair unparalleled by any other. Some guys have pictures of their girlfriend on their nightstand. Me? A picture of some glutes with a bouquet of roses stuck in-between the cheeks.
Kidding. But I do keep my eyes and ears open for new glute research. Case in point:
Australian researchers recently put 22 professional Australian Football League (AFL) players through three different warm-up protocols:

• Standing on a whole body vibration platform for 45 seconds at 30 Hz.
• A 5-7 minute, 7-glute exercise routine consisting of glute bridges, side lying clams, quadruped hip extensions, side lying hip abductions, prone single leg hip extensions, fire hydrants, and stability ball wall squats.
• A control group.

The researchers found that during a countermovement jump, the whole body vibration group fared 2.4%worse than the control group, while the glute activation group outperformed the control group in peak power by 4.2%, along with outperforming the whole body vibration group by 6.6% (Buttifant et al. 2011.).

My conclusion is that you'd be wise to include some low load glute activation work in your warm-ups. Remember, the purpose of glute activation isn't to "rep-out" or "max-out," but to groove proper motor patterns and focus on getting the glutes working efficiently. Ten high-quality repetitions of each exercise is all you need.

2. Cue the Glutes!

Speaking of glute activation, Cara Lewis and Shirley Sahrmann tested the gluteal activation of a prone hip extension exercise (Lewis and Sahrmann 2009). They showed that compared to no cueing, simply uttering the phrase, "Use your glutes to lift your leg while keeping your hamstrings relaxed," resulted in over double the gluteus maximus activation and caused the gluteus maximus to fire quicker in hip extension.
Based on my experience as a trainer, most beginners suck at using their glutes. It's important to remind individuals over and over to use their glutes until it becomes automatic.

3. Lifters vs. Weaklings – Lumbopelvic Rhythm

After a couple of months of training with me, my clients always tell me that their backs feel stronger and better than ever. Is it due to increased hip mobility, or is it core stability? Maybe it's just increased glute strength? Perhaps it's due to improved fundamental movement patterns? Or is it a case of all of the above?
In his book Low Back Disorders, Stu McGill discusses the mythical lumbopelvic rhythm pattern explained in textbooks – supposedly the first 60° of bending is accomplished by flexing the lumbar spine while the remaining flexion takes place at the hips (McGill page 74). While most individuals bend with a blend of spinal, pelvic, and hip motion, weightlifters possess unique movement patterns at the hip. Stu states that:

"Olympic Weightlifters attempt to do the opposite – they lock the lumbar spine close to the neutral position and rotate almost entirely about the hips."

Of course, Olympic weightlifters are better at hip hinging than normal individuals, but the importance of this information is that the movement patterns developed in the weight room transfer over to everyday life.Master the hip hinge first and everything else seems to fall into place.
Here's my man Tony Gentilcore demonstrating proper hip hinge patterning with a dowel.

4. Powerlifters vs. Olympic Weightlifters – Hip and Knee Moments During Squatting Tasks

Swedish researchers measured the hip and knee moments of six powerlifters and eight Olympic weightlifters during parallel and deep squats (Wretenberg et al. 1996). The results were intriguing: during deep squats powerlifters exhibited 41% higher hip extension moments and 37% less knee extension moments compared to weighlifters, and during parallel squats the powerlifters exhibited 43% higher hip extension moments and 42% less knee extension moments than weightlifters.
This study shows that during squatting tasks, powerlifters use a low-bar position, sit back more, and use their powerful hips to a greater degree than weightlifters, whereas weightlifters use a high-bar position, stay more upright, and use their powerful knee joints to a greater degree than powerlifters.
Maximum sports performance requires strong hips and knees so it's wise to rotate between different types of squats throughout the year, including low bar parallel, box, front, and high bar full squat variations.

5. Bench Press and Lateral Forces on the Bar

Wonder why the bench press elicits more triceps activity than a dumbbell bench press? A new study out of Penn State showed that the lateral forces exerted on the bar equaled roughly 25% of the vertical forces (Duffey and Challis 2011).
Ten men and eight women were tested in the bench press and the total vertical forces totaled on average 187 pounds of force whereas the lateral forces applied to the bar totaled on average 53 pounds of force. With these proportions, a 600-pound bench presser would be exerting around 150 pounds of outward pressure on the bar throughout the movement.
If you've listened to Dave Tate over the years and learned to use your triceps while benching, chances are your lateral forces are even higher than 25% of the vertical forces.
This extra work is simply a byproduct of the prime mover's maximal contractions against the barbell – which isn't possible with the dumbbell bench press as the dumbbells would split apart and result in a failed lift.

6. Elite Fitness Glute Ham Raise

I've traveled the world and performed glute ham raises with over twenty different glute ham developers. In a nutshell, 99% of glute ham developers suck. Instead of feeling smooth, the lift usually feels awkward and unproductive.
That is, unless you have an Elitefts glute ham raise. If you've never performed a glute ham raise off of an Elifefts model, then you can't possibly imagine the exercise's effectiveness, as chances are the one you're using pales in comparison.
Sometimes I wonder if equipment manufacturers even work out or understand biomechanics. Big props to Elitefts for spending the necessary time getting the design right.

7. Crunch Like This

Research out of Stanford University from 1979 showed that a sit-up exhibited 38 degrees of lumbar flexion, but a crunch where only the scapulae are lifted off the ground exhibited only 3 degrees of lumbar flexion (Halpern and Bleck 1979).
Given that the lumbar spine has between 40-73 degrees of ROM in males and 40-68 degrees of ROM in females (Troke et al. 2005), I think it's safe to say that this type of crunch remains in the neutral zone for the lumbar spine.
If you limit the lumbar ROM and use a controlled tempo, it makes the exercise much more challenging and you'll no longer be able to bust out hundreds of repetitions.
Start from a slightly hyperextended position by using a rolled up towel, ab mat, or stability ball. Raise the torso to only around 30° of trunk flexion, moving mostly in the thoracic spine. Control the tempo and accentuate the negative portion of the exercise. I discuss this further in the video below:

To prevent hyperkyphotic postural adaptations in the thoracic spine, make sure you perform thoracic mobility drills and include plenty of exercises to strengthen the erectors.
For example, some mobility drills include thoracic extensions off a foam roller and quadruped thoracic extension and rotation, while some strength training exercises include squats, deadlifts, bent over rows, and farmer's walks.

8. Four to Six Weeks to Harden Up

When I was 18 years old, I was in the gym quarter-squatting 275 pounds with a pad around the bar. A giant behemoth of a man walked up behind me and told me to back down to 135 and squat down deep to the floor like a real man and quit using the pussy pad. Thankfully I took his advice and never looked back.
I can remember using the bar pad because squatting freakin' hurt my back. The pressure was overwhelming. After ditching the bar pad, it took around four weeks to stop hurting.
When I started front squatting, the same scenario occurred – it hurt. But I stuck with it and a month later I could no longer feel any pain. Zercher squats took a bit longer to quit hurting – around six weeks – as did hook grip deadlifts. Just recently I started hip thrusting without a bar pad and it hurt like hell. I've been doing this for a month and it no longer hurts.
The take home message is, the more frequently you perform the lifts, the quicker your nervous system will become densensitized to the stimuli. So man up and fight through the discomfort. Just remember, what seems like torture today in a month will feel like a hot oil massage from a pair of busty Asian masseuses. I kid you not.

9. Resistance Training vs. Stretching for Flexibility Gains

Many long-term lifters have noticed that they don't have to stretch much to maintain their flexibility. Fact is, many of us have noted superior flexibility gains from weight training compared to stretching.
In the past few years, several studies have emerged showing that resistance training increases flexibility (Monteiro et al. 2008; Santos et al. 2010). This isn't surprising, but some have shown resistance training protocols to be just as effective or even more effective in terms of flexibility gains when compared to stretching protocols (Aquino et al. 2010, Simao et al. 2010; Morton et al. 2011; Nelson and Bandy 2004).
I'm a fan of doing all sorts of things for improved mobility and soft tissue functioning such as foam rolling and static stretching. But know that full range of motion resistance training is one of the best things you can do to increase and maintain mobility.
Just make sure your programs are well-designed, as structural balance is critical for postural and functional adaptations. To add icing on the cake, make sure you foam roll, stretch, and perform mobility and activation drills.

10. Broz Mentality – The "Shoot Your Family" Scenario

I'm a big John Broz fan. When I met him at his Las Vegas facility he said something that really hit home. He told me to envision someone capturing my family and informing me that they were going to shoot all of them unless I put a hundred pounds on my squat in one month. Then he asked me how often I would squat if this actually happened, and followed up with this gem: "Something tells me you'd squat more than twice per week."
I like to think of this scenario for a variety of purposes in strength and conditioning. What if you had to put an inch on your arms in one month without gaining any weight? Something tells me you'd perform some curls and triceps extensions. What if you needed your abs to be the strongest they ever were? Something tells me you'd perform dynamic spinal movements and not just core stability exercises.

It's good to really hone in on one goal per month and give it your all, just don't try this strategy with multiple goals or you'll fail at all of them.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and perhaps picked up something useful you can use in your own training.
In summary:

• Activate the glutes
• Learn to sit back and hinge properly at the hips
• Learn to use the triceps properly for maximum bench press performance
• Buy an Elitefts glute ham developer if you want a real GHD
• Limit your lumbar ROM when you crunch
• Know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel for dealing with pain from barbell pressure on new movements as they only take a month or so to get accustomed to
• Perform full ROM resistance training for maximum flexibility
• Pick a new goal each month and attack it with purpose.

See you next month!

References

Aquino CF, Fonseca ST, Goncalves GGP, Silva PLP, Ocarino JM, Mancini MC. Stretching versus strength training in lengthened position in subjects with tight hamstring muscles: A randomized controlled trial. Manual Therapy. 15(1) 26-31, 2010.

Buttifant, D, Crow, J, Kearney, S, and Hrysomallis, C. Whole-body vibration vs. gluteal muscle activation: What are the acute eff ects on explosive power? Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 25: S14–S15, 2011.

Duffey, MJ and Challis, JH. Vertical and lateral forces applied to the bar during the bench press in novice lifters. J Strength Cond Res. 2011. 25(9): 2442–2447.

Halpern, AA and Bleck EE. Sit up exercises: an electromyography study. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1979. 145:172-8.

Lewis CL, Sahrmann SA. Muscle activation and movement patterns during prone hip extension exercise in women. J Athl Train. 2009. 44(3): 238–248.

McGill, S.M. Low back disorders: Evidence based prevention and rehabilitation, Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign, IL, U.S.A., 2002.

Monteiro WD, Simão R, Polito MD, Santana CA, Chaves RB, Bezerra E, Fleck SJ. Influence of strength training on adult women's flexibility. J Strength Cond Res. 2008;22(3):672-7.

Morton SK, Whitehead JR, Brinkert RH, Caine DJ. Resistance Training vs. Static Stretching: Effects on Flexibility and Strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Sep 30. [Epub ahead of print]

Nelson RT, Bandy WD. Eccentric Training and Static Stretching Improve Hamstring Flexibility of High School Males. Journal of Athletic Training. 2004;39:254–258.

Santos E, Rhea MR, Simão R, Dias I, de Salles BF, Novaes J, Leite T, Blair JC, Bunker DJ. Influence of moderately intense strength training on flexibility in sedentary young women. J Strength Cond Res. 2010;24(11):3144-9.

Simão R, Lemos A, Salles B, Leite T, Oliveira É, Rhea M, Reis VM. The influence of strength, flexibility, and simultaneous training on flexibility and strength gains. J Strength Cond Res. 2011;25(5):1333-8.

Troke M, Moore AP, Maillardet FJ, Cheek E. A normative database of lumbar spine range of motion. Manual Therapy. 2005. 10:198-206.

Wretenberg P, Feng Y, Arborelius UP. High and low bar squatting techniques during weight-training. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1996. 28(2)218-24.

Wikio

Deep Meal-Frequency Thoughts

by Nate Miyaki – 12/08/2011

Like many T Nation readers, I grew up with bodybuilding nutrition. That's right, I studied Championship Bodybuilding by Chris Aceto like it was the Bible, snuggled Arnold's Encyclopedia every night, and waited anxiously every month to read my favorite bodybuilding magazines from cover to cover.

Bodybuilding-style nutrition (six small meals, specific macronutrient ratios and food distribution patterns, etc.) is one of the most effective ways to change a body, no doubt about it. Anyone who tells you it doesn't has never done it, with any real consistency, dedication, or discipline.

But as I've worked with more people in the real world, and as my theories have evolved, I've begun to ask myself three major questions regarding this approach.

1. Is a traditional max fat loss/pre-contest plan sustainable?

The answer for the majority is no, even for the most hardcore of athletes. Many competitors can attest to this experience firsthand: post-contest bingeing, weight rebound, and the negative hormonal feedback loop associated with extreme training/nutrition approaches and/or drug protocols.

Anyone can eat a certain way when motivation is high, be it for a contest, a new photo on Facebook, or even just that summertime pool party where you know the hot bartender you've been eyeballing for months is going to be attending.

But what is the preparation for that one big day doing to your long term metabolic and hormonal health, and your ability to get lean the next time around?

Is doing no carbs for weeks at a time, three hours of cardio a day, and having the personality of a snail and the libido of a corpse the only way to get in shape? No six-pack is worth that.

Some will justify bulking and cutting cycles as necessary, but for many it's a simple yo-yo scenario, despite it being part of an athletic realm. That's not sustainable, nor is it good for your long-term physique goals or overall health. I've seen former competitors yo-yo themselves right into obesity, type II diabetes, and a lifetime of health and body composition struggles.

If that route sounds appealing to you, then great, go for it man. To each their own. I'm more interested in finding a plan that's sustainable for the rest of my life, and allows me to be in shape year-round.

2. Is it functional?

For years I had no problem getting to the grocery store every other day, cooking a crap-load of food twice a week, packing a man purse full of Tupperware every day, etc. Discipline and dedication are just part of my personality.

I falsely assumed the same was true for everyone when I started in this game. You want to get in shape? Then do what you f#!king gotta do to achieve that goal.

But as I've worked with more real people in the real world, I've come to realize that this isn't as functional or realistic for most outside of the fitness industry.

Have you ever consulted with a Silicon Valley entrepreneur whose industry moves at a thousand Tweets per second? Have you ever advised a doctor or a lawyer who can be in surgery or court for a half day at a time? Or a college kid who has a full load of classes, is working a part-time job to pay for tuition, and is trying to squeeze in just enough time to try to get laid?

No stopping off for tuna and broccoli every two hours for any of these demographics. Pro Tan and "pube trimming sessions" are the furthest things from their mind.

Is eating 6-8 small meals a day functional and sustainable for the next year, five years, or the rest of your life when priorities change and you're chasing other career goals, yet still want to be in good shape?

If you are leaning towards "not really," the next question is, is it absolutely necessary to achieve results, or is there another way?

3. Are there alternative meal frequency approaches for general fat loss and physique enhancement?

I'm not talking bodybuilding competition diets here, so I don't need a bunch of angry bodybuilders throwing their soiled posing panties at me, unless you're a woman, of course.

Getting stage-ready is something different. If that's your pursuit, I hope you're following an informed approach and not some outlandish protocol formulated from gym rats. If you're in doubt, hook up with an expert coach. I'm a fan of the Mountain Dog myself – someone who combines education with practical "street" experience.

Furthermore, I'm not talking about bulking phases or guys eating strictly for improving athletic performance. If your calorie requirements are 5000+, you probably have no choice but the 5-6 meals a day route.

This article, however, and my writings in general, is geared towards the other 90% of the noncompetitive strength-training population that's just looking for a sustainable approach to cutting up and being able to say, "I look good. I mean really good. Hey everyone, come and see how good I look."

Anecdotal Evidence

Just as I ask that you not get caught up in ADA or Paleo dogma, I ask that you not get caught up in bodybuilding/fitness nutrition dogma. If you can maintain some objectivity, the reality is there are other methods and approaches to getting into great shape.

The late, great Serge Nubret used to eat two meals a day composed of pounds of horsemeat with rice and beans. I know what some of you are thinking – steroids – but that's not just what worked for him. Many of his non-bodybuilding clients reported great body composition transformation results as well.

The three-square meals a day approach gets bashed in our industry and is often criticized as being counterproductive for fat loss and physique enhancement.

However, this is most likely because the typical Y2KAmerican Diet is used as the representative/control group of this approach – mocha and pastry for breakfast, sandwich and chips for lunch, pizza and cookies for dinner.

This is problematic for comparison because these are not the typical meals eaten by someone pursuing body composition transformation.

It's more the suboptimal food choices that are the problem, not the meal frequency pattern itself. Three meals a day can work just fine for fat loss provided you're making good food selections.

To contrast, the traditional Japanese diet (fish, lean meats, eggs, vegetables, rice, sweet potato, low refined foods, etc.) yields some of the lowest obesity and diabetes rates in the world. And don't give me "genetics," there are studies that show when native Japanese people switch to more westernized dietary patterns, biomarkers of health skydive and body fat skyrockets.

I'm not trying to get everyone to start feeling like they're "turning Japanese," but you can certainly learn a thing or two from their dietary approach, just like you can from any effective approach (Paleo, Mediterranean).

While I think a Paleo Diet is a good starting template for an overweight and sedentary office worker, I think the traditional Japanese diet is a good template for a strength-training athlete taking a healthy approach to physique enhancement by way of a carb-based approach.

Here's a typical day. I've adjusted the totals to better fit a 180-pound dude as opposed to a 95-pound Geisha:

Breakfast: 2-3 whole eggs, 4oz fish, 1-cup rice, sea vegetables*, green tea.
Lunch: 8 oz teriyaki chicken, 1-cup rice, mixed vegetables
Dinner: 12 oz salmon or mackerel, miso soup, 1-cup rice, spinach salad.
Dessert: 1 piece whole fruit or 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato.

This supplies our 180-pound bodybuilder with a great base diet of roughly 180g of protein, 180g of carbs, and 40-50g of fat as byproduct of protein foods.

*Sea vegetables are basically, well, seaweed, which might not sound appetizing but have been a staple of the Japanese diet for centuries. Sea vegetables also offer one of the broadest ranges of minerals of any food including iron, magnesium, zinc, and especially iodine. The name "sea vegetables" is actually a broad term for a number of vegetables like nori, hijiki, wakame, arame, kombu, and dulse.

The next step is on training days to add the appropriate peri-workout nutrition protocol. For lean guys or those trying to gain as much mass as possible, the original Anaconda Protocol is the most effective (natural) method I've ever encountered.

However, heavier-set guys or those with weight class restrictions may be better suited with the Anaconda Protocol 2, which yields significant yet less dramatic gains in size and strength.

Meal Frequency Cliffs Notes

Back when I was in school, I always had to make up for spending too much time wet daydreaming about the handful of scintillatingly hot girls in my Organic Chemistry by cramming with Cliffs Notes. Here's the Cliffs Notes version of just some of the science on meal frequency:

A study by Bellisle, et al. looked at the proposed benefit of frequent meals on the thermic effect of food (TEF). While the researchers found support that TEF was higher with frequent feedings, the results were neither unanimous nor significant, concluding that the intake side of the energy balance equation is still paramount.(1)

Another study by Burke et al. looked at equal 24-hour carbohydrate intakes divided into feedings every four-hours versus every hour. There was no significant difference in muscle glycogen storage between the two groups.(2)

Finally, a study by Norton found that while frequent "dosing" of amino acids is common practice, it's unlikely that eating another meal 2-3 hours after the first would be sufficient to induce another rise in protein synthesis since amino acid/leucine levels are already elevated.

Norton concludes that it may, therefore, be more useful to consume larger amounts of protein at a meal and wait longer between protein doses than the 2-3 hours typically recommended in the bodybuilding community.(3)

Disregarding personal bias or tradition and looking at the objective science, clearly there's no major difference between smaller, more frequent meals or larger meals spaced out further apart for fat loss, and metabolic factors related to fat loss (dietary induced thermogenesis, 24-hour energy expenditure, etc.).

Now, some will use this science to "hear what they want to hear" and bash bodybuilding nutrition. "I knew it. Three-meals a day is superior to the six-small-meals a day approach. Bodybuilders are obsessive, compulsive idiots."

That's not what the research is saying. It's saying they're relatively equal. Translation? Both can be effective in a real-world protocol.

Remember the hierarchy of fat loss: Optimum food choices, total calories, and targeted macronutrient ratios based on individual factors are the most important steps in designing an effective fat loss diet. If these variables are controlled for, meal frequency doesn't matter as much.

The optimum meal frequency pattern for you is whatever pattern helps you consistently stick to your diet the most. The most sustainable and functional approach in your world is the best approach for you.

In other words, the physiology of meal frequency doesn't matter so much. Both science and anecdotal evidence prove that. It's the psychological and social factors that are the most crucial variables in your decision.

This, of course, requires some self-experimentation on your part. How does meal frequency fit into your daily schedule, career demands, lifestyle habits, and social patterns?

Some find that eating smaller, more frequent meals allows for better blood sugar control, makes them feel more energetic, and makes them less prone to bingeing and cheating. Although they're eating smaller, calorie-controlled meals, psychologically they like the idea that another meal is always right around the corner. They like staying ahead of hunger, or that never hungry, never quite full feeling.

If they do go a long period without food and are hungry, they can't make good food choices. They end up overeating junk. A traditional fitness/bodybuilding approach may work better for this group.

Many fitness athletes have a fear that if they ever go more than three hours without food, the body will start cannibalizing itself and they'll lose all their hard-earned muscle tissue. These guys have a "feed the machine" mentality. Regardless of physiological truths, psychology is a key component of dietary success. Smaller, frequent meals may be the best approach for this demographic as well.

With busy career demands, and an unwillingness to pack foods and carry around Tupperware everyday, some find that eating 6-8 small meals a day is hyper-inconvenient and unrealistic for their lifestyle. They can't consistently fit in six balanced and complete meals a day. What ends up happening is they have a few solid meals and then just eat snack foods – usually of the highly refined and processed "high carb plus high fat American" type.

Furthermore, when they eat, they like to eat full, complete, satiating meals. The small fitness-style meals don't satisfy appetite and leave them constantly hungry and craving more. Psychologically, it makes them feel like they're constantly depriving themselves or they're always "on a diet."

Finally, there are those whose career or lifestyle demands fit neatly around the traditional three-meals-a-day approach. After all, this is the pattern that society and civilization has set up as the normal structure in most cultures. We have our breakfast business meetings, our lunch breaks, and our social dinners.

Three-square meals may be the easiest approach to consistently follow for those working professionals who are not fitness professionals or athletes. Slaving away trying to fit into a fitness approach of eight small meals a day may be unrealistic and counterproductive.

Just remember, food choices are critical. Three square meals a day with good food choices will yield much different results than three square meals a day of junk foods, and average Y2K American food choices.

Food Distribution

So to bring closure to this piece and sum it all up in a short, sweet sound bite, three meals a day can work – if that works better for you.

Next up on the hierarchy is food distribution. In the Samurai Diet approach I talk about a modified bodybuilding-style approach to protein and fat intake, and an intermittent fasting-style approach to carbohydrate intake. Am I just confused or am I onto something? Noodle with that, and I'll catch up with you soon.

You can check out Nate's book The Samurai Diet: The Science & Strategy of Winning the Fat Loss War. You can find the ebook version here or, if you prefer a PDF version, here.

References

Bellisle et al. 1997. Meal frequency and energy balance. Br J Nutr Apr;77 Suppl 1:S57-70.

Burke, et al. 1996. Muscle glycogen storage after prolonged exercise: effect of the frequency of carbohydrate feedings. Am J Clin Nutr 64(1): 115-119.

Norton, L. 2008. Optimal protein intake and meal frequency to support maximal protein synthesis and muscle mass.

Are You Ignorant When it Comes to the Deadlift?

by Mark Rippetoe – 12/06/2011

It's not always apparent, and is often poorly understood. Stated succinctly, stupid is not your fault – you were born that way. You're just dumb. You can't learn.

Ignorance means you just don't know. Ignorance probably is your fault, because you've failed to inform yourself. This is especially true since the advent of the internet has enabled the most universal and thorough dissemination of information in the history of human communication.

The obvious problem is that 95% of that information is wrong, which follows my popular maxim: 95% of all the shit that occurs everywhere is completely fucked up. The internet is no different.

But you can, with a little diligence, tease out the facts if you want to. If you're interested in a subject, it eventually falls upon you to distill the truth from the bullshit.

This you'll do gladly, if you're interested enough to devote significant amounts of time and effort to it, because an intelligent person realizes that bullshit is a waste of time. A stupid person might not appreciate this, and therefore continue to be ignorant of the truth of a matter.

Take the deadlift, for example. It's the most basic, obvious movement in barbell training, the one with the most carryover to everyday tasks and the easiest to learn of all the basic exercises.

You just step up to the bar with a vertical-jump stance width, with toes out and your shins about an inch from the bar, grab it just outside your stance with your knees still straight, then bend your knees forward and out a little bit until your shins touch the bar, squeeze your chest up until your back is flat, take a big breath, and drag the bar up your legs until you're standing up straight.

See? One (admittedly run-on) sentence describes the whole thing.

But just because a task can be described simply doesn't mean that there aren't any important details. Fortunately, they can be built into the instructions, if the instructor is clever. Our one-sentence deadlift instruction carries a lot of important information, and if it's followed correctly and intelligently, it'll result in a perfect deadlift every time.

Let's take it a step at a time and see what we can learn from this simple approach to an uncomplicated movement.

The Uncomplicated Deadlift

Stance Width

The stance width of a vertical jump is narrower than most novices' deadlift, but it shouldn't be. A push into the floor should have the mid-foot directly under the hip joint, and this is the stance width that allows you to push the floor without losing force to any shear that will develop along a laterally-angled leg (the sumo stance intentionally widens the stance to artificially shorten the legs, and trades the benefit of a more vertical back for the inefficiency of the angled legs – but we're not sumo-ing right now).

Toes

Most people jump with toes pointed slightly out, and this toes-out stance is very helpful for the deadlift. It gets the thighs out of the way of the belly, which helps set your back flatter and it gets the groin muscles and the external rotators involved in the pull. Konstantinovs demonstrates this when he pulls, as have many great deadlifters through the history of powerlifting.

Bar Position

Placing the bar about an inch from your shins puts the bar directly over your mid-foot, precisely where the bar wants to be anyway, because that's the point over which the load balances.

When you stand up straight with your feet even, where are you in balance? On your toes? On your heels? Bad idea. In either of these positions, you have to exert more effort to stand than when balanced in the middle. The mid-foot is the place that's furthest away from both those positions of imbalance. This also applies to the deadlift.

An intelligent person will verify this by watching YouTube videos of heavy deadlifts where he'll see that every heavy deadlift travels up in a vertical path, sliding up the shins from a fairly vertical shin angle. Even if the lifter starts with the bar forward of this position, the bar will roll back to the mid-foot before it leaves the ground.

Likewise, this same intelligent person will notice that the bar locks out at the top directly over the mid-foot. Why would you intentionally pull the bar from a position that's horizontally different from the one you're pulling it to? Well, you wouldn't unless you're stupid, so that's where the bar starts.

Grip

Your grip should be designed to make the bar travel the shortest possible distance to lockout, and this means that the arms will hang parallel to each other when you grip the bar. This is accomplished by taking the narrowest grip you can without your hands rubbing your legs on the way up. So your grip will be where your hands line up with the widest point of your stance.

Most novices take too wide a stance, and therefore too wide a grip. Most elite lifters take a close grip. Verify this for yourself. If your stance is correct, your arms will hang straight down when seen from the front and you'll have pulled the bar the shortest distance it can travel to lockout.

During the process of taking the grip you do not move the bar, because you just intentionally put it exactly where it needs to be, over the mid-foot.

Setting Up the Pull

You haven't bent your legs yet, but now you need to drop your knees forward until your shins touch the bar. This motion places the shins at a slight forward angle that leaves the bar over the mid-foot while in contact with the shins.

If you drop your hips, your knees will travel forward and shove the bar forward of the mid-foot. So don't drop your hips.

Remember, don't move the bar. That would be stupid.

Just after you touch the bar with your shins, push your knees out very slightly. This keeps your thighs lined up with your slightly pointed-out toes and allows your groin muscles and lateral hip muscles to engage during the pull.

If you're a bigger guy, you'll immediately notice that it's easier to get in position over the bar if your thighs are out of the way of your gut, as mentioned earlier. The knees-out motion takes full advantage of the toes-out stance, the smartest thing to do as you prepare to pull.

Chest Up, Back Set

Now comes the most important part of the procedure. Squeeze your chest up to set your back. Don't drop your hips like everybody else does, and like you've been doing, too. Just leave your ass where it is after your shins touch the bar and set your back from the top down by squeezing your chest up into thoracic extension and letting that wave of extension carry itself down to your low back.

Watch Brad Gillingham do his 881-pound deadlift and you'll see that it can be done quite effectively without a drop of the hips. It's hard, because your back is fighting with your hamstrings for control of your pelvis and your back has to win. It may feel odd the first couple of reps, but as you warm up it will get easier. Regardless, the chest-up motion will always be the hardest part of the setup.

The fact is, if it's easy, you did it wrong.

The Deadlift is Not a Squat

You must understand this: you're not trying to squat the weight off the floor with the bar in your hands. This doesn't work, as you may have noticed if you've watched enough deadlifting to be informed about what really occurs when heavy weights are pulled off the floor.

When the weight gets heavy, you can drop your hips as low as you want to and push the bar as far forward as it takes to make you happy, but what actually happens before the bar leaves the floor isalways the same: the bar comes back toward the mid-foot, the hips come up until the shoulders settle into position just in front of the bar, and the bar comes up in a straight line, if you haven't fucked up the pull too badly.

The shoulders-just-in-front-of-the-bar position is a feature of all pulls that are heavy enough, whether deadlift, clean, or snatch. I take a shot at explaining why in the new 3rd edition of Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training (hint: it has to do with the lats).

By now you've looked again at all the deadlift videos and seen this position establish itself every time, regardless of whether the lifter initiated the lift correctly or incorrectly (if the lifter initiated the lift incorrectly, the hips rise and the back angle changes until the shoulders are just in front of the bar anyhow).

You can identify this position because the arms don't hang straight down plumb, but rather hang at a slight angle when viewed from the side. While you were looking at them again, you also noticed the bar travels a vertical path. In fact, if you fuck the pull up too badly (i.e. let it get forward of the mid-foot anywhere in the pull so that the bar path isn't vertical) it won't go up – unless it's a sub-maximal attempt.

So squeezing the chest up as the best way to set your back merely incorporates the facts that you've gathered by watching the videos and informing yourself. If you set your back in the position it likes to pull from anyway, you minimize wasted motion before the pull and you create a simple procedure for doing it the same way every time.

The Lockout

All that remains is dragging the bar up your legs to lockout. "Dragging" implies contact, and contact all the way up ensures the vertical bar path; if you let it go forward as it passes your knees on the way up, you'll have let it drift forward of the mid-foot, and thus gotten out-of-balance.

But if you've set your back correctly and started the pull with the bar over mid-foot, it will come up your shins and your thighs in a straight vertical line, which I'm sure you'll agree is a mechanically pleasing configuration.

Less Bounce to the Ounce

Of course, you have to keep your back flat, and that takes strength in the lumbar erectors that can only be built with heavy deadlifts done correctly. It has become fashionable in random exercise/"functional movement" gyms to permit the use of bumper plates and a bounce off the floor for all the reps of a set of deadlifts after the first one.

This isn't "functional" – no sane, responsible person picks up a heavy object by bouncing it off the floor because that might break something. An informed person knows that if you don't use a muscle, you won'ttrain that muscle. Common sense dictates this fact, and no particular intelligence is required to arrive at this conclusion.

Simple observation tells us that people who bounce their deadlifts aren't very strong off the floor. Experience informs me that if a 185-pound man with three years of barbell "training" comes to my seminar lacking the ability to deadlift 300 pounds with a flat back, he's probably been bouncing his deadlifts.

The lumbar erectors are the muscles that hold the lumbar spine in extension. If you fail to use them for that purpose during a deadlift, they won't adapt to this isometric task, and you'll have turned the most basic back exercise in the gym into a ridiculous circus trick.

Let's be honest: you bounce your deadlifts because it's easier to do more reps that way. But you know this already, because you were never that ignorant.

Reset all your reps and make your low back get strong enough to hold itself flat during a maximum deadlift attempt. Even if more reps are the goal, a stronger back is the only way to achieve it.

There may be a slight tendency for the bar to drift forward as it comes off the floor. When this happens, it's usually because you've rocked forward during the setup so that your weight is forward of the mid-foot. Shoes with heels can do this, as can a misperception of your start position.

If this happens, you're probably too far forward, with your shoulders too far in front of the bar and your back too horizontal. To correct this, rock back off of your toes, reset your chest up, and think about actually pushing your mid-foot into the floor, instead of pulling on the bar.

That Wasn't So Hard, Was It?

Deadlifts are one of the easiest lifts to learn and do correctly. It usually takes me about five minutes to fix an incorrect deadlift, and everyone I fix tells me that the movement feels "shorter." We know that the trip from floor to lockout is pretty much the same distance, wrong or right, unless your grip is very wide, so what is responsible for this change in perception?

There are two components of the system – the lifter and the barbell. If the bar travels the same distance from floor to lockout, it can't be the source of the difference in perception. It's the lifter, whose ass is no longer waving around in the air before the lift starts. This decrease in body movement and increase in efficiency results in the perception of a shorter pull, even though the bar travels the same distance.

So, now that you're not ignorant, stop acting like you are. Do your deadlifts correctly, efficiently, and with impressive weights. Usually, the simplest method is the smartest method to use.

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Le corossol : mille et une vertus thérapeutiques

Le Corossol, le fruit magique

Le corossol est le fruit du corossolier (annona muricata, de la famille des annonaceae).
Il mesure jusqu'à 30 cm de long et peut peser jusqu'à 4 ou 5 kg.
Son aspect extérieur est d'un vert sombre, son écorce piquée d'épines.
Sa chair est blanche et pulpeuse avec des graines noires (indigestes).
Au Brésil, ce fruit est appelé graviola, et sapotille dans l’île de La Réunion (qui vient du nom du fruit en Inde, Sapadille),appelée encore soursop en anglais, guanabana en, espagnol ;ou,mang-cau au Vietnam ou encore thu-riankhaek en Thaïlande.

Le corossol est un fruit énergétique ayant une forte teneur en glucides.
Il est riche en vitamine C, laquelle facilite l’absorption du fer (présent également dans le corossol).
Il contient également des fibres et des minéraux, notamment du potassium, calcium et magnésium…
La saveur sucrée du corossol permet de le consommer nature sans ajout de sucre. Il se déguste aussi en salade de fruits, jus ou sorbets et même cuit comme en Indonésie en flan ou gratin.
Pelé et débarrassé de ses graines, le corossol peut aussi être cuisiné.

Propriétés Thérapeutiques

Fruit Annona muricata… que du nom, on sent bien que le corossol est bien plus qu’un fruit. Il ne tarit pas de sespropriétés thérapeutiques qui contribuent au bien-être sanitaire.

Si les bienfaits miraculeux du corossol dans le traitement du cancer ont été scientifiquement prouvés, ils semblent pourtant occulter les autres propriétés curatives de ce fruit à épine. Grâce à ses riches composants formés entre autres par des acides aminés, vitamines et minerais, l’Annona muricata est un allié thérapeutique entièrement naturel et ne produit certainement pas d’effets secondaires inopinés à condition de le consommer avec une certaine modération.

En jus de fruit, sorbet ou confiture, le corossol est recommandé dans des cas d’insomnie, de dépression et de troubles nerveux. C’est en outre un agent antimicrobien pour les infections bactériennes, parasitaires et fongiques. Il est aussi bon pour le cœur et stimule la digestion.

Originaire d’Amazonie, le corossol est vert et ressemble vaguement à un cœur. On reconnaît qu’il arrive à maturité par son odeur pénétrante et sa peu plutôt molle.

Un puissant anti-cancer

La nature nous surprend de plus en plus. Les vertus de ce fruit sont méconnues par la majorité de la population dans le monde et notamment par les personnes qui sont atteintes du cancer. Pourtant, le corossol, encore connu sous le nom de Graviola ou Guanabana, est un fruit dont ses vertus anti-cancéreuses sont scientifiquement prouvées.

L’écorce, les fruits, les feuilles et les racines agissent sur les cellules de notre organisme. Les feuilles de l’arbre peuvent détruire les cellules cancéreuses et agissent dix mille fois plus que la chimiothérapie et cela sans effets secondaires (perte de poids, perte de cheveux, etc.). Le graviola assure sa réputation auprès des chercheurs dans la guérison du cancer du sein, des intestins, des ovaires, du foie et des poumons.

Toutes les parties de cet arbre sont utilisées dans la médecine naturelle, rien n’est perdu puisque l’écorce, les racines, les fruits, les feuilles et les pépins sont tous bénéfiques pour la santé de l’être humain.
Selon les résultats des recherches de l’université américaine PURDUE, ce sont les feuilles de cet arbre qui sont plus importantes. En effet, elles peuvent détruire des cellules cancéreuses.

Ainsi, s’il vous arrive de faire chez vous du jus , choisissez avant tout le jus de corossol !

( Source : Stop Santé.com )

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Better Use for Gym Equipment

EXERCISE
Kettlebell mountain climber

HOW TO DO IT
Lay a kettlebell flat side down with its handle facing away from you. Place both palms on the round part, and assume a pushup position. Slowly bring one knee as close to your chest as you can. Touch the floor with your toes, and quickly return to pushup position while maintaining good form. Repeat with the other knee. Alternate legs for 30 seconds.

BENEFIT
The instability of the kettlebell forces your abs, lower back, and hips to work harder than they do in a traditional mountain climber.

2. Resistance band

EXERCISE
Anti-rotation band speed fly

HOW TO DO IT
Anchor one end of a resistance band at hip level. Grip the handle with your right hand and cover that hand with your left. Kneel on your right knee (with the anchor point on your right) and press the handle in front of your chest. With your elbow slightly bent, let your right arm open toward the anchor point, and return explosively to the starting position. Do 10 to 12 reps on each side.

BENEFIT
You're not only strengthening your pecs but also carving your abs as they fight to prevent your torso from rotating.

3. Barbell

EXERCISE
Overhead barbell walk

HOW TO DO IT
Grab the bar using an overhand grip that's about twice shoulder width, and raise it directly overhead. (Add weight only when you can maintain proper form.) Keep your arms straight, your body tense, and your head back. Walk forward for 5 to 10 seconds, pause, and then walk backward for 5 to 10 seconds. That's 1 rep. Do 2 sets of 2 reps, resting 60 seconds between sets.

BENEFIT
Balancing the bar targets your shoulders as well as your torso's stabilizing muscles, including hips, obliques, and lower back.

4. Medicine ball

EXERCISE
Windmill slam

HOW TO DO IT
Hold a medicine ball at waist height and assume a staggered stance, your left foot 2 to 3 feet in front of your right, knees slightly bent. In one smooth "windmill" movement, swing the ball counterclockwise, arc it above your head, and slam it to the floor outside your left leg. Then catch the bounce. Do this 10 times, switch legs, and repeat.

BENEFIT
You'll send your calorie furnace into overdrive while chiseling your rectus abdominis—better known as your six-pack.

5 Simple Tips for Bigger Tugs

by Mike Robertson – 11/29/2011

I remember the first time I deadlifted "heavy."

Granted, I'd pulled what I thought was heavy before, but I'm talking about my first legit grinding, eyeball-popping, "I'm glad I didn't wear those white shorts Grandma got me for Christmas" kind of a pull.

It was October of 2000, and I was gearing up for my first powerlifting meet. It was also the first semester in my Masters program, so we had to train at six in the morning. Needless to say, this isn't the optimal time for neurally demanding lifting!

Powerlifting seemed like a great fit since I was no longer active in any organized sports and I needed an outlet for my competitive juices. Although I had no clue what I was getting into, I knew I wanted to get stronger and learn more about lifting technique.

On this particular day, the goal was to determine what a good opening weight would be in our meet. I'd done a set of five at either 275 or 285, so I figured 335 would come up lightning fast.

It didn't. Sure, I grinded it out, but "easy" wasn't the word that first came to mind.

I learned a powerful lesson that day: deadlifting heavy is hard friggin' work. It separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, and the serious lifters from the cable curl kids.

If you're serious about your training and your physique, then the deadlift is an animal you need to tame. This article will help you do just that.

Here are five tips to help you take your pull to all-new levels.

1. Get Your Lats Tight!

Possibly the most common mistake I see when deadlifts get heavy is the bar drifting away from the body.

Many lifters assume that a deadlift is just picking the bar straight up, but this isn't effective! As you pile on the plates, you need to think about actively engaging the lats and pulling the bar back into your body so that your weight shifts backward slightly.

If you find your lats are too weak, start performing some heavy upper back work, specifically vertical pulls (chinning/pulling) and horizontal pulls (rowing). Doing so will not only improve your pulls but also increase the thickness of your back, and probably bump up your bench press to boot.

This tip alone is worth the price of admission. Keeping the bar in tight helps ensure every pull is smooth and efficient.

2. Get Your Hips Down

Lifters often miss deadlifts because their lift is 100% lower back dominated.

We walk a fine line here. You don't want the hips down too low – this isn't a squat – but if there's virtually no knee bend and the lift looks like two distinct motions (hips shoot up, lower back finishes), you need to get your hips down more.

The best deadlifters in the world make it look smooth. Their torso angle starts in a certain position and they get enough leg drive to keep their hips underneath them. It's much easier to finish the weight this way than if you're totally hunched over and reliant on your lower back.

The down side? Your weights are going to go down, at least for the time being.

However, in the long run, getting your hips down will not only give you more leg drive, it will also keep your back healthier. This is a true win-win.

3. Strengthen Those Hamstrings!

There's no way you're going to pull a ridiculously heavy weight if your hamstrings resemble over-stretched dental floss. The question is, what kind of hamstring assistance work is going to drive up your deadlift to newfound heights?

If you miss at the top, you're probably weak in the hip extensor function of the hamstrings. To bring this up, focus on big-bang assistance lifts like good mornings, Romanian deadlifts, safety bar good mornings, and the like.

If you miss in the bottom, focus on developing the knee flexor function of the hamstrings. Start with ball leg curls to develop the pattern of maintaining hip extension while simultaneously flexing the knee, but eventually glute-ham raises should be a big part of your program. There's simply so substitute for them.

4. Mix it Up

Specificity is critical if you want to move maximal weights in any lift.

For instance, if you want to squat a lot, you need to squat a lot. If you want to bench a lot, you need to bench a lot.

In other words, you need to practice how you play!

The deadlift is a slightly different animal. Even if you never have aspirations of lifting in powerlifting gear, employing chains and/or bands into your training can pay dividends and help you set some PR's along the way.

When using chains or bands, you've got two options:

• Lifting against the bands or chains
• Lifting with the bands.

I'm sure some of you are wondering, "I've never used these before. How can I work them into my training?"

I've found two types of mesocycles with bands and chains to be effective:

The first option is a two-week rotation. This is a good choice if you're already an experienced deadlifter, or if you need to rotate your exercises a bit more frequently.

In this case, pick one exercise and use it for two weeks. It looks something like this:

Exercise: Deadlifts against bands

Week 1: Work up to 75 or 80%, and then perform 3-5 singles.
Week 2: Work up to 90 or 95% for one single. No big psych-up or extra arousal here – save the ammonia snorting routine for another day. Use a belt if you typically use one.

In this variation you'll simply swap exercises every two weeks. So for two weeks you'll perform deadlifts against bands, and then the next two-week cycle you'll pull against chains, or with bands, etc.

The key with this option is to not max out every other week. It will be tempting, but I suggest only going for a legitimate PR every 2-3 months.

For those less experienced with bands/chains or who need a bit more time to "learn" an exercise, here's a better option. We'll stick with our example of deadlifting against bands.

Week 1: Light technique work. Work up to 50-60%, hit this for 8-10 singles.
Week 2: Moderate technique work. Work up to 75 or 80%, then perform 3-5 singles.
Week 3: Bordering on Max Effort. Work up to 90 or 95% for one single. No psych up or extra arousal. Belt-up if needed.
Week 4: Deload.

Using this method you'll simply rotate from month-to-month, or mesocycle to mesocycle.

Your months might look like this:

Month #1: Standard deadlifts
Month #2: Deadlifts against chains
Month #3: Deadlifts against bands
Month #4: Deadlifts with bands

Finish month #4 with a taper, and then test your pull. Chances are if your technique is on point and you've picked good assistance exercises, you're going to set a serious PR!

5. Don't be Afraid to Grind!

One of my biggest pet peeves is when new or young lifters fail to stick with a lift.

Look, there are times when you need to know when to bail. If the bar gets out in front of you, you're horribly rounded over, or the weight is just too damn heavy, fine.

But what irritates me to no end is when someone hits the sticking point, holds the weight there for .23 seconds, and then drops the weight.

WTF?

Look, if deadlifting heavy were easy, everyone would do it. Instead, you've got to learn how to grind.

Want to know what a grinder really looks like? Here's my training partner Lil' Stevie. He'll teach ya how to grind!

This weight was just too much. Sometimes it happens. But he can walk away from that attempt knowing he gave it everything he had, and next time around, that weight will be his.

Hopefully you can say the same thing.

Summary

In no way was this list meant to be all-inclusive – I could probably come up with another 10, 15, even 25 tips to improve your deadlift without breaking a sweat. But these five are my all-time favorite tricks for adding pounds to your pull today!

Take a moment to review these tips and see where your tugging game may be lacking. Then, leave your own favorite deadlifting tip in the "Comments" section below. I look forward to seeing what's worked for you!

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