Some Training and a Test (Daniel)

Here is yesterday's training. This is pretty typical of what I've been doing this year.

Deadlift

-- 135x8

-- 225x5

-- 305x4x4 (barely touch the ground on each rep)

Shrugs

-- 275x4x5

DB Overhead Press

-- 55x4x5

Pullups

-- 2x10

Bench Press

-- 135x8

-- 205x2x1

Shoulder moves with light dumbbells

This is my "rep" day, where I perform higher volume on the deadlift and press. On the weekend, I do a "heavy" day with singles or doubles. Last weekend I hit an easy 365x3x1 deadlift; this week it will be 365x3x2.

I've moved away from hard benching. Overhead presses are easier on my joints and better for my physique. I'm throwing in a couple of moderately heavy singles just to keep the feel of the movement. Truth is, I'm a terrible presser and always have been. My lifetime best bench is only 245, done at a weight of about 175. That's not terrible, but definitely isn't smashing any records.

I like the idea of working up to 225x10 on the bench, so that I could accomplish the 10-10 Ultimate Fitness Challenge:

• Bench press 225x10
• Immediately afterward, run 1.5 miles in under 10 minutes

A few years ago, everyone was worried about all-around fitness and being ready for everything. I blame CrossFit*. People were making up all kinds of ridiculously complicated challenges and lists of skills that needed to be mastered.

I made up the 10-10 challenge as an antidote. Individually, neither of the tests are that hard, but the combination is deceptively challenging.  Lots of guys bench 225x10 and lots of people can run a 6:40 per mile pace for 10 minutes, but surprisingly few can do both.

I can't do the 10-10 Ultimate Fitness Challenge. Yet. I guess I need to put it on my list of 37 things to accomplish in 370 weeks.


* CrossFit deserves blame for a lot of things, but this blog is not prepared for that amount of hate.

On Squat Depth (Daniel)

Let's talk about squatting. Here's a picture I stole from this blog. Who can spot the problem?

This squat is not anywhere close to the correct depth*. Go into any gym, anywhere, and almost every guy will be squatting just like the picture -- way too high and probably using the same weight.

Most books and trainers call for squatting to parallel. This is the standard in powerlifting, where a legal squat requires the hip crease to drop below the knee. This is fine, if you actually do it.

In reality, parallel squatters cheat**. I know, because I've done it myself and I've seen literally hundreds of other people do it. In this style of squat, the last few inches above parallel are the most difficult part of the movement. Add heavy weights and the temptation to cheat becomes nigh irresistible. If you don't force yourself to go well below parallel, you will squat high.

My solution: squat to full depth on every rep. This means descending as far as you can on each rep, feeling the hamstrings make contact with the calves.

Yeah, I know, full squatting is overkill, you can't use as much weight, some stuff about your knees, whatever. Based on what I've seen, though, I think the average trainee would get more benefit from squatting if we treated the full depth version as the "regular" squat and saved the parallel version as a special case.

By law, all blog posts about squatting must include this picture

The exact form of any exercise will vary from person to person, so there is no one true "correct" way to squat. That being said, here are some tips I gave Chelsea when she was learning the movement:

Take a comfortable stance. There is no reason for regular people to go uncomfortably wide or extremely narrow***.

The bar sits in a natural groove on the traps. Some authors teach a very low bar position borrowed from powerlifting. This can give you better leverage, but stresses your shoulders.

Toes straight ahead or turned out a little, whatever feels best.

Keep your chest up and back flat throughout the movement. A little forward lean may happen, but don't allow yourself to suddenly drop forward, especially on the ascent, where it may make you miss the lift.

If you have trouble going deep, try raising your heels with a small plate. If this helps, you need to improve your ankle mobility.

In general, strive to make your movements natural and fluid. Deep squatting requires full lower-body mobility, so this may reveal some areas where you're stiff or inflexible.

Finally, contrary to what some authors say, you don't have to squat. The squat is good exercise, but it isn't mandatory. You can get excellent results without doing heavy squats.


* Partial squats are a legitimate exercise, particularly if you do them with very heavy weights. The great Paul Anderson did a lot of high squats as assistance for his full squats. Letting your normal squats turn into high squats is the problem.

** They don't necessarily want to cheat, it just sort of happens.

** Powerlifters like a wide stance to decrease the range of motion. Bodybuilders may use a narrow stance to emphasize the quads.

Frosty

Sadly, no.

First of all, thanks to Daniel for getting us all huge.  In all seriousness, Daniel is pretty smart about the whole strength training gig and manages to get himself pretty strong when he can make it to the gym regularly.  He's also a big proponent of the "quality over quantity" theory of exercise- something that I am coming around to more and more.

Second, it's really really cold here.  I think it was something like -7 (which was warmer than a lot of the rest of the Upper Midwest) at 10am yesterday.  It's funny because you walk outside and think, "That's not so bad..." and then 20 seconds later you don't feel like you're even wearing pants or a jacket anymore.  The building I work in is tall and creates a wind vortex that blows straight at you when you walk toward it.  It's so cold that it no longer registers as cold- just pain.  Needless to say I ran on the treadmill at the gym yesterday morning.  After a fairly full week with the undergrads, the gym was back to its normal state of blissful emptiness.

We did brave the cold last night to enjoy Friday dinner out at Pasqual's.

We've eaten at Pasqual's on Monroe street many times, but this was our first time at their new location across from Trader Joe's (just opened on 1/20).  We overheard the service staff say they were still having some trouble getting used to being in the new place, but we didn't experience any issues as customers.

Pasqual's bills itself as a Southwestern restaurant, and as a past resident of the Southwest, I can say they have it about 85% right.  Lots of mildy spiced traditional menu items with the option to up the spiciness if that is your thing.  This review will sound a little critical, so I should emphasize that Daniel and I eat at Pasqual's a lot and really like it.  But we know just enough about what this kind of food *should* be like to make us dangerous.

The true mark of New Mexican food is that it's covered with so much red or green chili sauce (or both- that's called Christmas) that you can't see what you ordered. To the right is an example from a restaurant in Albuquerque.  Do you have any idea what that is?  No, you don't.

Pasqual's enchiladas come pretty much like that, but if you wanted a beef burrito New Mexican-style, you'd have to order a "Cowboy-style Pasqual's burrito with red sauce and beef" rather than a "beef burrito with red".  Most of the burritos come with rice and/or beans in them, which is not really a New Mexico thing either.  Normally Daniel orders a burrito or the cheese or pork enchiladas with red, and I get the garden veggie quesadilla, the salad burrito, or one of their salads (all of which are non-traditional additions to the menu that I am happy about).   The only thing I've ever had there that I didn't like was the mole sauce, which was a disappointment because I normally love mole.

Now if they would just bring out honey and a basket of sopapillas at the end of the meal.

So good... So glad they aren't as easily accessible.

Workout: 
Going to the gym to do weights before lunch.  I swapped running to yesterday because I figured the cardio machines would be less crowded at 6am on Friday than 9am on Saturday.  Here's hoping there won't be too many virtuous undergrads there this morning.

Question on Running (By Daniel)

In the comments to yesterday's post, marathonmaiden asks

how could this stuff work with a training plan where there are really hard workout days? in the past i've tried lifting on my easy/recovery days but always worry in the back of my head that it's not letting my body recover

This is a bit of tricky thing to answer, because it depends on the individual, the training plan, and the long-term goal.  With that cop-out established, here's what I've picked up in my reading:

• Don't attempt a hard run the day after lifting weights.  This includes long, tempo, speed, and interval work.  You need at least one easy or off day to keep your legs fresh.
• As a general rule, I'm not in favor of doubling up workouts to run and lift on the same day.
• You can probably run hard the day before lifting.  Your weights may suffer a little bit, but your hard running workouts are more important, so that's okay.
• Take at least one day per week off from exercise.

If you followed all these guidelines, your program would be highly restricted.  You'd have two days per week of lifting, one off day, and only four days left to run.  If you have only two hard workouts, like a long run and an interval day, it could work like this:

• Intervals
• Lift
• Easy
• Lift
• Easy
• Long run
• Off

If you want more running volume, or a third hard workout, you'll have to modify the plan.  

You could go to one day of lifting per week, freeing up a day for another hard run.  Alternately, you could drop the lower body exercises (except the mobility work) for one of your workouts, so that you only train legs once a week.  Here's a more aggressive plan with three hard workouts per week:

• Intervals
• Full-body lifting
• Easy
• Tempo
• Easy / Upper body lifting
• Long run
• Off

This has an easy run and upper body lifting on the same day, but it should still work for recovery.

Remember that lifting is only assistance to your running.  If the quality of your runs suffers you should drop or change exercises that cause you problems -- allowing for an initial break-in period if you're new to weights.  Squats, in particular, can really kill your legs.

Finally, don't be afraid to drop lifting completely during high-mileage or peaking phases of your training.  Cut back on lifting during your tapering period, and don't lift in the week before an important race.

Now that you have all the information you need to get Truly Huge, make sure you observe proper gym etiquette.

A Basic Weight Training Plan

As promised, here is the second installment of our series on transforming your feeble self into an unstoppable colossus of power.

This is a routine I have used successfully in the recent past.  It's designed to help you make progress on a few important lifts, while still saving time for other activities.

Lift weights two days per week, training the entire body each time.  Each workout contains the following exercises:

• One main lower body exercise.
• One upper body pushing exercise.
• Two upper body pulling exercises.
• Any assistance or support work.
• Abdominals.

Questions and Answers

What are some choices for the lower body lift?

Any exercise that uses most of the muscles in your lower body at the same time.  This includes squats, front squats, any type of deadlift, and the leg press.

What are some choices for the upper body pushing lift?

 Bench, incline, and overhead pressing, using barbells, dumbbells, or machines.  Dips, with extra weight if necessary.  Pushup variations, in some cases.

Why use two pulling movements?

Training the muscles you can't see is very important for all-around strength, posture, and appearance.  Most regular trainees benefit by pulling more than they push.

Okay.  So what are some pulling exercises?

Pullups, or lat pulldowns if you can't do pullups yet.  Rowing with barbells, dumbbells, or machines.  Shrugs.  Cleans and snatches, if you're willing to put in the effort to learn them.  Dumbbell or kettlebell swings.  Curls with any implement.  The farmer's walk (carrying two heavy dumbbells for time or distance) is not technically a pull, but trains many of the same muscles.  

Implementation

There are two ways to turn this into a twice-per-week plan.

• Choose two different sets of exercises for each day.
• Use the same exercises on both days, but make one day "heavy" and the other "reps".

Here's a sample program based on the first approach.  We'll use similar combinations of sets and reps on each day, but there will be variety in the exercises.

First day

• Deadlift:  3 sets of 4 reps.
• Dumbbell overhead press:  3 sets of 8-12 reps.
• Pullups: 3 sets of as many reps as possible (use assistance if necessary).
• Cable machine rows:  3 sets of 8-12 reps.
• Planks: 3 holds for at least 45 seconds each.

Second day

• Front squat:  3 sets of 5 reps.
• Pushups:  4 sets of as many reps as possible.
• Dumbbells curls:  3 sets of 8-12 reps.
• Shrugs:  3 sets of 5 reps.
• Hanging leg raises: 2 sets of 15 reps.  

More Questions and Answers

I hate your choice of exercises, sets, and reps.

First, that's not a question.  Second, I made up the sample plan in five minutes.  You can substitute any exercises and set/rep schemes that make sense to you.

What about that assistance stuff?

You can tack on any assistance exercises you want at the end of each workout.  These exercises should be light, done quickly, and relevant to injury prevention or weak point training.  As a general rule, the assistance work should be done with lighter weights, for higher reps, and take no more than 10 minutes.  For running, you might want to add calf raises, hamstring curls, and ankle mobility exercises, one set of 15 reps for each.

Running

Considering this blog's readership, I feel obligated to say a little bit about mixing this plan with running. 

For runners, lifting should be about total health, injury prevention, and appearance (to the extent you care about your physique).  Programs designed to increase your max strength in a few lifts will only wear you out, give you dead legs, and increase your risk of injury.  Here's my attempt to write down a plan that mixes with moderate volume running.

First day

• Full-depth front squat:  2 sets of 5 (good for leg power and mobility).
• Pushups: 3 sets of as many reps as possible.
• Assisted pullups: 2 sets of 5-10 reps.
• Machine rows: 2 sets of 8-12 reps.
• Planks: 3 holds of 30-45 seconds.
• Calves: 2 sets of 15 reps.
• Ankle mobility drills.

Second day

• Straight leg deadlift: 2 sets of 5 (strengthens hamstrings and glutes).
• Dips: 2 sets of as many reps as possible.
• Curls: 2 sets of 8-12 reps.
• Lat pulldowns: 2 sets of 5-10 reps.
• Hanging leg raises: 2 sets of 15 reps.
• Hip mobility drills.

Two important points.  First, this should not cut into the quality of your running training.  If squats give you dead legs, then you should drop squats, or find a variation that doesn't cause problems.  Second, these workouts should be quick and leave you feeling energized and happy, not sad and tired.

If you have any questions, post them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer.

Weight Training (By Daniel)

This is Daniel.

Chelsea has nothing interesting to say today, so I'm stepping up and doing a guest post on lifting weights.  I've been lifting weights for more than ten years and I read all the important fitness sites, so I'm pretty much a completely trustworthy expert.

Today, I'll talk about some concepts and terms common to all weight training programs.  In a future post, I'll outline a basic program I've used successfully that can also work for runners.

The Big Picture
There are three reasons to lift weights:

• Getting stronger (ideally in a way that aligns with other athletic goals).
• Muscular hypertrophy (get huge, bro).
• Injury prevention (by strengthening underused muscles).

Variables

All programs manipulate four different variables:

• Frequency (how often you lift).
• Volume (how many total lifts you perform in a session).
• Intensity (how heavy you lift, relative to the most you could manage).
• Exercise selection and variety.

These variables interact with each other.  Emphasizing one aspect requires cutting back on others.  For example, going heavy is hard, so programs that emphasize lifting near-maximal weights require limiting the number of lifts in each session and scheduling sessions with enough time to allow for recovery.

Most training plans can be categorized based on a few different features.

Full-body vs. Split
Should you train all the muscles of the body every time you lift, or should you dedicate each session to one particular group of muscles?  Almost all modern bodybuilders do the latter.  They will have dedicated days for each of the major parts of the body -- chest, legs, arms, back, and shoulders is a typical split.  Training with splits allows for more focused work and more volume on each muscle, but it requires more sessions per week to fit everything in.

Full-body plans use a mixture of exercises to hit every muscle in the body during each workout.  This is more demanding, so most full-body plans require only two or three hard sessions per week.  Full-body work was more popular in the early days of bodybuilding and has made a big comeback in recent years.  Some writers feel that full-body routines give faster results that splits.  On the other hand, traditional splits have more exercise variety, which can help prevent injury.

One other approach is the upper-lower split, where days are specifically dedicated to the upper body or lower body, but not to individual muscle groups.  This is technically a split routine, but often feels more like a full-body plan.

Isolation vs. Compound Exercises
Isolation exercises are those that move only a single joint, such as the biceps curl or the leg extension.  Compound exercises move multiple joints simultaneously, like the squat and the bench press.  Several current popular plans emphasize compound exercises and reduce or eliminate isolation, arguing that compound movements are important and productive, and isolation work is mostly unnecessary.

Isolation exercises are still useful for bringing up lagging muscles, training weak points in a particular lift, or balancing things out to prevent injuries.

Free Weights vs. Machines
Thousands, maybe millions, of lives have been lost over this issue. Basically, the arguments break down like this:

• The most productive exercises (squats, bench, deadlift, etc.) use free weights.
• Free weights require you to hold and stabilize the weight.  This develops many small "in-between" muscles.
• Machines are designed for some "average" body, which may not be yours.
• There are many useful exercises (pulldowns, leg press) that can't be done with free weights.
• Machines can be designed to give even resistance through the entire exercise, eliminating sticking points.

Progression
The most important part of weight training is progression.  To get stronger, you have to actually add weight to the bar.  Deciding when to do this, and how much to add, is an important aspect of any program. Even the best program is worthless without progression.

Here are four popular approaches:

Rep-based
When you can perform a certain number of reps with your current weight, add 5-10 pounds then drop down to a lower number of reps and build back up.

Linear
Start with a moderate weight and add a fixed amount at every or every other session.  When the weights get too heavy to continue, drop down and begin building back up.  This approach works very well for new lifters, as long as the increases are reasonable.

Classic periodization
Start with light weights and high reps.  Over 12-16 weeks, gradually increase the weight and decrease the reps until you reach new personal best lifts at the end of the cycle.  These program are usually percentage-based, with the weights for each phase calculated based on your current personal best.

Wave
Exactly what it sounds like.  Build the weights up a little, then drop back, then build up again, with the goal of making each peak a little higher than the last.

There are other popular progression approaches that you're unlikely to encounter unless you train specifically for powerlifting (bench, squat, and deadlift) or Olympic lifting (the snatch and the clean and jerk).

That covers some of the basic differences between strength training programs.  Check back later for a post on a basic routine that's both useful and flexible.