I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Pat Davidson, and this time around we had a lot more time to discuss stress adaptations, bio-energetics, and of course PRI. Fortunately for you, we definitely went over our 30 minute allotted time slot that I attempted to preserve.
I’m also in the process of looking towards making this more audio-friendly for our commuter friends, as this video on Google Hangout can’t be accessed from a mobile device (as far as I know).
In any case, here are some notes I took during the second interview, and some of the books and authors we had to discuss.
I do not profit from these links in anyway. I would tell you otherwise. ;)
1:50 – Pat’s New Logistics
2:50 – PRI and Adaptation
9:20 – “PRI is a recovery BOMB.”
9:38 – “You can only train as much as you can recover.”
10:00 – What are the intangibles needed to be a successful Strongman athlete?
12:35 – How do you approach nutrition in the coming weeks for a Strongman competition?
13:45 – Satiation, Food and Inflammation
16:07 – Strongman Training Volume, and Prepping for Competitions
20:50 – Suck It Up, and Do Work!
21:00 – Do you use any technology to assist in training?
24:04 – Fragile vs Anti-Fragile
29:45 – “…You’re basically throwing yourself head first off a cliff.”
31:07 – Mouthguard Discussion
33:20 – PRI Reference Centers
43:24 – “You have all the money in the world. What does your dream strength and conditioning facility look like?”
44:28 – If we were to look into your fridge right now, what would we find?
45:12 – “You’re driving to a training session. What is playing on your radio before you get to the facility?”
46:40 – “What kind of “hard skills” do you believe you need to succeed as a strength and conditioning coach?”
50:54 – “People undervalue specificity.”
52:05 – “Corrective Exercise is a scalpel…”
Within the realm of the fitness and S&C “bubble”, there is a bit of a discrepancy between working out and training. Essentially, it comes down to understanding that with “working out”, there is a temporary and fleeting moment when it comes to using this phrase.
While not necessarily feeding into a negative connotation, the term working out is something used when you are exercising without a specific goal or real focus for that block of time, whether it is an hour, 20 minutes, or 3 hours. Sometimes you can workout with your family members, friends, or group of people – and that can obviously be a great thing, as the act of exercising can and will bring about a spirit of camaraderie that can’t be so easily defined.
At the opposite end, “training” or “lifting” is another term that can denoted as exercising towards a specific goal – increased athletic performance, improved efficiency of aerobic and anaerobic capacities or outputs, or increased muscular hypertrophy, to name a few specific goals.
This isn’t to say that “training” or “lifting” can’t promote camaraderie either, but rather that it involves a specific mentality or mindset that both includes certain individuals or excludes certain individuals. On top of this, there is a set timeline that is involved – for some it is a 12 week span of training. For others, it is a 16 weeks of time. And for others, it is a lifelong commitment. Some view this as a lifestyle, others view it as being overly attentive to what may be termed as an exercise related version of orthorexia nervosa – or addicted to eating healthily.
When Achieving Your Goals Can Bite You in The Ass
The very idea of getting ready to go to the gym, sweating, and smelling, and moving weights around the gym floor is sometimes unappealing to people. For others, focusing specifically on a 16 week plan where every set and rep is planned to the tempo and rest periods is unappealing, for whatever reason.
For me specifically, there was a period of time where I had written out a timeline of exercise programming and I had not missed or left any singular repetition out – for two and a half years I lifted for 4 days every week, and I didn’t miss one day of lifting – until once where I had become sick and I decided to take a day off.
The next day I was back in the gym.
However, from a social aspect, I definitely missed out on many occasions, social events, traveling occasions, and other things that I might have otherwise had more “fun” doing – marathons, half-marathons, 5k Runs, or mud runs and the like, mainly because I had been training in powerlifting for that specific block of time.
That picture up there where I was surrounded by family and friends? This was after my brother, and two cousins trained, ran together, and ultimately finished their first half-marathon together. This was a fun time for them, and it was a fun time for me too as I helped to guide them with strength training to make sure they didn’t have any overuse injuries by performing a singular motion (running) for a long bout of time.
“Why didn’t I run the half-marathon with them?” you ask.
I was specifically training for a powerlifting meet during that time. On top of this, I didn’t perform any activities that would detract from me improving in my chosen sport at the time – no running, no dancing, no movements that were to otherwise prove unhelpful towards improving my lifts in the big 3.
This didn’t mean I couldn’t be surrounded by them and had to alienate myself in order to focus on my goals however.
First Powerlifting Meet in 2011 where you can hear my family supporting me!
While I tend to view things in a very black and white manner – you either do it or you don’t – this is the grey area of achieving this type of success. But it doesn’t have to be synonymous with cutting ties with people.
So while it is easy for me to reflect on these items and be done with it, here are some action plans that maybe you can partake in if you find yourself in one camp versus the other:
If You Enjoy “Working Out”
Plan on making a goal, and analyze why you truly want that goal.
Whether it is fat loss, increasing your 5k run time, or increasing your bench press that hasn’t gone up in 5 years, choose a specific goal.
After you decide on that goal, decide on a timeline to achieve that goal.
Choose the smallest, actionable item you can take towards that goal.
Many times, smaller steps will lead to greater goals, and a snowball effect occurs in which you can increase your momentum towards achieving this “greater goal”.
After that block of time, measure or test your goal.
Did your waistline decrease? Did your 5k time increase? Did your bench press increase by 5lbs? If not, analyze why your plan of action did not lend itself to improving your physical (and mental) goals.
Either that, or find some crazy people who want to do the same thing. Powerlifting was a good outlet for me. So was breakdancing.
If You Enjoy “Training”
Plan a singular block of time in your week (does not have to entail one whole day – it can be 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or one hour) where you essentially throw things on a wall, and see what sticks.
Play! Call up a friend, go to the basketball courts, or play a pick-up game of anything.
Since your comfort zone involves strict regimented plans of action, getting outside of your comfort zone will involve living in a little bit of chaos or unrestricted play.
Adjacent to my facility in Conshohocken, PA is a significantly large turf field. Earlier in the year (January through March), the space would be rented out at night to a group of individuals who loved throwing a frisbee around – in fact they had a league involved, and let’s just say it looked like a lot of fun.
This catch can’t be legal.
After a full day of coaching, I wish I had asked them if I could throw the frisbee around for a bit just to play!
Stories aside, that is what is needed sometimes if you enjoy the “specific” blocks of training for long durations of time – perhaps this is why I enjoy dancing about 2 to 3 times a week. It allows a block of time where I can just “create” movement and not worry about anything in particular!
This is a stream of thought post aimed not only at Tony Gentilcore’s post maybe a few months ago (I’m very good at timing.) but also just towards people’s general thoughts on how far down the rabbit hole we really need to go with regards to the fitness and strength and conditioning industry.
While I can’t argue the validity of what someone wants to learn, I feel I have a unique enough of an ability and background to take a step back and view things with a bird’s eye view to offer an opinion. When this question is asked, it was initially referring to my industry’s coaches and trainer’s standards of improving from an intellectual level. Mike Boyle calls it the curse of knowledge, in which a person may know so much information, it will hinder them from helping or addressing the specific issue at hand. Others call it missing the forest for the trees. While I can’t argue for anyone else, I know I can only argue for my own logistics and intellectual curiosity.
So, How Far Down the Rabbit Hole Am I Willing to Go?
I want to go as far as it takes me. This is where journeys begin, friendships are made and lost (because it does happen), and while the seemingly elitism and esoteric topics are brought about, who is the one labeling it as elitism? Regarding the topic of improving human performance, I’m not satisfied with finishing only one side of the Rubik’s cube.
n=1 or …?
Sometimes improvement does involve helping an athlete or client become adherent through various “activation” related techniques. No doubt.
Other times you need to present a regimented exercise plan.
And other times you just need to chat about the latest happenings on SportsCenter to keep someone happy.
But nothing says results like actually achieving an increase in performance or losing body fat by utilizing one of the correct physiological methods in doing so (because you assessed, and weren’t guessing for either/or).
I’m interested in learning all of the aspects of human performance.
Some have asked me why I’m on such a “mission”, others understand my reasons completely. One thought I’ve had is on the topic of a cliche statement… “There are no dumb questions.” I would have to disagree, because I know I’ve asked dumb questions all the time. In the past, these dumb questions of mine reflect a lack of insight, a lack of forward thinking, and a lack of seeing 2 or 3 steps forward that upon further deliberation I was able to figure out on my own. This is one of the beauties of having a brain – figuring things out.
Survey says… FIGURE IT OUT
Anyway, by asking the questions to myself, and then figuring them out on my own, I’m more likely to stumble upon a better question – “better” can be defined because the second question that comes about is presented as a result of a knowledge limitation, as opposed to a logistical and laziness related limitation. Do you think Isaac Newton had Google to figure out an answer he didn’t know? While a metaphorical question and in jest, I can confidently say that he didn’t have access to the internet back then. A better question that seems to go hand in hand with “How far down the rabbit hole do I want to go?” is “What’s next?” It isn’t the simple fact of “going down the rabbit hole” for rabbit’s hole sake. Rather, I know that my own genuine intellectual and rationale curiosity towards understanding topics at a deep level is what truly drives me. When I see friends grabbing a Master’s degree, sticking to a job that they dislike, staying in a relationship just to stay in a relationship, or any of the above, it seems to me that it is a fear based or reactive-based decision, and not a deep-seated curiosity for learning, helping, or growing more. And I’ve talked about it with these friends as well, just to clarify.
What makes one tea better than the other tea?
While I can’t speak for anyone on anyone’s behalf really, I believe that a genuine intellectual and rationale curiosity is what should drive an individual towards improvement. This is not the case all the time, as fear and pain can be great motivators, but with regards to my own acquisitions of knowledge, this is where I’m coming from. I can certainly develop arguments around the successes and greatness of legends in our recent history – Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Tim Ferriss, among any innumerable amount of individuals, and with that I have to say that these individuals didn’t stop at any obstacle that was in their path, not so much an introspection question such as “When should I stop learning how to get better?” which is essentially what the first question relates to.
While even more esoteric and introspective in nature, I believe a great question to ask yourself from time to time is “What is stopping me?”
Then aim to remove that limitation in as best of a way as possible. As always,
n=1 or …?
A better question that seems to go hand in hand with “How far down the rabbit hole do I want to go?” is “What’s next?” It isn’t the simple fact of “going down the rabbit hole” for rabbit’s hole sake. Rather, I know that my own genuine intellectual and rationale curiosity towards understanding topics at a deep level is what truly drives me. When I see friends grabbing a Master’s degree, sticking to a job that they dislike, staying in a relationship just to stay in a relationship, or any of the above, it seems to me that it is a fear based or reactive-based decision, and not a deep-seated curiosity for learning, helping, or growing more. And I’ve talked about it with these friends as well, just to clarify.