CP client Bree Schaaf made her Olympic debut last night in Women’s Bobsled.   Check it out HERE.

NOTE: if you fast forward to 2:10 mark you can watch her second run as it was broadcast on NBC.

Through the first two rounds (four total), Bree and her teammate, Emily Azevedo, are in sixth place overall with a total time of 1:47:09, which is .89 seconds behind the leaders.   Heading into the finals tonight, she’s right there in the mix for medal contention.  Go get em Bree!

On an aside, and this really isn’t a big deal or anything (unlike plunging down a track at 90 MPH), but I stayed up past midnight last night.  They give gold medals for that, right?

Anyone who’s read my blog for any length of time knows that I’m a huge fan of Trader Joe’s.  Likewise, anyone who’s read my blog for any length of time knows that I’m not a huge fan of ignorant cashiers who feel the need to make comments about what’s in my cart.

I’ve touched on this in the past, but I’d go so far as to say that roughly 75% of the time, I can’t go through the checkout line without someone making a comment about how many eggs I buy.

As an example, not too long ago, an elderly woman went on some lengthy diatribe about how I need to curtail how many eggs I eat because of they’re iron content.  Apparently her father suffered from some disease (the name escapes me at the moment) which she attributed to the fact that he ate 1-2 whole eggs per day.

Coincidentally, one egg constitutes roughly 5% of your daily requirement of iron.  In short, you need to eat a lot of eggs in order for them to have any significant impact on iron in your blood.  I’m not saying it isn’t anything to think about.  Rather, I’m just keeping it real.

Similarly, just the other night, I had another instance where the check out person felt the need to demonstrate their concern over my health.  It went a little something like this:

Me: Hey, what’s up?

Cashier (in downtrodden voice): Meh, tired.

Me (thinking to myself, “this should be fun. The checkout guy is clinically depressed”): Sorry to hear that.  Well, the store will be closing soon, so that’s something to look forward to.

Johnny Raincloud: Yeah, I suppose.  [Fast forward anywhere from 20-60 seconds]. WOW, what do you do with all these eggs?

Me (sigh):  I eat them.

Johnny Raincloud: Huh, aren’t you worried about your cholesterol?

Me: Actually, believe it or not, there’s little evidence to show that dietary cholesterol has little (if any) affect on blood cholesterol levels.

[Crickets chirping]

Johnny Raincloud: So, uh, when’s the last time you had your cholesterol checked?

I don’t know why, but at that moment, all I could think about was that scene in GoodFellas when Joe Pesci’s character, Tommy, has some words with Billy Batts.

NOTE: Before you watch the clip below, note that it’s NSFW.  It’s GoodFellas for crying out loud!

NOTE II:  For an idea of what was transpiring in my head, fast forward to the 3:52 mark, and you’ll get the basic idea.

Suffice it to say, I obviously didn’t do anything that drastic.  But I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t a little pissed.  First off, it’s none of his business when the last time I got my cholesterol checked was.  Secondly, he didn’t seem too concerned about the person ahead of me who had nothing but boxed macaroni-n-cheese, chips, ice-cream, and other forms of junk in their cart.  Nope.  All of sudden, the health food police come out when someone has the nerve to buy more than three cartons of eggs.  Three bags of Doritos, though, completely normal.

Here’s what I’m thinking.  The next time I go grocery shopping, I’m going to be prepared.  If (rather, when) a cashier says something to me, I’m going to complete my transaction and walk straight over to the manager’s station and slap some reading material on their desk.  Namely………..

Research which shows that eggs increase HDL- the good stuff- (but not LDL), albeit in low(er) carbohydrate diets.

HERE

Even more research which showcases that egg consumption improves cholesterol (specifically raises HDL levels and reduces the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL) in healthy adults

HERE

Research demonstrating that egg consumption and cholesterol intake have little impact on CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) risk in the majority of people.

this and this, and this.

Similarly, here is an interesting study which questions the “wisdom” (note sarcasm) of recommending that all Americans should replace dietary saturated fat with carbohydrates.  Yeah, that worked out well.

And, because I piss excellence, here’s a little STFU to drive the point home.

I don’t know, I just think it’s high time for people to wake up and realize that eggs aren’t, you know, bad for you.  Of course, the picture changes if someone has a pre-existing condition, or a family history of CHD.  By and large, however, eggs are a nutritional powerhouse.  In his book The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, Jonny Bowden expounds on the many benefits of eggs, as does several other well known experts in the field.  Matter of fact, I’m pretty sure a baby seal dies every time someone throws away an egg yolk or substitutes with Egg Beaters*.

NOTE III: Just wanted to give a little thanks to Brian St. Pierre for commiserating with me on this and for being gracious enough to send me links to the above studies.

*Sorry, no scientific evidence to back that up.  But who needs Pubmed when it’s true?

1. Adam Bornstein, fitness editor from Men’s Health Magazine made a cameo appearance at CP over the weekend.  I’ve corresponded with Adam quite a bit in the past year or two, and It was great to finally meet him in person and sit down and talk some shop, as well as give him an idea of the type of training environment that we try to instill at Cressey Performance.   Of course, no visit to CP is complete without a round (or three) with the Prowler.

Alas, I didn’t get a video of his performance, but I’m happy to announce that Adam was a champ.  Which is to say, there was no puke bucket involved.  Nevetheless,  if you haven’t already, check out Adam’s blog HERE. As well, if things go as planned, you may very well see some CP love either in Adam’s blog or in the magazine itself.  Stay tuned…..

2.  Speaking of CP love, strength coach Bret Contreras wrote a really awesome post on training environment and atmosphere.  Check it out HERE.

Of note, Bret shared a brief story about when he owned his own facility not too long ago:

The previous owner of my facility turned the place into a Yoga studio, and when their lease expired they left black lights all over the ceilings (I guess for spin class or something?). Sometimes we’d turn on the black lights, dim the regular lights, and blast techno music while the younger women trained.  Jordan would utilize this opportunity to show off his dance moves. Some would say that this was unsafe but it really wasn’t. The women loved it.

*light bulb goes off in head*

3.  You know how a lot of women are really intimidated and scared to walk into the free-weight area at the gym?  Well, I recently found the male equivalent of that.   And it’s called Sephora.

On Valentines Day, we had dinner reservations to this really fancy steak place in downtown Boston.  Prior to leaving, however, she mentioned to me that she wanted to make a really quick stop “at this store” before we headed to dinner.

I should have seen the foreshadowing the second she didn’t actually name the store we were going to.  I guess, looking back, I had illusions that she was going to surprise me and take me to a store that sells nothing but beef jerky, Tom Brady jerseys, or, I don’t know, chainsaws.  You know, manly/romantic stuff.

Instead, we walk into the main entrance of The Prudential building (there’s a mall on the bottom floor), and head directly for Sephora.  “I just need to walk in really quick to get some liquid eyeliner,” she says.  As it was, I felt nauseous/a hint of an epileptic seizure coming on, but I figured how long could it possibly take to get liquid eyeliner.   Little did I know, there are more than one variations of liquid eyeliner.  Dozens, if not hundreds, in fact (only a slight exaggeration).

In short, the whole experience had to be analogous to when a woman walks into the free-weight area and just blankly stares at the rows of dumbbells and barbells and thinks to herself, “what the hell have I gotten myself into.”

The comparisons don’t stop there either.  For example, instead of hearing shouts of “it’s all you, it’s all you,” as you would in a gym, I heard shouts of “OMG Maybelline is on sale, Maybelline is on sale.”  What’s more, while we were waiting in line to check out, my girlfriend ended up giving some random woman advice on which lip gloss looked more lip glossier (or something like that).  Honestly, I’d have to have a Klingon-to-English dictionary to tell you what it was they were saying, but I can only imagine the same could be said if she were to listen to me talk to someone about glenohumeral internal rotation deficit and how to fix it.

All in all, it was a pretty surreal experience.  My girlfriend and I discussed it afterwards and had a good laugh about it.  If there was ever a time I was completely out of my element, that was it.

UPDATE: Apparently I was waaaaaaay off base.  Far be it from me to realize that Maybelline isn’t even sold at Sephora.  Thanks to those below who brought that to my attention.  My bad ladies.  That was such a Miranda thing to do, I know*

* Actually I don’t.

I have a 35-40 minute commute to and from CP each day, and as such, I’m a huge fan of listening to books on cd.  While I do listen to my fair share of sports talk radio, I figured that since I spend roughly 480 minutes per week in my car, I might as well get a little smarter in the process.  To that end, one of my go-to sources for audio books (other than the public library, of course) is a website called Audible.com.

Last week, I downloaded a book titled The End of Food, by Paul Roberts.

While at times, the narrator’s voice makes me want throw my head through my windshield, the book itself gives a fascinating look into the world of food production, marketing, and all the shady business (not to mention health ramifications) in between.  All in the name of profits. I won’t belabor the point here, but suffice it to say, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the quality of the food we’re eating is, well, crap.

To illustrate this point, last week I was having a conversation with one of our female clients about those 100 calorie snack packs that seem to be all the rave nowadays.  In his book, Roberts refers to these as “me time foods.”

What’s interesting, and Roberts illustrates this point a little more eloquently than myself, is that people often don’t recognize the difference between needs and desires- particularly with regards to the foods we eat.  Incidentally, this is exactly, I feel, why 100 calorie snack packs are targeted towards women.   Why eat “real” food when you can indulge in ho-ho’s and cupcakes?  The food industry has done a remarkable job at taking people’s desires and making them think they’re a need.

On more than one occasion, I’ve had female clients balk at the idea of eating an apple- because it has GASP, carbs- yet they’ll eat an entire package (or two) of those snack packs faster than you can say Supercallafrajalistic Expialadocious.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t satisfy our sweet tooth every now and then.  However it just goes to show, almost resoundingly so, the disconnect that exists in modern culture that we’ll oftentimes choose processed junk over real food.  Worse still, we think it’s a healthier option.  It IS only a hundred calories.

Lets do a little comparison.

Ingredients of an Apple: Apple

Ingredients of Your Typical 100 Calorie Snack Pack (as taken from the Nabisco website):

UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, CANOLA OIL, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), DEXTROSE, CORNSTARCH, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA AND/OR CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), COLOR ADDED, SALT, VANILLIN (ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR). CONTAINS: WHEAT.

And before I get bombarded with internet heroes informing me that as long as someone eats within their caloric range, it won’t matter.  I understand that.  You’re missing the point, though.  What’s it say when a vast majority of women will deny themselves nutritious foods (like fruit), but think nothing of downing 100 calorie snack pack(s) because it fits within their 1100 kcal per day diet?   I’d be interested in your comments below……

A reader of my blog sent me this video from Gwyneth Paltrow’s website detailing the “arm series” that Tracy Anderson (who’s actually the one in the video) sent her to do as she prepared for Iron Man II.

MY EYES.  MY EYES.  MAKE IT STOP.  AHHHHHHHHHHHH.  *jumps off cliff*

A few thoughts come to mind:

1.  I’m totally busting out this routine on the dance floor at Eric Cressey’s wedding this fall.

2.  This is yet another great example of why we’ll never see the end of the “lifting weights will make me big and bulky” mentality.  It’s sad, really.  Thanks Tracy Anderson, for setting women’s fitness back 20 years!  I mean, air IS pretty heavy

3. Coldplay sucks.

Q: Hello- I had a question regarding your post on the slideboard bodysaw exercise.  You mentioned one of the jobs of the abs is to resist rotation, if i understood that correctly.  Does that mean there is a contraindication of exercises which involve rotation such as the rotary torso machine or any exercise which involves twisting?

A: This is actually a great question, and I hope I can answer it without opening up a can of worms.  First, do I believe there’s a contraindication of exercises that involve rotation?  Absolutely not.  Do I believe there’s a contraindication of exercises that involve rotation using one of those rotary torso machines (as pictured above)? Well, does Octomom have the parenting skills of a shark’s mouth?

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of those rotary torso machines.  If you look at the biomechanics of the lumbar spine, it’s not designed for a whole lot of rotation as it is.  Roughly 13 degrees TOTAL from L1-L5.  Contrarily, when you look at total motion of the thoracic spine (T1-T12), you’re looking at roughly 40 degrees of rotation, give or take a couple of degrees.

So, in essence, it’s not so much I have anything against rotational training.  Rather, I have issues when trainees start training rotation from the wrong places!  Shirley Sahrmann, Gray Cook, and most recently, Mike Boyle have all played integral roles in bringing the whole concept of joint specific training into fruition.

NOTE: click HERE for a great article written by Boyle on the topic.

Needless to say, with regards to core training and the lumbar spine, we need to train it with stability in mind.  Which is why I’m a huge fan of the aforementioned slideboard bodysaw and:

Pallof Presses:

Prone Plate Switches:

Split Stance Cable Lifts/Chops (anti-rotary training):

As well as a plethora of anterior core work:

Conversely, when talking about core training and the thoracic spine, we need to train with mobility in mind.   This is where we’ll use rotational chops/lifts/etc, sledgehammer work, as well as rotational med ball variations

Again, it’s not that I am against rotational training.  I’m certainly not.  I just think most trainees are asking for trouble once they start adding in a bunch of rotation/twisting movements in the wrong places!

More to the point, when I start working with a new athlete/client, they need to prove they can resist rotation before I actually train it.  Even then, it’s imperative you teach someone to rotate through the chest, and not the lumbar spine.  Put another way, it’s about coaching someone to rotate through the appropriate segments (thoracic spine) and not the wrong ones (lumbar spine).

Before I get to the exercise you should be doing, I first wanted to share a “how you like dem apples” moment I had over the weekend.

Like most couples, my girlfriend and I like to take Sunday to slow down, recoup, and re-energize for the upcoming week.  As such, we generally keep things casual and don’t really have a set agenda.  We sleep in a little later than usual, wake up and make a few omelets, throw on some Pandora and chill.  Afterwards we head out to the local BSC (Boston Sports Club) near my apartment to get a lift in.  And, given that Sunday is the one day out of the week we’re able to actually train together, we really look forward to it.

This particular week, my girlfriend was starting a new program and I was just going to you know, bench.  What’s up?  That being the case, we walked into the club and went our separate ways.  At the end, though, I told her that I’d do the metabolic finisher with her, which included:

Med Ball Floor Stomps x 10

Kettlebell Swings x 10

Burpees x  10

The game plan was to do the circuit four times, with our rest interval taking how ever long it took the other person to do their set.

Anyways, as I was getting stuff organized and explaining to Lisa what we were going to do (ie: make people destroy the back of their pants), one of the female BSC trainers literally walked up into my grill, hands on her hips, and started berating me explaining that if I wasn’t an employee of the club, that I couldn’t be there training other people.

After the superb display of customer service, I just casually explained to her that I was in fact training WITH MY GIRLFRIEND who also happens to be an employee of BSC (she teaches spin classes at another location in the city).

PWNED!

For those keeping score

Tony: 1

Random blonde trainer from BSC: epic fail

I get it.   I realize Negative Nancy was just doing her job and following some company policy where if anyone breaks a sweat or is doing anything remotely athletic, she had to come over and lay the law down.  Okay, I’m over it/need a hug.  I just had to vent a little.

Anyways, where was I?  Of yeah………….exercises you should be doing.

What Is It: Band Supine No-Money Drill (off foam roller)

Who Did I Steal it From: this is actually a CP staple, and something we use a lot with our baseball guys, as well, wait….we use this one with everyone.

What Does It Do: Anyone who’s read Shirley Sahrmann’s Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes (and who hasn’t?) knows that she often talks about a condition known as scapular downward rotation syndrome.  Simply put, and I’m obviously watering this down quite a bit, most people are woefully weak in their upward rotators (lower trap, serratus anterior specifically) and dominant in their downward rotators (rhomboids, levator scapulae specifically).  As such, it’s often advantageous to include exercises that target what’s weak- in this case the lower traps.

Moreover, not only is this great for scapular stability, but you also train glenohumeral mobility to boot!   When it comes to “bang for your buck” exercises, this one is right up there.

Key Coaching Cues: Lie on a foam roller perpendicularly and grab a band.  From there, simply abduct your forearms and try to pinch your shoulder blades together (think together AND down.  Don’t “shrug”), holding for a count of 1-2 seconds.  Repeat for 8-10 repetitions for 2-3 sets.  Ideally, I’d use this as part of a rotator cuff circuit, but you could also include this as part of a general warm-up as well.

We’ve been alluding to it for a few weeks now, and the wait is finally over:  www.CresseyPerformance.com is officially live.

We’re pretty excited about the new site to say the least.   For starters, it’s pretty much the best website in the history of the internet.  We can’t thank CP client Tim Roy and his team at Dynamic Diagrams enough.  They’ve worked with the likes of Hewlett Packard, MIT, Netscape, the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to name a few.  Okay, maybe not the last one, but needless to say, they’re kind of a big deal, and I’d highly recommend their services to anyone looking to take their web presence to a whole new level.

Check them out HERE

More importantly, though, is the fact that the new site will serve as your one stop “fix” for anything and everything CP.  We’re going to make a concerted effort to update it daily with new videos, newsfeeds, and updates on current (and past) CP athletes and clients.  As well, Pete will be updating the CP blog which will give everyone more of an inside look at the inner workings of the facility.  Including but not limited to:

1.  Clients lifting heavy stuff

2.  Clients lifting heavy stuff while one of our high school athletes does a sniper roll in the middle of their set.

3.  Video testimonials.

4.  Regular updates from mine, Eric’s, and Brian’s blogs.

5.  As well as updates on CP events such as Tony’s Techno Tuesdays* and upcoming seminars we’ll be hosting.

With that in mind, be sure to subscribe to the blog HERE.  You don’t want to miss out.

* can be subject to change for whenever Eric is out of town.  Which happens to be today.  Bust out the Tiesto!

Well, actually, it was just another manic Thursday as a handful of our pro-baseball guys decided to have an 80’s theme day at CP yesterday.

That’s five major league organizations represented in the picture above (Mets, RedSox, Athletics, Angels, and Braves respectively).

It goes without saying that we’re all about helping our athletes get bigger, faster, and stronger.  I mean, we wouldn’t be much of a strength and conditioning facility if we didn’t.  As I’ve stated in the past, however,  there’s a lot to be said about developing an environment that people actually want to train in.  It can’t always be about sets/reps, time under tension, progressive overload, and body fat percentages.

That said, it’s not uncommon for some of these guys to show up an hour early just to shoot the breeze, or, in the case of yesterday, give each nicknames like Goose and Maverick while listening to Hewey Lewis and the News.   FIST PUMP!

Nevertheless, these guys have worked their tails off this off-season, but it’s still nice to know that we can have fun in the process.  Now the question remains, when are we going to have an A-Team theme day?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?

One of my biggest pet peeves in the fitness industry, other than guys who curl in the squat rack, and anything related to Tracy Anderson (of course), is the whole concept of the “girl push-up.”  We all know the drill- guys are told to do regular push-ups, and girls- because we assume they can’t do them- are told to drop down to their hands and knees, and do girl push-ups.

Generally speaking, women are weaker than their male counterparts, so it make sense that we may need to tweak certain exercises to better suit them.  Although, I have a few female clients who would beg to differ!  If you ask me, however, I just think it comes down to pure laziness.  Most trainers (not all) are just too lazy to take the time to show their female clients how to do a proper push-up.  In the end, it ends up looking something like this:

Er, uh, I mean this:

I don’t want to use the word demeaning in this context, because it seems a little strong.  But I just feel the girl push-up establishes a negative precendent from the get go.  To me, all it says is that “you’re a girl, and I’m not giving you enough credit.”

In an age where women are told that, almost resoundingly so, lifting anything over five pounds will turn them into am Adam’s apple toutin, chainsaw carryin, beef jerky eatin, She-Man, I feel as trainers and strength coaches, it’s important to do whatever we can to educate women that lifting heavy stuff is good for them and that they can, you know, do a freakin push-up.

To that end, it’s rare that a female walks into CP on day one and can perform a picture perfect push-up from the floor, let alone for reps.  Incidentally, it’s rare that a dude comes in on day one and can do a picture perfect push-up.

I think it’s imperative, however, to set people up for success.  In particular, when it comes to training women- who are already fairly intimidated as it is- rather than showing them what they can’t do, I’d rather show them what they can do.  So, with regards to the push-up, here are a few basic alternatives that I like to use with my female clients.

The Elevated Push-Up

Using a power-rack (or even a Smith Machine), simply place the pins in a position that allows her to perform a standard push-up.  I really like this version because it emphasizes proper push-up technique- albeit in a limited range of motion.  What’s more, I can easily modify the exercise depending on the fitness level of the client.  However the main objective would be to lower the pins closer to the floor as one gets more proficient with the exercise.

TRX Push-Up

Similarly, the TRX push-up can be modified in the same vain as the elevated push-up.  I realize that many people won’t have a TRX unit available, but if you do, this is an awesome exercise nonetheless.  I’ve used this exercise with some clients as old as 65, and as young as 13.

Eccentric Only Push-Up

I’ve started using this version with many of my female clients, with great success.  In short, you’ll assume a standard push-up position and lower yourself as slowly and controlled as possible (all the way till your chest touches the floor).  Once there, drop the knees to the floor, and return back to the starting position making sure not to HYPERextend the lumbar spine as you do so.

You may be wondering what’s the deal with focusing on the lowering part.  Well, research has shown that placing an emphasis on the eccentric (lowering/yielding) portion of the lift is the key determinant in rapid strength gains as compared to the concentric (raising/overcoming) portion.  Hard to argue with science.

Band Assisted Push-Up

This is an idea that I stole from physical therapist Lee Burton in his dvd Primitive Patterns that he and Gray Cook released not too long ago.  Much like the eccentric only push-up, have the client lower herself as controlled as possible till her chest touches the floor.  Only this time, she’ll get a little assistance at the bottom from the band you have wrapped around her waist.  Admittedly, it looks a little goofy, but it’s highly effective.

So there you have it.  Those are just a few of the alternative variations I like to use in place of the “girl” push-up.  Try them out today and let me know how you like them!