Raw versus Pasteurized Milk

Like raw milk? Not sure what to think about it? Check out this blog post by Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness to get the low-down on raw milk.

Under the Microscope: Raw versus Pasteurized Milk by Sean Croxton

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (1/23-1/29)

This past week was my deload week for SMS^2.1, so training-wise it was a very chill week. I continued to practice MAT with all of my 60-minute clients at the end of our sessions, and I did get some time to have some time to study for the CSCS as well. I also spent a good amount of time writing an article for DieselCrew.com on grip strength training for basketball players. I had to shoot a video for that as well in which I demonstrated the exercises. That should be up on their site in the next couple weeks.

I have added a TRX banner to the side bar of my website, which will allow users to order the TRX suspension training system right from my site. I also made a new video blog about why I don't use wrist straps. You can check that out in the Self Made blog.

The Source will be coming out withing the next 10 days or so. If you haven't signed up already, you can receive the Monster Pushups program for free by doing so!

That's all for this past week; now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

Video Blog: Why I Don't Use Wrist Straps

"Fab Five Finishers" for MMA Conditioning

Like MMA? Looking to mix up your current workout routine? Check out this article by Doug Balzarini for some great ideas on how to finish your training session off right.

"Fab Five Finishers" for MMA Conditioning by Doug Balzarini

Get big or die tryin'.

Build Your Pyramid

Pyramid sets are an effective tool for adding both bulk and lean muscle to one’s frame. While pyramid sets are most popular among those lifting for purely aesthetic reasons, such as bodybuilders, they can also be manipulated to successfully train muscle endurance in athletes. Traditionally, pyramid sets consist of starting at a low weight for a high number of reps for any given exercise and then, over the course of the workout, proceeding to decrease the number of reps for each set while increasing the amount of weight moved until you work your way down to double- or single-rep sets. I would like to add a twist to this traditional format and explain how you can not only achieve more volume in a shorter period of time, but you can use pyramid training for any and every muscle group.

First of all, instead of using a pyramid set template for one lift at a time, try pairing two exercises together that work like muscle groups and performing pyramid sets by alternating back and forth between the two exercises. Secondly, instead of switching the weight between sets as the reps change, pick a weight that is difficult for you to hit for your highest rep count and stick with that weight. You shouldn’t be failing on the final rep, but you should feel like you only have a rep or two left in the tank. Third, have one exercise start on the high end of the pyramid and the other exercise start on the low end. Finally, after both exercises work their way to the opposing ends of the pyramid, have them turn around and work their way back.

An example of this exercise scheme would be to pair an incline barbell bench press with a dumbbell flat bench for somebody who is trying to add mass to his or her frame. For this example, the reps are going to move by 2’s and the highest rep count will be twelve. Depending on what your goals are you can alter both the rep limit and how much the reps move by; for endurance you would have a higher limit as well as rep movement per set, while for strength you would have a lower rep limit and rep movement per set. For both exercises in this example you would choose a weight that you could rep out about fourteen times. Pick one exercise to start with, say the barbell incline press, and hit that for twelve reps, then immediately move to dumbbell flat bench and hit two reps. Rest 10 to 30 seconds, then hit the incline press for 10, followed by four on the flat bench. Then it’s back to incline for eight and flat bench for six. Catch the pattern? Eventually you’ll get to two on the incline press and twelve on the flat bench. After this, rest 90 to 120 seconds and then start again, this time beginning with two on the incline press and twelve on the flat bench, working your way back until both exercises are at the same reps as when you began.

Depending on how strictly you adhere to the rest times, this workout will take ten to fifteen minutes, and you will have gotten in a TON of volume in that time. In fact, you will probably have done more real work in that ten to fifteen minutes than most people do in their entire workout. If you are pressed for time but still want to get a lot of reps in, I would highly suggest throwing in pyramid sets.

Pyramid sets can be very effective for working muscle groups other than the chest too. For the back you can pair lat pulldowns and a row variation. For the legs you could do hamstring curls with lunges, dumbbell step ups with cable pull-throughs or dumbbell swings, or, if you are feeling really hyped, you could pair a back squat with a front squat. This type of training can also add the much-desired size to your arms that you have been working so hard for. You could pair cable pressdowns with hammer presses for your triceps, and incline dumbbell curls with a narrow-grip barbell curl for your biceps. You could pair a seated dumbbell shoulder press with a dumbbell lateral raise for your shoulders, too. For your abs you could do something like cable crunches with hanging toe touches. Obviously there are an infinite number of pairings you could do, but these are just a few examples.

One last twist I would like to provide you with is to keep the reps the same throughout, say anywhere from six to ten, but alternate the weight each set. This would be really good as a finisher, especially for arms. You could start at fifteen pound dumbbells and curl them six times, then move up to twenties, then twenty-fives, and so on until you fail to hit six reps without resting in between each set. Then you would immediately drop the weight and work your way back down the weight rack until you get back to the fifteens you started at.

So whether you are only able to spend twenty to thirty minutes at the gym a few times each week, you are trying to add mass to your frame, or you are trying to develop muscle endurance for athletics, consider switching up your current training regimen to include pyramid sets. The workouts are intense and taxing and you will be getting a very large bang for your workout buck.

Get big or die tryin’.

Charlie Cates, CPT, PES

Self Made, Owner

Charlie Cates is a human performance specialist and the owner of Self Made (http://selfmadefitness.com/) in Chicago, IL. He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist through NASM and has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP's. Athletically, he was a 4-year member of the Williams College men’s basketball team, which made a run to the national championship during his senior year. During this time he also worked intensively with the team’s off-the-court training, helping to develop All-Americans and a National Player of the Year. He can be reached via e-mail atcharlie@selfmadefitness.com.

This article may be reproduced with biographical information intact.

Cold Weather Training--Don't Let the Cold Freeze Your Workout

If you are living in a similar geographic area to where I have lived for all but the first two years of my life, these days are pretty cold. Here are some tips from Jedd Johnson of DieselCrew.com on how to prepare for some cold-weather training.

Cold Weather Training--Don't Let the Cold Freeze Your Workout by Jedd Johnson

Get big or die tryin'.

The Big Three

**Disclaimer: When it comes to nutritional advice, I have found that eating to one’s metabolic type is absolutely the most efficient way to not only achieve your compositional goals, but also to feel and function the best you ever have. However, there are some people who do not believe in eating to their metabolic type, and because of such, this article takes more of a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition and weight gain. Understand that any food allergies or intolerances you have to the foods listed below should be recognized and respected, and therefore the advice given in this article is to be taken only by those who are physically able to handle the foods discussed without any type of allergic or other reaction needing medical treatment.

When it comes to making compositional changes in your body, nutrition is everything. Exercise creates an environment for change, but the food you put in to your body is what actually forces it to change, along with proper rest and recovery. Understanding this, you realize that while the number of sets and reps you do in the weight room does have some importance, for your training to be of any real use you have to back it with a very solid nutritional base as well as adequate rest. In addition, when it comes to adding size, there are three foods that add mass like no other: peanut butter, eggs, and cow’s milk.

Peanut butter is one of the most versatile foods known to man. You can literally spread it on any solid food and you will have a mass-building concoction. My favorite peanut butter dish for adding size is the classic peanut butter sandwich, plain and simple. No jelly, no fluff, just two pieces of bread separated by an enormous slab of peanut butter. What makes these so great is how easily they are prepared, stored, and transported. You can whip up five sandwiches in under two minutes in the morning and be set for lunch and snacks throughout the day. If you are looking to add mass you are going to have to eat a lot and eat often, so foods that can be prepared quickly and brought to the gym, to school, and to work are must-haves. The fat in peanut butter is great as long as you are buying quality peanut butter, not Skip or Jiffy. Always look on the ingredients label and find the peanut butter that says, “Ingredients: Peanuts.” If they throw salt in there too it isn’t going to be the end of the world, but make sure to steer clear of any jars that have Hydrogenated Oils, Partially Hydrogenated Oils, or Vegetable Oils listed under their ingredients. Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oils are code words for trans fat, and Vegetable Oils, well they are basically poison to the human system.

ggs are the second must-have food if you are trying to add size. Not egg whites or eggs in a carton, I’m talking whole eggs, yolk and all. Yes, whole eggs contain saturated fat. Yes, whole eggs contain cholesterol. That stuff is GOOD for you! Regardless if you are trying to add size or not, you should be eating whole eggs. I eat eight whole eggs every morning as a part of my second breakfast. Also, there are so many variations on how you can prepare eggs that I would be incredibly surprised to find somebody who gets bored eating them every day. Eggs are literally the perfect protein source, too. They are the gold standard that all other protein sources are judged from and have been judged from for years. Another “secret” about eggs is that you can buy bags of pre-peeled hardboiled eggs from Trader Joe’s. This is an absolutely incredible product because all you have to do is keep them in the fridge and you can stockpile nature’s perfect protein snack. These are especially great for people who don’t want to take the time or have the patience to boil and peal their own eggs. Just make sure to eat them pretty quickly, which, if you are trying to add mass, shouldn’t be a problem.

Finally, the number-one food substance to take in if you are trying to add mass is cow’s milk. Cow’s milk was designed by nature to turn a baby calf into a giant cow, so clearly it has the ability to add size. Now, in a perfect world all milk would be raw milk and you wouldn’t have to worry about whether to get skim or 2% or what have you, you’d just go straight to the utter. Unfortunately, raw milk is banned in most states for no other reason than pure ignorance, so check your state laws to find out if raw milk is able to be sold in your area. If it is, buy it and drink it, a lot of it. 5/3/1 and Super Squats suggest drinking a gallon a day. That’s a ton of milk, but like I said earlier, if you are trying to add size you are going to have to take in a ton of calories. Raw milk has all of the enzymes and healthy bacteria that spur muscle protein synthesis, which are some of the best reasons for choosing raw milk over pasteurized milk. Among those enzymes is the lactate enzyme, which is what those who are lactose-intolerant are missing, and therefore those who are lactose-intolerant easily handle raw milk. A friend and former teammate of mine who is lactose-intolerant couldn’t ever drink pasteurized milk, but when I got him started on raw milk he was able to handle that just fine.

If you can’t get raw milk you should go for organic whole milk. This milk will still be pasteurized so it won’t have the enzymes and bacteria that you want, but it will still have a lot of the fat and protein. If you can’t afford organic whole then get regular whole milk, and if you aren’t drinking whole milk then you are just kidding yourself when you say that you want to get bigger. Milk is a great choice to put in your post-workout shake or just to drink right out of the jug during and in between meals.

So there you have it, my top three food choices for adding mass on to your frame. If I was going to throw in a wild card I would put in a fatty beef or steak from grass-fed cows, but I think these give you the most versatility as far as what you can do with them and their convenience. One thing that I have been making lately is a shake consisting of 6 ounces of whole milk (raw milk isn’t sold in Illinois), ½ scoop of whey protein, two giant knife-fulls of peanut butter, ½ a banana, a tablespoon of flax seed, and a couple handfuls of walnuts. I LOVE these shakes and they are a quick and easy way to get in plenty of calories, fat, and protein. Look for a video in the next month or so on my YouTube channel where I make one of these shakes.

Get big or die tryin’.

Charlie Cates

Self Made, Owner

Charlie Cates is a human performance specialist and the owner of Self Made (http://selfmadefitness.com/) in Chicago, IL. He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist through NASM and has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP's. Athletically, he was a 4-year member of the Williams College men’s basketball team, which made a run to the national championship during his senior year. During this time he also worked intensively with the team’s off-the-court training, helping to develop All-Americans and a National Player of the Year. He can be reached via e-mail at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.

This article may be reproduced with biographical information intact.

Knees Beyond The Toes?

Almost all of us have been told at one time or another to not let your knees go past your toes while you squat in order to prevent injury. But is this advice actually helping to prevent or setting yourself up for injury? Check out this article by Ian Middleton for more information.

Knees Beyond The Toes? by Ian Middleton

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (1/16-1/22)

This past week was my last heavy week of SMS^2.1. I had my heavy fours at 85% of my 1RM, with squats on Monday, bench on Tuesday, and deadlifts on Thursday. Friday was my circuit training day. Wednesday and Friday I did the assigned plyos for the week as well.

I began practicing the MAT that I had learned the weekend before on almost all of my clients. They all saw great improvements in their respective ranges of motion, which makes me very excited to continue practicing this specialty. I spent a lot of time this past week studying for the CSCS. I am making great progress through the book for the second time, and I am feeling very comfortable with all of the presented information. On Friday I also made a trip out to the suburbs to pick up my second batch of raw milk. I love this stuff. I was also able to add all of the exercises for SMS^2.1 to my YouTube channel and theExercise Index.

That's all for this past week. Now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

What Works

Looking to put on size?? Check out this article by Ray Rhoads to find out "what works".

What Works by Ray Rhoads

Get big or die tryin'.

Training Grip Strength For Basketball Players

Among high school and college basketball players there seem to be two mindsets when it comes to strength training in the weight room. For one group, lifting is something they partake in because they want to get stronger so they are able to perform better. For the other group, they either don’t lift at all or they do just enough so as not to get called out. However, regardless of which group an athlete falls into, there is one thing that is often overlooked but must be prioritized if true increases in basketball performance are going to be developed in the weight room. Just as it is vital for athletes to have strong feet for ground-based sports, basketball players, too, must have strong hands in order to get the highest transfer between the weight room and the court.

In basketball the point of contact between the ball and the player is the hand, specifically the fingertips. Rarely is the whole palm applied to the ball, and even when the ball is being held with both hands the majority of the contact between the skin and leather is through the fingertips and fingers. This is important to understand due to the fact that this will alter how a basketball player should go about training his or her grip. To put it simply, the grip used when holding a basketball is more along the lines of a pinch grip than a crushing grip. Reason being, when an athlete holds a basketball the thumb is heavily involved, which is not the case at all when squeezing a hand gripper or when gripping a smaller object such as a tennis ball. Instead of using those two common techniques for increasing grip strength among basketball players, I would look to be using wider objects that open the hand more and force the thumb to play a crucial role in the exercise.

After reading Mastery of Hand Strength, Revised Edition by John Brookfield (Amazon.com) I have realized that there are literally an infinite number of ways to train grip strength, however, not all of them are right for basketball players. In my opinion, some of the best exercises from this book that would be suitable for basketball players are lifts using thick-handled dumbbells and coin bag work. Lifts with thick-handled dumbbells are pretty self-explanatory; just find dumbbells with handles that are between 2” and 3” thick (Brookfield, 52). Coin bag work was a completely new concept to me, but I love the potential of it. In his book, Brookfield calls this exercise bag catching and has it in his “Crushing Grip” section (Brookfield, 18). However, with just a slight modification to the exercise I can see this being a very effective tool for basketball players.

To start, you will need to attain a coin bag from a bank if you don’t already have one. Then you’ll need to fill it with some type of weighted substance, such as steel shot like Brookfield suggests. Then you tape the bag completely shut to make sure the contents will stay sealed. Now, Brookfield suggests throwing the bag up to yourself and catching it by the little flap on the top. However, I am going to modify that and say to catch the bag with only one hand on the thick part of the bag. You can grip it so your thumb is pointing up, i.e., palm medial, or so your thumb is pointing laterally, i.e., palm down. Either way, taking a full grip into this bag on every catch is definitely a sure-fire way to strengthen your grip in a basketball-appropriate manner.

If you don’t have a coin bag or don’t want to go get one something else you could do is to weigh down a coffee can and hold on to it one hand at a time. I wouldn’t suggest catching and throwing this, but simply performing static holds should work wonders. Also, take your current hand size and strength into consideration when choosing what size can to use. Make sure to tape the lid securely shut before performing any exercises with it so as not to lose the contents of the can.

Finally, the absolute best thing a basketball player can do strengthen his or her grip for the sport is, in my opinion, medicine ball work. Medicine balls are incredibly versatile tools that can bounce, be thrown, caught, and come in varying weights and sizes. Throwing and catching medicine balls will not only strengthen the entire hand, including the joints, ligaments, and tendons, in a sport-specific manner, but it will also train the specific muscle synergies that are developed in basketball while passing and catching the ball in a variety of ways. From catching in the low post to rebounding to driving the lane, having an incredibly strong grip on the ball is absolutely vital, and using medicine balls is a must when trying to develop this.

These are just a few tactics that can be used when trying to train your grip strength for basketball. For more information on grip strength training and for more ideas on how to go about grip strength training read Mastery of Hand Strength, Revised Edition by John Brookfield, available on Amazon.com.

Get big or die tryin’.

Charlie Cates

Self Made, Owner

Charlie Cates is a human performance specialist and the owner of Self Made (http://selfmadefitness.com/). He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist through NASM and has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP's. He can be reached via e-mail atcharlie@selfmadefitness.com.

This article may be reproduced with biographical information intact.

5 Front Squat Advantages

Do you front squat? You might want to consider adding it in after you read this list by Josh Bryant.

5 Front Squat Advantages by Josh Bryant

Get big or die tryin'.

Timed Sets for Auto-Regulation

Auto-regulation is a field that I have become increasingly interested in over the course of the past nine months. What first intrigued me was how individualized each and every training session would become once auto-regulation was applied. It was a level of individualization I had not run across before, a level that looked at not only what each and every athlete had to specifically work on to maximize their potential, thereby dictating which exercises would be performed, but also what each athlete’s work capacity was for that particular session, which in turn dictated the number of sets and reps that would be performed of the aforementioned exercises.

This thought of individualizing a training session based on strength deficiencies and movement pattern abnormalities, combined with the physiological changes that would take place within an athlete before, during, and after each set, was ground-breaking to me. Despite how complicated this method of training seemed I was bound and determined to make it work for myself.

After spending countless hours and training sessions trying to figure out how to apply this science perfectly within my own training, I was finally struck with an epiphany. During my internship in the summer of 2009 I was taught a way of efficiently training large groups of people by having a central stopwatch dictate when the groups of people would switch from one exercise to the next. This way, everybody got as much done as they could in a given amount of time. This training method served as a guide as I figured out how to apply this way of training to a more strength-based regimen as apposed a high calorie burning one. This was the easy part though, and within a day or two I had a plan as to how I was going to incorporate this into my own training program.

What I came up with for myself was to use an extended length of time for my main lifts and shorter periods of time for my subsequent exercises. I would rest as much as I needed to between each set instead of timing out my rests. Finally, I would try to get as many sets in of each exercise as I could in the amount of time I allotted for them. The total time for each session, not including warm-up and cool-down, would be an hour.

So this is how it works in the SMS training series, starting with SMS 7. For the four main lifts each week (squat, bench, dead, military) you get 20 to 25 minutes to do your warm-up sets, your working sets, and to clear the bar for your first pair of subsequent exercises. At the 25-minute mark (20 minute mark on Day 4), you begin arranging the weights for your first pair of C exercises, which you perform for 15 minutes, getting as many sets in as you can. After 15 minutes, you should have cleaned up and put back whatever equipment you have used for those exercises and began the D exercises, which you perform for 10 minutes, getting as many sets in as you can and putting the weights away before the 10 minutes are up. Then you move on to your E exercises and so on.

Training using this format allows your body to dictate how many sets you will get in, so on days when you feel great you may get six or seven sets in, resting very little between each set. On others days you may not feel as sharp and then you may only get three or four sets in. However many sets you get in is fine as long as you are pushing yourself. This type of format will not work well with someone who is unmotivated to train or wants to take the easy way out of everything. However, for people who are motivated and like and are able to push themselves then this format will be very effective.

I figured out how much time to assign to each exercise by timing how long it would take me to complete the number of sets that I had been assigning for the first six SMS training programs. I did not take into consideration the amount of time I spent putting away my weights between exercises, but what I have found is that even with this time now added in I am still able to consistently get more sets in throughout my workout. For example, the first time I used timed sets on my deadlift day I performed eight working sets, whereas before I was only performing four in the same amount of time.

Not only have my working sets increased on the days when I feel well, but on the days when I’m not feeling as well I don’t have to grind out sets when I’m fatigued, greatly reducing the chance of injuring myself as well as allowing me to recover quicker for my next training session. This has been vital to my body not falling in to an overreached or overtrained state. The time limits also force my workouts to be shorter than they previously were, allowing me to get in and out of the gym in a timely manner and still enjoy great progress in strength and size.

The SMS training series doesn’t incorporate timed sets until you train in a more traditional fashion for six months so you can learn to listen to your body and learn the signs and symptoms of your body telling you it is fatigued or to press harder. Having this self-awareness and mind-body connection will only increase the effectiveness of a timed sets training program. While this isn’t a completely pure form of auto-regulation, as the exercises and reps are pre-determined, it does allow for a very simple form of what would otherwise be a very complicated and confusing process. As I talked about earlier, this type of training isn’t for everybody. If you are unmotivated, unfocused, or unwilling to push yourself when you are in the gym then a more regimented training program may be a better option for you. But if you do not fall along these lines then I would STRONGLY recommend incorporating timed sets into your training program.

Get big or die tryin’.

Charlie Cates

Self Made, Owner

Charlie Cates is a human performance specialist and the owner of Self Made (http://selfmadefitness.com/). He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist through NASM and has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP's. He can be reached via e-mail atcharlie@selfmadefitness.com.

This article may be reproduced with biographical information intact.

The Mountain Dog Diet

Looking to look and feel better? Perhaps disregarding all of the conventional wisdom about nutrition is your answer. Here is a great article by John Meadows that talks about a similar diet to the one I follow.

The Mountain Dog Diet--A Healthier Way to Get Lean/Add Muscle...Or Both! by John Meadows

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (1/9-1/15)

This past week was my second week of SMS², which has always been my video taping week for theExercise Index. This time week was no different. I squatted on Monday, benched on Tuesday, deadlifted on Thursday, and had my circuit day on Friday. All of my lifts went well with my sixes and I felt really strong all week. Wednesday and Friday I also did plyo training.

On Saturday I was in a MAT class all day, which was an incredibly interesting and stimulating experience and I am really looking forward to continuing my MAT education.

This past week I had the busiest week at work that I have had, so my time to read was very limited. I did get a chance to study for the CSCS a little bit, however.

That's all for this past week. Now, it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

Video Blog: Multi-Exercise Movements... What are you doing??

Evolution Revolution: My Manifesto

Here's a great article by Martin Rooney on the evolution of man and the evolution of health and human performance.

Evolution Revolution: My Manifesto by Martin Rooney

Get big or die tryin'.

5/3/1 vs. SMS

Somewhere between Arnold, ESPN hosting Strong Man competitions, and the steroid scandal, the fact that the weight room is a tool to facilitate movement was forgotten. And with an increasing number coaches implementing Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 into their athletes’ training programs, it doesn’t look like this will be remembered any time soon.

Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 is considered by many to be one of the best training programs for getting stronger on the market today, and I completely agree. Time and again I have seen its success in getting both competitive athletes and every day lifters stronger than they ever thought they’d be able to in such a short period of time. I am, however, concerned that 5/3/1 may be being used inappropriately for most athletes. In light of this, I would argue that S.E.L.F. Made Simple (SMS) would be a better alternative for most athletes because the program allows the athletes to build a strong foundation by incorporating joint integrity work, it has more of a “core” focus, and it is less demanding on the athletes hormonally, allowing them to effectively train for other areas of their sport.

First, let’s recognize what 5/3/1 is and what it is not and then do the same for SMS. Finally, we’ll compare the two programs head to head. To start, 5/3/1 is a powerlifting program in its most elemental state. This means that it is designed to get athletes (and yes, powerlifters are athletes) as strong as possible. It is designed to be incredibly simple to follow, which is great, and it is designed to get continuous results over the course of many months. It is also written such that whoever performs the program can alter the supplemental lifts in order to allow their main lifts (back squat, flat bench, deadlift, and standing military) to be as heavy as possible. This is one thing that SMS doesn’t allow for (I’ll explain why later) but that I really like about 5/3/1. There are, however, some things that 5/3/1 lacks that are vital to an athlete’s development and performance.

The first thing 5/3/1 is missing is any type of joint integrity work, whether it be for the hips, knees, ankles, or shoulders. Joint integrity work keeps athletes healthy and pain free and is vital for an athlete’s well being because it prevents injury and when you are injured you cannot perform as well as when you are healthy. The second thing 5/3/1 is missing is daily core work, and by daily I mean every day you train with the program. For this article, I’m considering the “core” to be the rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, lumbar and thoracic spine, psoas, and the lumbo-pelvic hip complex, including the hip flexors, adductors, abductors, and gluteals. Power, i.e., strength times speed, is the name of the game for the vast majority of sports, and the core, particularly the hips, is where power lives. An athlete’s core is arguably the most important area that needs to be trained, so quite frankly it is beyond me why this wouldn’t be hit every training session.

Finally, the last thing 5/3/1 is missing, in my opinion, is a realization that skilled athletes are exactly that, skilled athletes. This means they need to also have some type of movement training and skill training that should, in most cases, be a higher priority than their strength training. (Just for clarification, being a “skilled athlete” is not limited to those athletes who use some type of ball, instrument, or tool during their competition. The term “skilled athlete” includes any athlete who has to move and control their body, even track sprinters, because as Martin Rooney points out, running and sprinting are skills and they must be practiced year-round.) The problem with 5/3/1 when trying to implement it into a skilled athlete’s training program is that it requires the athlete to rep until failure with their heaviest lifts four times every week. Hormonally, this leaves the athlete a wreck and not only exhausts them for their other training sessions, but also puts the athlete at great risk for injury. Now, some may say that Wendler is actually asking for technical failure, meaning when the lifter’s form breaks down, not total or muscular failure, which would be when they are no longer able to complete a full repetition. This may be true, but I would argue that the vast majority of people who are lifting don’t have proper form to begin with, so how does someone judge when incorrect form fails?

Let me stop this comparison now and reiterate an important point: 5/3/1 is a really, really good training program for people who are looking to get stronger. So, these “deficiencies”, or whatever you want to call them, that I am pointing out are no fault of the program’s and no fault of Wendler’s. It is, however, the fault of the coaches who implement this program into their teams’ training regimens. Wendler wrote a program for people, specifically powerlifters, to get as strong as possible, not for every athlete to maximize his or her potential on the field of competition, which, along with injury prevention, is really what the purpose of training is.

Now let me tell you a little bit about the SMS training series. This series of training programs was written by myself with the goal of getting as strong as I could without sacrificing my ability to move, i.e., putting on too much mass or being completely drained from the lifts. Most of the basic principles of 5/3/1 are still there—the continual progression from phase to phase, the heavy main lifts and higher-rep supplement lifts, and the percentage-based progression within a single mesocycle. However, instead of writing in a set of reps to failure at the end of all the main lifts, I have another set written in of a pre-determined rep number. Also, in regards to the supplement lifts, instead of having you do 50 reps of each exercise like 5/3/1 calls for, SMS dictates the exact number of sets and reps you will do. When the reps for your main lifts are lower (1-3) the reps for your supplement lifts are in the 6-12 range, and when the main reps are higher (4-6) the supplement reps are in the 8-15 range. Also, like 5/3/1, every fourth week of SMS is a deload week followed by a new program so the athletes are able to stay fresh with their strength training.

Addressing the “deficiencies” that I identified with 5/3/1, the SMS series implements a general, ground-based warm-up that targets the hips, knees, ankles, and shoulders before every lift followed by a specific warm-up to target the muscles that will be the prime movers in that day’s main lift. These specific warm-ups range from different squat variations to box jumps to medicine ball work. The medicine ball work serves as a way to strengthen one’s grip in addition to being a warm-up, which for skilled athletes is very important. There is also core work written in at the end of every day, with all of the muscles in the core being worked over the course of one week. Equally as important, there are exercises to isolate hip flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction each week as well. Finally, like I stated above, the SMS training series does not call for the athlete to take the final set of the main lifts to failure, technical or total, each day, which allows the athlete to stay fresh so they can have other productive training sessions as well.

The SMS training series is by no means perfect. In fact, there are many problems I could see people having with it. The most common problem I could see people having with it is that the volume still may be too high for a lot of skilled athletes (think soccer and basketball players). In response to this, I would say to cut out the second pair of supplement exercises each day. Unlike 5/3/1, which only has one pair of supplement exercises for each day, SMS has two, with each pair having fewer sets than the one pair in 5/3/1. However, if the volume were too high, I would say to get rid of one of these pairs of exercises. SMS1 is more along the lines of 5/3/1 in this sense, but once you get to SMS2 you’ll see what I’m talking about.

A second problem I could see people having is that, starting with SMS2, there are a lot of triceps and biceps isolation exercises, and by a lot I mean four to five total sets per week. First of all, these exercises can be easily removed from the program—just don’t do them. Day 4 of SMS2 contains a lot of these sets, so if you are worried about that or don’t want to do them, then don’t and just use the fourth day as more of a recovery day after you hit your standing military presses. However, I would like to point out that confidence is a HUGE contributor to athletic performance, so if you can see your hard work paying off in the form of bigger arms, you may be more confident when heading into battle.

Finally, a third problem I could see is that the SMS series isn’t as individualized as 5/3/1, meaning that the supplement lifts for each session are chosen for you, as appose to 5/3/1 where you choose your own supplement lifts to best allow you to increase the weight of your main lifts. I’ll respond to this by saying that the vast majority of people don’t know what lifts to perform to get the results they are looking for, so while 5/3/1 is an excellent choice for a more knowledgeable powerlifter, for the baseball player who is a freshman in high school, giving them free reign in the weight room is not a good idea. The SMS training series structures the supplement exercises to ensure that a balanced approach is taken to strengthening the body for athletic movement.

In light of the information just presented, it seems to me that the program you should choose for your training depends on your goals of your strength training sessions. As I stated above, 5/3/1 is one of the best programs out there for purely increasing strength, but coaches need to realize that being the strongest athlete does not make you the best sportsman or sportswoman. You need to choose a program that is conducive to the goals of your athletes and your program within the realm of the individual sport itself. 5/3/1 For Football has now been released, and while this is a great step for many football programs, once again, does it make sense to implement this training into a lacrosse or soccer player’s program? You wouldn’t give a powerlifter a basketball player’s training program and expect them to become the best powerlifter they can be, so why would you give a basketball player a powerlifter’s program and expect that it will make them the best basketball player they can be?

Get big or die tryin’.

Charlie Cates

Self Made, Owner

Charlie Cates is a human performance specialist and the owner of Self Made (http://selfmadefitness.com/). He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist through NASM and has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP's. He can be reached via e-mail at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.

This article may be reproduced with biographical information intact.

Do You Train?

Who out there works out and who out there trains? Check out this list by Adam Spizman to figure out if your time inside the gym and out makes the cut.

Top Ten Checklist: Do You Train? by Adam Spizman

Get big or die tryin'.

Deload to Reload

Every day athletes young and old push themselves to be better than they are right now. They spend countless hours training their bodies and their minds in pursuit of higher levels of performance. One part of training that is often left out in this quest for excellence is a period of time, whether it is a day or a week, where the athlete turns down the intensity of their workouts. This period of time is called a “deload period” and it is one of the most overlooked and underutilized tools for consistent and continual progression.

Deload periods are absolutely vital to ensuring that athletes can not only perform at their best when it matters most, but they can also get better each day up until that point so that when it’s time for battle they are in top shape and ready to go. The frequency and duration of deload periods will vary from athlete to athlete based on their current conditioning level and the intensity of their workouts, but a general rule of thumb would be to incorporate a deload period once every four to six weeks during a strength training regimen and once every two to three weeks during a movement training regimen.

The reason the movement deload periods are more frequent than strength deload periods is that most movement training sessions are more demanding on the nervous system than a strength training session, which is more demanding on the muscular system. Because the nervous system takes longer to fully recover from stressors, i.e., training sessions, than the muscular system it should be allowed to refresh more often. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, the exact frequency of deload periods will be dependent on the individual athlete as well as the intensity of the training sessions.

The duration of the deload period is something that needs to be individualized as well. However, in general, one week of strength training sessions should suffice as well as one to two individual movement training sessions. The strength training deload period will usually be a little longer than the movement training deload period because, depending on the split of the program, it will take a full week for the athlete to deload all of muscles being worked in training. If the athlete is on a daily total-body program or works the same body parts multiple times in the same week, then the duration of the deload period may need to be adjusted. The greater frequency of the movement training deload periods combined with the fact that most movement training sessions work the same muscles results in a shorter duration of the actual period itself. Of course, the performance coach will need to be able to read his or her athletes and adjust the training plan as needed. The best combination of frequency and duration for each athlete will only be found through some trial and error of the performance coach.

There are many things that a deload period can consist of. Training techniques such as foam rolling and other forms of SMR, yoga and/or flexibility training, as well as massage therapy are all great options to incorporate into a warm-up, cool-down, or off day from training as these will improve tissue quality and help to prevent injury during more intense training sessions. For movement training sessions, the number of sets or the duration of movement drills can be decreased. Another option is to make the entire workout an extended dynamic warm-up, really focusing on moving the joints through the full range of motion and re-teaching and working basic movement patterns. Once again, the intensity of these sessions will depend on the athlete’s physical state due to previous workouts as well as what their immediate future looks like (upcoming competition vs. off-season training). Pool workouts consisting of aqua jogging and moving the hips, knees, ankles, and shoulders through their full range of motion are another option to substitute for the traditional movement training sessions, as these sessions will be much lower-impact on the joints of the athlete.

A simple deload plan for the strength training sessions of the athlete is to perform the same program they did the week prior, but use 70% of the weight on all the exercises that they did the week before. This weight will feel very light, and it should, but that’s okay because while it is not physically taxing the athlete, it will allow their muscles to recover without having to take an entire week off from the weights. It will also allow the athlete to ingrain proper lifting technique for those exercises into their muscle memory as well as enable them to move throughout the full and desired range of motion with ease. With exercises that the athlete may only be using their body weight such as pullups, chinups, dips, and inverted rows, the athlete can use resistance bands or assistance machines to perform these exercises. However, it may be easier to instead cut the desired reps to 70% of what they were and perform the exercises with 100% of the athlete’s body weight. An alternative to dropping the weights to 70% for exercises with external resistance is to implement the initial stages of an off-season training program into that week of strength training, focusing on body weight movements and building, or rebuilding, a strong athletic foundation for the athlete to continue to develop.

Some ways to tell that an athlete is definitely in need of a deload period are if they are lacking usual motivation for their training, their reaction times are slower than normal, they are dragging in between their drills or seem lethargic during their sessions, their movements are not as clean or explosive as usual, or their resting heart rate (RHR) is elevated. The last one is a clear sign that the athlete’s nervous system is failing to fully recover between training sessions. If this is the case, then it may be wise to take a day to apply some recovery techniques (see Recovery 101: Training Techniques for specific ideas) or a parasympathetic session (see The Parasympathetic Secret for more information). Hopefully after spending a day or two applying these methods the athlete’s RHR will be back down to what it normally is and the athlete can resume their normal training program. However, don’t be surprised if it takes the athlete a week or more to fully recover if they are coming off of a long stretch (months) of intense training without deloading.

As a performance coach, the number-one objective of our art is to make sure that our athletes are able to perform to the best of their abilities when called upon to do so. To make sure that this is a possibility, it would be recommended and wise to implement deload periods into their regular training programs.

Get big or die tryin’.

Charlie Cates

Self Made, Owner

Charlie Cates is a human performance specialist and the owner of Self Made (http://selfmadefitness.com/). He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist through NASM and has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP's. He can be reached via e-mail atcharlie@selfmadefitness.com.

This article may be reproduced with biographical information intact.

Top 5 Transformation Tips

Looking to transform your body or anything in your life? Check out these tips from Dave Tate of EliteFTS.com.

Top 5 Transformation Tips by Dave Tate

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (1/2-1/8)

This past week was the start of SMS², and man was I psyched for it! I started on Monday with squats, had bench on Tuesday, deadlifts on Thursday, and my circuit day on Friday. I felt really good for all of my working sets throughout the week, and I am excited to start working towards heavier weights again.

Wednesday and Friday I did the assigned plyos for SMS². It had been since October since I had done plyos, but I felt really sharp during the sessions and I recovered well from them too.

My big work project for the week was to format and send out The Source, which I sent out on Wednesday. I was really busy at the gym all week, so I really didn't have much time to study for the CSCS. Hopefully that will be able to change in the upcoming weeks, however.

Well, that's all for this past week. Now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.