I really enjoy all of your articles and the time you take out of your schedules to answer these questions.
I have two questions. I have a medial plica in my left knee that prevents me from doing deep squats. What exercises should I implement in my routine to prevent any possible imbalances that may result from doing squats at parallel or slightly above parallel. Currently I do two full body workouts twice a week. I perform deadlifts and a lunge/step up variation on one day and squats and a hamstring movement on the other day.
My second question pertains to the integration of sprinting (200-600 meter runs) in a typical strength/hypertrophy routine. What would be the optimal number of sessions and when would you perform them, i.e., same day, non-lifting days, day before lifting sessions, ect?, for a trainee who wanted to see progress in both running and lifting performance. Also, there has been a lot written about varying the intensity of weight training sessions, but would the same apply to running and how would it be cycled.
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
Thanks for the kind words bro…good to hear from ya! 530 w/ a belt is a studly pull, but EC’s got ya by 10#'s right now. Now that I’m healthy and ready to rock it’s on between the 3 of us…the Quest for 6 bills!
Stay strong
MR
[/quote]
JC and Mike,
I guess the gloves are off, huh? I’ll take that challenge. 600 ought to fall at AAPF Nationals in April; be sure to mark it on your calendars.
550 should have gone on 12/18, but I missed it about an inch short of lockout after a good 7-8 second fight in which I ignored the head judge the first time he told me to put it down. The video is a riot; he’s waving his arms at me to just give it up. Apparently, the bar wasn’t moving and my head was about to explode:)
[quote]gar18 wrote:
I have a medial plica in my left knee that prevents me from doing deep squats. What exercises should I implement in my routine to prevent any possible imbalances that may result from doing squats at parallel or slightly above parallel. Currently I do two full body workouts twice a week. I perform deadlifts and a lunge/step up variation on one day and squats and a hamstring movement on the other day.[/quote]
Most people do have patellar plicas; they’re just extensions of the synovium that occur randomly during fetal development. I’m assuming that you mean that yours is irritated, which leads to inflammation and thickening of the synovial sack. When the area is thicker, it catches on the femur when one moves at the knee, and you get pain from the catching between the patella and femur (regardless of where it’s occurring). Your best bet is to kill off the inflammation of the synovial capsule; I hate NSAIDs, so I won’t recommend them here. Iontophoresis and ultrasound can be quite effective in this regard, though.
In terms of strengthening exercises, stick with closed chain movements to emphasize strength and endurance of the muscles acting at the ankle, hip, and knee. Remember that all these joints are working together, so if your knee isn’t up to par, you can compensate by strengthening the hips and ankles to take on some of the burden.
What you’re doing sounds like a good start, although I’d encourage you to at least try introducing a complete range of motion over time; shoot for an extra 1/2 inch or so every few weeks and see where it gets you. If there’s any pain, can it. Single-leg movements like lunges and step-ups will yield favorable results in this regard. If you can’t pull it off with your bum leg, try doing the deeper single-leg stuff on your healthy leg only; you’ll likely get a neural carryover in strength and motor control that will reduce your risk of reaggravating the injury or suffering other knee injuries/overuse conditions. Experiment with movements in different planes (e.g. lateral squats, lunges to 45-degrees, rotational lunges) as well.
Obviously, flexibility - both active an passive - is an important consideration as well. Do static stretching, PNF, and dynamic flexibility work.
Wow, there’s a loaded question. It really depends on the strength and weakness of that athlete. Is he/she more proficient at the strength or speed end of the continuum? What works for one individual is completely inappropriate for another individual, so you really have to take it on a case-by-case basis. That said, if they’re going to be on the same day, I’d prefer that they be separated by several hours. Ideally, lower body lifting would have a day of its own, and it might be preceded by some short-distance sprints (10-20m) as more of a warm-up than anything. You could definitely do the longer sprint work on upper body days. Again, though, I’d prefer that they be separate from the lifting sessions for a variety of reasons. If you want to toss your plan out there, we’d be glad to comment on it. Be sure to include your perceived strengths and weaknesses.
[quote]Also, there has been a lot written about varying the intensity of weight training sessions, but would the same apply to running and how would it be cycled.
Thanks[/quote]
Definitely. Tempo training is simply a form of GPP for sprinters. Keep in mind, however, that this GPP needs to be specific to an athlete’s work capacity in different realms. What would be GPP for a powerlifter wouldn’t be appropriate for a middle-distance runner (and vice versa). A labmate of mine is a marathoner who goes out for “recovery” 10-mile runs and giggles about it. Can you imagine a 1,200 pound squatter doing that? Think of these sessions as means of a) facilitating recovery, b) practicing technique/sport-specific movements, and c) enhancing psychological well-being, d) reducing the risk of chronic disease (via improvement of insulin sensitivity, reduction of body fat, etc.)
Carl Valle wrote a great article entitled, “Tempo and the Beast” at elitefts.com. I recommned you check it out.
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
What topic did you want references for?
As far as knee strength/stability/injury prevention, I would say to strengthen the glutes, VMO and hamstrings (in relation to the quads). Stretch the hip flexors, adductors and quads. Get massage and/or use the foam roller. This should help keep most of us healthy and training well.
I don’t use a specific ratio for hip ab-ductors vs. ad-ductors. Using a postural analysis and a few tests I can tell if someone has an imbalance.
As far as the TFL being an abductor, it is but more so as a synergist. Typically, the TFL is tight compared to the weakened/inhibited gluteals. They both insert onto the ITB, kind of counteracting each other. What we meant was that the glute max/medius were weak compared to the adductors.
As far as specific muscle imbalances, we really explain all the big ones in NNM. Forward head posture, rounded shoulders, hyper lordotic back and internally rotated femurs/externally rotated feet kind of covers it.
Hope this helps!
Stay strong
MR[/quote]
Sorry about that, I pressed the wrong “reply” button. I was referring to the higher loading scheme and the affect on tendon/ligament strength.
Thanks for the answers, they were very informative!
Yalamanchi N, Klein MB, Pham HM, Longaker MT, Chang J. Flexor tendon wound healing in vitro: lactate up-regulation of TGF-beta expression and functional activity. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2004 Feb;113(2):625-32.
Flexor tendon wound healing in zone II is complicated by adhesions to the surrounding fibro-osseous sheath. These adhesions can significantly alter tendon gliding and ultimately hand function. Lactate and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) are two important mediators of wound healing that have been demonstrated to independently increase collagen production by cells of the tendon sheath, epitenon, and endotenon. This study examined the effects of lactate on TGF-beta peptide and receptor production by flexor tendon cells. Tendon sheath fibroblasts, epitenon tenocytes, and endotenon tenocytes were isolated from rabbit flexor tendons and cultured separately. Cell cultures were supplemented with 50 mM lactate, and the expression of three TGF-beta peptide isoforms (beta1, beta2, and beta3) and three receptor isoforms (R1, R2, and R3) was quantified with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. TGF-beta functional activity was also assessed with the addition of tendon cell conditioned media to mink lung epithelial cells transfected with a luciferase reporter gene expression construct responsive to TGF-beta. Supplementation of the cell culture medium with lactate significantly (p < 0.05) increased the expression of all TGF-beta peptide and receptor isoforms in all three cell lines. Tendon sheath fibroblasts exhibited the greatest increases in beta1 and beta2 peptide isoform expression (30 and 23 percent, respectively), whereas endotenon tenocytes demonstrated the greatest increase in beta3 peptide expression (32 percent). Epitenon tenocytes exhibited the greatest increases in receptor isoform R1 and R2 expression (17 and 19 percent, respectively). All three tendon cell types demonstrated significant (p < 0.05) increases in TGF-beta functional activity when exposed to lactate. Epitenon tenocytes demonstrated the greatest increase in activity (>4 times control values), whereas tendon sheath fibroblasts demonstrated the highest overall levels of total TGF-beta functional activity. Lactate significantly increased TGF-beta peptide (beta1, beta2, and beta3) expression, receptor (R1, R2, and R3) expression, and functional activity, suggesting a common pathway regulating tendon cell collagen production. Modulation of lactate and TGF-beta levels may provide a means of modulating the effects of TGF-beta on adhesion formation in flexor tendon wound healing.
Whenever i seem to squat properly, my knees seem to move inward, possibly imbalances, could you explain what this could possibly be and what i could do to get rid of it?
[quote]fusion360 wrote:
Quick question guys that most people cant answer.
Whenever i seem to squat properly, my knees seem to move inward, possibly imbalances, could you explain what this could possibly be and what i could do to get rid of it?[/quote]
Weak hip abductors, gluteus maximus, VMO, and rectus abdominus. Tight/overactive adductors, ITB/TFL, hip flexors, and vastus lateralis. Follow our NNM programs, paying specific attention to the mini-band side-steps, and you should be good to go in 4-6 weeks.
Wow-I was just thinking about PM.ing you in the hope of a bit of advice and I log on to find this thread!! Hope I’m not too late.
I’m suffering from coccyx pain that seems to be aggravated by explosive movements- mostly lower body type movements, but I have also noticed sharp pain when punching the heavy bag. I am an intermediate level weighttrainer and a beginner sprint cyclist. The sprint cycling was the first incident I noticed that caused me trouble. The physio I have been seeing diagnosed poor posture, weak GMOs and multifidus,(x-ray showed nothin) but I haven’t been experiencing too much joy. After a 2 month rest I have worked up to about 80% of previous lifts without too much trouble, but the explosive movements are still painful. Went surfing yesterday and now feel coccyx pain when seated and flexing the spine in a crunch type movement. Have had a couple of minor deadlifting injuries to the lower back musculature in the past. Could this just be referred pain? I know it’s hard to make something out of my blather, but I thought it might be worth a shot as most people I have talked to only know about impact injuries to this area.
I’m planning a 12 week conditioning phase and I’m wondering if you guys could let me know what you think.
The sport event that I’m targeting are 30sec and 60 sec in time, What I was planning on doing is to start with 2 minutes intervals with 1:1 work rest ratio and every 3 weeks change to 90sec, 60sec,30 sec intervals for this 1:2 work/rest, doing this type of workouts 3 times a week for a total of 20 minutes(not including 5 minutes warm-up/ cool down), day one sprint, day two burpees and day three rope jumping, strength training will be 3 times full body low volume workouts, 45 minutes long, same day as conditioning workouts 10-12 hours apart
Do you think I need an aerobic base first, doing mostly long aerobics 30-60 minutes for the first 3 weeks?
At the end to just maintain this conditioning, how many workouts a week will I need to do?
as always any advice in improving this plan will be welcome, thanks again guys…
What impact does a bowing of the legs have upon athletic performance? My legs are bowed from the knees down. Is there any way to correct this problem through the use of an exercise program designed specifically to balance musculature such as the one present in Neanderthal No More series of articles?
[quote]Dazman wrote:
Wow-I was just thinking about PM.ing you in the hope of a bit of advice and I log on to find this thread!! Hope I’m not too late.
I’m suffering from coccyx pain that seems to be aggravated by explosive movements- mostly lower body type movements, but I have also noticed sharp pain when punching the heavy bag. I am an intermediate level weighttrainer and a beginner sprint cyclist. The sprint cycling was the first incident I noticed that caused me trouble. The physio I have been seeing diagnosed poor posture, weak GMOs and multifidus,(x-ray showed nothin) but I haven’t been experiencing too much joy. After a 2 month rest I have worked up to about 80% of previous lifts without too much trouble, but the explosive movements are still painful. Went surfing yesterday and now feel coccyx pain when seated and flexing the spine in a crunch type movement. Have had a couple of minor deadlifting injuries to the lower back musculature in the past. Could this just be referred pain? I know it’s hard to make something out of my blather, but I thought it might be worth a shot as most people I have talked to only know about impact injuries to this area.[/quote]
My two best guesses would be semi-referred pain due to tightness in the piriformis and (more likely) referred pain from trigger points in the deep spinal muscles at the lumbar spine and sacrum. I’d be willing to bet that a lot of trigger points developed after your deadlifting injuries. So, in essence, I’d say that your physio is right on track, especially given that the x-rays essentially ruled out any osseous factors. I’d give myofascial release with a qualfied professional a shot; have him/her work really hard on your piriformis, QL, and deep spinal muscles.
I?m planning a 12 week conditioning phase and I?m wondering if you guys could let me know what you think.
The sport event that I?m targeting are 30sec and 60 sec in time,[/quote]
How long is the rest period between activity bouts?
I might not start so high (i.e. drop the 2-minute work duration phase).
How long is the duration of the event in all? Also, unless you’re a cardiac rehab patient or someone who needs to reemphasize grooving certain motor patterns, don’t worry about a cooldown. Shaking up and drinking your Surge should be a sufficient cooldown.
[quote]day one sprint, day two burpees and day three rope jumping[/qoute]
Without knowing what your sport/event is, I can’t speak to the specificity of your training.
I can’t comment on your strength training program because you didn’t list it. Some exercises will be appropriate for some athletes, and others won’t. Then again, sets, reps, tempo, rest intervals, etc. are all important, too.
I think it would be more ideal to perform at least two of these lifts on off-days from energy system work. Do you really feel like you need four complete days of rest per week?
This is a highly-debated point among a lot of performance enhancement coaches, and I tend to fall in the “no” camp. Some long aerobic sessions (e.g. 30 minutes or less) may facilitate recovery and promote capillary density in slow-twitch fibers, but that’s something that can be performed all along as supplemental sessions. Keep in mind that the intensity should be kept low, as the last thing you want to do is really shift your body to a slow-twitch profile when the goal is to perform in the 30-90 second range. Doing interval work (complemented by some lower intensity recovery stuff - less than 60-65% max heart rate) wil jack up your VO2max and, more importantly, your lactate threshold (the more important factor).
It really depends on how often per week you’ll be competing in your chosen sport. Most hockey players’ VO2max numbers drop in season, but this drop can be counteracted with an interval cycling session or two per week. Then again, these extra sessions may impair performance, so you walk a fine line between conditioning to be conditioned and conditioning to perform. Some studies have found that VO2max can be maintained with just two sessions per week, but they have to be performed at a pretty high intensity.
[quote]as always any advice in improving this plan will be welcome, thanks again guys…
[/quote]
What impact does a bowing of the legs have upon athletic performance? My legs are bowed from the knees down. Is there any way to correct this problem through the use of an exercise program designed specifically to balance musculature such as the one present in Neanderthal No More series of articles?[/quote]
Bow legs are essentially the reversal of the classic postural abnormalities we noted in the NNM series. You’re at a much greater risk of IT Band Friction Syndrome because the ITB is at a greater tension as it stretches over the lateral femoral epicondyle during gait. Meanwhile, the adductors tend to be very weak. I’d do a ton of self-myofascial release and stretching on your ITB and incorporate more work to strengthen the adductors (see my Construction by Adduction article here at T-nation). You may derive benefit from medial heel wedges in your shoes (if you don’t have them already), as bow legs can actually lead to inappropriate pronation just like the classic NNM posture. Google “genu varum” and you should get some good results.
Eric,
Thanks for your response, what Im doing is to plan a conditioning phase for myself and my brother, for him I guess it will be a GPP phase, he is a swimmer and his events are 50meters and 100 meters butterfly and free, roughly the events last 30 and 60 sec (we want to get them lower), and there could be a couple of hours in between events in competition, the priority is his conditioning , Im just his training partner and being a team member for him, helping him reach his goals, of course I want to improve my conditioning but that is a second goal and by doing this type of conditioning workouts with him Im sure I will improve also.
He will be doing skill work during the other 2 days of the week and maybe on Saturday, for about an hour. After reading your response I’m wondering about stongman training instead of the rope jumping day , what do you think? Wich strongman training will suit him better?
His strength workout will be 3-4 exercise a session(squats, deadlifts ,barbell rows, military press, pull-ups, dips, clean and press) 54321 reps, 2 minutes of rest , hoping to maintain his strength or improve it.
The question on the minimum work to maintain this conditioning is for me, after this phase he will start with more swimming in preparation for competition, 2 workouts session a week for him I think will be enough to maintain his strength and not interfere with his swimming.
well I’ll be dipped in shit if I am not the deadlift king! LOL! alright, lets set some guidelines…are we going gearless (belt only) or full sauced (suit, belt), cuz if thats the case, 600 may fall soon for me as well. either way, if any of us get it, it will be fuckin meaty. then we have to go by formula, I weighed 168 when I hit that 530 raw, so my coefficient is gnarly. LOL! man fuck it, something to shoot for, been wanting 600 since I was 6 years old. well, I need to get back to the forum and catch up on the knowledge. just saw that EC was kickinmy ass, so it got all my attention. later brothers.
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
I hate NSAIDs, so I won’t recommend them here. Iontophoresis and ultrasound can be quite effective in this regard, though.[/quote]
Just a quick question, why don’t you like NSAID’s?
[quote]LuigiM wrote:
Eric,
Thanks for your response, what Im doing is to plan a conditioning phase for myself and my brother, for him I guess it will be a GPP phase, he is a swimmer and his events are 50meters and 100 meters butterfly and free, roughly the events last 30 and 60 sec (we want to get them lower), and there could be a couple of hours in between events in competition [/quote]
So why are you so dead-set on strict rest periods? Why not train him more toward the complete recovery end of the spectrum? If he’s a sprinter, he needs to be trained accordingly; true interval training really won’t be as valuable as you might think.
The two of you need separate programming, as you seem to be at different ability levels. You’re just looking to get in shape, and he’s looking to optimize performance; there is a definite difference between the two. You probably won’t see optimal results by just tagging along with him, as your fitness base isn’t as strong. He won’t get optimal results from working on a program that’s built for you (for obvious lack of overload reasons).
That’s an awful lot of work already; be careful how much you add. Most of the sprint swimmers I know do MUCH less volume than the rest of the team; it’s actually a joke amongst the teammates. Your efforts would be better devoted to improving maximal strength, optimizing body fat through proper diet, and getting in plenty of prehab work for the rotator cuff, scapular stabilizers, etc. (this is going to depend on the event, FYI).
Some weight-bearing exercise on the side will never hurt a swimmer. I’d favor the strongman stuff simply because it’s a more full-body approach. Just as importantly, it’s fun as hell; it never hurts to change things up and keep an athlete’s mindset fresh. Just note that it’ll be a completely different stimulus to the athlete, so it wouldn’t be a great idea to a) really push the volume (once a week should do) or b) introduce it during the in-season period.
Again, the exercises you choose are dependent on the event he swims. I might not do so much overhead work, especially if he’s swimming twice a week already. More seated rows, external rotations, core movements, glute activation work, and single-leg movements would be good choices.
Twice a week should be good for him. You might be able to get away with a little more, as you seem to still have plenty of room for improvement.
[quote]Heretic165 wrote:
well I’ll be dipped in shit if I am not the deadlift king! LOL! alright, lets set some guidelines…are we going gearless (belt only) or full sauced (suit, belt), cuz if thats the case, 600 may fall soon for me as well. either way, if any of us get it, it will be fuckin meaty. then we have to go by formula, I weighed 168 when I hit that 530 raw, so my coefficient is gnarly. LOL! man fuck it, something to shoot for, been wanting 600 since I was 6 years old. well, I need to get back to the forum and catch up on the knowledge. just saw that EC was kickinmy ass, so it got all my attention. later brothers.[/quote]
Still got you beat on coefficient, buddy. Belt and singlet only.
[quote]ckeller14 wrote:
Eric Cressey wrote:
I hate NSAIDs, so I won’t recommend them here. Iontophoresis and ultrasound can be quite effective in this regard, though.
Just a quick question, why don’t you like NSAID’s?
Thanks[/quote]
Real quickly…
I’m not a fan of NSAIDs for a variety of reasons:
NSAIDs drastically reduce post-exercise protein synthesis. Less strength, mass, and recovery are not good things.
2.They can do a number on your stomach in the long-term (and possibly the short-term).
NSAIDs are just providing symptomatic relief; they just mask the pain instead of actually reducing the causative inflammation. It’s a double-edged sword; on one hand, no one wants to live in pain, but on the other, one wants to know whether the underlying problem is actually getting better or not.
Most people will think that they’re getting better and thus want to jump the gun on doing things they shouldn’t even consider trying with their injury.
There’s evidence to suggest that NSAID usage can lead to moderate sedation and transient impairments in cognitive and motor performance. In a study of 72 college-aged men, subjects that received 200 mg ibuprofen “performed significantly less well on a simple tracking task and made significantly more errors on a simple reaction-time task than the other two groups;” hand-eye coordination was clearly impaired.
Each case is unique, though. NSAIDs have a place in cases of acute inflammation, as in the case of a traumatic injury or the initial onset of tendonitis (not tendonosis). Kill down the inflammation with very high doses, and you can get into the initial stages of physical therapy much sooner. Ten to fourteen days should be the max; if it doesn’t work by then, it isn’t going to work, as there’s likely a more significant underlying problem than just inflammation.
Most doctors tend to overuse cortisone shots and NSAIDs, so correcting the underlying problem (e.g. poor posture) is ignored. Ultimately, the decision is up to you, as only you know how tolerable the pain is. Some other valuable implements for combating inflammation are high-dose fish oil supplementation and antioxidant therapy. I’ve heard mixed results regarding Wobenzyme and acetyl l-carnitine in cases of inflammation, so buyers beware.
I am involved in Judo and other martial arts and this is my latest workout design. I realize its hard to critique without knowing a person’s specific weaknesses but I am hoping you can tell me if it looks good overall. Strength without real hypertrophy is always my goal:
Day 1 Weighted chins 6x3
Close-grip bench 4x6
external rotations 3x10-12
Reverse barbell lunges 3x8-10
natural glute ham raise 3x8-10
gripwork
Day 2 Olympic style squat 6x3
Lunge with rear foot elevated
4x6
military press 3x 10-12
pullups 3x 10-12
db shrug-3x10 or farmer’s walk
gripwork
Day 3 deadlift 6x3
towel chins 4x max
dips or pushup variations-3x20
thick bar curls 4x8-10
1 leg back extension 3x 12
I guess I am trying the idea of having a max exercise each workout and the rest take on an auxiliary role. I basically just want to get in and out of the gym with an effective, no nonsense workout. I do ab work and GPP on off days. Is this any good?
