Be Your Own Scientist: Things from my own training

The Professor in His Lab

What is a scientist?

A scientist is simply someone who tests things.

Do you need an advanced degree to do this?  Nope.  I would not recommend that people spend 16+ years in college to the tune of over $250,000 like I did just to test things.  Let me save a ton of money and time.

Don’t get me wrong.  Education is great, but if you want to talk about overkill, that is pretty much it if your goal is to test exercises on yourself.

Testing 101

You should find a way to test everything.

Do you want to build bigger muscles and increase strength?

Find a way to test it.

I have been using the testing as shown in the Grip n Rip DVDs for about 3.5 years now.  The system was not as refined when I started, so you have a huge head start.  Frankie was the first one to test it and then I was right after him.  Now you can go to www.twitter.com and type in “#PReveryday” and see hundreds of people using it.

If your goal is more muscle and less fat, then you progressive overload.  What is that?  Do more volume, density (volume/time) and intensity (weight on the bar).  Do a bit more in one of these 3 areas each time you enter the gym and score a PR (personal record).  Rinse and repeat.  I can be that simple.   Really.

What Have I Learned?

I recently went back through my training journal to look at the first year of training that I did using biofeedback.  This was starting about 2 years ago and I looked for about a 1 year time span.

Here is what I found

Deadlift- Volume work

I responded much better to more volume. I did volume work at a lower percentage of my max and still made progress. Even doing high rep work on the trap bar deadlift helped.

Bench Press – Intensity Work

For bench I responded better to more higher intensity work. My best gains were made when I was at a heavier body weight and working at about 90%+ percentage. For a 9 month period I was routinely doing 5-10 sets of singles at 90-98% of my 1 rep max once a week.

Squat – Nothing

This one did not test well at all, most likely to my spine issues. I could lunge and do deadlifts, but a standard barbell squat did not test well. Once I got my spine fixed up a bit, it started to test well again. More on that below.

Variety –  Great!

The more new exericses I did, the better I felt and could increase relatively fast. I found that this helped other things I did the most. I was much better kiteboarding, playing broomball and volleyball. I could kiteboard for 3 hours at a shot, just cranking it for most of the time with very little body fatigue. AWESOME! Nothing worse than going to some place new and finding out your body hates you and you are limited. Boo.

Wow, 2 of the best kiteboarding days I have ever had in Minnesota!

Vision+Scar Work

I have a scar of over a foot long on the middle of my torso from open heart surgery when I was about 4.5 years old. I was born with a cogenital issue called an “atrial septal defect” see the video below

What is an ASD?

My heart was enlarge and I went into heart failure at a very young age. Without surgery, I would be lucky to live to about age 18 due to the increased strain on my heart. They went in, took a bone saw and cut my sterum (chest), cut through the right atrium and repaired the hole. Even on x-ray now I still have the “twist ties” in my chest that they used to put me back together.

Scars are nothing more than areas of limited mobility, but in the skin/fascial layer.

I did some specific work taping my scar into a position with kinesiotape before my lifting sessions. I taped it in the direction that resulted in the greatest increase in my active range of motion.

I worked on specific exercises that would stress that area and cause it to remodel. During this time many lifts that I wanted to do did not test well. My performance on my “standard” lifts dropped.

This went on for about 6-9 months and then I needed to tape it less and less. Since then I have not had to do any taping at all and my structure is much better.

Keep in mind that loading (weight training) is a powerful stimulus to cause changes to

• bone
• skin
• fascia
• muscle
• tendons/ligaments

It is probably the best way we know to change our structure

Vision

I am currently stereoblind –  I don’t see in 3D.  I suppress the image from my right eye.  You have 2 eyes that your brain uses to construct a 3D view of the world since each eye is off just a bit from the other one, so it sees things just a bit differently.  Your brain uses this to allow you to see in 3D.  I can “see” from both eyes, but when I am giving specific tests to analyze 3D vision I fail them out right.  My right eye is set out and up a bit since I had a “lazy eye” as a kid.

Through help from Dr, Cobb of Z-Health, at the time, I found that my scar seemed to be linked to my ability to turn on and off (unsupress) my right eye by using a simple Brock string device.    As my movement got better, I did less scar taping as described above, my vision started to get better.   Currently I find that kettlebell juggling is a huge help.    My next step is that once I get a few things off my plate and bit more money I will start some more intensive visual therapy as my structure seems to have stabilized.

A Must Read For Anyone with Vision Issues

Sleep

I found that I need about 9-9.5 hours of quality sleep a night.
At first I was pissed about this and spent months and months trying many things to get by on less. I could operate on less, but my strength gains and the amount of volume and intensity I could do in the gym dropped off pretty fast. I learned to be a master of the nap and would drive around with a pillow in my car. I was known to slip out of the lab between sessions and catch a short nap in the back of my Jetta. If you do it right, a 6′3″ guy can find the back with the seat down. I used caffeine power naps too.

I have also been using an Earth Pulse Unit for a few years now.    I have not noticed as much strength gains as others have reported, nor could I cut back on sleep duration; but I noticed I don’t have to do much of any cardiovascular (conditioning) as I had to in the past to keep it at a decent level.  I don’t use it for a few days and CRF (cardiorespiratory fitness) drops quite fast.  It should be pointed out that I have never really had any issue with quality sleep, so others with sleep issues may respond differently.

Stress Sucks

Stress would kill my gains in the gym pretty fast.   While you may not be able to change what you are doing (maybe you can), if not, you need to change how you PERCEIVE it.   This is a bit beyond this post, but keep in mind that you are in control and that you make the decisions.  Are you getting better or worse?

No PRs = No Progress

Seems so obvious I know, but I did not get it at that time.  I did not think it was possible to make a PR every time you go to the gym.  It is possible and for the fastest progress you need to do it!

Summary

So I would encourage you to take a look at your training journal and see what trends you find.  Figure out a way to test it.  If you don’t have a training journal, get one now!  Just a standard notebook works great for me.     Probably the only thing I did correct when I started about 18 years ago was keeping a training journal.  I still have ever one of them too.    Study the past to help predict the future and test it.

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

If you want to know how to test your training for the fastest gains ever and not go through

years of trial and error, pick up Grip and Rip now!

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Hypertrophy Roundtable: Bigger Muscles Now with Brett Jones, Geoff Neupert, Mike Robertson, and Frankie Faires

George Hackenschimdt Circa 1898 Source

I was cleaning the archives the other day and realized I gave this away as a gift, but never published it on my blog!  I figured many of the new readers would like to open the time capsule and see what is inside.

Note: the answers collected here were from Jan 2008, so almost 2.5 years ago!  Keep this in mind when you are reading since I know many of the authors have evolved and changed their mind, so this is a snapshot in time from 2.5 year ago.

Still, there is plenty of awesome information on muscle hypertrophy (how to get bigger muscles) below.  Enjoy!

So what do you get when you through 2 powerlifters (Brett Jones, Mike Robertson), an Olympic lifter (Geoff Neupert)  and a Martial Artist (Frankie Faires)  who are all also accomplished trainers into the mix and pepper them with questions about hypertrophy?

I don’t know, but we are about to find out so hold on and here we go on the wild hypertrophy ride.  (notes, my comments will be in bold under some of the names, so don’t BBQ them and send any comments to me)

1) Please introduce yourself and don’t be so darn modest this time!

Mike Robertson

My name is Mike Robertson and I’m a personal trainer/strength coach from the Indianapolis area.  I work with a variety of clients, from high school athletes to weekend warriors.    Mike Robertson the web at http://www.robertsontrainingsystems.com/

Brett Jones

Now Master Trainer Brett Jones

Brett Jones, Master RKC Instructor, CSCS, R-phase Z-Health certified
I have over 18 years of experience in both athletic training and strength and conditioning.  Brett Jone on the web at Applied Strength http://appliedstrength.blogspot.com/

A note, my answers will not be laden with scientific references and supplement recommendations.  Gaining mass is not a mystery. It only confuses those who refuse to squat and eat a lot.  Secret routines and supplement recommendations are the way people get money from people in my opinion.

There goes my new super training 10000 manual I was writing.  Drat!

Frankie Faires

Mike, first off, thanks for including me.  My name is Frankie Faires.  I am Levels 1-4 (RIST) certified Z Health trainer. In times past, I have been certified in NASM as well as RKC.  I focus on physique transformation, performance enhancement and pain relief.  I am a lifetime Martial Artist and currently train in BJJ and combatives.  Frankie can be found on the ole interwebz at Pain Makes You Stupid – Purposeful Joint Mobility

Geoff Neupert

Geoff Neupert, CSCS, SrRKC, Z-Health Level 2, Owner Rapid Results Fitness and Integrated Fitness Solutions. 15 years experience including 3 1/2 years as a Division 1 Strength and Conditioning Coach. Competitive Olympic weightlifter.

Z Health, Kettlebells, CSCS, a recovering NASM guy, this will be good!

2) What are the top 3 factors for optimal muscle hypertrophy and why?

Mike Robertson—
1 – Optimal posture (i.e. length/tension relationships).

2 – Optimal mobility/stability (i.e. the ability to assume the appropriate posture for any given exercise)\
The first two are going to be highly inter-related.  Quite simply if you don’t have proper alignment, you’re not going to be able to optimally stimulate a muscle.

Here’s the best example I can give here.  I’ve seen numerous kids who are too kyphotic (hunchback)  in the upper thoracic region, and they all complain that they can’t stimulate their pecs.  The fact of the matter is, their pecs are always shortened, and thus unable to produce optimal force.  Suboptimal force = Suboptimal hypertrophy!

You can look at it from either side of the coin.  From a strength/power standpoint, you’re unable to optimize these qualities because the pecs are too short.  From an injury prevention standpoint, your body “knows” that it’s out of alignment.  So your body knows it’s not in an optimal position to produce force, so it’s not going to allow you to keep progressing, because it doesn’t want to injure itself.
The second point is the ability to assume appropriate postures/body positions – basically, balancing mobility and stability.  If you’re out of alignment statically (when just standing around), there’s virtually no chance you’ll be able to assume the appropriate posture dynamically.

However, if you do have the appropriate mobility/stability to perform exercises through a full and complete ROM, you’re going to optimize ROM, muscular recruitment, and in the long run, the kind of weights you move.

3 – Heavy weights.
This one isn’t difficult at all.  Once you’ve optimized alignment, mobility, and stability, the fact of the matter is you need to get stronger.  You can play around with workout “density”, speed work, or a host of other factors, but nothing will get you bigger, faster, than getting more weight on the bar.

Sounds like all the Quasimodo’s out there are screwed for starters until they fix their posture.

Brett Jones—
1. Load + Volume (load – 75-85% of 1 rep maximum)
2. Nutrition
3. Recovery

Load + volume –stimulating growth is related to these two factors
Nutrition – overeating and ensuring enough calories is essential
Recovery – not allowing time for recovery will “prevent” growth

Caveat #1:
All of the above comments are made under the assumption that the individual trying to gain mass is also working on achieving and maintaining optimal movement skills.  Using Z Health or some other technique the person who sacrifices movement skill for mass is headed in the wrong direction.  Movement skill is the foundation for all training.

Brett is cornering the market on best and basics!  Hard to argue with that.

Frankie Faires–

You must require your body to become bigger.  The body must believe that getting bigger is the path of least resistance.  That being said -
Quality of nutrition, quality recovery and quality and quantity of movement (some movements under extra load) is the way you require it.

That is a lot of quality. JD Powers watch out!

Geoff Neupert—

I personally think it all depends on the individual, his fiber type biases, and his training age. Any of those parameters CAN work. Personally and professionally, I think you can’t fail with the age old 5×5 program–an oldie but goodie for sure. I think there are actually five, so I’ve taken the liberty of adding the other two. Hope you’re OK with that.
1. Neurological Efficiency
2. Tension
3. Volume
4. Caloric Intake
5. Recovery
1. Neurological Efficiency: Simply defined as all the muscles working that are supposed to be working in a given movement; free from compensations. I noticed this in myself after rehabilitating my injuries with Z-Health. Pre-Z-Health, I had too many compensation patterns and I couldn’t train long enough for an adaptive response without getting injured. Eventually, with compensations, you just run out of options for exercises–thus limiting your muscular growth.

2. Tension: Simply defined as the load on the bar.  Even more simply put, you must lift the appropriate loads. There are two ways to do this: Move moderate to heavy weights (65-75% 1RM for novices, and 75-85% for advanced) and light to moderate weights as fast as possible (Olympic lifts and Kettlebell variations).

3. Volume: Simply put, (sets * reps * load) = total tonnage per training session. Some coaches recommend between 25-50 reps per exercise for hypertrophy. Others, up to 100. Some, even lower.

4. Caloric Intake: You can’t grow if you won’t eat. Period. End of story. There’s no such thing as a “hardgainer” only someone who won’t eat as much as humanly possible and train as heavy as possible.

5. Recovery: If you can’t recover from your training, you won’t grow. Powerlifters have a saying: “Don’t run if you can walk. Don’t walk if you can stand. Don’t stand if you can sit. Don’t sit if you can lie down.” You get the picture. Make sure you also get 8-10 hours of sleep per night and a nap during the day.

Those are all good ones, so 5 is allowed.

3) Related to the top 3 factors for optimal muscle hypertrophy, what are the limiting factors for muscle hypertrophy?

Mike Robertson—

See my above answers

Brett Jones–

Not training with enough load and not eating enough

My Spidy sense is on to a trend here.
Frankie Faires—

Health.  The movement you load must be good for you.  The solids and liquids you ingest must be good for you.  Even the bed you sleep on must be good for you.  Anything that deleteriously affects your health is going to slow down if not halt hypertrophy. (Note, We’ll get into how to find out what’s good for you in a little bit.)

So I must get healthier to get bigger?  Shhh don’t tell any of those big professional body builders.  If that is one of you, please note that I did not make any such comment.

Geoff Neupert—

Take out one of the five from the previous question.

4) Can you gain lean body mass (LBM) at the same time as losing fat?  If not, what is an acceptable ratio of LBM to fat gain?

Mike Robertson—

Sure, but it all depends on your starting point!

If I get someone who’s sitting at 30% body fat and has never worked out a day in their life, then I can absolutely increase their lean body mass while simultaneously losing fat.

However, if you give me an advanced trainee who has been training for years, has a dialed in diet, etc., then it’s going to much tougher to do so.  I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s highly dependent upon what that trainee is willing to do to achieve those results.  Your margin of error is MUCH smaller in this demographic than the previous one.

Excellent point Mike
Brett Jones—

Rates of LBM gain and fat loss or gain are related to a wide variety of individual factors and dietary factors – exact answers here are speculative at best.

Frankie Faires—

I have only anecdotal evidence – but on a month to month basis – I have seen clients gain lean mass and lose fat at the same time over and over again.
I have had long time clients that have put on muscle and lost fat from a previous measurement – this correlated with a new (novel) loaded movement program.

Frankie, so you feel that adding new and novel movements is needed then?  How would you determine when and what?

Hold your horses.  We’ll get into testing in just a bit.

Once again, Mike, ROM testing from the end of the article.

Geoff Neupert—

Yes, but it is challenging and it’s based on lifestyle issues.

5) What rest periods would you recommend and why?

Mike Robertson—

Rest periods are largely dependent upon the end goal of my training.  If I’m looking at it from a “metabolic hypertrophy” perspective, I’m going to keep rest relatively low, somewhere between 60-120 seconds.  This is also dependent upon the training age of the athlete at hand.  If someone’s a relative newbie, they won’t incur the same level of stress, and therefore won’t need as much recovery time.  Someone who has been at this quite some time and can incur a lot of stress in one set, so they’ll need more rest in between sets to recover.

On the other hand if I’m using lower rep sets and striving for “neural hypertrophy,” I’m going to draw out those rest periods and allow the nervous system time to recover.  For big exercises like squats and deads, I may rest anywhere from 2-5 minutes.

It’s probably annoying to hear me say “It depends” all the time, but it really does.  It depends on the goal of your training phase, the training age of the athlete, your sets/reps, recovery, etc.

My notes, I think of “neural” as strength via only the nervous system (learning to lift heavier) and  “metabolic” hypertrophy as more structural – increasing the amount (muscle size) of the actual fibers doing the work.

Brett Jones

I prefer 3-5 minutes rest between sets – this ensures focus and form.  Shorter rest periods (1-2 minutes) can be used as long as the load can remain heavy enough and form stays perfect.

Frankie Faires—

I don’t stray from the general rest periods of 30-120s.  That being said, a trainee must pick the appropriate movement, speed, resistance and rep range to utilize this rest period.

Geoff Neupert—

Depends–anywhere from 1 minute to 5 minutes. Novices should use a longer rest period to focus on technique. More advanced trainees with “time under the bar” can use shorter rest periods and still keep good technique. The longer rest periods allow for heavier loads and therefore more tension. Conversely, shorter rest periods can still stimulate growth, especially when using “ballistic” type exercises, i.e.: KB exercises and Olympic lifts and variations.

6) How important is overall volume for hypertrophy?

Mike Robertson—

I think overall volume is important to a degree, but I think it’s overused as well.

When compared to bodybuilders, powerlifters typically use much less volume.  Yet when you put them side-by-side, the powerlifter (while they may look “stocky” or less aesthetically balanced), generally has very similar levels of muscular development.

In that same breath, Olympic lifters are much the same as well.  I think power and Olympic lifters have a better understanding of what “quality” work really means.  Rather than taking an entire day to work on “arms”, they are incorporating plenty of “arm” work in their programming via heavy chins, rows, pulls, etc.

I think the most important concept here is understanding that “more” volume isn’t necessary, unless it’s “quality” volume.  If you’re just filling up your routine with junk sets, then you’re probably not getting a whole hell of a lot out of them.

Gotta love that instant feedback in Olympic lifting—you either made it or not!  What do you say Mr. Olympic lifter?

Geoff Neupert–
Very. The best way to get stronger without muscular growth is a very low volume routine. Therefore, the opposite holds true up to a point.

Brett Jones–

You must accumulate volume for growth – we know that we can limit growth by following a low volume routine.

Frankie Faires—

After quality of movement, volume, or quantity is key.  Density is also important and all of these assumes your are using perfect form.

7) What would be a good template for a typical “weekend warrior” athlete in his mid 30s to early 40s.

Mike Robertson—

Again, my “powerlifter” side may be coming out here, but I think a weekend warrior is going to do best with one of two templates:
-          A three day, total-body routine
-          A four day, split body routine (two lower body days, two upper body days)

The primary focus with people in their 30’s and 40’s is recovery capacity.  Can they recover from four workouts in a week?  That’s tough to say.  Remember that your body doesn’t interpret stress differently; whether it’s training stress, job stress, spousal stress, kid stress, or anything else, stress is stress!  The thing most trainees don’t understand is that training stress is the factor they have the most control over.

If someone in their 30’s or 40’s is serious about getting bigger and stronger, they absolutely must understand that if they aren’t recovering from workouts, they aren’t growing.  If stress is cranked up, gear your workouts back and allow your body time to recuperate.  Get through the obstacles you have in your life, then go back to the gym with a vengeance.

Excellent points Mike!  Training stress is under your direct control is a great way to put it.
Brett Jones—

Squat – Bench  (Monday and Friday) – Deadlift – Chin-up (Wednesday)
5×5
2-3 days a week

Ah, looks like the old Bill Starr program me thinks.
Frankie Faires—

I like upper body pushing or pulling in a vertical position.  Juan Carlos Santana has some fancy name for this – I don’t recall it.
I think being in Stance Lunges ala the I-Phase lunges from Z-Health with rotation is often appropriate. (My note, this is a lunge done in various degrees, such as your leg straight in front, out in front at 45 degrees, to the side at 90 degrees, then behind you and then switch feet).
I think rotation and asymmetrical stances are underutilized in all resistance training.
It is hard to beat squats and deadlifts for full body but especially lower body development.
The caveat for all of these movements is that they must test well for the individual…and yes, how to test is coming up.  (Frankie is such a tease!)

Frankie, you mentioned rotation and asymmetrical stances are not used enough—why is that?
I can only speculate.  I think it came from the predominant use of barbells which require symmetrical stances and bilateral synchronous movement.

Geoff Neupert—

The old “A-B” split performed 2-3 times per week. An example:

A. Squat, Parallel Dips, Barbell Rows 3-5 x 3-5
B. Deadlift, Bench Press, Chins 4-6 x 4-6

Classic!

8 ) Would it change much for other populations?

Mike Robertson—

Keeping it brutally simple:

-          Kids can handle more stress (because their overall “life” stress is lower), and their recovery capacities are greater
-          The older you get, the slower your recovery capacities are.  Take this into account.  Perform less volume.  Take more time in between workouts.  Do fewer “heavy” workout per week.  Basically, get better at balancing training and recovery.

Brett Jones—

Individual factors always come into play but from a general blueprint – no.

Frankie Faires—

If by other pops, you mean those more physically disadvantaged, then probably only in degree and depth of movement.  Everyone needs to squat and lunge but not to the same depth, direction and load.

Geoff Neupert–

No and Yes. The more recovery time one has, the greater the loading possibilities/potential. But the general population would do well to train 3 days and recover 4 based on lifestyle factors. That being said, younger athletes–15-21 years of age can generally stand more frequent exposures to loading for hypertrophy.

9) What is a cool tip for muscle hypertrophy that you have found recently?

Mike Robertson—
I hate “cool tips”, so here’s my smart-ass remark:

I found that the more weight I can put on the bar, the bigger I get.  Funny, eh?

Seriously, I think too many people want cool tips and tricks, versus the understanding that you just need to work your ass off.  A smart plan, coupled with consistency and dedication in the gym will help you achieve almost any goal, in or out of the gym.

I knew my “cool tip” question would get a rise from someone!

Brett Jones–
Squat – heavy!

Frankie Faires—
Not a tip so much as an insight.
I have noticed the most formidable MA’s and strength athletes are those with bigger joints.
I am a believer in joint hypertrophy training.

Whooa, hold on there Tex,  joint hypertrophy?  Why focus on the joints, I want bigger muscles?

This one is a little complicated.  I think there is sufficient theory to back up the testing of this practice.  I believe the limited movements we use to train our muscles bring about limited joint hypertrophy.  I believe if we specifically target the joints for hypertrophy, we’ll be able to get even more muscular hypertrophy.

Geoff Neupert—
Nothing recent. Just good old-fashioned hard work with basic exercises such as the following: Squat, Deadlift, Parallel Dips, Chins/Pull-ups, Military Press, Rows, Bench Press, etc.

10) How important is nutrition?

Brett Jones—
Very – but not from a perfect eating perspective.  People just will not eat enough and put too much reliance on supplements.  6 meals a day + additional protein shakes + waking up at 3 am to have another shake can be the right amount of eating and most people will not do this and consider extra bananas to be “eating like a maniac” – having an extra pizza between meals is eating like maniac – fruit doesn’t count!

You’re killing me here Brett.  So your saying my eating bananas and dumbbell flys routine won’t get me hyoooge?

Frankie Faires—
Extremely important.  We literally are what we eat (and how we eat and when we eat and even why we eat).  Of course, we also are what and how we move.

I agree, even though that it getting a little Paul Chek na na woo woo for me.

Geoff Neupert–
Very. You must eat if you want to grow. And you must eat carbohydrates too. Many this day and age are “carb-o-phobic.” Don’t be.

Got it.  Bring on the squats, carbs and pizzas!

11) Do reps need to be taken to “failure”?

Mike Robertson—
No.  This is another one of those myths that’s been around forever, but I’ll use myself as an example here.

When I was heavily involved in powerlifting, I hated missing reps.  In fact, over a one-year period, I’d rarely miss more then four or five reps TOTAL!  Now that doesn’t mean that you don’t push yourself, because that’s not the case at all.  You just have to be smart about picking your loads, and confident in the fact that you’re ready to move them.

I’ve also discussed this with Jim Wendler of Elite Fitness, and he agrees whole-heartedly.  He hated missing reps as well.  Another example would be Pocket Hercules, the world famous Olympic lifter.  He’d rarely, if ever, miss reps.

I think missing reps not only puts you in danger of getting hurt, but affects your confidence and drastically steeps your recovery curve.  I just don’t think the cost:benefit ratio is there to be missing reps.

Good point!  Success breeds more success and Wendler is well, Wendler.

Brett Jones—
No – as a recovered HIT Jedi who was convinced of going to failure and being a “hard-gainer”, I have put on 20 unwanted pounds by increasing my squat and not training to failure.

Can I take some of those unwanted pounds since you don’t want them?  Wow, I never knew you had that HIT skeleton in your closet Brett!  Investigative journalism at its best right here folks!

Frankie Faires—
Believe it or not, I am a believer in periodic failure – maybe once (one rep in one set of a movement) every 3-12 weeks.
Otherwise, cut your reps before you build up excess tension and/or change your breathing patterns.

How do you define excess tension and what type of breathing do you use?

I would define as tension in places where it wouldn’t be if you were performing that same movement relaxed.  Your glutes shouldn’t be hypertonic if you are doing a biceps curl.  The type of breathing I use is exhale under lung field compression and in most cases exhale under exertion.

Geoff Neupert—
No. I have actually seen instances where training to failure has the exact opposite effect–it rips the muscle off you.

Yikes, we don’t want that unless we opt to be a cardio bunny.

12) What is one thing for optimal hypertrophy that would be the biggest bang for the buck, but most people are not doing?

Mike Robertson—
I discussed this at length above, so I won’t drone on about this.  I feel if more people would improve their alignment, mobility and stability, they’d be putting themselves in a better position to grow, regardless of what their programming looked like.  Essentially, any program would be “better” because they are using the appropriate muscles for the task at hand.

Brett Jones
Squat – Heavy! Eat a lot.

Fact #1:
When you can squat 405 (or more) for 5 sets of 5 reps you will not be crying about being a “hard gainer”.  Nothing is as effective as squats for gaining mass – period.
People spend too much time worrying over the perfect program and supplement protocol and not enough time under the bar.

Fact #2:
In general terms there are two known methods for gaining size – powerlifting and bodybuilding.  There are no mysteries or secret programs – period.
The fact is that gaining mass is simple – but not easy!

Wise words by both and very similar.  Looks like my bananas and DB flys programmed is doomed before it even starts.

Frankie Faires—

OK, now it is time to talk about testing – testing – testing.

OK, I will be the “woo-woo” guy.
If something (food, movement) is good for you, doesn’t it make sense that it would make your body stronger and more flexible?
It does!  One way to instantly measure movement efficacy it is to test your ROM.
For lower body movements, test arm flexion (reach directly upwards and backwards)  For upper body movements, test using a soft locked knee toe touch.

If after performing the movement, your ROM did not increase, that movement is not good for you and probably will slow down hypertrophic gains.

Whooo.   Hold on there Mr Woo Woo with your can of worms.   Why would I test a lower body motion after upper body work?  Do I have to do this after every set?  Why would this slow down hypertrophic gains if my range of motion decreases?  Last time I checked most powerlifters are trying to decrease their range of motion and they are some big dudes.    What gives?

What we are testing isn’t exactly ROM.  ROM is the method but it isn’t the measure.  We are measuring how overall relaxed you are (which is a function of how relaxed your nervous system will be).  Doing KB swings will directly increase your hamstring flexibility.   For it to be a good test, you need to test another place that wasn’t targeted in the exercise.

Losing ROM is ultimately bad for you.  It may not be bad right away but it will be.  If you make health your first priority, I predict fewer plateaus and an incredibly low chance of injury…which leaves you more time to be bigger.

My notes, I have been testing my ROM after exercises for quite some time now and it works VERY well when done precisely.

Geoff Neupert—
There isn’t “one” thing–there’s “two:” Performing the “hard” exercises like squats and deadlifts and eating. I went from 165lbs to 252lbs in 4 years in college following this exact “blueprint.”

Hard to argue with those results!

So there you have it folks.  We even made it through with no bloodshed other than a few attempt to bench press Frankie who then offered to karate chop them if they tried and peace was restored.

Now it is your turn to put this knowledge into practice.  Knowledge is not key, APPLIED knowledge is key go out and start applying!

Special thanks to Brett Jones, Mike Robertson, Geoff Neupert and Frankie Faires for their time on this.  Much much appreciate!

Any questions on any of this, feel free to drop me a line at michaelTnelson@yahoo.com
Check out my website at http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com

Note: if you missed the top note, this was originally conducted in January of 2008 and was a bonus gift, but I am releasing it to all of you now!

COMMENTS

What do you all think?  Thoughts?  Do you like this type of format?  Bring ‘em on!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

Flash forward to 2.5 years after Frankie talked about testing for more muscle and strength, and you can get it on the Grip n Rip DVD set HERE

5 Questions from Leigh Peele for Mike T Nelson: Energy Drinks, Mobility, Static Stretching, and More

Leigh Peele in music mode

Below is an interview I did with Leigh Peele over at http://www.leighpeele.com/ about a year ago, so I have updated it a bit here and there but left the questions and most of it the same.

Notice that some of this is not the same way I exactly think currently.

Why publish “older” thoughts?  I debated about publishing it, but a friend made a good comment that he wanted to see how I have changed and evolved over time.  He noticed some trends as he went back and read the earlier posts I wrote (almost 3 years ago now).  So I decided to run it as it may resonate with where you are currently at right now.   If I can help you become just a bit better today than yesterday, I feel my job is done.

Sit back and enjoy and take it away Leigh!

Alright there Mike, I have been checking you out and I know all your dirty secrets. Let’s see if I can’t get you all Barbra Walters crying on me.

1-What the heck is Z-Health? Pretend I am a complete newb (no jokes there buddy) and explain to me in the simplest of terms.

The Short Answer

Z-Health is a way to elicit maximal gains in athletic performance in minimal time by targeting the nervous system. Why the nervous system? It is what actually CONTROLS movements. Muscles are dumb and only do what they are told to do by the brain and nervous system.

How does an athlete’s brain get information?

1) By proprioception (positional feedback from the joints, so if I get pulled over by a Smokey, I can still touch my nose with my eyes closed).

2) eyes–visual information (try to play your next soccer game with your eyes closed and get back to me)

3) vestibular or inner ear “balance” There are a series of 3 canals in the ear that determine head position and movement.

Z Health works to optimize EACH of these for higher performance.

The Long Answer

I find the science in this area amazing. Just a few years ago we thought that the brain would not change and now we know this is not true at all. The brain actually has an amazing ability to adapt and change (just like everything in human physiology). Most probably seen the PBS special “The Brain Fitness Program” which is fantastic.

The key to this idea is that learning new movements can have a huge effect on neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to “rewire” itself). While hardcore research studies in this area are a bit lacking currently, there is enough data to show that when we learn movements there are concrete changes in the brain. The keys to enhanced athletic performance are finding ways to harness this neuroplasticity since the brain and nervous system control movement. The flip side is also true, for optimal health, we need to learn more athletic movements and challenge the brain in new ways.

Survival vs. Performance

The human body is wired for survival instead of performance. This really bums me out personally, but once we realize this we can optimize it for survival and see an increase in performance! I have a whole presentation I did at the Z Health Master Trainer Eval in California recently on this topic. The short version is that we need to first look how we get information.

We get information to create movements primarily from:

1) Eyes (visual and eye muscle movements)

2) Vestibular (inner ear “balance”)

3) Proprioceptive (info from the joints)

In order to optimize the body for performance (and pain reduction), we need to optimize each one of these systems.  Z Health works to optimize each system and then combine them in a meaningful way. The result is superior athletic performance for virtually ANYONE. Everyone can learn to move more athletically and do things that they thought were not possible with the correct approach.

(Editor’s note, while I still believe this is true, we need to keep the big picture in mind also.  Getting someone to move better every time we see them is the goal.  Loading of the tissue in the gym in the correct orientation can NOT be forgotten.   A good way to determine what is best is to test your range of motion ala biofeedback with every movement).

2-Alright so lets hear it, static stretching dead? I’m not sold so sell it to me.

Static stretching is dead and sucks large moose balls. I can’t understand why you would put a muscle (and joints) at an extreme range of motion (ROM) and wait there for the muscles to get WEAKER. I don’t want to teach my body that!

I want to have STRENGTH at an END range of motion.

Remember, your body is uber smart and is CONSTANTLY adapting, so what do you want it to adapt to? The question to ask is “Why Should People Static Stretch?” I said “should” because the average gym rat does not do much for static stretching any way.

I think people still do static stretching to some degree because they have nothing else to replace it with.

Here is the big revelation

You can replace virtually all static stretching with precise joint mobility work and correct movement.

Even dynamic mobility drills are much better than static stretching. Remember that the brain is in charge and ALLOWS flexibility changes. For optimal changes we need to directly target the nervous system.

Efficient movement, strength and great mobility are the goals, but I don’t think static stretching is the most effect tool to achieve it.

For those that want to argue using research, here you go

Decreases muscle strength/power (1, 2, 5, 9-11, 13-17, 21, 27, 30, 32, 34, 35)

Dose dependent? (22)

May be speed specific (31)

Dynamic motion is better (15, 37)

It is not just me making this stuff up. Here are a few referneces for you. For the pubmed ninjas, these studies are mainly in reference to reductions in strength seen with standard passive stretching.

REFERENCES

1. Avela J., H. Kyrolainen, P. V. Komi. Altered reflex sensitivity after repeated and prolonged passive muscle stretching. J Appl Physiol. 86(4):1283-1291, 1999.

2. Behm D. G., D. C. Button, J. C. Butt. Factors affecting force loss with prolonged stretching. Can J Appl Physiol. 26(3):261-272, 2001.

5. Church J. B., M. S. Wiggins, F. M. Moode, R. Crist. Effect of warm-up and flexibility treatments on vertical jump performance. J Strength Cond Res. 15(3):332-336, 2001.

9. Cornwell A., A. G. Nelson, B. Sidaway. Acute effects of stretching on the neuromechanical properties of the triceps surae muscle complex. Eur J Appl Physiol. 86(5):428-434, 2002.

10. Cramer J. T., T. J. Housh, G. O. Johnson, J. M. Miller, J. W. Coburn, T. W. Beck. Acute effects of static stretching on peak torque in women. J Strength Cond Res. 18(2):236-241, 2004.

11. Cramer J. T., T. J. Housh, J. P. Weir, G. O. Johnson, J. W. Coburn, T. W. Beck. The acute effects of static stretching on peak torque, mean power output, electromyography, and mechanomyography. Eur J Appl Physiol. 93(5-6):530-539, 2005.

13. Evetovich T. K., N. J. Nauman, D. S. Conley, J. B. Todd. Effect of static stretching of the biceps brachii on torque, electromyography, and mechanomyography during concentric isokinetic muscle actions. J Strength Cond Res. 17(3):484-488, 2003.

14. Faigenbaum A. D., M. Bellucci, A. Bernieri, B. Bakker, K. Hoorens. Acute effects of different warm-up protocols on fitness performance in children. J Strength Cond Res. 19(2):376-381, 2005.

15. Fletcher I. M., R. Anness. The acute effects of combined static and dynamic stretch protocols on fifty-meter sprint performance in track-and-field athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 21(3):784-787, 2007.

16. Fletcher I. M., B. Jones. The effect of different warm-up stretch protocols on 20 meter sprint performance in trained rugby union players. J Strength Cond Res. 18(4):885-888, 2004.

17. Fowles J. R., D. G. Sale, J. D. MacDougall. Reduced strength after passive stretch of the human plantarflexors. J Appl Physiol. 89(3):1179-1188, 2000.

21. Knudson D., K. Bennett, R. Corn, D. Leick, C. Smith. Acute effects of stretching are not evident in the kinematics of the vertical jump. J Strength Cond Res. 15(1):98-101, 2001.

27. Marek S. M., J. T. Cramer, A. L. Fincher, et al. Acute Effects of Static and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation Stretching on Muscle Strength and Power Output. J Athl Train. 40(2):94-103, 2005.

30. Nelson A. G., N. M. Driscoll, D. K. Landin, M. A. Young, I. C. Schexnayder. Acute effects of passive muscle stretching on sprint performance. J Sports Sci. 23(5):449-454, 2005.

31. Nelson A. G., I. K. Guillory, C. Cornwell, J. Kokkonen. Inhibition of maximal voluntary isokinetic torque production following stretching is velocity-specific. J Strength Cond Res. 15(2):241-246, 2001.

32. Power K., D. Behm, F. Cahill, M. Carroll, W. Young. An acute bout of static stretching: effects on force and jumping performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 36(8):1389-1396, 2004.

34. Wallmann H. W., J. A. Mercer, J. W. McWhorter. Surface electromyographic assessment of the effect of static stretching of the gastrocnemius on vertical jump performance. J Strength Cond Res. 19(3):684-688, 2005.

35. Weir D. E., J. Tingley, G. C. Elder. Acute passive stretching alters the mechanical properties of human plantar flexors and the optimal angle for maximal voluntary contraction. Eur J Appl Physiol. 93(5-6):614-623, 2005.g

3-What is with your obsession with Energy Drinks lately, what is that all about?

Red Bull!!!! Red Bull!!!! RED BULL!!!!!

I kid, I kid

I am actually conducting a research study now on Energy Drinks as part of my PhD dissertation (editor’s note, study is completed, but I am working on writing it up for publication).

The overall principle is the concept of Metabolic Flexibility. Simply put, as your body gets closer to a Metabolically INflexible state (e.g. diabetes) you have a much harder time process any food and turning it into a good fuel sources, especially carbohydrates. Keep in mind that fats and glucose in high amounts in the blood stream are TOXIC; and they can “muck up” lots of processes.

If you are on the other end of the spectrum and you are very Metabolically Flexible, your body and efficiently process virtually any fuel source (e.g. various foods). Now this is not an argument for going crazy and eating Ho Hos and Krispy Kremes, there are limits!

We are testing a new way to non-invasively (e.g. without subjecting them to IVs and sticks in the arm for hours at a time) quantify how metabolically efficient each person’s body is at that time.

We are also measuring Heart Rate Variability (a measure of heart health), Flow Mediated Dilation (measure of vessel health), changes in Respiratory Exchange Ratio (amount of carbs and fat burned during exercise) and if an energy drink is ergogenic (do the darn things even do what they say –enhance exercise performance? )

Since you asked about Energy Drinks I will crawl up on my soapbox and go off on a rant.

Soap Box Rant Ahead on Energy Drinks

On one hand we have a group do people in popular media that Red Bull will give you a stroke such as this Mercola article that Red Bull Will Give  You a Stroke and kids slamming back 2-3 CANS before a game or just for fun. Who is right? What are the risks?

Ok, articles like this one above by Dr. Mercola drive me absolutely nuts! I still can’t find the source of the article and the only thing I can find is the researcher was quoted in Reuters, but no study (in fairness to the researcher perhaps it is not published yet, editor’s note, I did find it as an abstract only).

Currently, data on Energy Drinks are sparse. Most will agree that you should not go out and slam back 3 of them in a row and believe that you are doing yourself a good thing; but how “bad” they are is also unknown.

After many many hours of searching, one of the only studies I could find that directly looked at safety (below) stated (1) , “Four documented case reports of caffeine-associated deaths were found, as well as four separate cases of seizures associated with the consumption of energy drinks. ” Keep in mind that this was primarily self reported data and not done in a controlled environment.

Recently a brand new study on energy drinks was published (2)

The study was done in 15 healthy people and there was not any significant ECG changes observed, HR increased 5-7 beats/min and SBP increased 10 mm Hg after energy drink consumption. Keep in mind that subject got 2 cans on the first day and then one every day after that.

The media (Fox news, cough cough) concluded

“Study: People With Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure Should Avoid Energy Drinks”

That is probably a good idea, but the study was in HEALTHY people and the conclusion is we do NOT know what happens in other populations!! No data doesn’t mean it is BAD or GOOD, it means we currently do NOT know either way.

Here is one of the studies you will see in reference to Red Bull (7)

“Postural tachycardia syndrome associated with a vasovagal reaction was recorded in a young volleyball player after an excess intake of Red Bull((R)) as a refreshing energy drink. Considering the widespread use of Red Bull((R)) among young people who are often unaware of the drink’s drug content, this case report suggest Red Bull((R)) be considered a possible cause of orthostatic intolerance.”

The effect of caffeine (the main ingredient in the drinks) in relation to blood pressure has more data (3-6), but we are still only talking about a handful of studies and does not guarantee that those with normal blood pressure will respond in the same way!

Energy Drink Summary

In summary, we can say more research is needed and I would agree with that; although energy drinks with the current available data do not seem as deadly as portrayed in the media although you will be hard pressed to say that you are low on your quota of caffeine and corn syrup and thus your body NEEDS an energy drink. Nobody has every shown up their doctor’s office suffering from an “Energy Drink” deficiency. Take 2 Red Bulls and call me in the AM.

REFERENCES

1)J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2008 May-Jun;48(3):e55-63;

Safety issues associated with commercially available energy drinks.

Clauson KA, Shields KM, McQueen CE, Persad N.

2) Ann.Pharmacother., Arpil 2009

Effect of “Energy Drink” Consumption on Hemodynamic and Electrocardiographic Parameters in Healthy Young Adults (April)

Steinke,L.; Lanfear,D.E.; Dhanapal,V.; Kalus,J.S.

Ann.Pharmacother., Arpil 2009

3) Am J Hypertens. 2000 May;13(5 Pt 1):475-81.L

Additive pressor effects of caffeine and stress in male medical students at risk for hypertension.

Shepard JD, al’Absi M, Whitsett TL, Passey RB, Lovallo WR.

4) Health Psychol. 1996 Jan;15(1):11-17

Caffeine and behavioral stress effects on blood pressure in borderline hypertensive Caucasian men.

Lovallo WR, al’Absi M, Pincomb GA, Everson SA, Sung BH, Passey RB, Wilson MF.

5) “Int J Behav Med. 1995;2(3):263-75.

Adrenocortical effects of caffeine at rest and during mental stress in borderline hypertensive men.

al’Absi M, Lovallo WR, Pincomb GA, Sung BH, Wilson MF.

6) Am J Cardiol. 1985] “Am J Cardiol. 1985 Jul 1;56(1):119-22.

Effects of caffeine on vascular resistance, cardiac output and myocardial contractility in young men.

Pincomb GA, Lovallo WR, Passey RB, Whitsett TL, Silverstein SM, Wilson MF.

7) Clin Auton Res. 2008 Aug;18(4):221-3. Epub 2008 Aug 5.

Reversible postural tachycardia syndrome due to inadvertent overuse of Red Bull((R)).

Terlizzi R, Rocchi C, Serra M, Solieri L, Cortelli P.

4-What are your future plans in regards to your profession?

For now, my main goal is to graduate and if all goes well I will be done later this summer (update note, I have completed the experimental side and working on writing up the 4 studies for submission). At that point I will have completed over 14 years of college full time (eeeek gads man), so I am going to sit around for a week while I drool, scratch myself and watch Oprah (which ironically spelled backwards is Harpo). Ok, maybe not Oprah, but perhaps Myth Busters on DVD. I do have a bottle of 1994 Warre’s Late Bottled Vintage port that I am going to crack open (I’ve been saving it for over 5 years now).

Actually my fiancee Jodie (editor’s note, now wife) and I are planning to spend 6 days Mexico for our honeymoon in late March and I am really working to be done by then so it can also be a “graduation celebration” Whooo ha!! (editor’s note, yes I am still in school! argh  honeymoon was awesome!)

I really want to teach in some capacity as I love teaching (editor’s note, sick of these yet? I do teach part time at Globe University now too) . I’ve done a few presentations locally and around the US and plan to do more that in the future.

My goal is to bridge the chasm between “research land” and “experience only matters” land. There are tons of things we can learn from both camps. Athletic performance enhancement is BOTH a science and an art. It takes BOTH to get optimal results.

I have a few products I am working on in my “free time” and I am looking forward to working with even more athletes since my schedule will free up quite a bit post graduation. I am looking forward to interacting with more fitness professionals and constantly improving my own craft.

Watch out, as I may call you up and show up on your door step in the future!

5-What is the last…

Book you read:

Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” I loved “Blink”

Album/Single you got:

I am a HUGE music nut. At last count I have over 1,200 CDs. Yes, I am old skoooool and buy music on the silver circular thingies. I listen to everything from Radiohead to Slayer but my taste tend to run on the metal side most of the time.

My last order to Century Media included

Lamb of God “Wrath”

Arch Enemy “Tyrants Rising Sun – Live in Japan”

God Forbid “Earthsblood”

Luna Mortis “The Absence”

Amon Amarth “With Oden on our side”

Strapping Young Lad “1994-2008 Chaos Years”

Nevermore “Year of the Voyager”

Lacuna Coil ” Visual Karma” DVD

Samael ” Eternal”

Diecast “Internal Revolution”

In Flames “Whoracle”

And a bunch more. The actual shipping cost of the order was over $17.

Film/Show you watched:

I have not seen many movies at all lately, not that I don’t enjoy movies but trying to carve out that much time at once is hard. I normally watch about 1 hour of TV a week, if even that. I do enjoy “CSI Vegas” and “Numb3rs” since any show that can make a math geek look cool I am all for! The last DVD I watched was Eric Talmant’s St Louis Seminar on Sheiko Training for powerlifters. Yikes, I am a geek. I do enjoy “Myth Busters” and “Dirty Jobs” on DVD since I don’t have cable.

Thanks again for giving me a chance to ramble on! Much appreciated.

–Mike T Nelson

COMMENTS

I had some requests to run this one, so anything you want updates on, just post a comment below and I will get back to you!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

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Making the Hard Easy and the Easy Elegant

I have a treat for you today! My good buddy Todd wrote up the following piece to flush out some more background on his thoughts in regards to making it look easy.

I first met Todd at some Z-Health training and we got along great as he provided me some uber geeky stuff to read regarding nutrition.

Take it away Todd and as always, place your comments at the end!

Making the Hard Easy and the Easy Elegant by Todd Hargrove

This post is inspired by a famous quote by Moshe Feldenkrais.  Feldenkrais said that one of the primary goals of his method was to make the impossible possible, the hard easy, and the easy elegant.  I’m a big fan of this quote because it reminds me that physical training involves a lot more than just working on maximum efforts.  It’s also about making submax efforts easier, more efficient, smoother, less likely to cause fatigue, discomfort or pain.  In other words, you need to train the “easy” moves just as much as the hard ones.

As I’ve discussed in earlier posts, most of life and even sport involves doing things that are really pretty easy to do, so it makes sense to spend some time practicing movement at the lower levels of intensity.

The goal is to make these “easy” movements “elegant” – smooth, efficient, even pleasurable to perform.  In life, most people rarely engage in any activity that challenges maximum physical capacity.

Sitting at a computer, walking, running, bending over to tie shoes, turning to look behind you in the car, gardening, carrying groceries, or sitting on a plane are not intense physical efforts.  However, they can easily cause discomfort, fatigue or even pain.  Even something as fundamental and simple as breathing or lying down to sleep can be experienced as labored, uncomfortable, awkward, or not quite right.  Of course there is never a question of whether these tasks are actually possible to perform – the question is whether you can perform them with grace in a way that makes life pleasurable and comfortable, as opposed to labored and effortful.  In other words, to use the terminology of the Feldenkrais quote, improving these activities is not about making the impossible possible, it’s about making the easy elegant.

Enter the SAID Principle

Given this logic, it makes sense under the SAID principle that to get better at doing something easy, you should practice doing easy things.  What would that look like?  In the gym, it might look like reducing the force and speed of a particular exercise or movement in a way that will help you improve movement efficiency.  Less weight or less speed will allow you to pay closer attention to using proper form, and ensure that the movement is completely free of any awkwardness, discomfort, inefficiency or unnecessary effort, and that the movement feels good, even elegant or graceful.  Another approach would be to do a Feldenkrais lesson or some Z-health practice.  In either one you would take a very easy movement like a shoulder circle and work very slowly and mindfully to explore the very precise subtleties of how the movement is actually done.  This will improve coordination and movement efficiency.

New Found Coordination

After the lesson you may feel an improved ability to use the shoulder and the trunk in an integrated and coordinated way.  You might even notice that this work in the easy range has improved your ability at much harder tasks.  So, for example, if you improve the coordination of the shoulder with some very slow and easy Z-Health exercises, you might find that you can increase your bench press.  This is what you might all a bottom up approach – by making the easy elegant you have now also made the impossible possible.  Many people ignore this route to improvement altogether and focus instead on the top down approach – trying to improve “easy” everyday life movements with massive efforts in the gym.  This is a like building a roof before the foundation.  The skills developed at low intensities supports the great effort at higher intensities, not the other way around.

Taking your deadlift from 250 to 300 will strengthen your back extensors, but this will not necessarily make you any better able to hold upright posture at a computer.    I find it interesting that the media constantly glamorizes this “top down” approach where the main goal is to make the impossible possible.  Advertisements from Adidas tell us that “Impossible is nothing.”  Nike says “Just do it.”  Your high school coach says “No pain no gain.”  The implication is that athletic excellence is mostly a question of willpower, effort and ignoring the signals from our body.  Although effort and intensity are clearly necessary elements of achieving physical goals, excessive focus on these aspects of training will lead to injury and fail to provide adequate time and energy for learning the skills that support the higher levels of effort.

Skill vs Will

Put another way, life and sport is more about skill than will.    In most sports, as I’ve discussed before, most of what professional athletes do is actually very easy for them.  Maybe 80% of their moves are activities they could repeat with a minimum of effort, mindlessly, automatically, with very little strain and negligible chance of injury.  For example, throwing a pitch or a punch, kicking a ball, making a lateral cut – these moves are the bread and butter of sports – and they involve actions that are easy enough to be repeated by the experts thousands of times with elegance.  Mike’s previous post showing a video of Ed Coan is an excellent example.

Summary

If you can’t do the bread and butter moves of your sport or activity with ease and elegance, you will have a very hard time competing for more than a few years.  If each of these tasks presents a little discomfort and feels awkward, you can get through the game and maybe even enjoy it, but you will be sore and fatigued afterwards, and soon will be loading up with ibuprofen (Vitamin I) before each game.

If your training involves bench presses, each of which cause a mild discomfort in the shoulder, then sooner or later this activity will start to break you down more than building you up.  You will say that you are just getting old, but part of the problem is that you are failing to make your hard moves easy and your easy moves elegant.

So, the take home point is this – include substantial time in your training for making the easy elegant and the hard easy – that’s where most of life and sport is anyway.  –Todd Hargrove

Here’s a short bio and links:

BIO -Todd Hargrove is a former attorney who is now a rolfer and Z Health practitioner living in Seattle, Washington.  He is also a second year Feldenkrais student.  Todd has a blog where he discusses various topics related to his interests in movement health and performance, including neuroscience, pain science, motor learning theory, anatomy, kinesiology, sport science, functional training, and sport specific training.

Links - Toddhargrove.wordpress.com and rolfingseattlesite.com

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

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Random Monday and I Need Your Help

Ever have one of those days where your head is just spining around like a top with tons of ideas (or as David Allen calles them “open loops”)? That is me today, so I will subject you to a few of them and hopefully you can pick up a nuggest or two and help me out also (see #2).

1) Music!

As you know, I am a huge music fan and I have been listening to the band Katakylsym a lot as of late. Great stuff.

My favorite lyrics from this song are

Overcome the pain
Overcome, overcome
Take away the fear
Break away, break away

2) I need your help with a new phone

I confess that I don’t know a ton about new technology. I spent waaaay too much time reading physiology stuff, but I know who to ask.
I need a new phone as mine is on its last legs. My contract is up, so no restrictions there.

I have talked to my techie friends and the response is split now between a Motorola Droid or an Apple iphone, so I need your help.

As far as I am told, here are my pros of each as it relates to my needs

Droid

• better voice recognition for searches
• better navigation
• downside is less apps
• I love Real Rhapsody, so I can run it in the background while using another app

Iphone

• More apps
• I wonder about the phone quality w AT&T
• nice interface

So give me your vote in the comments. My current phone is just a phone with basic text messaging, so anything is an upgrade! Let me know!

3) My buddy Mark Young has a great post about Genetic Testing for Diets below

Genetic Testing for Diets by Mark Young

4) Thanks to all that picked up a copy of the Grip N Rip DVD. Really really appreciate it!

Here is a recent review on it from Will Williams

Will Williams Reviews Grip N Rip 2.0 DVD

5) The Movement Certification is this coming weekend!

I am so stoked for this! We have a great group of people coming here for it and I can’t wait. I will be like a kid in a candy store all weekend.

6) Mike T Nelson on the road

If you are a student at Alex Tech in Alexandria MN, you will be listening to me yap at you this Tuesday. I will be discussing

• Biofeedback for Training
• Principles of Overload for Optimal Results
• The Nervous System

I am very excited to meet many of you and talk shop and learn from you also.

Afterwards I will be heading over to Noonan Sports Specialists to hang with Dustin, Mike and Steve. I plan to get a lifting session in there too, so they can help me with my form and hopefully watch them coach a few athletes and tour their place. Whoo ha.

http://www.alexnss.com/index.html

7) Inside Look at a Typical Athlete Session for Movement Issues

Sean Casey made the 6 hour drive one way from WI last night to stop in and we did some work on him in regards to a movement issue, showed him how to test his own exercises and in general had a great time.

In less than 2 hours we got the following results

• both of his glutes to turn “on” (had to use some eye movement in addition to Z-Health joint mobility work)
• his left psoas back online
• his left rectus femoris back on
• about 40 degrees more shoulder range of motion on his left side (pinky mobility work)
• taught him how to test his own exercises (biofeedback ala Gym Movements)
• taught him how to determine volume, exercise selection and intensity
• taught him how to test his shoes and go to a more mobile version (Nike frees, Vibrams etc)

I fully expect some crazy results as he gets home and puts all of this into play. He was even up early this AM doing his drills already–sweet!

Most people would guess that for a hip issue, the work to get all the muscles around the hip would have the biggest effect (and most times that is true).

In his case, the left pinky circle drill had the best effect by FAR.
Out of the 11+ docs he has seen, how many would have ever thought to look at his left pinky?

You MUST test the body as a WHOLE since it operates as a whole.

Thanks for making the long drive Sean (he stayed over night so he could drive back in the AM before I get any angry emails about me throwing him out into the cold at 11pm–ha!)

Any comments, leave them below! I love comments!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

The Movement Summit: A Brief Review

The A-Team

I got a call quite awhile back from buddy Frankie Faires who said he was putting together a group of really smart people to create further advancements in physique transformation, athletic performance and pain. He asked if I would join them for a “meeting of the minds” in Minnesota at a secret location. He wanted to present some new information he had been working on for years and get our feedback.

I have known Frankie for several years and I jumped at the chance to hang out with other really smart people and test things ourselves.

Think of this as sort of the A-Team of movement science. Perhaps you are too young to remember the A-Team, but as a kid I loved that show. Heck, to this day I still have the idea that if you had access to welder, you could make a pinto in one bad-ass piece of machinery in just an afternoon.

To quote my friend wikipedia

“Despite being thought of as mercenaries by the other characters in the show, the A-Team always acted on the side of good and helped the oppressed.”

The goal is to further your own movement, custom for you, by you.   More personal records for all.

Here is my review of this The Movement Summit and how it went down

The Movement Summit: A Review by Mike T Nelson

The brain trust of The Movement

In this photo: L to R: Adam T Glass, Marty Lotspeich, Mike T Nelson, David Dellanave,

Chuck Halbakken, Kurt Hartmann , Frankie Faires, Brad Nelson

I had the luxury of seeing the new material Frankie and the Movement were presenting early. I take great pride and feel a sense of due diligence to do my homework on everything that I may recommend in the future.

I came into the weekend thinking I would pick up a few things, but I had been talking to Frankie about most of it for almost 2 years and I had been testing my movements (biofeedback) for that length of time on myself and other athletes.

I had done multiple certifications through various organizations such as the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA, CSCS), Z-Health Performance Solutions (one of only a handful of Master Trainers), and completed the Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) in addition to 14 years of full time college (BA Natural Arts, MS in Mechanical Engineering and currently a PhD Candidate in Kinesiology/Exercise Physiology finishing my dissertation work)

I did my homework too, looking at how biofeedback and movement of all forms effect the body. Heck I even measured heart rate variability (HRV, a form of biofeedback) in the lab on myself and in a formal research study (working writing up the results for publication soon) as part of my PhD work. I figured I knew a bit about what was going on!

What I Learned

To say that I learned new things over the weekend was entirely true.

A huge key for me was how a simple (but not easy to do) change in your thinking will allow results much much faster.
We are rarely taught how we should learn and think. What is the most efficient way to do this?

When we are presented with new information, how do we look at it and incorporate it? Many don’t even try and just say that “they disagree” but if you do that with everything, are you really learning and changing for the better? I don’t think so! It is hard to unlearn things, but it is in the unlearning and relearning process that really allows us to change faster. Much faster. A few tips that I learned in this area will help me for the rest of my life.

So enough with the esoteric appearing whooo whooo stuff. The coolest thing to see was the lay out of the topics in a linear, easy to follow and apply approach.

Everything was really made as simple as possible and then paired with an action! That is what fitness professionals do all the time – take new ideas and put them into practice. Not everything works, but having a great framework to use and then test it will put you light years ahead of everyone.

Want to learn how to add muscle to athletes? Covered

Want to learn how to remove fat off them? Covered

Increase strength? yep

The methods are not the same that you see in most lame take home weekend certs and this will require you to take action. You will not be able to just sit and nod your head and collect your new cert.

Action Time

The weekend was great and exceeded my expectations. At times I really wish I had seen the material years ago before I spent 14 years in college working through 3 different degrees and completed multiple certifications. Not that the material I learned along that journey was bad or completely wrong (ok some of it was wrong), but it is not an efficient process at all.

In a few days you can be on the right track to being one of the best in world. Not only will you have a foundation to work from (that is way bigger than most), but the amount of time you will save is truly insane.

I am thankful for the path I have chosen as I was able to see the material, but if someone wants a massive head start they need to see it.

I would recommend the movement certification to only those that really want to be the best, are willing to take action, and are willing to keep their mind wide open.

To those select few, I say, welcome aboard and let’s enjoy the ride and elevate the entire industry one PR at a time.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

PS

What do you think of this?  Let me know in the comments below, but I may still be gone once this runs so comment approval and response will be slow.  I will answer all comments though as soon as I can!

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Testimonial for Mike T Nelson: Hip Flexor and Groin Tight and Painful on Squats

Mike T. Nelson single handedly took me out of pain in 10 minutes.

I had been doing many months of heavy front squats when my right hip flexor and groin area became extremely tight and painful. No matter what method I used, it just simply would not let up. After suffering for weeks, I decided to call on Mike.

During his consultation he showed my some joint mobility/ Z-Health type drills and I was doing squats about 3/4 of the way to rock-bottom in 10 Minutes!

My pain was a solid 8 out of 10 at its worst before the consultation. 5 days after the consultation with Mike T. Nelson I was at Grip N Rip 2.0 (a workshop in Woodbury, MN) hitting Personal Records on the Deadlift, PAIN-FREE.

Stop wasting time at your local doctors office and get out of pain and start moving BETTER with Mr. Nelson.

-Dustin Williams, Owner of Wrought Iron Strength and Conditioning, Hugo, MN.

If you are in pain, you are limiting your performance.

If this can be done for pain, imagine what we can do for your performance!

Now It Is Your Turn!

A Huge thanks to Dustin for taking the time to write that up and taking action to look for an answer to his pain and movement issues.

• If you are interested in a phone consult, for a limited time they are only $90 per session (normal rate is $110) and are 100% guaranteed.  If you are not happy for ANY reason, there is NO charge, email me by clicking HERE
• If you are in the St. Paul, MN area, you can see me in person for $110 per session (normal is $125) and it is 100% guaranteed also, email me by clicking HERE

Drop me an email by clicking HERE to move better with less pain today!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

PS

If you are still not sure, see all the other testimonials below

Mike T Nelson and Extreme Human Performance Testimonials

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I Am Pissed!  A Trip Inside My Head

I am really pissed off right now and I can’t focus on anything else, so you will get an inside look into my brain. Caution, you have been warned.

As readers of this blog know, I do training and nutrition work to get professional and every day athletes of all types performance increases. I’ve been doing it for several years now and I’ve spent well over $200,000 over the years on getting better at my craft via college, seminars, certifications, books, etc. This is not meant to impress you, but if you are serious about something you have to pay to play. I know many others that have paid very large sums to practice their craft, so this is no different.

Why I am Pissed

I am pissed off to no end now because I could not get the result I wanted from an athlete I worked with this morning. Note, this has absolutely nothing to do with the athlete and everything to do with me. I feel like I failed him because I did not have a solution to his pain issue. We spent 1.5 hours trying all sorts of things, with very little change. My agreement is that if I can’t get a performance increases or a large change in your pain, the session is free. The athletes satisfaction is my primary concern and I fully believe that if I don’t deliver, I should NOT be compensated. End of story.

The System Is Broke

This is the direct opposite to most professions. Take physical therapy (not to pick on them, but….) if you (not anyone who reads this blog, way too bright for that) are an average PT and you take 12 sessions to get a result and you charge $50 per session, you made $600. If you are a stellar PT and you get the result in 3 sessions, at the same price, you get $150. You were clearly better (got the same result in LESS time), but you made about 1/4 as much. How much incentive is there for you to get better? Not much!

True, that it is different when you own your own business, since if you suck, hopefully you will go out of business. If you suck, I don’t want you around to drag everyone else down and please go away and the sooner the better. I won’t get into the whole fitness business and how anyone can take a weekend cert by mail and be a fitness trainer. It makes me vomit in my mouth a bit each time I read it. Ugh. I need some mouth wash. Ok, I am back now. Where was I? I know business is very complicated and there are times where the most knowledgeable are also piss broke, but if you work for a large company, there is normally very little incentive to get better.

You’re Insane

I have many great friends in the field who are doctors, physical therapist, other trainers, consultants etc and almost all of them tell me I am completely out of my tree, coo coo insane, have a melon where my head should be because this is my expectation below

I expect that 99% of the people that walk through my door that I can get a dramatic performance increase (also many times equalling a decrease in pain) in ONE session that last 1-2 hours.

I’ve had many long discussions with many of them arguing that IF this is even physiologically possible. They say no and I say it is possible. If pain and performance are primarily (not entirely of course) controlled by the brain, we know that you can make changes in the brain extremely fast (as I have learned in Z-Health).

Yes, there are times that there will be a biomechanical and/or biochemical issue, but even then you should still be able to see a large change in one session.

I’ve seen athletes with missing rotators via MRI have no limitations on shoulder function and no pain.

Is this the norm? No, but it can happen. My point is that I feel the brain and nervous system are the most plastic systems in the body and are also open to the greatest change at the fastest speed (this is supported by research on brain neuroplasticity).

Does this mean we ONLY need to focus on the nervous system–no, of course not; but if pain reduction and performance are your goals, you have to address the nervous system.

Victory Destroys Knowledge

That was a great quote from Dan John. While I do remember many of the “successes” I’ve had, my failures stick in my brain like a canary in a coal mine. You notices I put “successes” in quotes since I did not do ANY of the darn work, the athlete did all the work and hence they should get the credit. I just helped point them in a better direction. They had the discipline to do the work!

I’ve been very fortunate to work with athletes to get them out of pain, avoid surgeries, compete in the Olympics pain free, bend over to pick up their kids without pain, take a ski trip vacation and ski 5 days in a row for the first time ever, etc. These are all great and completed by highly motivated athletes.

What I remember more are the cases where I could not do anything. We tried for 2-3 sessions or more with no change. Granted, these athletes usually had been everywhere and done everything, but I still feel like I should have had a solution.

I know that their pain is not my issue and that it takes many reps to over ride the lifetime of poor reps they have accumulated and that nobody has a 100% solution for chronic pain. Look no further than research on the success of various low back pain treatments and many of them are acute, no chronic pain issues. Yet somehow I feel I should have all the answers. They come to me as their last hope and if I can’t help them in a very short period of time I feel like I let them down and have failed them. Completely unrealistic I know, but I still feel pissed when I can’t get a result. I know there is a solution and when it evades me I can’t stand it. Yes I am neurotic too.

What To Do

To keep myself sane, I don’t work primarily with chronic pain clients. The toll on my psyche is more than I can handle and the logical conclusion is that the better you get, the harder the cases you get and at the end you will only be left with your failures. I know I can’t handle that. I do, however, take on “hard cases” to force myself to learn. I learn more from the difficult ones than from any others. Fear of failure will drive you much farther than success, but you need to be aware of the cost.

Performance increases are relatively easy for me now. I know that sounds like a super arrogant statement, but it is true. Most athletes have just a slight (or major) movement issue that is impairing their current performance. Remove that (which could be mobility, visual, vestibular or soft tissue) and performances goes up. Think of it as removing the king pin from a log jam. Once you do that, the whole river flows again just by that one minor change.

Your Trip Is Complete

There you have it. A trip inside my brain to see what drives me. I did warn you that it is a bit of a scary place. I’ve been told by multiple well meaning people that I need more knowledge like I need a hole in the head and I should spend more time on marketing. My business model of primarily seeing athletes for single sessions once a month or even less is the worst possible thing to do. What you realize very fast is that once someone is out of pain, they forget they ever had pain extremely fast, so your time for referrals is very short. Getting new clients routinely is much harder than working with them routinely. I do have some reoccurring clients, but most come for an acute change and that is what I deliver.

While I am spending more time learning marketing and business now (and they are no evil and truly needed), my true passion is bridging the chasm between research land and practice. We can learn a ton from both and in the process and I move step by step closer to that 99%. I may never get there, but if you aim high and miss by a bit, you are still much higher than if you aimed low. Don’t tell this to my psyche if you see it lying on the road somewhere trying to hitch hike!

A HUGE Thank You!

Thanks to all for their support and reading this blog. It truly means a ton to me and I promise I will do everything I can to help as many athletes of all types destroy their old personal records. I feel incredibly fortunate that I know exactly why I was put on this earth and exactly what I want/need to do. Many spend their lifetimes looking and wandering, so I am truly blessed and grateful.

I need to send a very special shout out to my soon to be wife Jodie too for all of her endless support and to my family. Thank you!!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

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Phone Consultation Testimonial for Mike T Nelson: Low Back and Hip Pain

Another testimonial from a recent phone consult I did

I had been experiencing low back, hip and leg pain as well are forearm pain for several months. After going to my chiropractor and back doctor several times with no relief, I decided that I wanted to work with a Z-Health practitioner. However, there were none in my immediate area. I also wanted to work with a Z-Health Master Trainer. I contacted Mike regarding a phone consultation.

During our consultation Mike asked me multiple questions about my health and the pain I was experiencing. He had me doing different movements while on the phone and spent as much time with me as needed.

Mike had me to do arm circles, foot work and eye drills as well as recommending some changes to my diet.

He has continued to correspond with me via e-mail to provide additional suggestions to reduce and manage my pain including breathing exercises.

My pain is now greatly reduced and I am sure it will further diminish overtime as I continue to do all that Mike as recommended.

I would highly recommend Mike to anyone who is in pain.

—Brett Williamson

Now It Is Your Turn!

A Huge thanks to Brett for taking the time to write that up and taking the bull by the horns to look for an answer to his pain and movement issues.

If you are interested in a phone consult, for a limited time they are only $90 per session (normal rate is $110) and are 100% guaranteed.  If you are not happy for ANY reason, there is NO charge.

Drop me an email by clicking HERE to move better with less pain today!

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

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Gym Movements Biofeedback, Z-Health Joint Mobility, Where is the hard data?

Walter Miller, Strength Athlete, Middleweight wrestling champion circa 1919

I am back!  Did you miss me?

Thanks for your patience with my response to comments last week. Jodie and I had a blast in Baja Mexico at a small town called La Ventana. We went down with some friends to hang out, see that orange thing in the sky that they call the sun and kiteboard.

We had a blast and Jodie did great kiteboarding too! I got out and rode 4 days (every day that there was wind) and even did a 7 mile downwinder back to where we were staying. More details to come soon.

Gym Movements, Z-Health, Hard Numbers Please!

One of the requests that I have received is one asking for hard numbers. Since I am a researcher, I like numbers. Heck, I did a whole MS in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics, so I better like numbers! ha! To be honest, they were never my strong suit, but after years of practice I got pretty good at it. When I started I did not think any math beyond Calc 4 even existed, wow, I was wrong.

I need to thank Kevin who is a strength coach on the East Coast for taking the time to do this. While this is far from a peer reviewed, placebo controlled study, it does show us some important things.

Take it away Kevin!

Mike

I purchased Gym Movements and I am really looking forward to the video. This past weekend I have been testing myself and 2 of my high school clients with both Z Health and some of the material I saw from the Gym Movements clips. this past weekend I had a girl I train do the following

Step 1 Toe touch test

Step 2. Vertical Jump Test (18 inches on a jump mat)

Step 3 do a “bad squat on the toes for 10 reps

Step 4 Jump again (16.4 inches)

Step 5. do some Z Health drills (ankle and hip mobility)

Step 6 Retest vertical and hit 18.2

Step 6. Static stretch (hit 16 inches)

Step 7 Z Health drills (18.5)

She looked at me like I was crazy and asked what I was doing? I filled her in and she was very interested in what I had to say

With me this weekend I have been doing static stretch tests, Active Isolates tests and Z Health test and EVERY TIME. I get more range of motion with the Z Health Drills I learned from Sara’s DVD.

I will let you know what I think about the Gym Movements DVD, but I think a combination of the Gym Movements DVD and getting the Z R-Phase is what I need

I am amazed how much your body “clears up” by just doing the ankle Mobs.

Thanks

Kevin

What Did We Learn

Now we have some hard numbers to show that what you do training wise and mobility wise has an IMMEDIATE effect upon your body.

Good training and mobility results is massive changes, very fast! I first learned this at the R-Phase cert from Dr. Cobb. When I do Z-Health sessions, the whole premise is that you have them walk (gait) and then try a Z-Health drill, then have them walk again. If their gait (walking movement) is better, that is a good drill. If not, then try another drill.

Exercise will have the same effect.

Good exercise= better movement and performance

I Want To Hear From You!

What are your thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments and if you have any similar data, I would love to hear from you!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

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