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So… What Do You Do? – Part 2

So one aspect of moving to a new state, and working at a new job, is making new friends.

Fortunately for me, Massachusetts is a hot bed of strength and conditioning, as there are several handfuls of colleges, private schools, and travel teams of baseball, hockey, lacrosse, and many other sports as well. So, if I say I’m a strength coach, people usually don’t look at me like I have five heads.

Similar to my last post on this topic (So… What Do You Do?), I feel like discussing this subject is important, as this can serve to be a reference for why I do the things that I do, as it is still a very relevant topic, and I feel it is necessary to give an updated topic on what I do as a professional in this industry.

Being a strength coach brings about a sense of mystery to the general public. The profession is still in its infancy, and there are plenty of things to define as far as responsibilities go within the industry.

If I could succinctly define my immediate roles at Cressey Sports Performance, it is to be a presence both on and off the floor for athletes and clients in the form of providing guidance for their fitness and sporting endeavors.

I can’t make a final decision for you, and I can’t put food into your mouth to help you gain weight. I can however, provide guidance on how I believe to best achieve these goals.

For the fitness enthusiasts out there, I like to think of myself as a 90/10 : general/specific preparatory coach for baseball and other sports.

Let’s begin with who I coach.

Who Do You Coach?

Different members of several organizations come in to train at Cressey Sports Performance (Hudson, MA location).

CSP

On a day to day basis, I can work with a member of a professional baseball team, to a high school hockey player, to a multi-sport athlete who is in the beginnings of her softball pre-season, to an executive who is on her lunch break in the middle of the day. So to say I work with only baseball players is a bit of a misunderstanding.

And no, I don’t just train people from the Red Sox organization.

What Do You Do?

Similar to last time, I function within several titles:

  • Performance Coach
  • Assess People
  • Writing Programs

Performance Coach

I like to think of myself as a human performance coach, as the name athlete brings with it several different connotations, whether good or bad. All I know is that I’m not training dogs, or other animals (that is down the hall).

So when it comes to performance – whether you are aiming to simply improve how you function on a day to day basis, or you are aiming to hurdle a fastball from the mound to the plate at 95mph – I’m all about helping you get to your destination. And there are tons of ways to improve performance.

Starting At The End

So upon coming through to our facility, I automatically begin thinking about the end goal of why you are here.

I want to get you where you want to go.

If you are talking to me about beach body stuff, and you are a baseball player, we might need to reevaluate our expectations, as the actions for both will be different than anticipated.

Some smarter people will use the phrase, “Let’s begin at the end.”

This allows us to evaluate a few things:

  1. Timeline
  2. Logistics (travel time, food allocations, other coaches/PTs/etc guidelines)

What an 11 year old should expect out of training might (and should) be different than what a 21 year old who is now a free agent should expect from lifting with us at CSP.

Biomechanical (and neurological) movement patterns need to be developed and reinforced for the 11 year old, while the 21 year old might need to break some new habits, or work around a few non-contact injuries prior to starting his exercise program.

Fitness qualities of strength, speed, and power need to be developed based on the individual’s specific task, not to mention their physical age, training age, and where they want to end up.

Nutrition will lean more on the 21 year old’s independence and ability to cook, while the 11 year old might need more assistance from his elders and guardians/parents in order to facilitate a healthier lifestyle. This is not to mention that the 21 year old will probably encouraged to consume massive amounts of food in the off-season in order to put on weight (before potentially losing it while traveling in his in-season).

Psychologically the 21 year old might have tons of different logistics going on, and will need some guidance on how to overcome these obstacles going into his off-season into his pre-season. The 11 year old will hopefully have not as many obstacles to stress out about.

Assess People

If you’re in the fitness or strength & conditioning industry, this is one of the more “sexy” aspects of being a strength coach. Whether or not you believe in assessments, or whether or not you have the appropriate skill set to approach assessments in an intelligent manner, at some point you will have to admit that you can’t program your clients’ movements blind.

With respect to the integrity of the exercise program, everything comes from the assessment, and after determining where they want to go (ie starting at the end), the exercises will fall in to place for that individual.

Appreciating different ranges of motion, whether actively or passively, is something that can be immediately implemented and accounted for when developing an exercise program.

If you cannot get into certain positions due to joint mobility restrictions, I have to question how and what you are doing from an exercise programming point of view.

So, this is where assessments come into place. Now, I’m not saying you should go get the latest weekend certification, and away you go programming the latest fad of exercises to appease your client base.

I’m of the opinion that there should be an educational tool based off of anatomy and physiology, and a skill set of requisite movements should be adhered to for programming.

You can use the right tool, at the wrong time, and it will certainly be the wrong solution.

However, use the right tool, at the right time, and people will think you’re a magician.

This “magician” like quality often (but not always) involves having years of experience of assessing, and improving and refining your thought process.

Not every new piece of information should or has to be a mind-blowing piece of information.

Investigate claims, learn new ways to view a topic, and aim to refine your toolbox.

Writing Programs

Another way to put this is I take all of the above information (logistics, amount of days you have available to working with us/me, training age, assessment information, etc.) and put it into a working list of exercises aimed at improving various fitness and sporting qualities.

There is a reason for everything.

So whether or not you are experiencing symptoms of hip impingement in your lead leg as you pitch, or you have a lack of shoulder range of motion, there is, fortunately, a method to the madness.

And depending on your specific logistics and what kind of timeline we are dealing with, it’s my goal to pick away at what we need to work on to help improve your performance or desired goals.

Hint: There is more to personal success than the exercise selection on a piece of paper.
Hint: There is more to personal success than the exercise selection on a piece of paper.

If I had a philosophy of throwing things on a wall and seeing what sticks, I wouldn’t feel the need to track down specific items.

However, I’d like to think I’m holding myself to a higher standard, so I’d like to track down different fitness markers alongside all of your other numbers in the gym!

Monitoring Information

One item I’ve been incorporating more and more is monitoring various pieces of information. It is no longer imperative to only view the biomechanical model from an assessment point of view – there are multiple ways physiology can influence how we move on a biomechanical level.

While this endeavor is in its infancy, I’d like to think it will be worthwhile, as it is providing me with some immediate feedback on what is working for my athletes, along with what is not working for my athletes.

“Everyone enjoys talking about their success. No one wants to discuss what didn’t work.”

Some of the information just makes sense.

If you can’t pass an adequate looking overhead squat, then I’m thinking something will happen when you attempt to deadlift.

If you lack ankle mobility, I’m thinking there might be something holding you back when you attempt a stride out when you pitch.

However, some of the other information might require a bigger “lens” for me to view appropriately.

If someone has had braces for 5 years, has a heart rate of 65 bpm after sitting still for 5 minutes, and has sweatier hands than a 14 year old at his first school dance (aka me), then something might be up from a physiological, biomechanical, or neurological level. I’m not sure what, but something tells me this guy won’t be able to deadlift from the floor right out of the gates. I could be wrong though.

I had braces from the 4th grade to 9th grade. I was also very uncoordinated growing up.
I had braces from the 4th grade to 9th grade. I was also very uncoordinated growing up. I turned out alright.

Miscellaneous Stuff

So as you can see, there are lots of tangibles and intangibles when it comes to the title of a “strength coach.” Managing personalities and lifestyles is a great way to put it, and it is something that I do on top of attempting to maintain a lifestyle of my own.

Writing & Social Media

I’m also a blogger (you’re obviously reading this right now on my blog!), online writer and contributor for various publications (check out my Press page), along with hosting various videos on several different social media platforms.

YouTube

  Twitter @MiggsyBogues

 

Further, I’m also focused on developing my dance training company Enhance2Dance, training to compete in powerlifting, keep up with bboying moves every once in a while, alongside reading multiple books to stay on top of that competitive edge.  
 

So all in all, I’m busy to say the least! :)

As always,

Keep it funky.

MAsymbollogo

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How to Create An Exercise Routine with ONLY Bodyweight Exercises

Whether you’re unable to make it into the gym, traveling for work, or strapped for cash and don’t have access to equipment, understanding how to incorporate varying bodyweight exercises is a great “default” resource for those choosing an active and healthy lifestyle.

Laying the groundwork for a bodyweight oriented program essentially leaves me with these general thoughts whenever someone asks me, “What can I do if I don’t have access to a gym?” There are literally an endless amount of exercises and combinations of exercises that you can perform once you choose to start the habit of exercising regularly.

Before I incorporate these items, I will have to ask this person, “What is your goal?” Often they reply with one of the following:

  • Lose some pounds (Fat Loss)
  • Gain strength
  • Improve athletic performance

Since my mindset is centered around what is optimal, I will often default as well to the simplest and most direct route to that goal.

  • If your goal is fat loss, you need to focus on what is entering your mouth, or your daily nutrition, along with the psychological reasons why you eat the way you do.
  • If your goal is increased strength, utilizing an external load in various exercises may prove to be a faster and more optimal route.
  • If your goal is athletic performance, the process will focus on recovery and enhancing rate of force production.

None of these goals imply that bodyweight exercises are the LONE method that will allow you to reach your goal in as fast a way as possible. This method can help assist you on your goal, but as always a multi-faceted approach will accelerate you to your destination.

If we can accept that even if your individual logistics are not optimal, the next step must be “acceptable” – in this case if you still choose to use a bodyweight exercise program approach, these movements will need to be varied enough to prevent an overuse of a singular movement pattern, along with not deviating from the path towards your goal (fat loss, athletic performance, etc).

Since fat loss can and should be mediated with a nutritional focus, and athletic performance is specific to the many variables depending on the sport, I’ll continue forward with the goal of increasing strength and “obtaining” bodyweight feats of strength – ranging from your first push-up, to your first pistol squat, all the way to your first triple clap push-up.

A dynamic warm-up can and should be utilized prior to the bodyweight program for several reasons:

  • It increases proprioceptive awareness to the muscles surrounding subsequent joints that may be “underactive” and provide a mobilization or inhibitory effect for the “overactive” muscles surrounding a joint.
  • Improve neural drive to a movement pattern that can help increase performance during the actual exercise program.
  • Providing a wide variety of exercises can help “maintain” movement patterns during times when that movement may not be “loaded” or focused on.

After the dynamic warm-up, the exercise program begins with these variables in mind:

  1. Horizontal Pushing
  2. Horizontal Pulling
  3. Vertical Pulling
  4. Vertical Pushing
  5. Quad Dominant
  6. Hip Hinge
  7. Single Leg Quad
  8. Single Leg Hip Hinge
  9. Anti-Extension
  10. Anti-Rotation
  11. Anti-Flexion
  12. Lateral and Multi-Planar Movements (Combination Movements)

Among these variables, there are also opportunities for plyometric type exercises to enhance the stretch shortening cycle and improve neural drive for improvements in jumping or eccentric absorption types of exercises.

So with these cards laid out, we can begin to make a program!

Step 1: Dynamic Warm-Up (and Foam Rolling if accessible)

Step 2: Bodyweight Program

Step 3: Post-Workout Stretching

For the purposes of utilizing our bodyweight within the program, if you do not have a method of increasing work performed by utilizing an external load, another way to increase workload is to focus on capacity, or rather performing many exercises within a specific timeframe. Performing exercises in a density minded circuit, which can comprise up to 3, 4, or even 5 exercises is a useful approach when looking to enhance aerobic and even anaerobic capacity and output.

Keep in mind that this is one of many methods that can be used!

Step 2: Exercise Program

EDT Circuit A – Perform 3 times for designated time.

A1. Hip Hinge – Vertical Jump with Pause at Bottom

A2. Anti-Rotation – Side Plank

A3. Vertical Pushing – Yoga Push-Up (or Handstand Holds with Shrug)

A4. Single Leg Quad – Split Squat

A5. Vertical Pulling – Chin-Ups (if chin-up bar is available!)

EDT Circuit B – Perform 3 times for designated time.

B1. Quad Dominant – Bodyweight Squat to Bench or Chair with Pec Stretch (Hands Behind Head)

B2. Anti-Extension – Front Plank

B3. Horizontal Pulling – Prone Ts (or Suspended Rows if access to Suspension Straps)

B4. Single Leg Hip Hinge – Single Leg Deadlift with Inverted Reach

B5. Horizontal Pushing – Push-Up

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to stay up-to-date on my instructional exercise videos!

So with all of this in mind, hopefully you can begin to appreciate that if you apply the principles, you can still create an acceptable exercise program. This can give not only a training effect that will make you sweat and make your heart race, but also help improve specific physiological qualities as well.

With all of these variables laid out for you, two aspects that haven’t been mentioned include what the sets and reps will look like in the program, along with the manipulation of tempos, or how slow or fast these movements can and should be utilized in order to elicit proper technique along with a specific training effect if sought out.

If you’re interested in learning how to fully integrate these variables along with my thoughts on how I create bodyweight exercise programs for those without a gym, please check out my new online coaching group on Fitocracy, Bodyweight  Training: The Internal Strength.

Bodyweight Training - The Internal Strength

Not only will you get access to top of the line exercise programming, but direct access to me and my knowledge base, along with a support group who are all aiming to get back into the swing of things!

As always,

Keep it funky.

MA

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So … What Do You Do?

On any given weekend night, for what it is worth, I’m usually trying to “deload” mentally from the week, so I can be found munching on some appetizers and drinks, chatting up old and new friends, and the inevitable question always comes up:

New Friend: “So what do you do?”

Thinking to Myself: *Gosh, where do I start? I do a lot of things, and if I say I’m a personal trainer I’m sure they’ll get these images in their head of clients standing on stability balls, or of me counting reps as clients do bicep curls. Maybe I should start with my title…? But what does strength coach really mean? If I say strength coach will they think of little kids running around doing those speed ladder drills? I mean they probably don’t understand the nuances and importance of rib positioning, or tempo runs to increase aerobic capacity, so… what do I say first?*

Or better yet – this is my attempt at making an elevator pitch of “what I do”:

Coach and assess athletes in a variety of movement patterns and exercises, write their programs, and while encouraging success in their athletic endeavors (and life!).

In all honesty this situation does pop up quite a bit whenever I meet new people who have no idea what I do for a living. And when this question pops up, I’m not sure most will understand what many of my colleagues and I “go through” in order to excel at our jobs – writing exercise programs AFTER work, learning the nuances of assessing clients and athletes, going to continuing education seminars, courses, and conferences to better our ability as coaches and trainers – the list can go on. So, this is an attempt at breaking down what I specifically do:

Where Do You Work?

There are three sites to our facility called Endeavor Sports Performance. The main location is in Pitman, NJ.

Endeavor Picture

 The other two satellite locations are in Pennsauken, NJ

photo 1

photo 2

… and the newest addition is in Conshohocken, PA.

1939848_10102180179779123_1061971645_n

The main facility has the most toys, and is one that is constantly being upgraded with fancy equipment that is slowly creating the ultimate athletic and sports performance facility.

What Do You Do?

So this is the main question, and I’ll break down the roles that I’m involved in:

Coaching

Coaching is the most important aspect of working as a strength coach! What an idea! Being a strength coach, at least to me, entails these items:

  • Having the ability to relay cues and information to the athlete to inform, and guide them to the path towards movement success.
    • Sometimes they need strong words of encouragement to get out of a funk in order to get their act together, other times it is a heavy deadlift to help improve their total body strength, and other involves putting a band around their knees to remind them to dial their knees out during many movements.
  • On a more literal point of view, coaching involves learning and teaching cues for essentially every exercise that is within Endeavor’s wheelhouse.
  • Foam Rolling, all the dynamic warm-ups, positional breathing exercises, bilateral lifts (upper/lower), unilateral progressions/regressions, corrective exercises, along with conditioning protocols.
Assess Athletes

This is admittedly one of the “sexier” aspects of working and doing what I do. Specifically, I get to see a wide variety of specific athletes within their sport.

Learning the assessment process has been a long and fruitful road, and I’m sure I will learn more as I continue down this path. However, the main portion here is learning the nuances of the movement assessments. For example, 3 years ago I could not tell you the difference between a positive Thomas Test which indicates, and one that is simply “held back” by a rec fem tightness.

After figuring out where this specific individual lies on a continuum of assessment philosophies (FMS, PRI, a few SFMA tests, and other orthopedically minded tests), we begin the next part of the process: writing programs!

Writing Exercise Programs

After doing the assessment, I’m not in the clear yet. There are aspects of interpreting the assessment information, and then writing an immediate 4 week program (or however long in reality), with a larger goal in mind for that specific athlete.

Based off the training age of athlete, along with assessment, and what the athlete may be comfortable with (mentally, physically, etc), an individual program is created. This allows the staff at Endeavor to custom tailor each program using a variety of methods – concurrent periodization, conjugate periodization (not exactly Westside Barbell however) along with several other methods that go beyond the scope of this article.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Things that I do entail all of the fun “extraneous” stuff – such as taking calls, emails, paperwork, and making sure athletes and clients finish in a reasonable amount of time.

So … Who Do You Train?

Primarily, the goal of Endeavor Sports Performance is to work with athletes looking to excel within their, dare I say it, athletic endeavors.

This isn’t to say that we turn away anyone who isn’t an athlete, no. We also take lots of regular folk looking to move, look, and feel better!

On a personal note, I’ve had a fair amount of time coaching in all facilities equally. While in Pennsauken, I’ve trained the private youth hockey teams, and now I train a private youth baseball team in Conshohocken, PA.

Do You Even Lift?

Yes, on a personal note, I do lift and primarily follow a powerlifting plan or schematic almost 3/4 of the year. The other 1/4 of the year I’m either playing around with different lifts (unilateral variations) or just deloading from the stresses of working, traveling, and lifting.

Also, I have done 2 powerlifting meets in the past 3 years, and I do plan on continuing with that in the near future.

What Do You Do For Fun?

I also dance with a local crew in Philly, called RetroFlow Crew.

Dance? Yes, I bboy, or if you are unfamiliars – I breakdance.

On that note, I do practice about 2 times a week, 3 times if I’m lucky, and I’m currently trying to improve my powermoves and transitions into and out of them.

Other than that I read books on training, conditioning, and travel to network, learn what other coaches and gyms are doing, and doing my best to absorb what is useful (and discard what is not – epic Bruce Lee reference *fist bump*).

As always,

Keep it funky.

MA