Yea….You Need to Read This – Part 1

 

Practical Programming for Fitness, Performance and Health – Why We Do What We Do

By: Sean Callahan

I think it is an important tactic to often question the things that you do and why in fact that you do them.  I am in a constant state of evaluation with the things that I partake in on a regular basis, this is especially true for the training programs that I am responsible for.  While I will do this on a near daily basis when watching clients and athletes perform the programs that I am a part of, I often have these conversations in my head (I talk to myself often, a lot of time out loud) this is a more concise attempt to make my thoughts and ideas more clear to myself and further question the placement of particular ideas used in training.  Additionally, I hope that this serves as a more detailed description and an attempt at helping those that perform these workouts better understand the “why” in which we do things (I don’t always have time to explain in detail why we do things, I’m not so convinced that everyone wants to know why though….).

 

Before we start with what we do, let me first try to explain what we do not do.   We do not just throw stuff against the wall and hope something sticks. Every minute that we spend training has a specific purpose for a specific person.  I believe that this is the supreme difference in what we do and what others are doing with their workouts.  Many people in my opinion are simply just working out and what we are doing is in fact training, training for what?  Well that depends on the person.  I once wrote an article about how I believe that everyone should train as athletes, many will not understand that statement and peg me for a “one-size-fits-all” kind of guy. However, if we investigate a little more objectively we can start to see that the similarities between the needs of athletes and the needs of adults hoping to function better, longer, and stronger in life are not all that different.  I think that it goes without saying that athletics puts great amounts of stress on the body physically, psychologically, and even emotionally.  Is this not also true of the life that all of us as “non-athletes” lead as well?  Athletes need the ability to exhibit strength, power, great excursions of both mobility and flexibility, joint stability, cardiovascular conditioning (both aerobically and anaerobically), and they need all of these attributes to be systematize as part of a program that is tailored to their specific needs.  Now, if you take that very sentence you just read and replaced the word athletes with adults and reread it would it not be a true statement as well?  Ask someone who has broken a hip what it would have been worth to have the strength and power to resist a fall and prevent that injury?  Ask anyone that has lost the ability to get their arms over their head without pain what it would be worth for them to have that ability back?  Life may not be as tough as athletics but, there is no way that you can convince me that it doesn’t cause trauma on the body.  This is the very reason that our program is specific, it encompasses the needs and desires of each individual.  In my opinion, it is the way in which every training program should be.

Fitness and training have sadly become too commercialized.  It has become gimmicky in nature and more about different pieces of workout equipment and just making training sessions hard.  In most cases these “hard” workouts provide lackluster results and most often lead to participation dropout due to insignificant results or even worse injury.  Most modern day fitness and training programs try to do too much and they have forgotten about the basics, I was reading a description about one of my new competitors that says:

“This innovate 8 week program will use all the formats that are trending in the world of fitness, incorporating elements of bootcamp, kickboxing, tabata, pilates, strength training, HIIT, dance, barre method and more.”

                As I read this, what I take away from it and what you should as well if you are considering your next training adventure is that there are no baselines, there is no measurement process other than perhaps a number on a scale.  We’re going to take a bunch of unrelated stuff and put it into a big pot of $hit soup.  They go onto mention that it is “appropriate for all fitness levels” now, ask yourself if you and I are there and you are as fit as a fiddle and I have a tight low back, a bad knee, achy hips and shoulders and I haven’t worked out in 6 years how do you and I both fit in the same exact workout and both get what we need?  Even worse let’s say that the workout is slightly more skewed for someone like you, well then I fall off the back, I continue to do things that magnify and make my issues worse and nothing is fixed, but…..do please keep in mind that it’s hard and I’m breathing heavily.  But, what about you?  It’s hard and you can keep up, at the end you have worked your butt off, burned a few hundred calories, and feel good. Was this workout appropriate for you?  In the beginning sure, it’s challenging it’s somewhat appropriate for you, perhaps not for every person at your fitness level in the room but, it served its purpose you got your work in.  Here is the part that we are missing, odds are and I’d almost guarantee this….even the fit people are starting in the wrong place.

Here are some reasons why these types of programs don’t last for most:

1. There is no appropriate progression; how do you make it harder and continue results?  If you are working out at max every single time there will come a day in which you will plateau.  The rate of progression must be specific to each person for continued results, it’s simply a matter of human physiology.

 

1. If you read #1 this should make sense to you, there are more outliers in fitness and training than there are that will actually fit this type of training model.  Most of the individuals that will find themselves in a group exercise class as described above will fall below the actual needs required to survive in a program as such.  Well of course, they’ll tell you “you just go as long as you can and do what you can” I mean in theory that makes sense right?  Well here is the problem with that……if we go as long as we can even if that time period is 5 seconds for example jumping rope (because that’s the exercise everyone is doing) that 5 seconds multiplied by say 10 times is one approximately 1 minute in a place that you probably don’t belong.  That 1 minute of exercise has the potential to cause patella-femoral problems that puts you out a week. Here’s a simple idea not nearly enough people adhere to, brace yourself it’s pretty ground breaking stuff…getting injured is counterproductive to your health and fitness goals.

 

These classes often do not have the programming abilities and not in all cases but in most lack the trainer-ability to assess participants on an individual basis to know that a person in a situation such as this lacks the eccentric strength and ankle mobility to jump rope.  If they had assessed the situation alternatives to exercise (jump rope in this case) would have been given while simultaneously addressing the ankle issue, now the 60 seconds of rest becomes a time in which we can work on mobilizing the ankle (corrective exercise during active recovery = greater training density). The regression to exercise would have been made and the prescription to exercise given would allow a greater work capacity than 5 seconds (5 second work intervals are designated for elite level athletes and more accurately put the freaks of the world in most cases).  I’ll take 20-30 seconds worth of work that is relative to a participant than 5 seconds of really hard stuff that they can barely do and compromises health.

 

1. As mentioned, most of these group exercise classes lack measurement modules.  I’m not talking about just weight and bodyfat, I’m talking about the other and probably more important things….relative strength, absolute strength, cardiovascular tests, movement capabilities, and work volume.  As you may have begun to conclude at this point there is much more or atleast there should be much more to training than just you coming in and me kicking your ass with hard stuff until you throw up and mess your pants.  Sadly, this is the premise of most popular training programs right now.  Unfortunately, the majority of people that use these will end up burned out, frustrated and/or both and probably sitting at home on the couch with a tub of Ben and Jerry’s and Frozen Thin Mints watching The Biggest Loser planning your next comeback to fitness while you rehab a recently acquired injury.  This whole system is wrong, “DO NO HARM” should be the emphasis of every program, if not, then find a new program!!!  I absolutely believe that the reason the individuals that I work with are capable of some of the things that they now are is we measure and track everything.  We can look back and see where exactly they started and how far they have come.  We very seldom hit sticking points because we can in most cases dial in workouts to the exact rep needed. It’s not a perfect science and sometimes life happens and every workout isn’t your best but, atleast the potential is there to have the best workout possible for that specific person, in that specific phase of training, in that specific week and on that specific day.  If a person needs more ankle mobility that becomes part of their program, if they need more shoulder mobility that becomes part of their plan, have an achy shoulder we’ll work around it while attempting to fix it (some times it’s beyond my scope of practice and I’ll refer you to a medical professional, which I’ve already screened and found the ones that I believe to be the best in our area, not a requirement but a suggestion to see these particular docs), we measure each persons abilities and design programs that are based on those measurements.  Simply said if you are not assessing you are guessing and as they say, what gets measured, gets improved.

 

Now before we outline in more detail what exactly and why exactly we do it let’s talk about some rules that we follow.

 

1. As I said before DO NO HARM!  It does neither you nor me any good if I hurt you.
2. If it looks like crap, it probably is!  Technique trumps all!  ALWAYS!!!!
3. Piggybacking on rule #2, failure is at technical breakdown not when you can’t do another rep, rightfully so we refer to and abide by the idea of a set ends when Technical Failure begins.
4. If it hurts, don’t do it!  Pretty simple, if you have an achy knee or something else and an activity we are doing causes it to hurt, we stop right there and find something else.  There is a reason there is pain, we first want to find out that reason and try and fix it not work through it.
5. Progressive overload, our programming is kept pretty simple (although some have gotten to the point of needing more complex programming now) if you did 30lb’s for 8 reps this time, please do 35 next time.  It doesn’t need to be complicated, the SAID principal is pretty straight forward SAID– Specific, Adaption to, Imposed, Demand is the premise of everything that we do.  The longer someone trains the more complex this principal can become.
6. 10% rule, we try not to attempt any greater progressive jumps than 10% at a time.  For the sake of math and simplicity let’s say that our conditioning for one week consisted of 1,000 yards of running spread out over 4 days.  If all goes well in this week the following week would amount to 1,100 yards or an additional 25 yards each workout (if we were using equal volume training days).  This can be used for time as well and overall strength training volume and intensity, this helps us stay in compliance with rule #1 by preventing overuse injuries such as shin splints and runners knee to name a couple.
7. You can break SOME of the rules only if you know and understand the rules.  Please notice I said “some” rules such as #1 are NEVER to be broken by anyone for any reason!

 

PreWorkout and Warm-Up Strategies

 

*******Apologies if this at times gets a little nerdy*******

 

                Prior to every workout we will foam roll and static stretch.  Let’s talk about foam rolling first as it is a prerequisite to our static stretching phase of the warm-up.

 

Foam Rolling, or Self Myofascial Release (SMR) – Foam rolling is at the most fundamental level a way of self-massage.  While it can be frustrating to learn how to do it at first,( which we’ll briefly outline here) one of the more obvious questions I get, or atleast I can tell it is what people are thinking but not saying is “Why the hell am I doing this?”

***Here comes some geeky stuff****

SMR works on a principal called autogenic inhibition, located at the junction between the muscle and the tendon are receptors called Golgi Tendon Organs (GTO).  These receptors monitor the amount of tension within the muscle and relays this information to the body’s central nervous system.  When a muscle is stretched to a great degree the GTO sends a signal to the central nervous system that a great deal of stress is being applied and in turn the central nervous system and the GTO relax muscle spindles causing less tension in the muscle belly.  This is same thing that is happening when we foam roll, the pressure applied by the implement being used (foam roller, tennis balls, lacrosse balls, pvc pipe, etc) creates tension and the GTO sends a response to the muscle being rolled to relax.

“But it’s really uncomfortable” – Without question when you start it’s going to be uncomfortable, some areas are going to be REALLY uncomfortable actually.  What you are experiencing in these sensitive spots are called adhesions in the fascial system.  These adhesions compromise movement patterns and can ultimately prevent fitness results in various ways.  These adhesions are also one of the reasons that flexibility can be so tough to obtain, HERE is a video I shot explaining how adhesions reduce flexibility capabilities.  For a more in depth look at and guide to SMR read THIS.

Things you can expect from using SMR

• Improved mobility and range of motion
• Reduction of scar tissue and adhesions
• Decreased intensity of overactive muscles
• Improved quality of movement

 

 

Static Stretching – After we complete our quick 5-7 minute foam roll we will static stretch.  Yep, you heard it….static stretch prior to doing anything that involves raising the body temperature or heating up the muscles.  Essentially we are stretching cold muscles, now these are not ballistic type stretches that are violently taking us to end ranges of motion.  These are gentle static stretches taken to the point of discomfort and then held.  The idea is simple and advocated by many of the world’s top soft tissue experts, stretching warm muscles results in muscles that elongate immediately but, then eventually return to the previous length which in this case for most is short and tight.  If we statically stretch a cold muscle we raise the probability of gaining true tissue length by plastic deformation qualities.

Most people don’t like stretching because they are not good at it and it’s hard.  We try to use stretches that by positioning and using bodyweight make it a much easier process.

 

The areas that we focus on in general with SMR and static stretching (will focus others if that is what a person needs) are:

 

• External Hip Rotators
• Lats
• Thoracic Region
• Lateral aspects of the thigh
• Hamstrings
• Calves
• Quads

 

 

We just went over the 2,500 word count and we are just now starting, I’ll stop here with a promise that the others will be chunked into more manageable pieces as we cover everything we do and why in a multi-part series. In part 2 we’ll start by covering our Activation period that focuses on the glutes, hip flexors and scapular regions (accompanied by video demonstrations)  and also our multi-plannar dynamic warm-up (that we use to negate any potential negative effects that static stretching MIGHT have had on our workout).

 

 

If you are not a subscriber yet, plug in your email address to the follow box on the home page for the rest of this series along with the other pieces to come.  You can also find us at www.facebook.com/callahanstrong

 

Till next time,

 

SC

Feeling Better for the Cost of Two Cups of Coffee

by: Sean Callahan

With the ever-growing cost of gasoline and groceries $13 bucks won’t buy you much these days.  If you are a frequent consumer of the popular coffee houses like my fiancé is then you know that $13 bucks won’t buy you many frappe-latte-grande-triple shot-double the whipped cream- cherry on top coffees either.  But, there is something that we can still get for $13 bucks that can carry great value toward the quality of our living.  What I am suggesting is to get yourself a foam roller and start doing some self-myofascial release (SMR) as often as possible.

I must admit up until probably the last 18 months I can’t say that I was completely sold on the idea of SMR.  I think I knew on some level that I should do it and I should have my athletes and clients do it but, deep down it wasn’t really that important to me.  It wasn’t until I read some of the work of Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson and through my CSCS certification that I understood how and why it worked.  During the time I spent earning my CSCS certification I learned about the Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) and the term autogenic inhibition.  It wasn’t until after reading the work of Mike Roberts that I  understood how these terms and foam rolling was so closely linked.  Without getting too scientific, the GTO is located at the muscle-tendon junction and it is responsible for relaying the level of tension in the muscle-tendon pairing.  When the tension in a muscle reaches the point in which an injury may occur such as that in a tendon rupture, the GTO steps in and tells some muscle spindles to relax the muscle with tension.  This process of reflex relaxation is autogenic inhibition at its finest.  When using a foam roller you can simulate muscle tension and in return causes the GTO to relax the muscle.

Regardless of the routine rigors that you put your body through (athletics, bodybuilding, general fitness activities, etc) muscles need to have a balance of strength, resiliency, and pliability.  Whereas conventional stretching can help with the length of a muscle, foam rolling and other soft tissue work will address tissue density and the pliability component.  With foam rolling we can actually get both some length work (flexibility) through the increased range of motion using the GTO and autogenic inhibition property while simultaneously helping to rid the body of adhesions in the fascial system.

Hands on body work will and always will be a better form of addressing the density of muscle tissue.  Unfortunately, from a finances standpoint having actual hands on type of work such as massage, active release therapy (ART), Rolfing, etc can prove to be a very costly amenity.  Using a foam roller can prove to be effective both from a biological and financial standpoint when it comes to soft-tissue concerns.

What You Can Expect From SMR –

1. You can expect to question if you are doing it correct.
2. You can expect to wonder if others are thinking the same thing.
3. You can expect it to be uncomfortable.
4. You can expect an improvement in mobility and range of motion.
5. You can expect reduction of scar tissue and fascial adhesions.
6. You can expect decreased tone of overactive muscles.
7. You can expect an improved quality of movement.

 Reasons That You Might Not Use SMR –

1. You might not use SMR on areas that have recently suffered an injury.
2. You might not use SMR if you have circulatory problems.
3. You might not use SMR if you have chronic pain conditions (e.g, fibromyalgia, etc)
4. You might not use SMR on bony prominences/joints.

What we must understand about SMR is that it should be used like any other type of training.  There must be a level of appropriate and accurate progression and regression for using SMR.  The most common variables to manipulate for SMR are pressure and density.  Examples of increasing the mass of an object would be going from a lighter foam roller to a heavier one, or going from a tennis ball to a lacrosse ball.  The size hasn’t changed but the mass certainly has.  Examples of changing pressure would be going from if you have two legs on the roller to taking one leg off.  You could also stack the legs on top of each other to increase pressure or if you are using your hands and feet for balance and stability work to get them off the ground forcing more of your bodyweight onto the roller.  As a general rule of thumb it will usually be much easier to decrease the surface area of an object (going from a roller to a tennis ball) than it is to apply more pressure.

Most common areas in need of SMR:

1. Plantar Fascia (common issue is Plantar Fasciitis) – will typically need to be performed with tennis ball or some similar object rolled on the bottom of the feet.
2. Hamstrings                
3. Hip Flexors

4.  Tensor Fascia Latae (TFL) and Illiotibial Band (IT Band)

(increasing the pressure by stacking the legs)

5. Adductors

6. Quadriceps

7.  Gluteus Maximus

8.  Calves

9.  Tibialis Anterior (Shin)

(can also be performed on stomach)

10. Thoracic Extensors, Middle and Lower Trapezius, Rhomboids

11.  Latissmus Dorsi and Teres Major

12. Triceps

How to SMR

This does not need to be an entire workout in itself.  This should account for a very small fraction of the actual workout.  Find the desired areas and make usually 10-15 passes back and forth or up and down the muscle.  When you find a spot that seems to be more sensitive than others hold the roller in place on that one particular spot these will sometimes be referred to as “hot spots.”  Usually the pain from these “hot spots” will start to subside after 30-45 seconds and then you would continue to move amongst the targeted area.   This does not have to be a very complex chain of events, you will need practice at it and resist the urge to discredit it after the first “failed” attempt at it.  You will get better at it and you will be thankful that you stuck with it.

The first thing that you need to do is get your hands on a foam roller.  I’ve used many foam rollers over the last 18 months and can say that you’re going to get the best ones from Perform Better, sure Academy and those places have them but they are cheap and don’t seem to last long with routine usage.   The ones at Perform Better the quality is high and the price is low.  HERE is a link that will take you directly to what I’m talking about, there is no need to get fancy with all of the new “state of the art rollers” that are on the market just start with a basic one.  If your gym or the place that you workout at offers foam rollers, great….that was easy then.  I would still suggest that you have one at the house and use it as often as possible given the returns that you will get in return.  I can assure you that you will not regret having a foam roller around the house.  If the financial resources allow you I would actually suggest that you get a full 3’ roller and a 1’ roller to carry with you on trips or long car rides or to work. The 1′ roller actually tends to be a little easier to use in some places and also lends itself to useage against a wall if you prefer to roll some areas while standing.

Suggestions on what density roller to start with is somewhat of a guess really.  I can say that I have had success with this approach:  match the density of the person to the roller.  If you are older or you are working with an older individual or anyone else that possesses less densities of muscle tissue then start with a softer roller (white roller will be lightest).  If you are dealing with athletes or individuals that are more fit and have denser muscle tissues then you can get away with using more firm objects (black roller or other types).

So….get started!  You will not regret it, it is worth the investment in time and very little money.

Sean C

*Special thanks to Angela Fulton for letting me snap some pictures while she does her foam rolling*

Roberts, Mike. “Self-Myofascial Release.” Robertson Training Systems. Robertson Training Systems, n.d. Web. 28 Feb 2013.

Static Stretching, Dynamic Warm-Up and Foam Rolling

by: Sean Callahan

In the world of fitness, health, and strength and conditioning there is always some individual trying to make a name for himself in a crowded industry.  The tides are always turning on different ways of doing things and what is actually best.  This is just the case with the idea of static stretching.  Static stretching has lived the life of glitz and glam when it was thought that static stretching should be used as a means of warming up for exercise and other activities. Research in the 80’s started to find that performing static stretching prior to exercise and activity actually resulted in a loss of power output.  This obviously created a drastic pendellum swing amongst coaches, trainers and others to nearly ban the idea of static stretching or to perform it exclusively at the end of a workout.  This is a classic example of our tendency to overreact in the short-term and under react in the long term. So here, the dynamic warm-up was born and dynamic flexibility became the darling of the fitness industry and has held this positioning for several years now.  Make no mistake about it; I do believe that the dynamic warm-up is the proper way in which athletes and others should effectively warm-up prior to exercise or activity.  However, I do not stand on the same side of those that believe static stretching should be reserved strictly for post-workout and warm muscles.

The practice of using static stretching only post-workout will never elicit sustained results in flexibility.  Stretching a warm muscle will in most cases only help with recovery (even that is debated).  Static stretching should be performed for much more than just recovery.  Static stretching should be actively used to create greater tissue length (flexibility).  Whereas the dynamic warm-up will serve to prevent acute injuries such as hamstring and groin strains, static stretching and increasing tissue length helps to prevent chronic issues such as patella-femoral pain and low back pain to name a couple.

The old idea of stretching cold muscles resulting in injury is out-dated.  Athletes and individuals get hurt squatting and performing other “sacred” lifts all the time but, no one is quick to throw these out.  Proper execution of static stretching is the key to preventing injuries while stretching, not total exclusion of the technique.

WHERE DOES FOAM ROLLING FIT IN?

If you’ve been around a gym or any other training facility in the last 5 years then you have most likely seen someone performing “rolling” activities on a tubular shaped piece of equipment.  This is what is referred to as Self-Myofascial release (SMR), this is a practice that some would call “poor man’s massage.” Tissue changes in 2 ways, length and density.  We address length with static stretching and density with foam rolling.  If you are stretching and not foam rolling you are fighting a losing battle.  Picture foam rolling as an iron for your muscles, repeated use of muscles tissue creates “knots” or more accurately referred to as adhesions in the fascial system that engulfs muscluar tissue.  To accurately portray this imagine a rubberband with a knot tied in the middle of it, the rubberband represents your muscle and the knot represents the adhesion.  Obviously by pulling (stretching) on opposite ends of the rubberband (muscle) the knot changes in no other way but becoming tighter and keeping the rubberband (muscle) from reaching its actual length.  This is similar in what happens when we attempt to stretch muscles that are presenting with adhesions.

SO HOW DOES IT ALL FIT TOGETHER?

In the grand scheme of things and what I believe to be the best procedure of warm-up would consist of in this order:  foam rolling, static stretching, activation and then a dynamic warm-up.  In the beginning we are using this approach to prepare the muscles by addressing tissue density, tissue length, and tissue readiness.  With the next step, the dynamic warm-up, we are preparing the individual for the actual activity.

This line of thinking and the spurring of this article were brought on by my conversation with two professional soccer players Angela Fulton and Sara Nelson.  We were discussing how the norm now is to foam roll and use a dynamic warm-up to prepare for workouts or competition, and how those that aren’t using these tactics are very far behind in their program design.  Sadly even though these two individuals, the teams that they play for and myself may have a better understanding of proper warm-up modalities, we represent only a small percent of the population and even amongst those that “get it” static stretching for length purposes is not getting its fair shake.   This is information that needs to be more widely spread throughout the industry, athletic and general fitness population.

Dynamic warm-ups can aid in injury prevention, however, I do not believe that the dynamic warm-up can stand alone in the battle with injury prevention.  In the conversation that I had with these two high level athletes about ACL injuries in particular I stated that I  think that a dynamic warm-up is just a tiny fraction of the bigger practice of injury prevention, especially in female athletes.  We will discuss it in greater detail later but, ACL prevention I believe is the culmination of good year round strength and conditioning. This training will encompass foam rolling, flexibility, activation, plyometric training (specifically landing and deceleration skills), power development, strength training and multi-directional conditioning.  So in closing formulate a warm-up routine that utilizes the mentioned tactics and find a strength and conditioning program that focuses around the necessary components outlined for sustained injury prevention for yourself, your athletes, or your clients.   For more information about creating your own warm-up routine simply post your questions below in the comment section.

Until next time,

Sean Callahan

CSCS, USA-W, FMS