WOD 11-24-11

Pull ups using the 30 rep method

15 minutes running 1 minute x 30 second

Planks

WOD 11-23-11

Dumbbell floor presses

Swiss ball assisted Iron Crosses and dips

Ring push ups

Floor triceps presses

Military presses

Shoulder raises

Wrist curls

WOD 11-22-11

Body weight pistols

Weighted lunges

Deadlifts

Glute-ham bridges

Poly-metric work between setsM

5 minuites of bag work

Max heart rate: 151

How to Build Any Muscle Group

by Chad Waterbury – 11/15/2011

When you hear the word "science," what does it mean to you? My guess is that word probably makes you conjure up images of a nerdy looking dude in a lab coat who's hovering over a Petri dish that's filled with bacteria.

And when it comes to building muscle, we all know that science often falls short of giving us the best solutions. That's because there's very little funding for studies that elucidate the best methods to turn little Henry into the Hulk.

Computer technology has progressed at an astonishing pace because there's so much funding and because the potential financial rewards are enormous. Not so in the world of muscle building.

Yep, if you've got a burning desire to add muscle to a stubborn body part you'll have no luck finding your answer on Pubmed, even if you pull an all-nighter.

So Where's the Answer?

While I was in graduate school one of my professors made a profound statement that has stuck with me over the years. To quote the good doctor, "Science is about observing the world around you."

For example, if you want to cure Alzheimer's it makes sense to study cultures where the disease is virtually nonexistent. Then you try to figure out what they do that the rest of the world doesn't do.

And if you want bigger quadriceps, it makes perfect sense to look for a sport where the athletes have proportionally large quadriceps development and figure out what they're doing that you're not doing.

That's smart science.

Gut Check

Before I get to the details of how to add muscle where you need it most, it's important to understand what truly deserves the title as a stubborn body part. Your proportionally challenged biceps might not be stubborn at all, and that's why you should first consider two points.

1. Be honest with yourself. Is the muscle group in question too small simply because you haven't been training it more than once every week or two? Many guys have puny calves because they rarely train them. No big mystery there.

2. Understand that muscle growth takes months. If you just started lifting weights three weeks ago and you're frustrated with your lack of upper arm development, join the club that every guy has been a member of. No one ever complains about building muscle too fast. You must be patient, even if you find the training method that's best for your body type.

Now that those two points are out of the way, if you've been training the stubborn body part consistently for a few months without noticing any results, it's time to do some problem solving.

30 Reps to Bigger Muscles

First, consider the training parameters you've been using. Three sets of 10 reps isn't an ideal way to build muscle, even for muscle groups that welcome growth. Therefore, the best initial approach is to train a stubborn muscle group with a less traditional method that works awesome to build muscle.

30 Rep Method – this is a more effective twist on the 10 sets of 3 reps method that I've been advocating for a decade. Instead of doing 10 sets of 3 reps, you'll start with a load you can lift no more than six times for the first set.

Next you'll perform a second set of as many reps as possible (usually it'll be less than six reps). Then you'll perform a third set of as many reps as possible.

You'll continue performing as many sets as it takes until you reach 30 total reps.

You'll use the same load for all sets and the reps will decrease with the sets. This is an ideal way to train since you'll never miss a rep, and it's the way I approach muscle building in my book, Huge in a Hurry.

Here's a sample exercise pairing for the upper arms:

	Exercise	Weight	Sets	Reps	Rest
1A	Hammer curl	*	**	***	30 sec.
1B	Lying dumbbell triceps extension	*	**	***	30 sec.

* a weight you can lift no more than 6 times for the first set
** until you reach 30 total reps
*** as many reps as possible

This is an example for one workout. You'll use only one exercise per muscle group and you'll put all your energy into that lift until you reach 30 total reps. Perform the 30-Rep Method three times per week with a different exercise in each workout throughout the week. You can use those same three exercise pairings for all four weeks.

Of course, the 30-Rep Method can be used for any muscle group that needs more mass without sacrificing maximal strength. You can perform straight sets with 60 seconds of rest between each set, but I've found that it's more effective and more efficient to alternate between exercises for different muscle groups.

You don't have to use an antagonist pairing. For example, if your calves and triceps need help, you could alternate a calf raise with a triceps exercise. The options are endless.

Here's an overview of the parameters for the 30 Rep Method.

Duration: 4 weeks
Frequency: 3 times per week
Number of exercises per muscle group for each workout: 1
Total reps per muscle group: 30 reps each workout
Exercise selection: use a different exercise for each workout throughout the week

The 30-Rep Method is my first line of attack to build a lagging muscle group. Try it for four weeks and I bet you'll like what you see. Importantly, you don't need to perform an entire workout with this method, even though it's an excellent way to train.

For example, you might be content with your current program, but you feel it's neglecting a muscle group that you want to make freaky enough to scare the neighbors. Use the 30-Rep Method three times per week for four weeks to fire things up.

Back to Real World Science

At this point you might be wondering what all my rambling was about in the beginning of this article when I talked about the relationship between science and real-world observations.

Let's look at the deltoids and quadriceps. They're two muscle groups that are sometimes outliers. They can be problematic for many good muscle building methods, even the 30-Rep Method. Yep, sometimes you've got to break the rules and look around for guidance. Sometimes multiple sets of heavy reps isn't the best approach.

Indeed, if there were ever a muscle group that thrives on high-rep training with lighter loads, it's the deltoids. You only need to look at the shoulders of professional boxers for proof.

The quadriceps can be tricky for a different reason: it's extremely draining to perform 30 total reps of a heavy multi-joint quadriceps exercise three times per week. Elite Olympic lifters might have the best quadriceps development of any power athlete but we all know how impractical and time-consuming it would be to work up to their frequency and volume while keeping your joints in tact.

So we need to keep looking around. Which other athletes have quadriceps development with proportions that even Tom Platz can envy? Professional cyclists.

When you think about professional boxers or cyclists, it's easy to hypothesize that any muscle group can grow if you stimulate it with enough volume and frequency. While that might be true sometimes, it doesn't appear accurate in all cases.

Take the biceps, for example. If the amount of volume from boxing or cycling could carryover to head-turning biceps proportions, elite rowers would have the best biceps on the planet. But they don't.

Gymnasts who perform the rings events hold the title of best pound-for-pound biceps on earth. That's because the biceps need high-tension exercises for growth, unlike the deltoids or quadriceps which are made up of a higher proportion of fast fatigue resistant (FFR) motor units. Those FFR motor units love high-rep training like a fat kid loves cake.

If you need to add more muscle to your deltoids and quadriceps so you can finally hit the beach without ridicule, here's your solution.

5 Minutes of Hell

The two exercises I use to build the quadriceps or deltoids when traditional training doesn't work are the hill climb and boxer drill. Both of these exercises induce a lot of fatigue so perform them at the end of your workouts or on a day when you're not lifting heavy.

As an added bonus, the following two exercises will help you burn more fat!

Hill Climb: adjust the seat on an exercise bike so your knee joint can only extend to 160 degrees as you pedal. Basically, just make sure your knees can't completely straighten during each revolution to keep tension on your quads. Next, crank up the resistance so you can't perform more than 60 revolutions per minute (RPM) when you're pedaling with maximum intensity.

Continue pedaling with the most effort possible for five minutes. As you fatigue you'll need to decrease the resistance on the exercise bike. The ideal range to stay within is 45-60 RPM. Don't let it drop below 45 or exceed 60 RPM throughout the five-minute climb from Hell.

Perform the hill climb exercise every other day or three times per week until you've added enough muscle to make the effort worthwhile.

Here are a few tips for the hill climb exercise.

• Stay seated throughout the exercise! If you stand up and pedal it takes stress off your quadriceps (since your body weight can push the pedals down).
• Don't grip the armrests or handles because it will accumulate unnecessary fatigue. Keep your hands relaxed. It's best to have your arms hanging down at your sides or interlock your fingers and place your hands behind your head.
• Keep your chest held high throughout the exercise. It's easy to slouch while you're grimacing in pain but this can lead to disc problems.
• If your cardiovascular system isn't accustomed to high intensity training, start with three minutes and add 30 seconds every other day until you reach five minutes.

Boxer drill: the boxer drill is very straightforward and tough to screw up as long as you put out five minutes of continuous effort. Just grab a pair of 5-pound dumbbells and do your best to mimic Arturo Gatti against the ropes. Throw straight punches, hooks, and upper cuts for five minutes without resting.

Perform the boxer drill every other day or three times per week for as long as you desire.

Here are a few tips for the boxer drill:

• Keep your hands up throughout the entire drill. You should never drop your hands in a fight and you should never drop your hands in this drill either, since it will take stress off the deltoids.
• Move around as much as possible while you're throwing punches and switch your stance from right to southpaw every 30 seconds to keep your T-spine mobility in balance.
• If 5-pound dumbbells are too heavy, start with three pounds.
• To get the most out of this drill you should be able to throw decent punches. So if you're completely at a loss for how to throw a hook or uppercut, ask a qualified person for technique tips.
• If your cardiovascular system isn't accustomed to high intensity training, start with three minutes and add 30 seconds every other day until you reach five minutes.

Final Words

One of the best ways to build up a lagging muscle group is with the 30-Rep Method. It can work for any muscle group. However, if you want to mix things up, or if a traditional approach hasn't worked for your quadriceps or deltoids, now you have a couple of solutions that will also help you burn more fat!

T NATION | Up Your Work Capacity

T NATION | Up Your Work Capacity:

'via Blog this'

WOD 11-21-11

Pull ups using the 30 rep method

Barbell and dumbbell rows

Face pulls

Curls

Planks

WOD 11-20-11

General fitness and stretching today.

Stretch and foam roller.

Swiss ball assisted Iron Crosses.

Glute Brides without weight

Bag work

4 rounds of running 1 minute x 30 seconds

Stairs

2 sets of 20 kettle bell swings with 40 lbs

162 was max HR

Choices

Choices

by Matt "Kroc" Kroczaleski – 9/28/2011

People love to say how someone is a "product of his or her environment."

Often it's apologist jargon reserved for when someone does something wrong or commits a crime. It suggests the accused had no choice other than to become what their environment led them to be. To put it bluntly, I don't agree with this line of thinking.

If this were true I would've dropped out of high school, gotten into drugs, and become a full-fledged alcoholic. I never would've accomplished anything and blamed everyone and everything else for my failures.

To be fair, I'm not saying that your environment has no effect on you whatsoever. I'm merely stating that everything in life boils down to choice, and the power to choose lies within the individual. Certain situations may increase the difficulty of the choice, but the freedom to choose your actions – and your attitude – remains.


It Begins With Responsibility



First, one must assume all responsibility for everything that's happened or has failed to happen to them. Once you adopt this as a philosophy for governing your life, you become empowered.

You see that you and you alone decide your future through the choices you make. This philosophy is the key to unlocking your potential as by doing so you not only assume responsibility, but also control of everything in your life.

Successful people choose to learn from adversity and allow it to make them stronger, while weaker people use adversity as a crutch to blame their failures on. Yes, bad things may happen to you that appear to be beyond your control (developing testicular cancer was one such occurrence for me) and you may not always be able to control those instances.

But you can always control how you react to them. You can see them as learning experiences and opportunities to grow into something better, or you can use them as excuses that will ultimately hold you back from reaching your true potential and lead you down a path to mediocrity or worse.

Believing that my choices directly affect the quality of my life has allowed me to fight through much adversity. As a child, I was surrounded by drinking and drug use and could've easily gone down that path, but I also had many goals.

From a very young age I knew that these negative things that surrounded me would only prevent me from achieving what I really wanted. I made a conscious decision, a choice, to avoid them.

I also grew up poor, in an area that was rife with poverty, and was led to believe that wealthy people were somehow privileged and that their success was due to some inherent advantages that I didn't have access to. Yet as I matured, I noticed that the harder a person worked, the more successful they were, and usually, successful people just worked harder than less successful people. This relationship between hardwork and success not only applied to economics, but also athletics and scholastics.


The Greatest Success Factor



There are many other factors that play into success, but I believe the single most important factor is hard work. There's no disputing that hard work is a choice that anyone can make, but as you might've guessed or experienced, hard work is difficult.

Many would rather make excuses or blame others instead of simply admitting that their lives are substandard because they've chosen the path of least resistance.

Similarly, it's also much easier to temporarily escape your problems with alcohol or drugs than it is to get to work solving them, and as such, the temptation to self-medicate is too much for many to resist. In either case, it's choosing the path that presents the least challenge and the results will usually speak for themselves.

I've been through some difficult situations I'd very much like to forget. I've had to wrestle a loaded gun away from the head of a loved one to prevent a suicide.

I've had to go out into the woods in the dead of winter to break up branches because there wasn't enough money to buy firewood to heat our home.

I've had to sit helpless in the passenger seat of a car while it careens at eighty-plus miles per hour down a dirt road with the driver so drunk, he had no memory of it the next day.

I experienced all those things during my adolescence, and honestly, these are far from the most difficult things I've had to deal with.

I know what it's like to contemplate suicide because my problems seemed so insurmountable. I felt completely alone in the world, just me and demons, and the only thing I desired was for the pain to stop. I've felt all this on the inside and yet had to walk through life presenting myself as if nothing was wrong.

I used to hate when people would ask me, "How are you?" Even though I knew the question was just a rhetorical greeting, it bothered me that I had to put on a fake smile and lie, answering "Good, how are you?" when I really wanted to reply, "Well, things are so dark and horrible right now that I was just contemplating killing myself."


Adversity Makes You Stronger



I'm not sharing these things looking for sympathy or pity. I loathe pity, and there are many out there that have had much more difficult lives than I have. I only share these experiences so that others going through tough times can see that anything is possible if you're willing to work hard enough and persevere when things are at their worst.

I can say with total honesty that I feel fortunate to have experienced all the negative things that I have. Adversity makes us stronger.

Every time you overcome something difficult it makes the next challenge that much easier. My biggest fear with my own children is that their lives are too easy and that they'll have a very hard time coping with difficult things in life when they inevitably arise.

I could've easily used any of my experiences as excuses for not achieving anything, as so many often do. Instead, I chose to learn from what I went through and make myself a better, stronger person. I chose to use what I observed to make better choices and build the kind of life I really wanted.

And even in my darkest times, when it seemed like there were no answers to my problems, I made the choice to never take the path of least resistance. You can do the same.

So choose to not to be a product of your environment, but rather a product of your desires. While I can't promise you that it will be easy (it most certainly won't), I can promise you that it'll be worth it.

Straightforward Knee Rehab

Straightforward Knee Rehab

For years, it's been the same story. Nervous excitement fills your every muscle fiber as you read the latest program offered to you for free at T NATION. "I can't wait to try this out at the gym tonight" you say, and tonight can't come fast enough.

But it always ends the same. You, sitting on the bench, massaging your aching knees. Every time this happens you believe that soon it will "fix itself." But it never will.

Fact is, few injuries are as debilitating as knee pain. There are solutions out there for nearly every other problem. Barbell benching rough on the shoulders? Try using dumbbells. Tweak your back deadlifting? Do some front squats, hip thrusts, and reverse hypers. But knee pain? There's always changing leg day to next Tuesday, or the Tuesday after that.


Differentiating Pain


Most T NATION readers are smart enough to know the difference between simple knee pain and discomfort and something severely wrong. The latter can't be treated over the Internet, but in many ways, you're almost better off with a Joe Theismann-esque lower leg injury requiring an operating table and getting your flesh mutilated with sharp metal objects. In such a scenario you know what the problem is and you know the path to rehabilitation.

But for those with everyday aches and pains, do you really ever know what's wrong? Better yet, does your doctor? Once interior damage is ruled out, it's a guessing game.

What are the common sources of chronic knee pain, what's the difference, and how are they treated? Most importantly, what's causing your pain?



Patellar Tendonitis

Patellar tendonitis is acute (short term) inflammation of the patellar tendon, which is formed from the quadriceps tendon. It usually gets aggravated after an intense bout of exercise. If you were playing basketball, you'd have a concentrated ache below the knee post game. Easily fixable with rest and ice.

Patellar Tendonosis

Tendonosis is a more severe form of tendonitis. By fighting through the acute bouts of discomfort, the pain can become a chronic (long term) issue in which the tissue degrades over time.

Unlike tendonitis, the pain nestles above the knee cap, usually in the quadriceps tendon area. If you were playing basketball you'd be in pain before the game started. You'd need extra time to get the juices flowing and probably would be sporting a brace or wrap during the game.

Ironically, both of these conditions improve when blood is pumping to the area. For most high paced team sports, the constant moving will dull the pain. But when the legs are called on for high force contractions, pain increases. This usually makes lifting weights unbearable.

Patellar Mistracking

Mistracking is a confusing and misunderstood phenomenon. A few years back, it was said to be caused by a muscular imbalance between the vastus medialis oblique (VMO) and vastus lateralis, causing an uneven pull on the kneecap. Efforts were directed at strengthening the VMO.

Two common exercises were terminal knee extensions and Peterson step-ups:



Terminal knee extensions are performed with a band tied around an immovable post and then looped behind the knee cap. The knee is then slightly flexed and fully extended, with the focus on contracting the quadriceps.



Peterson step ups are similar, only the resistance was provided by stepping onto a slightly elevated platform. Both target the top half of knee extension.

There's research emerging, however, saying that the VMO might not be as important as once believed. A 2009 meta-analysis found that preferentially activating the VMO doesn't really happen, and these results were congruent with another meta-analysis in 2008.

Regardless, if fixing knee pain is all about fixing the VMO, and fixing the VMO is as easy as a few sets of terminal knee extensions, then how come knee pain is still so prevalent?


The Fundamental Flaw

Popular knee pain theories focus on the knee itself, specifically the patellar tendon. After all, as the saying goes, where there's smoke, there's fire. Since the quadriceps join to form the quadriceps tendon, which becomes the patellar tendon, they're a focal point for rehabilitation.

That's why the VMO theory exists. That's why people drag sleds backwards. That's why people do slow eccentric squats. That's why people do leg extensions. That's why people still have knee pain.

Chad Waterbury recommended the use of a neutral grip for performing high-frequency pull-ups here as various elbow and shoulder injuries can result from the frequent use of pronated and supinated grips. In other words, the position of the wrists can influence elbow and shoulder health.

So if you embark on a quest of doing 100 chin-ups (supinated grip) per day and get elbow tendonitis, elbow specific rehab isn't going to fix you. Instead, you need to change your wrist positioning during chin-ups.

It's similar with the knee. A hip or foot that's out of whack causes a kink in the chain. The knee, being the middle man, is at the mercy of their functioning. It's not so much a problem with the quadriceps or its tissues. It's that a bad hip or a bad foot is forcing those structures to work more than they're supposed to.

Here are three practical tips that can be implemented immediately.


High Volume Hips

If squats are making tears dribble down your face, a few months without them isn't going to kill you or force you to wear sweats in the summer to conceal your chicken legs.

It may not even require ditching all squats, but it could. It might even mean deadlifts. You have to get rid of the exercises that cause pain, at least for a while. Even if they only hurt "a little bit." They shouldn't hurt at all.

Find the lower body exercises that can sustain your psyche for the next few months. It might be good mornings, Prowler pushes, sled drags, whatever. As long as your knees feel good when doing them.

Next, crush – and I mean crush – your glutes with an absurd amount of joint-friendly volume. They are the largest (and, might I say, most visually appealing) muscle in the entire body.

Those with knee pain lack hip control, which means that the knee ends up doing many of the things the hip should. Developing control starts with creating an intense mind-muscle connection with the glutes. Doing terminal knee extensions and the like hurt you more than help you because they only reinforce the duty of the quadriceps to override the hips.

So pick a bodyweight exercise that gives you the best glute burn. Glute bridges, hip thrusts, bird dogs, back extensions, and reverse hypers are good choices. The only rule is that your glutes power the movement. If you pick reverse hypers and your lower back is burning out, pick a different exercise. Aim for a minimum of 100 repetitions per day, topping out at 300 for those with the dedication.

The big question is, "When can I start to reincorporate squats?" The answer is whenever your mind-muscle connection borders obsession. If you're not feeling your glutes when you walk up steps, get in and out of your car, and stand up from the toilet, you're not quite "there." And when you get "there," make sure your glutes control the movements that used to evoke pain.

This means starting over. Master your bodyweight before moving onto a barbell. Chances are you weren't close to breaking a world record, getting sponsored, or winning a gold medal so it's all good.


Track Your Knee Over Your Second Toe


The knee is a hinge joint, kind of like a pair of scissors. If you open and close them in one direction all is well. But if you twist the handles, you can hear the blades grind against each other.

Altering the natural hinging groove is a big reason why people have noisy, crackling, crepitus-filled knees. To prevent it, you have to minimize lateral movement of the knee under an external load.

Most people are aware of the dangers that are associated with the knees collapsing inward during a squat. But not many people seem to be concerned with the other extreme – knees too far outward. The truth is that each position comes with unwanted baggage.

The foot has three bony protuberances that are the foundation for balance. Together, they form what's known as the tripod. When the weight is too far inside or outside of the tripod (as with knees too far in or too far out), it inhibits the ability of the hips to do their job. This is crucial for a healthy functioning lower body.

The ideal relationship during any standing exercise is that the knee tracks over the second/third toe. If it's there, your weight has to be centered over the tripod, which allows for maximum hip involvement. Shoving your knees to the outside is great if you're having trouble with them caving in. Otherwise, you're just creating more problems.



Destroy Your Rectus Femoris

If I had to pick one muscle that was responsible for knee pain it would be the rectus femoris. Not because of any crazy muscular imbalances, but because we sit down so damn much. You live in hip and knee flexion. The lucky rectus femoris crosses both the hip and knee so it gets shafted from top to bottom.

To fix it, simply smash it with soft tissue and flexibility work. Throw away your foam roller and bring out the lacrosse ball. Work the length of the rectus femoris with small up-down-back-forth motions. Repeatedly flex the knee when you have a sensitive area trapped.



Don't be predictable. Soft tissue work is kind of like combing your hair. The knots untangle in one or two strokes if you always go in the same direction, but as soon as you comb against the grain there's a host of knots that you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Target an area and hit it from all angles.

As for flexibility, you need a stretch that gets you in hip extension and knee flexion. Some may recognize this as the wall stretch, but I'm going to give you a little secret: don't do it against a wall. Instead, find a bench or chair; something that you can shove your knee under.



Once you're in position, follow these three steps for the leg that's elevated on the bench.

First, squeeze the glute. Second, tilt the pelvis forward and up. This may be a bit confusing, so just think of having the posterior pelvic tilting posture of a nerd. This is to safeguard you from going into an anterior tilt, which reduces the effectiveness of the stretch. Third, try getting your glute to your heel.

Hold as long as tolerable, but amass 2-3 minutes per leg. It's going to be painful, so do it as a cool down. Once comfortable, feel free to turn, twist, and reach for a more intense stretch.


Wrap Up

If you suffer from knee pain you're a different animal. You can't follow the same rules as everyone else. You have to change the game. These three tips just scratch the surface of helpful things you can do to feel young again. Use them as your foundation.

My last recommendation would be to clean up your diet a bit and avoid processed things as they encourage inflammation. Take a quality fish oil and trust in the process. See how you feel after a month or two. My guess is much better than how you feel right now.

T NATION | Dumbbell Floor Presses for Strength, Size, and Health

T NATION | Dumbbell Floor Presses for Strength, Size, and Health:

'via Blog this'

T NATION | Dispelling the Glute Myth

T NATION | Dispelling the Glute Myth

As a formerly ass-less man, I can attest to the efficacy of the glute ham raise. The only problem I've encountered is stopping my upper body from sliding when flat on the floor. You will be surprised at how much weight you can handle. It is by far the best thing you can do to work your butt (right after getting off of it). So far all you people who have problems keeping your pants up, do these and you maybe able to go belt-less one day soon.

T NATION | Build Your Own Sled

T NATION | Build Your Own Sled

Always wanted to build one. Here are a few good ideas on doing it. Eccentric only work is good on "off" days. If there is such a thing.

I'm back

I"m back. Having gone up to 250 lbs. (or better) I'm finally getting my ass in gear again. The group I'm with now does "Insanity" on a regular basis. I hate it and I love. I will keep you posted.

Sore as hell

Worked legs 5 days ago and I can still feel it. I was walking like a cripple for 3 days. I thought I was going light. I did some dumbbell squats with my power blocks and some stiff leg dead lifts with the same weight. Holy hell! Thank goodness my upper body did not feel this sore!

Way to long

Well I have not trained since my last day offshore which was on December 2. How unlike me. I will be rejoining Red's next week. Man this is going to be rough.

Emotion = Pathetic

Intention. What do I intend to do? It occurred to me today that the word "pathetic" includes the word "path". Is this the proper origin? "Pathetic" really means to be evocative of emotion. The common use is that pathetic means beneath contempt/to feel sorry for, which is not the correct use of the Latin root. Emotion is why we do things. I want this, so I do this. Intention. What is it you intend to do? What path are you on? Keep this in mind when making your training decisions. Looking at things a little different through the lens of language is why it's there.

Pain and it's many faces

How to Get Rid of Pain

For those of you with chronic pain, don't give up. The recent events of my life have led me to a doctor who prescribed Neurontin. All I can say is that I will never forget him.

FELDENKRAIS

A manual to help you get the best results from
the Awareness Through Movement lessons

Do everything very slowly

I do not intend to "teach" you, but to enable you to learn at your own rate of understanding and doing. Time is the most important means of learning. To enable everybody-without exception-to learn, there should be plenty of time for everybody to assimilate the idea of the movement as well as the leisure to get used to the novelty of the situation. There should be sufficient time to perceive, and organize oneself. No one can learn when hurried and hustled. Each movement is, therefore, allotted sufficient time for repeating it a number of times. Thus, you will repeat the movement as many times as it suits you during the span of time allotted.

When one becomes familiar with an act, speed increases spontaneously, and so does power. This is not so obvious as it is correct.

Efficient movement or performance of any sort is achieved by weeding out, and eliminating, parasitic superfluous exertion. The superfluous is as bad as the insufficient, only it costs more.

No one can learn to ride a bicycle or swim without allowing the time necessary to assimilate the essential, and to reject the unintended and unnecessary, efforts that the beginner performs in his ambition not to feel or appear inadequate to himself.

Fast action at the beginning of learning is synonymous with strain and confusion which, together, make learning an unpleasant exertion.

Look for the pleasant sensation

Pleasure relaxes the breathing to become simple and easy. Excessive striving-to-improve impedes learning. It is less important to learn new feats of skill than it is to master the way to learn new skills. You will get to know new skills as a reward for your attention. You will feel you deserve your acquired skill, and that will add satisfaction to the pleasurable sensation.

Do not "try" to do well

Trying hard means that somehow a person knows that unless he makes a greater effort and applies himself harder he will not achieve his goals. Internal conviction of essential inadequacy is at the root of the urge to try as hard as one can, even when learning. Only when we have learned to write fluently and pleasurably can we write as fast as we wish, or more beautifully. But "trying" to write faster makes the writing illegible and ugly. Learn to do well, but do not try. The countenance of trying hard betrays the inner conviction of being unable or of not being good enough.

Do not try to do "nicely"

A performance is nice to watch when the person applies himself harmoniously. This means that no part of him is being directed to anything else but the job at the hand. Intent to do nicely when learning introduces disharmony. Some of the attention is misdirected, which introduces self-consciousness instead of awareness. Each and all the parts of ourself should cooperate to the final achievement only to the extent that it is useful. An act becomes nice when we do nothing but the act. Everything we do over and above that, or short of it, destroys harmony.

These courses are made to help you to turn the impossible into the feasible, the difficult into the easy: beautiful to see and lovely to do.

Insist on easy, light movement

We usually learn the hard way. We are taught that trying hard is a virtue in life, and we are misled into believing that trying hard is also a virtue when learning. We see, therefore, a beginner, learning to ride a bicycle or to swim or to learn any skill, making many futile efforts and tiring quickly.

Learning takes place through our nervous system, which is so structured as to detect and select, from among our trials and errors, the more effective trial. We thus gradually eliminate the aimless movements until we find a sufficient body of correct and purposeful components of our final effort. These must be right in timing and direction at the same instant. In short, we gradually learn to know what is the better move. Thus it dawns on us that moving the handlebar so as to twist the front wheel in the direction in which we tend to fall stabilizes us on the bicycle. Or that if we move our arms and legs slowly forward in the swimming direction and rapidly in the other direction we actually swim easier and faster. We sense differences and select the good from the useless: that is, we differentiate.

Without distinguishing and differentiating, we perpetuate-and possibly fuse-the good and the bad moves in a haphazard order as they happen to occur and make little or no progress in spite of diligent insistence.

It is easier to tell differences when the effort is light

All our senses are so built that we can distinguish minute differences when our senses are only slightly stimulated. If I were to carry a heavy load (say a refrigerator) on my back, I could not tell if a box of matches were added to the load, nor would I become aware of it being removed. What is, in fact, the weight that must be added or removed to make one aware that some change of effort has occurred? For muscular efforts or our kinesthetic sense, that weight is about one-fortieth (1/40) of the basic effort for very good nervous systems. On carrying 400 pounds, we can tell at once when 10 pounds are added or removed from the load. On carrying 40 pounds, we can tell a change of one pound. And everybody can tell with closed eyes when a fly alights on a thin matchlike piece of wood or straw, or when it takes to the air again.

In short, the smaller the exertion, the finer the increment or decrement that we can distinguish and, also, the finer our differentiation (that is, the mobilization of our muscles in consequence of our sensations). The lighter the effort we make, the faster is our learning of any skill; and the level of perfection we can attain goes hand in hand with the finesse we obtain. We stop improving when we sense no difference in the effort made or in the movement.

Learning and life are not the same thing

In the course of our lives, we may be called upon to make enormous efforts-sometimes beyond what we believe we can produce. There are situations in which we must pay no heed to what the enormous effort entails. We often have to sacrifice our health, the wholeness of our limbs and body, to save our life. Obviously, then, we must be able to act swiftly and powerfully. The question is, wouldn't we be better equipped for such emergencies by making our efforts efficient in general, thus enabling us to exert ourselves less and achieve our purpose economically.

Learning must be slow an varied in effort until the parasitic efforts are weeded out; then we have little difficulty in acting fast, and powerfully.

Why bother to be so efficient?

We need not be intelligent, for God saves the fool. We need not be skillful, for even the clumsiest of us succeeds in the end. We need not be efficient, because a kilogram of sugar yields-roughly speaking-20.000 calories, and one gram calorie produces 426 kilograms of work. From that count, we can waste energy galore. Why go to such troubles as learning and improving? The trouble lies in that energy cannot be destroyed; it can only be transformed into movement, or into another form of energy.

What, then, happens to the energy that is not transformed into movement? It is, obviously, not lost, but remains somewhere in the body. Indeed, it is transformed into heat through the wear and tear of the muscles (torn muscles, muscle catarrh) and of the ligaments and the interarticular surfaces of our joints and vertebrae. So long as we are very young, the healing and recovery powers of our bodies are sufficient to repair the damage caused by inefficient efforts, but they do so at the expense of our heart and the cleansing mechanisms of our organism. But these powers slow, even as early as at our middle age, when we have only just become an adult, and they become sluggish very soon thereafter

If we have not learned efficient action, we are in for aches and pains and for a growing inability to do what we would like to do.

Efficient movement is also pleasant to do and nice to see, and it instills that wonderful feeling of doing well and is, ultimately, aesthetically satisfying.

Do not concentrate

Do not concentrate if concentration means to you directing your attention to one particular important point to the utmost of your ability. This is a particular kind of concentration, useful as an exercise, but rarely in normal occupation and skills.

Suppose you play basketball and concentrate on the basket to the utmost-you will never, or nearly never, have the leisure to do so unless you are alone in front of the basket. When there are two teams playing, the opening for a throw is a short, fleeting instant in which you have to attend not only to the basket, but to the players around you, and to the balance and posture that enable you to perform a useful throw.

The best players are those who attend to the continually changing position of their own players as well as of the opposing team. Most of the time, their concentration is directed to a very large area or space; the basket is just kept dimly in the background of their awareness, from where it can- at the most fleeting opportunity-become the center of attention.

The best and most useful attention is similar to what we do when reading. When we see the whole page, we cannot perceive any of the content, although we can say whether the page is in English or some language we cannot read. To read, we must focus on a minute portion of the page, not even a full line-perhaps, merely a single word, if it is a familiar one and rather short. If we are a skillful reader, we keep on picking our word after word, or groupings of words, to be attended to by our macular vision, which is only a minute portion of the retina, with sufficient good resolution to see small print clearly.

The good way of using our attention is, for the most part, similar to reading. One should perceive the background (the whole page) dimly and learn to focus sharply on the point-attended (concentration) rapidly before the next so that reading fluently means reading 200 to 1000 words a minute, as some people can.

Therefore, do not concentrate but, rather, attend well to the entire situation, your body, and your surroundings by scanning the whole sufficiently to become aware of any change or difference, concentrating just enough to perceive it.

In general, it is not what we do that is important, but how we do it. Thus, we can refuse kindly and accept ungraciously. We must also remember that this generalization is not a law and, like other generalizations, it is not always true.

We do not say at the start what the final stage will be

We are so drilled or wired-in by prevailing educational methods that when we know what is required of us, we go all-out to achieve it, for fear of loss of face, regardless of what it costs us to do so. We have it instilled in our system that we must not be the worst of the lot. We will bite our lips, hold our breath, and screw up our straining self in an ugly way in order to achieve something if we have no clear idea of how to mobilize ourselves for that task. The result is excessive effort, harmful strain, and ugly performance. The Awareness Through Movement® lessons will help you to reach your inborn potentiality in the best way and avoid giving you just another opportunity for using yourself in the accustomed way which led you, initially, to seek a better one.

By reducing the urge to achieve, and attending also to the means for achieving, we learn easier. Achieving-we lose the incentive for learning and, therefore, accept a lower level than the potential we are endowed with. When we delay the final achievement by attending efficiently to our means, we set ourselves a higher level of achievement if we are not aware that that is what we are doing. On knowing what to achieve before we have learned to learn, we can reach only the limit of our ignorance, which is often general. Such limits are intrinsically lower than those we can foresee after knowing better.

Do a little less than you can

By doing a little less than you really can, you will attain a higher performance than the one you can now conceive. Do a little less than your utmost while learning. You are thereby pushing your possible record to a higher setting.

Suppose you have not been running for a few years or that you are a middle-aged adult with the usual spread that goes with it: Suppose that you want to do some running again, and set out to the speed you remember: You will soon find yourself out of breath, your heart pounding, and compelled to stop, only to find that you have not achieved what you intended to achieve. Moreover, you will most likely be stiff all over and find it very difficult to persist in what you set out to do.

Now suppose you make your first attempt a little less fast than the top speed that is possible for you at this moment and, looking at your watch, you find that you are short of what you used to be able to do: But you will feel and think you could have done a little better had you really tried your best: This feeling will lead you to try again. The next attempt will be a little faster anyway, so that, continuing to do a little less than your utmost, you go on improving. In the end, you will in a short time give a better account of yourself than in your younger days when youthful stamina and ambition made you always do your utmost. The wisdom of doing a little less than one really can pushes the record of achievement further and further as you come nearer to it, similar to the horizon that recedes on approaching it.

You will understand now why I say in the lessons "lower your knees in the direction of the floor" rather than "try to touch the floor with your knees." This makes no difference to anyone who is beyond improving; but you will convince yourself that it makes a real difference, reminding you to keep yourself out of stress and give yourself a real chance to learn to learn.

©Feldenkrais Resources, Berkeley, CA

Tabata , Tabata , Tabata

Effects of Moderate-Intensity Endurance and High-Intensity Intermittent Training on Anaerobic Capacity and VO2 Max

Title and Abstract

Tabata I. et. al. Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max. Med Sci Sports Exerc. (1996) 28(10):1327-30.

This study consists of two training experiments using a mechanically braked cycle ergometer. First, the effect of 6 wk of moderate-intensity endurance training (intensity: 70% of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), 60 min.d-1, 5 d.wk-1) on the anaerobic capacity (the maximal accumulated oxygen deficit) and VO2max was evaluated. After the training, the anaerobic capacity did not increase significantly (P > 0.10), while VO2max increased from 53 +/- 5 ml.kg-1 min-1 to 58 +/- 3 ml.kg-1.min-1 (P <>

Background

In recent years, training and the Internets have become interval crazy. Everybody wants to do nothing but interval training all the damn time (with some even proclaiming that any non-interval training is not only useless but downright detrimental).

Now, I’ve written extensively about this in what must be about a 12 part series on Steady State vs. Interval Training here on the site. I’m not going to rehash the entirety of that series, mind you; go read it. But simply, both intervals and steady state have their place in training. Arguments that one is inherently or always superior to the other has more to do with marketing than reality.

But among other aspects of this particular meme, the idea of the Tabata protocol (often abbreviated Tabatas) gets bandied about all the time. And the problem is that people are using the term to describe something that they don’t really understand. What has happened is that a bunch of people who don’t really know what they are talking about have written so much about the protocol that what it actually is or accomplishes has been completely diluted.

So I figured I’d undilute it by actually examining the study that the whole set of claims and supposed ‘protocols’ are based on. Because, as is so often the case, what people think they are doing as ‘Tabatas’ are nothing like what the actual study did. And most people who think they are doing the Tabata protocol are doing absolutely nothing of the sort.

As a bit of history, the protocol was actually originally developed by a Japanese speed skating coach and later studied by researchers; I bring this up because speed skating is actually a very peculiar sport in a lot of ways (something that I have insight into as I’ve spent the last 5 years training full time as a skater). But I’m not going to get that into detail here; I simply mention it for completeness.

The Study

The study set out to compare both the anaerobic and aerobic adaptations (in terms of one parameter only, VO2 max) to two different protocols of training. The study recruited 14 active male students who were, at best moderately trained (VO2 max was roughly 50 ml/kg/min which is average at best; elite endurance athletes have values in the 70-80 range).

All work including the pre- and post tests were done on a mechanically braked bicycle ergometer; this is an important point that is often ignored and I’ll come back to in the discussion. Every test or high-intensity workout was proceeded by a 10 minute warm-up at 50% of VO2 max (This is maybe 60-65% maximum heart rate).

The two primary tests were VO2 max and the maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (this is a test of anaerobic capacity, basically people with higher anaerobic capacity can generate a larger oxygen deficit) and then subjected to one of two training programs.

The first program was a fairly standard aerobic training program, subjects exercised 5 days/week at 70% of VO2 max for 60 minutes at a cadence of 70 RPMs for 6 straight weeks. The intensity of exercise was raised as VO2 max increased with training to maintain the proper percentage. VO2 max was tested weekly in this group and the maximal accumulated oxygen deficit was measured before, at 4 weeks and after training.

The second group performed the Tabata protocol. For four days per week they performed 7-8 sets of 20 seconds at 170% of VO2 max with 10 seconds rest between bouts, again this was done after a 10 minute warm-up. When more than 9 sets could be completed, the wattage was increased by 11 watts. If the subjects could not maintain a cadence of 85RPM, the workout was ended.

On the fifth day of training, they performed 30 minutes of exercise at 70% of VO2 max followed by 4 sets of the intermittent protocol and this session was designed to NOT be exhaustive. The anaerobic capacity test was performed at the beginning, week 2, week 4 and the end of the 6 week period; VO2 max was tested at the beginning and at week 3, 5 and the end of training.

Results

For group 1, the standard aerobic training group, while there was no increase in anaerobic capacity, VO2 max increased significantly from roughly 52 to 57 ml/kg/min (I say roughly because the paper failed to provide vaules, I’m going by what’s in the graphic below). Frankly, given the lack of anaerobic contribution to steady state training, the lack of improvement in this parameter is absolutely no surprise.

For group 2, both the anaerobic capacity and VO2 max showed improvements. VO2 max improved in the interval group from 48 ml/kg/min to roughly 55 ml/kg/min (see graphic below). It is worth noting that the interval group was starting with a lower value and may have had more room for improvement. Also note that they still ended up with a lower Vo2 max than the steady state group.

I’ve put Figure 2 from the paper (showing improvements in VO2 max) below

Click to Enlarge

As I noted, pay attention to the fact that the Tabata group (black line, filled circles) started lower than the steady state group, they also still ended up lower than the steady state group. As well, note that pattern of improvement, the Tabata group got most of their improvement in the first 3 weeks and far less in the second three weeks. The steady state group showed more gradual improvement across the entire 6 week period but it was more consistent. As the researchers state regarding the Tabata group

After 3 wk of training, the VO2 max had increased significantly by 5+-3ml.kg/min. It tended to increase in the last part of the training period but no significant changes[emphasis mine] were observed.

Basically, the Tabata group improved for 3 weeks and then plateaued despite a continuingly increasing workload. I’d note that anaerobic capacity did improve over the length of the study although most of the benefit came in the first 4 weeks of the study (with far less over the last 2 weeks).

My Comments

First and foremost, there’s no doubt that while the steady state group only improved VO2 max, it did not improve anaerobic capacity; this is no shock based on the training effect to be expected. And while the Tabata protocol certainly improved both, not only did the Tabata group still end up with a lower VO2 at the end of the study, they only made progress for 3 weeks before plateauing on VO2 max and 4 weeks for anaerobic capacity.

Interestingly, the running coach Arthur Lydiard made this observation half a century ago; after months of base training, he found that only 3 weeks of interval work were necessary to sharpen his athletes. More than that was neither necessary nor desirable. Other studies using cycling have found similar results: intervals improve certain parameters of athletic performance for about 3 weeks or 6 sessions and then they stop having any further benefit.

I’ve asked this question before but for all of the ‘All interval all the time’ folks, if intervals stop working after 3-4 weeks, what are people supposed to do for the other 48-49 weeks of the year. Should they keep busting their nuts with supra-maximal interval training for no meaningful results?

On that note, it’s worth mentioning that the Tabata group actually did a single steady state workout per week. Is it at all possible that this contributed to the overall training effect (given that 70% VO2 max training improved VO2 max in the steady state only group)? Does anybody else find it weird that the Tabata promoters ignore the fact that the Tabata group was doing steady state work too?

It’s also relevant to note that the study used a bike for training. This is important and here’s why: on a stationary bike, when you start to get exhausted and fall apart from fatigue, the worst that happens is that you stop pedalling. You don’t fall off, you don’t get hurt, nothing bad happens. The folks suggesting high skill movements for a ‘Tabata’ workout might want to consider that. Because when form goes bad on cleans near the end of the ‘Tabata’ workout, some really bad things can happen. Things that don’t happen on a stationary bike.

As well, I want to make a related comment: as you can see above the protocol used was VERY specific. The interval group used 170% of VO2 max for the high intensity bits and the wattage was increased by a specific amount when the workout was completed. Let me put this into real world perspective.

My VO2 max occurs somewhere between 300-330watts on my power bike, I can usually handle that for repeat sets of 3 minutes and maybe 1 all out-set of 5-8 minutes if I’m willing to really suffer. That’s how hard it is, it’s a maximal effort across that time span.

For a proper Tabata workout, 170% of that wattage would be 510 watts (for perspective, Tour De France cyclists may maintain 400 watts for an hour). This is an absolutely grueling workload. I suspect that most reading this, unless they are a trained cyclist, couldn’t turn the pedals at that wattage, that’s how much resistance there is.

If you don’t believe me, find someone with a bike with a powermeter and see how much effort it takes to generate that kind of power output. Now do it for 20 seconds. Now repeat that 8 times with a 10 second break. You might learn something about what a Tabata workout actually is.

My point is that to get the benefits of the Tabata protocol, the workload has to be that supra-maximal for it to be effective. Doing thrusters or KB swings or front squats with 65 lbs fo 20 seconds doesn’t generate nearly the workload that was used during the actual study. Nor will it generate the benefits (which I’d note again stop accruing after a mere 3 weeks). You can call them Tabatas all you want but they assuredly aren’t.

Finally, I’d note that, as I discussed in Predictors of Endurance Performance VO2 max is only one of many components of overall performance, and it’s not even the most important one. Of more relevance here, VO2 max and aerobic endurance are not at all synonymous, many people confuse the two because they don’t understand the difference between aerobic power (VO2 max) and aerobic capacity (determined primarily by enzyme activity and mitochondrial density within the muscle). Other studies have shown clearly that interval work and steady state work generate different results in this regards, intervals improve VO2 max but can actually decrease aerobic enzyme activity (citrate synthase) within skeletal muscle.

The basic point being that even if the Tabata group improved VO2 max and anaerobic capacity to a greater degree than the steady state group, those are not the only parameters of relevance for overall performance.

Summing Up

First, here’s what I’m not saying. I’m not anti-interval training, I’m not anti-high intensity training. I am anti-this stupid-assed idea that the only type of training anyone should ever do is interval training, based on people’s mis-understanding and mis-extrapolation of papers like this.

High-intensity interval training and the Tabata protocol specifically are one tool in the toolbox but anybody proclaiming that intervals can do everything that anyone ever needs to do is cracked. That’s on top of the fact that 99% of people who claim to be doing ‘Tabatas’ aren’t doing anything of the sort.

Because 8 sets of 20″ hard/10″ easy is NOT the Tabata protocol and body-weight stuff or the other stuff that is often suggested simply cannot achieve the workload of 170% VO2 max that this study used. It may be challenging and such but the Tabata protocol it ain’t.

Joint friendy movements

Everyone knows the best lifts for building strength, size, and sport-specific power. But what if you can't squat because you have bum knees? What if you can't do bench presses and/or overhead lifts because of lingering shoulder injuries? What if your bad back makes deadlifts a bad idea?

I've worked with lots of athletes over the years with the issues I just described, and I've found alternative exercises that helped them get bigger and stronger. I'm able to do this with a concept I call joint-friendly lifting.

Joint-friendly lifts are simply creative variations that aren't as hard on the joints as their traditional counterparts. They allow serious lifters and athletes to work around their limitations without compromising the results they get from their training.

Before I get into the specific exercises, I want to wave the obligatory caution flag: Before switching out the tried-and-true lifts for the ones I show here, make sure the aches and pains you have aren't caused by suboptimal exercise technique, poor program design, or too much training with too little recovery.

I also want to mention an article I wrote a few months ago called "Making Gains with Pain." Today's article shows you how to work around your pain and limitations. The earlier piece shows you how to alleviate that pain. I know I'm biased, but I recommend it as a complement to the one you're about to read.

Joint-Friendly Lifts

The problem: back pain caused by disc issues prevents you from loading your spine with a barbell or dumbbells on traditional squats

The solution: one-legged squat off a bench or step

The kettlebell folks have popularized the pistol squat (shown below). But I rarely use pistols with my athletes, especially those with back pain related to disc problems, since they force a lot of unnecessary spinal flexion. Also, pistols don't allow the glutes to activate as much as the variation shown above due to the position of the torso. Glute activation is important, since it helps reduce the load on the spine and increases stabilization of the knee joint.

The best way to add load to a one-legged squat is to put on a weight vest. This will increase the intensity of the exercise without adding stress to your bad back.

The problem: back and/or knee pain

The solution: sled work

I absolutely love sled training. I use it with just about everyone who walks through our doors. It's especially valuable for those who have knee problems and those who have back trouble. I've found these athletes can move heavy loads on the sled with no added stress on their painful areas.

My favorite sled exercises:

Sled dragging

Sled dragging with the hand position shown in the photo below is much safer than using a waist or shoulder harness for people who have back issues. Be sure to maintain good spinal alignment, and don't allow your arms to move away from your sides.

Sled pulling

This is a great way to blast your quads if you have knee problems and can't do squats, lunges, or leg extensions. It's also a valuable exercise for knee rehab, thanks to the terminal knee-extension action it requires.

No sled? No problem — just get a big tire from a junkyard.

While I'm on the subject of tires, I should mention that tire flips, as performed in the example shown below, are not a joint-friendly lift. Even if you have the hip mobility to get low enough to maintain a neutral spine — an ability that eludes 90 percent of serious lifters, I'd estimate — this exercise still puts a serious amount of stress on your lower back.

I'm not saying tire flips are a bad exercise. But I am predicting that many of the people who do them will end up paying for some back surgeon's new Porsche. There are no bad exercises, just bad applications.

Sled/plate pushing

This is another of our go-to exercises for building strength and increasing work capacity without putting excess stress on the knees and backs of our athletes.

You want to keep your back straight, with your hips more or less level to your shoulders. Athletes with bad backs need to be especially cognizant of their back position, maintaining a neutral spine and avoiding spinal flexion as they step forward.

For building strength, stack up a sled and push it for 20 to 40 yards. To improve conditioning, use a plate push (as shown above) for 50 to 100 yards.

The problem: disc herniation, or any other back injury that prevents you from doing deadlifts, hyperextensions, or reverse hypers.

The solution: one-leg hip lift with weight plate

As with sled dragging, this is another exercise we use with almost everyone we train. But it's especially valuable for athletes and clients who need posterior-chain work but can't do the traditional hip-extension exercises.

Hold as much weight as you can without discomfort on top of your shin, as shown below.

The movement is straightforward. With the heel of your working leg on a bench or step, contract your glutes and hamstrings to elevate your hips off the floor, until your body forms a straight line from the knee of your working leg to your shoulders. Do all your reps with that leg, then switch.

The problem: an injury that puts stress on the shoulder joint during press-type movements

The solution: floor press

By limiting the range of motion, the floor press also limits stress on the injured shoulder. Many of our athletes who experience pain during and after bench presses find they can floor press big weights without discomfort.

The problem: shoulder pain limits or prevents overhead lifts like the shoulder press and push jerk

The solution: angled shoulder press

The reason it works for people who can't perform overhead lifts is simple: It's not overhead. It allows heavy loads and, as a bonus, requires the core muscles to control and resist rotation throughout the range of motion.

One key to performing the angled press is keeping your forearm perpendicular to the barbell, as shown below.

The problem: shoulder pain prevents external shoulder rotation when the arms are overhead in exercises like the pull-up and lat pulldown

The solution: angled lat pulldown

This is, as you probably guessed, the pulling version of the angled shoulder press. And like that exercise, it forces your core muscles to work as you struggle to stay upright as the weight pulls you forward. Execution is simple enough: stand in front of the lat-pulldown station and pull the bar to your upper chest.

Final Thoughts

You've heard this one hundreds of times: "Train smarter, not harder." In my opinion, the saying should be updated to this: "Train smarter and harder."

If you currently suffer from back, knee, and/or shoulder pain, you have no choice but to train smarter than the average lifter in your gym. But you also need to train harder to recover from your injury, and to prevent a recurrence. With joint-friendly lifts, it's possible to do both.

But even if you have no injuries, joint-friendly lifts are a pretty good way to help you maintain that winning streak. Not only are they easier on your most vulnerable joints, they provide new, interesting, and challenging ways to build muscle and improve your strength, athleticism, and work capacity.

Assuming, of course, you're interesting in that sort of thing...