"Speed" Ladder Doesn't Build Speed

A starting point would be discussing populations that would benefit from using a speed ladder: beginners, youth and/or out of shape deconditioned individuals. You know what else would improve their general fitness, strength, power and endurance? ANYTHING! 

There are "speed" coaches out there who use the ladder drills with their youth population and see great results. Likewise trainers who use them with the elderly population and see an improvement in movement and balance. But I would argue they could perform a rudimentary movement pattern for an hour once a week and produce similar benefits. This holds true for individuals who has less than a year of formal training. 

The speed ladder is often used as a tool to improve athletic performance including speed and agility. Lets go over what speed and agility really means in the context of athletics. 

Speed involves covering more ground in a shorter period of time. If you can run 100 meters in less time after 1 month of training, you've improved your speed. The basic principles to improving speed is increasing stride frequency to go with stride length as a means of quantifying speed improvement. It's often thought of in more linear movements like the 40yard dash shown here by NFL Running Back Chris Johnson. 

Agility is your ability to change direction rapidly while being able to apply more horizontal force into the ground at an angle different than your current direction. To do this effectively your legs must be outside the vertical position of the center of your mass. If your center of mass doesn't move, you won't change directions. All you'll do is move your legs and not fall on your face. Agility often goes hand in hand with change of direction.

Anything we perform in the gym is done to improve general physical preparedness for athletics. Any result to tie-in athletic performance to a drill is pointless since there is a lack of specificity to the activity. Sports in itself is chaotic by nature, and running a linear pattern won't do much to get you ready for the reactive nature of the beast.. 

Speed and agility are based on rate of force, meaning if you go through the ladder at a sub maximal rate, you'll only improve your conditioning. Likewise any true speed training needs to be done with adequate rest periods, anything less than that you'll simply be performing cardio. For any training modality to work, it has to replicate or produce fundamentally similar benefits as the end goal. The S.A.I.D (specific adaptations to imposed demands) principle applies here, your training needs replicate force, rate of force application, metabolic and neural demands of an activity to have true carry over. 

Ladder drills can be very effective as a warm up for true speed training. It can help load and unload the muscles, tendons and incorporates some cardio. Technique needs to be the focal point, so skip the fancy footwork you saw on youtube.

Agility training involves a rapid change of direction from the initial direction of momentum. The most effective way to change direction involves having the legs move well outside of the vertical alignment of the center of mass, and driving into the ground at as horizontal of an angle as possible to create a strong drive against the ground. Momentum can also be overcoming inertia if you aren't already moving. This rapid change from no movement to movement could be considered a “first step,” which does not fall neatly under traditional speed training. The best example of agility would be NFL great Barry Sanders, always amazing to watch!

While ladder drills involve a rapid change of direction from one position to another, the direction one applies force is more linear than horizonatal. As a result any movement outside the center of mass is usually pretty tiny compared to more conventional agility training. Ladder drills would work well as a warm up for the same reasons mentioned above for speed, but in terms of developing higher levels of agility, it may not be as beneficial. It could be incorporated in sub-maximal workouts to involve some change of direction with low loads to stay sharp.

Like with the smith machine and bosu ball, every tool has a job in the gym. The ladder is great when used appropriately. It does very little to build top end speed, agility or quickness compared to conventional training. Relying on the speed ladder as a main cog to your training might actually make the athlete slower.

It's great when used for conditioning, rehabbing and as a warm up for much higher impact movements but as a stand alone training tool, it won't make you an Olympic sprinter any time soon. 

The One Thing You Can't Teach

For years I've worked in the fitness industry where at times being ignorant can be the best trait a coach can have. Since you don't know any better and whole heartedly believe in your skills, you don't know that the 10th set of wrist curls isn't doing much to help a 32 year old female client who came to your originally to lose 10 lbs get fit for the summer. You're under qualified, but no one could call you a crook.

What I plan to discuss today isn't this type of coach, it's one LIKE the aforementioned above trainer who KNOWS better but doesn't care. In essence...

The fitness industry is filled with liars and scammers looking to make a quick buck. 

There's often big promises of "fast results" and "easy ways to lose weight", which I can tell you is utter bullshit considering it's the boring stuff we've done for years that works the best. Lee Boyce addressed this problem that has been written about many times in the past. 

When an unsuspecting consumer or follower sees a fit-looking person promoting a questionable exercise, most people will take it at face value and follow suit, assuming that that particular exercise is one reason why that fit person is in shape to begin with. 

Examples like the one above are the reason I hate hearing the term "your body is your business card." Sadly, that quote permeates the fitness industry and won't stop. I also have to admit that there's a fair truth to the phrase.

Related: Read the full article http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lee-boyce/bad-fitness-advice_b_10106516.html

Your body is not your business card, and trainers don't get paid to be in shape or lift weights all day. You should be fit because it's your passion, period. You don't need to look like an upside triangle, but you should look like you could run a 5K without training for it and not die. 

The issue is when an individual only markets themselves via how they look, and a lot of very qualified coaches who aren't as "shredded" lose business because lets be honest, we judge books by their cover. It's imperative that the trainer be as qualified as possible and the client has a bit of responsibility to themselves to do some research too. You don't just go on yelp and pick any mechanic or doctor, so why would you do the same by simply going with the first result or the most cost effective trainer running a grouponesque special. 

I believe that the cream rises to the top, businesses seeking the quick buck often don't last. Trainers should continue honing their craft and expanding their knowledge base (which should also include business and psychology). In time things have a funny way of working themselves out. I'll close with this quote I heard from a fellow colleague

"He doesn't have 10 years of experience, it's 1 year of experience repeated 9 more times."

Run Further & Faster: Strength Training for Runners

It's been almost a decade since I was consistently crushing half marathons at elite level times of 1:10:00. With that type of natural talent and success I of course took the logical next step to quit because I was tired of looking like a typical marathon runner! (sarcasm level 11) Below is a photo from high school and mind you I had been "lifting" for about 8-9 months. I think my wrists were the same size as my arms. 

2003

2013 , I look like a buff oompa loompa

• Competed in a physique competition
• Deadlift 3x bodyweight
• Bench press 2x bodyweight
• Squat 2x bodyweight

And while none of those numbers are going to win me a powerlifting competition, I'm very proud of the weight I've been able to move at 150 lbs. That seems to be where my body likes to maintain homeostasis. Alas I'm a very competitive person and the one thing that I continue to ask myself:

What if I had continued running instead of lifting weights?

In less than a month I will be 30 years old. And I remember vividly saying the day I quit running that I could always go back to running when I turned 30. The rationale was that I should take advantage of my prime years building muscles and getting stronger.* 

As 30 approaches, I've decided to seek out a new challenge in a familiar activity. Now armed with a decade of lifting and years of experience with a wide range of clients, I now want to know this:

Can I maintain strength and what relative size I've accrued and get back to running elite long distance times?

Strength is the basis for all athletic endeavors so it should include long distance running too. While there are diminishing returns on carrying more muscle as it makes you heavier, there is a healthy middle ground. Strength training is the missing component for keeping most recreational runners healthy.

A basic strength program has many benefits such as:

1. Building bone density, something many runners lack due to poor dietary practices leaving them at a high risk for stress fractures.
2. Maintaining muscle mass which is lost during endurance training. 
3. Improve functional strength and capacity which declines as you age.
4. Enhances endocrine and immune function which are compromised by endurance training.
5. Ability to rapidly correct muscle imbalances. Strength is a corrective exercise. The running joke with runners seems to revolve around what injury they're dealing with and how long before they can go back to running and ward off that same injury. 

What sort of strength training?

Free weights mostly and no machines DON'T count. Part of what makes strength training useful is the fact that you have to stabilize in multiple planes of motion as opposed to only working on a fixed track. A machine workout is practically pointless (from a functional standpoint) because running doesn't occur in a seated fixed motion either. 

When you do for example, a weighted step up, your body has to generate force in a single leg position. In order to perform the movement properly you'll need to force muscles like the adductors (inner thigh) and your abductors (outer thigh/butt muscles) to work together to stabilize your leg so you don't fall over. By training in this manner, you improve muscular balance and thus improve running efficiency and prevent problems such as lateral knee pain, hip pain, and lower back pain. 

I should add that many runners like to perform machine work in a slow controlled manner because it's somehow similar to running? Put simply, if you train slow, you'll be slow in competition. If you want to run a marathon, specificity of training is more important than mimicking what you think is hitting those "slow twitch" muscle fibers. When you run, focus on running. When you're lifting, focus on progressive overload and getting more athletic. 

Practical advice: Set tempo runs on days you lift and separate your longer runs at least a day apart from your strength days. 

Weight Training will make me heavy

Endurance training naturally is not conducive to growing muscles, especially in a female population with lower testosterone levels. Getting in enough calories is tough given the amount of volume performed. Any calories you take in will be used to improve overall efficiency rather than actual increases in muscle size. Add in the fact that in order to gain muscle, you need a surplus of calories, that's pretty hard if you're lifting AND running as well. 

Practical advice: A stronger muscle will get a little bigger, but make no mistake, you won't look like the hulk running 26.2 miles. Or JJ Watt.

Imagine if he could run a 2 hr marathon, there'd be no escaping him

Wrapping it up

Does every runner need to be able to squat and deadlift 2-3x their bodyweight? No, but you should focus on strengthening the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) to help balance out all the quad dominant work that goes on with running. Getting stronger in unilateral movements like lunges, step ups and single leg RDL's will help get the hips more balanced and thus making you a more efficient runner. And more core work like paloff presses, dead bugs and planks will help transfer energy to run faster and absorb the forces of the pavement. 

If you found anything I've mentioned helpful, insightful or funny I would request of you one thing, to hit that share button on the bottom and share this piece with another friends who runs or might be needed some guidance. Much appreciated!

*I've been running for about 45 days at 8:00 minute mile pace, with my best one mile at 6:50. I feel REALLY heavy, but I'm sure I'll continue to improve as I get in more miles. On a positive note, I've maintained strength and my physique fairly well while allowing myself to really up my carb intake to around 400-500g/ day which is pretty awesome.

3 Things All Desk Workers Need to Do Daily

It works...in theory

I'll bet by reading this title you just sat straight up in your chair. Spending 8 hours behind a desk and then hitting the gym with these common issues is a sure-fire recipe for an overuse injury.

I've outlined the top three problems and a few videos showcasing mobilization drills to help undo some of these dysfunctions before you go deadlift the car that parked too closely behind you out of the way.   

(You can interchange desk worker with "People who spend 2 hours commuting every day")

NEED: Deep Diaphragm Breathing

Individuals who work desk jobs often exhibit shallow breathing. This person ends up with a dysfunctional breathing pattern overusing the secondary muscles like scalene, sternocleidomastoid and pec minor. This will impair your ability to properly raise your arms overhead which will the limit your pull-ups and all pressing motions. 

Your chest rises as the intercostal muscles contract. Yet, the stomach is drawn in by activation of the tranverse abdominis muscle and the diaphragm is not engaged. And while this position looks better in trying to appear slimmer, it also reduces the total amount of oxygen available by only partially expanding the lungs. This also results in weaker core stabilization. Which you can imagine is a disaster when our desk worker attempts squats with only half their available core stability.

Break up the adhesions with a lacrosse ball before moving onto the back to wall shoulder flexion mobilization. When performing both of these be sure to give a nice hard exhale each time you extend. This is exhibited in the final video in the section by Dean Somerset when he's performing dead bugs.

When learning how to properly engage the core and integrate movement, my go-to is the dead bug. 

NEED: Thoracic Extension

To go along with a rounded forward head posture is an excessively kyphotic (rounded) thoracic spine and internally rotated humerus. This will likely lead to issues with scapular positioning as well. I won't go into too much detail here since poor thoracic positioning also impairs hip position. 

I do however advocate both t-spine foam roller extensions and the bench t-spine mobilization below. Combine the movement with the deep diaphragmic breathing and you're on your way to moving better!

For a more in depth breakdown, Jill Miller breaks down how the aforementioned dysfunctional breathing affects thoracic positioning. 

NEED: Hip Mobility

Being seated all day you'll end up with excessive lordosis (anterior pelvic tilt) which often manifests itself in lower back pain/stiffness. If you notice there's a degree of overlap in all of these problems. This leads to poor alignment which results in subpar performance in almost every lift including upper body ones too.

Our back extensors (mainly the iliocostalis lumborum and longissimus thoracis) help to counteract shear force, but they are either "locked" at the mid-back or "shut off" from flexion. In his book "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance," Stuart McGill notes that the ability of the back extensors to counteract shear force is a function of spine curvature.

A neutral spine shows the angle of the extensors are at 45 degrees. However when the spine is flexed it reduces the angle by 10 degrees anteriorly and shear forces cannot be counteracted. When you have poor thoracic mobility, you'll most likely end up with poor hip position when it comes to squats and deadlifts; and thus likely open yourself up to injury.

Below are two of my favorite drills to help open up the hips, the split-stance kneeling adductor mobilization and 1/2kneeling hip flexor stretch. 

Things to Purchase

• Lacrosse Ball
• Foam Roller
• Jump Stretch Band

Why We Start Falling Apart at Age 30+

Relax, you're not Lebron. Now I have to clean up all that chalk!

I'm about a month away from turning 30. There's been a fascinating development in 2016 for all the individuals I grew up with, we're getting old and our bodies no longer rebound as quickly as it used to. Weekend binges with your friends and starvation diets that worked at 20 stop working at 30 and you can't un-do the damage. 

OKAY...Guess I'll start going to the gym you say to yourself.

Most restart training focusing on muscular fatigue (aka "the burn"). There's a huge problem with this type of approach for anyone who hasn't ran a mile since high school.

Muscular tissue regenerates approximately 90 days from end to end. Connective tissue however, takes about 200-210 days to regenerate. There's a HUGE gap there. So when an individual is fairly detrained and decides to go H.A.M at the gym, you're making a big mistake. You cannot cheat time, there's no supplement or happy dance to speed up the adaptation process. You will need to work within those parameters and be patient with your progress.

(Note: Please If it hurts, STOP! It will takes longer to repair an injury than it does to simply avoid it.) 

When we were young we ran around from sun up to sun down. We hit high school and for many it's their first structured athletic program. We believe the body did well based on that structure, instead of the years of activity as a child. If you're good, you continue playing in college. You graduate and get a job. You go to the gym or play basketball every day and get by.

Suddenly you get married and little by little your level of physical activity decreases. Now you have children, and you haven't been hitting the gym. You spend much of the time hunched over at your desk. And your body yearns to be healthy. You join the softball team and blow out your knee rounding first base. I don't know how many children were blowing out their knees rounding first base. When you run around with your kids or join a rec team, an injury is almost always joint related. Very rarely is it an injury to the muscle belly. If a person trains, they often only train one linear motion e.g.- Squats so that injury should come as no surprise.

There's a point where you abuse the body that it will not come back from.  We all see older adults with an extremely hunched forward posture, neck extended hard and chin up to see where they're walking. They can't fix this, the vertebrae are rectangular and years of being hunched over it compresses the front end into a trapezoid. Once it gets to this point, it's game over.

The same thing occurs to our muscle bellies. Individuals who get frozen shoulder or impingement, that's because you stop using the muscle. Lean muscle is metabolically expensive (meaning it requires a lot of energy and calories to maintain it) by not using it the body sees it as non-essential and will begin breaking it down. Of all the processes in the body, endurance is regained the easiest, followed by muscular strength, mobility though once lost takes the longest to regain.

As the muscle begins to lose its' size, but the body will begin to deposit collagen on it and the belly will shorten. For example, the traps start shrinking until a lot of it is connective tissue along the edges and you end up with that silhouette above.

Keep this in mind when you see an adult who's hurting, shuffling their feet and can't pick up their knees with their necks extended; remember they weren't this way when they were 30. This is because of inactivity.

 If it happen to them, it can definitely happen to me too.