EC whats a typical day like for you? take us from hour to hour. Do you get to work at say 5 am?
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
I got it and replied. If you didn’t get it, then it’s a problem on your end. Lemme know.
Thanks.
[/quote]
Never got it. Try PMing me and/or I’ll give you my email via PM.
Thanks E,
B
Did you get the message from today?
You could probably use a little more rowing, but you can say that of pretty much everybody.
Don’t overthink this. 
[quote]geekboy wrote:
Hi coach EC,
Just came across your comment regarding Coach AC’s Cool Tip. So do you think it is functionally right to do the following?
-
12 singles of BB bench press @ 70Kg (my 3RM), then 3-4x5 T-bar row at 35kg (my 6RM)
-
5x20 BW push-ups then 5x12 seated cable rows @ 60kg (15RM)
-
3x8 BB bench press @ 60kg (my 10RM) s/set with with 3x8 DB Bench side row @ 32.5kg.
(My Vert/Push and Vert/Pull volume is small compare to the above)
You see, at 1) my Horz/push is higher than Horz/pull in terms of total weight moved, and 2) is … well, I don’t really know how to balance the volume in this case.
As a WSSB follower, my upper body workout is always similar to (1) and (2) (as upper body ME day and reps day repsectively). Am I setting up a potential shoulder injury?
Thanks in advance for answering.
geek boy[/quote]
Depends on the day (Sunday-Monday is my weekend, although I still train a few clients on Mondays):
Sunday: 8AM wake-up (usually), lift at South Side 10AM-12:30PM, write programs/articles/answer emails for most of the day.
Monday: 6:30AM wake-up Clients 8-11:30AM, lift 11:30-12:30, write programs/articles/answer emails for most of the day, Prime Time 7-10PM.
Tuesday: 7AM wake-up, write programs/articles/answer emails until 11AM or so, GPP/recovery work 12-1PM, clients 1-9PM, home and directly to sleep.
Wednesday: 4:45AM wake-up, clients 6AM-1PM, write programs/articles/answer emails/take a quick power nap, lift at South Side 6:30-8PM, home for Prime Time 9-10PM.
Thursday: Same as Tuesday.
Friday: Roughly the same as Wednesday, but without Prime Time.
Saturday: 6:30AM wake-up, clients 8-4, then ???.
I’m squeezing in cooking, packing, and shopping for food here whenever I can. The commute to South Side is 50-60 minutes. I’m adding in some supplemental low-intensity sessions as I approach my meet and need to make weight. My thesis is taking up a lot of time right now, too.
[quote]bigpump23 wrote:
EC whats a typical day like for you? take us from hour to hour. Do you get to work at say 5 am?[/quote]
Oh yeah, I didn’t bother to write in when I’m reading, stretching, chatting on the phone with other coaches, or whatever. I also head back up to UCONN every other Monday or so.
EC I wanted to get your thoughts on a few different methods.
1 - I read about how the Bulgarians would work up to a max on their main movement and to deterimine that day’s best. After that they would proceed to do their work sets with a certian percentage. Like finding a max and then doing 4-5x3 w/85-95%. Would this be another sound way to perform max effor work?
2 - What do you think about using AREG methods with dropoff percents? Like working up to a max set of five reps and then dropping each set 2-3% until you can’t get the 5 reps. I have read on inno-sport that this is a good way of finding your optimium workout capacity?
3- Using EDT for some accessory lifts? Like completing your main movement adn then having a 15 minute PR zone for 1 - Seated Rows and then 2 - Rear Delt Flys ? I know that Charles has written that EDT may be a more effective way to manage accesory movements for a Westside influenced routine. It doesn’t seem like it could work with your heavier lifts, but it does seem like it could have some merit.
Thanks
[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
EC I wanted to get your thoughts on a few different methods.
1 - I read about how the Bulgarians would work up to a max on their main movement and to deterimine that day’s best. After that they would proceed to do their work sets with a certian percentage. Like finding a max and then doing 4-5x3 w/85-95%. Would this be another sound way to perform max effor work?[/quote]
Yes; I use it myself quite frequently, although I’ll usually just do singles above 90% of the max for the day. Just think of them as down-sets to get more volume in at a high percentage of 1RM. The secret is to manipulate the number of lifts above this threshold over time.
I think it has value when you’re using distributed loading rather than concentrated loading (I use concentrated more often). Calculating dropoffs is nothing new, but my feeling is that a lot of the numbers people throw around have come out of nowhere and aren’t as straightforward as many seem to think.
I definitely think it’s good stuff. I actually used an EDT approach for some of my supplemental work in the second phase of my current 12-week training cycle.
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
It depends; do you have a history of ankle injury?
Without knowing more, about all I can recommend is a lot more single-leg movements as well plenty of dorsiflexion exercises. These are generally the two most commonly missing pieces from the puzzle.
Injured individuals are a different story, though.[/quote]
I have sprained my right ankle several times, once my entire foot turned black and blue and all my doctor did was tell me to put an ace bandage on it and stay off my feet as much as possible. I was young and dumb and didnt think twice about it, however I have never noticed any difference post injury.
For now I will just keep pounding away at bulgarian split squats off my foot stool whenever I watch TV
[quote]JNeves wrote:
Eric Cressey wrote:
It depends; do you have a history of ankle injury?
Without knowing more, about all I can recommend is a lot more single-leg movements as well plenty of dorsiflexion exercises. These are generally the two most commonly missing pieces from the puzzle.
Injured individuals are a different story, though.
I have sprained my right ankle several times, once my entire foot turned black and blue and all my doctor did was tell me to put an ace bandage on it and stay off my feet as much as possible. I was young and dumb and didnt think twice about it, however I have never noticed any difference post injury.
For now I will just keep pounding away at bulgarian split squats off my foot stool whenever I watch TV[/quote]
Just made this post earlier tonight; it’s applicable to your situation as well.
“This is one instance in which unstable surface training would definitely be of value. Wobble boards, airex pads, dyna-discs and the like have proven very effective in correcting the proprioceptive deficit one sees in functional ankle instability. Start with simple balancing exercises and progress to more dynamic movements.”
Hey Eric… the orthopedist canceled on me last week regarding my ac joint… I get to see him tomorrow afternoon. I hurt the shoulder in Jauary so I’m going about trying to further stabilize the joint (scapular retraction, depression, stabilization, etc…) I just finished the first part of the Neanderthal No More series (IV) and started on the second part(V) today. The front squats were a no go for the joint in part 1 (I substituted in high bar back squats with a mana ray).
In part two what exercises would you discourage… additionally what would you suggest for substitutions. Any reservations for Full Contact Twists, Barbell rollouts, weighted dips (I’m pretty sure those are a no), L-lateral raise. Thanks
[quote]matticus wrote:
Hey Eric… the orthopedist canceled on me last week regarding my ac joint… I get to see him tomorrow afternoon. I hurt the shoulder in Jauary so I’m going about trying to further stabilize the joint (scapular retraction, depression, stabilization, etc…) I just finished the first part of the Neanderthal No More series (IV) and started on the second part(V) today. The front squats were a no go for the joint in part 1 (I substituted in high bar back squats with a mana ray).[/quote]
I could have seen that coming a mile away; I wish I had known ahead of time!
Anything with cross-chest adduction is going to be a problem. Try cyclones off a hyperextension bench in place of the FCTs, pulldown abs instead of rollouts, and rolling DB extensions in place of dips. You might be able to do the l-lateral raises. If not, just use an elbow-supported external rotations.
Good luck!
I could have seen that coming a mile away; I wish I had known ahead of time!
you did… I told you after pissing off my ac joint for two straight weeks… I have a propensity to ignore common sense with my own injuries
yeah I kinda figured those would be the ones that were a no for part two… I did the full contact twists tonight, just to give it a shot, but yeah it’s not a good idea… man I love those. What about dips… my ac joint got very angry when I tried those a few months ago… thanks for all the help
oops my bad… missed the dips the first time reading your post… doing neanderthal no more series has been great… my posterior chain thanks you
hi eric i have some balance questions for you. I understand the idea of balancing particular movement patterns such as horizontal pulling/pushing with equal or if need be greater volume, however what about factoring in equal load into the equation. Doing body weight chins and dips are easy enough to equal each other out however adding in there volume and weight along with horizontal pressing how easy would it be to do enough horizontal pulling to make the balance equal.
Also strength ratios are an interesting topic do you feel they are necessary between certain muscle groups and or exercises and also are there some necessary ratios that should be meet for optimal training health
one last balance type question would refer to using articluations as a standard for balancing things out. If i am using pullover or stiff arm pulldowns to strengthen my shoulder extension ability(for baseball throwing) should i also do equal or near equal amounts of shoulder flexion(front raises). Also what about adding in knee flexion to the equation to offset the great amount of knee extension(since almost all compound lower body movements inclue knee extension) i had some ideas for putting this together when i am finished i was hoping i could email it to you in hopes of getting your opinion.
one last topic was eccentric training. I feel that maybe perform eccentrics for certain movements every three mesocycles or so, (enough to reap the benefits but not enough to burn out) would be a good idea in order to stop the occurence of de-acceleration injuries that so often happen to athletes especially in the shoulder rotators and the hip extension as well as knee flexors(torque of throwing motion and slowing down after sprinting running after fly balls ala ken griffey jr) Is the frequence enough or maybe to much or am i off the mark with my observation
thanks for your time and any help you offer
Hey EC,
I was just wondering what input you were going to give me on this thread:
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=781616
I mean, your interest really piqued my curiosity…
Thanks,
Conor
hey its me again. I had two more quick inquries. I was wondering is it necessary to balance your training during each session(such as horizontal pulling/pushing volume) or should the entire week and your training cycle be equal in respect to opposite muscle movements. If i were to focus on my vertical pulling(chins) and vertical pushing(dips) one workout while adding in some extra scap retraction work but not enough to equal the total volume since both of those exercises are body weight plus exercises which the only rowing exercise close to that would be seated rows and alot of seated rows< however this assumes you believe it necessary to equal both volume and load which i mentioned in my first question
secondily you mentioned in a previous post to me that horizontal rowing again cause internal rotation at times or on some exercises, would this apply to those exercises where you accentuate the negative or does internal rotation come about by another means.
thanks again for all your help eric. since i am battling both mono and sleep apnea, presumably, my workouts nor there planning have been outstanding. Total body sessions, even though i do prefer them, are to much plus i dont see any way to fix weak points or increase certain variables effective without pushing volume out of this world. so for now i am doing 2 upper body and 2 lower body workouts, much easier to progress i feel, and adding in cardio for about 20 minutes at the end of each session, then maybe two day more days of cardio but since my actual weight workouts are under or about 30 mintues it does not feel as to much if it does at times i drop the extra cardio days. as far as what training volume to use that seems pretty easy, low to medium volume but what about intensity. is that something i should just kind of play around with and see how it goes. Without using heavier weights i really dont see an appriopate way cycling my training intensity. It wouldnt be adviceable to have four workouts all focused on rep work 6-12 reps would it.
thanks again eric as soon as i feel better and hopefully get this apnea straighted out i really want to be a client again, just hope you have room and time left. thanks again.
I got the football teams orthopedist to look at my shoulder yesterday (AC joint injured in January while performing a snatching like motion of an extremely heavy weight, stupid, stupid stupid!!) He said the impingement/catchiness I had been noticing lately is actually in the ac joint… he really didn’t give me any more anatomical details or suggestions despite subsequent inquiries. He said there was not much laxity left in the joint which is a plus.
I did my second workout of part 2 (V) of neanderthal no more today. On the chest supported row I’m guessing a barbell setup with a pronoted almost bench width grip is what you’re going for… In the college’s weight room we don’t have a chest supported row setup so I attempted it on an adjustable incline bench, but was unable to get a full range of motion, running into the bench supports probably a good 9" to 1’ from my sternum. In light of this I did the exercise with dumbells to enable me to get full scapular retraction. What should be my reletive aiming point in relation to my torso for my row? Should I be rowing the weight straight up (too much upper trap recruitment) or back at an angle perpendicular to the chest support (I went with the latter)?
On the giant set of bent over rear delt laterals, prone lower trap raises, and cuban presses I stuggled… man do I ever need more strength there. To get in all the holds I had to use 5 pound dumbells on the laterals and 3’s on the lower trap raises. When I got to the cuban presses I had some problems with what I should be aiming for form wise. My right shoulder, (probably part of how I managed to mess up the ac joint in the first place) has the ability to pop (litterly feels/sounds like it pops out of a tissue restraint, but no pain) foward and down quite a bit winging the scapula out the back (I’m guessing because of really loose rotator cuff muscles from tons of throwing swinging activities in my youth (baseball, football, golf, tennis).
When I’m doing the cuban presses should I be looking to keep my shoulder blades retracted (I’m guessing I should try to keep the scapula from winging throughout the motion)? When rowing the weight up, am I looking to use mainly delts with limited scapular elevation? On the reversal of external rotation after the press what should I be looking for as far as range of motion just from the rotation (forearm parralel to ground, past parralel)?
Thanks for all the help… I hate how most medical professionals just treat symptoms of muscloskelatal promblems, but don’t know the first thing when it comes to actually correcting surrounding tissues and joints that may be causing or may help remedy the problem.
Hey EC I know your a big fan of rack pulls, so I was wondering if you could help me out since I would like to start them. I’m having some form issues such as:
-
When you set up are your shoulders over the bar or behind?
-
Are the pins supposed to be set below the kneees or above.
-
Is it ok to do a shoulder blade retraction at the end or should one wait until they feel ok with just the pull movement? Thanks alot man.
Coach EC,
LOL I didn’t until I saw Coach AC’s tip…
Anyway, in case I want to row more, where should I put that under the structure below?
And would I be benefit of external rotation?
My goal is to increase sport specific strength for Karate.
Thanks again,
Geek boy
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
You could probably use a little more rowing, but you can say that of pretty much everybody.
Don’t overthink this.
geekboy wrote:
Hi coach EC,
Just came across your comment regarding Coach AC’s Cool Tip. So do you think it is functionally right to do the following?
-
12 singles of BB bench press @ 70Kg (my 3RM), then 3-4x5 T-bar row at 35kg (my 6RM)
-
5x20 BW push-ups then 5x12 seated cable rows @ 60kg (15RM)
-
3x8 BB bench press @ 60kg (my 10RM) s/set with with 3x8 DB Bench side row @ 32.5kg.
(My Vert/Push and Vert/Pull volume is small compare to the above)
You see, at 1) my Horz/push is higher than Horz/pull in terms of total weight moved, and 2) is … well, I don’t really know how to balance the volume in this case.
As a WSSB follower, my upper body workout is always similar to (1) and (2) (as upper body ME day and reps day repsectively). Am I setting up a potential shoulder injury?
Thanks in advance for answering.
geek boy
[/quote]