hey Mike…
I want to do some things other then lifting to shed some pounds …U think cardio for a 30 to 45 mins is well or do you think Sprint work will do better in shedding the extra pounds or a mix …whats your take?
[quote]kpd315 wrote:
hey Mike…
I want to do some things other then lifting to shed some pounds …U think cardio for a 30 to 45 mins is well or do you think Sprint work will do better in shedding the extra pounds or a mix …whats your take?[/quote]
Here are just a few things that you can try:
- HIIT with sprints/jog intervals
- High-rep kettlebell work
- Weighted gpp such as wheelbarrow, sledgehammer, tire flipping, car pushing, etc. This could be a great workout to keep you in shape for your line of work
Hopefully these options will break the monotony and help you shed some blubber!
Stay strong
Mike
Hi Mike,
Just wondering if you have any tips for someone trying to make his way into Strength Coaching, in a new country where no one knows you? Specifically in Australia.
Thanks any ideas would be great.
Cheers Deadly
[quote]deadly69 wrote:
Hi Mike,
Just wondering if you have any tips for someone trying to make his way into Strength Coaching, in a new country where no one knows you? Specifically in Australia.
Thanks any ideas would be great.
Cheers Deadly[/quote]
Deadly,
I could probably write a whole article like CT did, but here’s the main stuff that comes to mind off the top of my head.
First off, it helps immensely to know what you are talking about! Learn and apply as much as you can. Nothing is worse than getting your name out there, but you don’t know what the hell you are talking about.
Confidence is very important as well. If you don’t have confidence, “fake it til you make it!” A feeble, timid person will have a very hard time being a successful coach. They might know what they are talking about, say the right things, etc., but confidence is simply something that can’t be replaced in this profession.
Next, you’ve gotta walk the walk in this business. If you aren’t training hard, athletes will see right through your facade and you’ll never gain their respect. You don’t have to be the strongest, most muscular guy out there, but they have to know that you go through what they go through on a daily basis…this is crucial.
Next, you will have to volunteer some time. At Ball State I started off as an intern, and then just hung out and helped the whole next year. It got to the point where the head strength coach, Wade Russell, was probably tired of seeing me ass in the gym all the time! It wasn’t until my 2nd year in there that I got more responsibility: I took over women’s volleyball, and was like a co/assistant coach with women’s soccer, men’s volleyball, football, and the powerlifting team (and these were just the TEAMS, we also worked with tons of athletes on a more individual basis).
I wanted to work with as many athletes as possible, and get as much hands on experience as I possibly could. The more I worked with people, the more I learned. The more I learned, the more confident I was. The more confident I was, the better coach I became. It’s a truly awesome cycle when it’s on the up-and-up.
Finally, take pride in your work! This is an amazing field. You don’t make the most money, you won’t get the most respect, but the bond you share with your athletes is something truly special. You see something in each of them, and then you cultivate it, watch it grow, and before you know they are playing and performing even better than THEY ever imagined…but it’s what you saw in them all along. This is quite possibly the most rewarding experience you can have as a strength coach, and one that will make all the long days and crappy money worth it. Just talking about this stuff really gets me going…so I need to simmer down so I can sleep later!
I’ll count this for my Thursday blog as well. Hopefully this will inspire some of you to take your love of strength and sport to the next level!
Stay strong
Mike
Mike,
I do two full body workouts per week, but I also run twice a week (usually intervals, but sometimes 2 mile runs). I know you work mostly with athletes, but how could an average guy structure a workout schedule to make this work, i.e., keep getting stronger, maintain endurance, and not overtrain.
Thanks Mike,
That makes me even more determined to make it in this industry.
Deadly
[quote]gar18 wrote:
Mike,
I do two full body workouts per week, but I also run twice a week (usually intervals, but sometimes 2 mile runs). I know you work mostly with athletes, but how could an average guy structure a workout schedule to make this work, i.e., keep getting stronger, maintain endurance, and not overtrain.
[/quote]
Gar,
Assuming your weight-training and/or run volume isn’t absurbd, I don’t think you will overtrain. If I were doing this, I would just alternate days, and take a day off in between. It could look like this:
Mon - Weights
Wed - Run
Fri - Weights
Sun - Run
Tue - Weights, etc.
As far as improving strength and keeping your endurance up, just make sure that you are changing your program about every 4 weeks and making sure to use an unload week at the end of every cycle. Hope this helps!
Stay strong
Mike
Hello,
I’ve been training for about two years now and have lost an decent amount of weight doing so (277 down to 217 today). However, during my early training days, I seem to have picked up a few bad habits and overtrained a few body parts. My goal this summer is to bring some balance into my body in addition to losing the last 20-30 pounds of fat.
My question is about knees. When squatting heavy, the first thing I notice is that my knees shake. Not only that, but for the longest time, there is slight pain when bending squatting all the way down (sometimes accompanied by clicking). This has always prevented me from doing full squats, I only go down to parallel.
My assumption is that there are muscle imbalances. I’ve put lots of effort recently in getting my hamstrings up to speed, but otherwise, I’m somewhat lost on what to do. What muscles should I be focusing on and what exercises should I be doing to help strengthen them?
Thanks for any help!
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
TopCivilian wrote:
Mike,
I have been seeing a chiropractor for several months about my knee trouble. I won’t tell you the whole story about my knee troubles because it would take too much time. As part of his therapy, which includes Active Release Techniques for the thigh, he suggested I use a foam roller on the IT band. At first this was very painful, but after a few weeks the pain subsided and things loosened up a lot. The problem is, there’s still a large knot on the lateral side of my thigh that won’t budge. I think it contributes a lot to the tightness and lateral tracking of my patella. My other leg does not have this problem and the foam roller glides painlessly and smoothly over that leg. If I can get rid of this knot I think I’ll improve my condition immensly. Do you have any suggestions or other things I can try that might help loosen up this knot? Thanks.
Have you ever had someone perform deep tissue massage? I had a similar problem a few months ago…with one session the restriction was gone and I was moving in a fluid manner again. A foam roller is an amazing tool, but unfortunately it can’t replace a set of good hands. Try it out and let me know how it works!
Stay strong
Mike[/quote]
i agree that deep tissue may help the knot. soomething else that may help is some taping to decrease the lateral glide of your patella. it would be best to see someone to do this for you (physical therapist or athletic trainer should be fine). the basic gist of the taping is to glide the patella medially. this may increase your function and decrease your symptoms.
climbon
T-Nation,
I’m really busy at work today, so I will answer all questions and wrap-up the forum this afternoon.
Stay strong
Mike
Eric,
I just wanted to thank you for your advice and I will make the changes that you suggested to my brothers program, I will pay special attention to the volume, specially for the shoulders and chest.
My brother and I thank you for your time and advice, we wish you all the best.
Hi Mike
How do you purpose to treat muscular adhesions when no A.R.T. is available? also, I’m having trouble with my adductor/abbductor flexiblity and refular stretching dont do jack s for me, any advice?
thanks
Lior
Mike,
We would like to thank you for all your advice, time and encouraging words, your guidelines have giving me a better understanding of what to do, I’m sure my brother will benefit from it. I’m reading all your articles, I will be incorporating some of the exercise from your back article as well as the guidelines from your last article, especially for the in season program.
Once again thank you for all your help and time, we wish you all the best.
[quote]Not sure what this means, but thanks for the plug!
Stay strong
Mike[/quote]
Damn. Nobody recognizes the Food Emporium theme. Now I feel like a spectacular doofus. Anyway, it’s an horribly annoying, horribly catch jingle for a supermarket in the New York area.
Here’s a question for you, if you have time. I recently injured my middle back when coming down from a rebound in basketball. I was leaning back slightly and felt when I landed as if I “folded” too far backward from the impact. I’ve been out of the gym for about a week now, but the x-rays showed no fractures and there’s no evidence of disk damage. Anyway, is this sort of injury common, and is there something that can be done to prevent it?
Thanks a lot for the time and effort you’ve devoted to this thread.
[quote]Evilmage wrote:
Hello,
I’ve been training for about two years now and have lost an decent amount of weight doing so (277 down to 217 today). However, during my early training days, I seem to have picked up a few bad habits and overtrained a few body parts. My goal this summer is to bring some balance into my body in addition to losing the last 20-30 pounds of fat.
My question is about knees. When squatting heavy, the first thing I notice is that my knees shake. Not only that, but for the longest time, there is slight pain when bending squatting all the way down (sometimes accompanied by clicking). This has always prevented me from doing full squats, I only go down to parallel.
My assumption is that there are muscle imbalances. I’ve put lots of effort recently in getting my hamstrings up to speed, but otherwise, I’m somewhat lost on what to do. What muscles should I be focusing on and what exercises should I be doing to help strengthen them?
Thanks for any help![/quote]
Evil,
Glad to hear you have measurable, specific goals. That will go a long way in improving the quality of your training.
As for the knees, again, it’s hard to tell from the description. Where is the pain: Under the kneecap? Outside of the knee? Inside of the knee? What movements cause pain: Extension? Flexion?
One thing I can definitely recommend is to go deep on all your leg exercises such as squats, lunges, etc. This will heavily recruit the VMO and gluteals. I think you are also on the right track with regards to strengthening the hamstrings.
Let us know a little more and hopefully we can get something figured out!
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]glute-spanker wrote:
Hi Mike
How do you purpose to treat muscular adhesions when no A.R.T. is available? also, I’m having trouble with my adductor/abbductor flexiblity and refular stretching dont do jack s for me, any advice?
thanks
Lior[/quote]
Glute,
A good idea and one I’ve used before is to go the local library and pick-up some decent massage textbooks. A lot of them will instruct you on self-massage techniques as well. Another option is to go to a PT or someone who has access to muscle stim and/or ultrasound. Both of these can work to relieve the spasm as well, although a little more general than ART, IMO.
Why do you assume you need more flexibility in the ab/adductors? Is it causing problem with movement, or is it just tight? The reason that I ask is that static and dynamic flexibility have a very low correlation. This means that even though you might feel as though your static stretches suck, your dynamic flexibility is up to snuff, allowing you to do all the daily movements you are used to. If static stretching isn’t working, I would suggest some PNF stretching where you contract the muscle, and then relax and stretch for several repetitions. 5 seconds each of contract/relax seem to work well.
Stay strong
Mike
[quote]ChrisPowers wrote:
Not sure what this means, but thanks for the plug!
Stay strong
Mike
Damn. Nobody recognizes the Food Emporium theme. Now I feel like a spectacular doofus. Anyway, it’s an horribly annoying, horribly catch jingle for a supermarket in the New York area.
Here’s a question for you, if you have time. I recently injured my middle back when coming down from a rebound in basketball. I was leaning back slightly and felt when I landed as if I “folded” too far backward from the impact. I’ve been out of the gym for about a week now, but the x-rays showed no fractures and there’s no evidence of disk damage. Anyway, is this sort of injury common, and is there something that can be done to prevent it?
Thanks a lot for the time and effort you’ve devoted to this thread.[/quote]
Chris,
Did you actually hit your mid-back on the ground? If that’s the case, that kind of acute injury would be impossible for me to help help you with over the internet.
However, if you landed on your feet and felt like your back just hyperextended, I would say you probably just hyperextended some of the muscles/ligaments/tendons in your back. Assuming there was no damage done to the actual vertebrae themselves, this is just something that will take a little time to heal. Do everything possible to knock the inflammation out first, then start using heat to increase blood flow and further speed the healing process.
And no, there’s really nothing you can do to prevent these kinds of injuries…that’s part of sports!
Good luck with your training.
Stay strong
Mike
Ok people, I think that’s going to wrap things up for my semi-guest forum. I know that a few of you still have questions that are on-going, so I will do my best to check in and get those finished up. If you have any new questions, feel free to shoot me and e-mail or PM and I will do my best to get back with you quickly.
I’d also like to take a quick minute to thank two groups of people:
-
The T-Nation staff and writers. The staff here are incredibly generous and I thank them for their support of me and my writing. I’m also proud to say I’m a colleague of some of the finest writers in the Iron Game. Special to thanks to my boy and fellow biomechanics geek EC (who just did his first push/pull meet and blew it up!) as well as John Berardi who helped me get started. I appreciate both of you more than you know!
-
The T-Nation readers! You all are what make this site click. Your level of dedication and commitment to the iron game will pay off, not only in your physiques, but also how you lead your life. The strength, courage and discipline that you get from the iron will make you a better friend, mother/father, co-worker, etc. Stay strong and I will do anything in my power to help you succeed!
Until next time…Stay strong!
Mike
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
Evil,
Glad to hear you have measurable, specific goals. That will go a long way in improving the quality of your training.
As for the knees, again, it’s hard to tell from the description. Where is the pain: Under the kneecap? Outside of the knee? Inside of the knee? What movements cause pain: Extension? Flexion?
One thing I can definitely recommend is to go deep on all your leg exercises such as squats, lunges, etc. This will heavily recruit the VMO and gluteals. I think you are also on the right track with regards to strengthening the hamstrings.
Let us know a little more and hopefully we can get something figured out!
Stay strong
Mike[/quote]
Sorry about that. The pain is under the knee cap. By under the knee cap, I don’t mean the pain is inside the knee cap, just the muscle/tendon thats right between the knee cap and shin. Sorry if my description isn’t clear enough. The pain occurs when going deep in squats, usually it occurs regardless of whether there’s weight or not. If I was to squat ass to grass right now, I would surely feel a slight pain.
I really appreciate your help.
Mike,
I am sure I speak for everyone when I say thanks for your time and knowledge!
Have a great 4th of July!