The Owner's Manual of You

Being that I live 20-30 minutes from the gym, my drive to and from gives me ample time to think. I think sometimes about business, sometimes about training, and sometimes about myself, amongst other thoughts. As I was driving home last night, I began looking back objectively at my experiences and the lessons I have learned since I started training back in high school. It is definitely a long list and one that will continue to grow indefinitely.

During the drive home, the focus centered around how my experiences vary from other people's and how these lessons mold everyone's views and methods differently towards training and life. Often times we can get caught up in trying to perfect ourselves to the standards of others instead of perfecting ourselves to the abilities of ourselves, following our own personal owner's manual. If you focus solely on yourself, and how to maximize YOUR potential, you will reap the benefits of success.

In the past, everything I did in training was done with an eye on all of the flaws I had compared to others. I would read bodybuilding magazines and spend many hours on bodybuilding message boards trying to learn how the pros did it, and would try to implement their ways into my own program. This habit only lead to one thing, failure. I stayed looking pretty much the same year around, with vary small fluctuations in size, and suffered through my fair share of overuse injuries and periods of burnout. I was failing to see the big picture. I was failing to look objectively at my talents and abilities and cater my training to fit.

Some people can handle hour long sessions 4-5 times a week and received benefits. For other's 3 times a week might be the best plan(These two examples aren't including mini GPP workouts). There are also those who need more volume to attain a strength benefit while some can get brutally strong with 1-2 heavy sets. Some can recover faster than others and some need to take more frequent deload weeks and days. The bottom line is that you must not mold your training to the standards of others. You must learn to listen to your body day in and day out to find the best plan for you. If you begin to do that, only then will you begin to see growth both mentally and physically, and form a deeper connection between you and your body. If you work to fulfill your potential, and leave nothing on the table when pursing it, you will truly be great.

No Nonsense Selfishness,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS
Owner/Head Trainer
kyle@trainstrive.com
513-571-2950

Valentine's Day Musings

1. Got a chance to open up the back garage door of the gym last night while getting in a late Sunday night workout. Nothing better than working out in the fresh cool air.
2. Is it wrong that when I think Valentine's day I think of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre?
3. Is there any better time of the year than when Pitchers and Catchers report (Wednesday for those not informed)? To me, it is the actual beginning of the New Year, not January 1st.
4. Been hitting a little more bodybuilding style volume based sets on my assistance work lately. It provides a nice change of pace mentally and physically, and reminds me a lot of my earlier days of training.
5. I finished working with the Wyoming High School Baseball team last night in preparation for their 2011 season. Even tough I only had the opportunity to work with them once a week for about 4-6 weeks, I saw tremendous improvement in all of the kid's mental toughness and ability to fight through adversity. They got a glimpse into seeing what they are truly capable of. This will be the foundation for which they will draw their fight from during competitive play. If they enter into a hitting or pitching slump, they won't get down and sink further into the slump, but know how to fight back, push through, and get back on top of their game. They are set up for big things this year and I look for them to make a run at the Cincinnati Hills League crown and an eventual deep playoff run.

No Nonsense Thoughts,

Kyle Bohanon, CSCS

Owner/Head Trainer

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com

Using Your Time Wisely at the Gym

In relation to my last post, I wanted to extend it further to discuss how to be more time efficient when in the gym. This will allow you to get in and out in minimal time, all the while getting in a highly effective workout. When you  streamline your training, will see the benefits in improved performance, results, and recovery. Even if you aren't someone who is strapped for time, implementing these rules will only serve to benefit your goals.

Eliminate excess exercises

Though I don't train at regular gyms anymore, when I did, whenever I'd go, I would see individuals performing countless sets of concentration curls, triceps kick backs, and leg extensions. Unfortunately I'll admit, I was once apart of this crowd, devoting an entire day of lifting towards arms. However, continuously implementing this exercises into your program, does more harm than good. They provide little carry over, if any at all, towards your bench, military press, squat, and deadlift and also serve to impair and delay your recovery. A good rule to follow when debating if you should be doing an exercise or not, is asking yourself if it makes you look lame or not, like the guy in the picture above.


Prioritize

In the same regards as the first tip, in order to reduce training time and amplify results, you need to learn to prioritize. Squats, deadlifts, presses, pull ups, jumps, and sprints need to be the foremost aim of your training. It should be noted that it can be argued that any exercises performed after your first 1-2 lifts, might not be worth your energy, and in relation to the first tip again, impair your recovery. Your effectiveness takes a dramatic drop off the cliff after sets of squats and Romanian deadlifts. Continuing on with more exercises with less than stellar form is a recipe for disaster. Yes assistance work is needed in order to correct imbalances and bring up weak points, but there training should never come at the expense of proper form and recovery for your main lifts. Your goals towards lifting should revolve around how much you can squat, not how much you can reverse lunge.

Also, prioritizing should take place in regards towards your running as well. Answer this, which is a better use of your time, 10-20 minutes of sprint intervals or 30 minutes to 1 hour of running on a treadmill? If you answered the treadmill, than clearly you have yet to learn anything from this post. While I won't go into the benefits of sprinting over long distance work today, as that topic is enough for another post in and of itself, it is important to recognize sprinting's benefits towards fat loss, flexibility, mobility, and strength and power gains.

Reduce Rest periods

This tip is pretty self-explanatory in regards to reducing your training time. Decrease rest periods and you'll get out of the gym faster. However, it is important to take notice that this rule shouldn't apply when training your main lift. Though I sound like a broken record, getting stronger on these is a priority, and training them with inadequate rest will only lead to poor strength results as well as injury. With these lifts keep rest periods around 2-4 minutes between sets. 

When it comes to the rest of the workout however, perform the remaining exercises in a superset/circuit fashion and try to decrease the rest periods between rounds. Exact rest periods are determined by your conditioning levels and the amount of lifts performed, but anywhere from 90 seconds to Zero seconds rest should be used. Not only will this get you out of the gym faster, but it will ramp up your conditioning.

Use Body Weight exercises

When in a typical gym, you often are left to fight with other members over certain pieces of equipment. This battle can waste away a lot of crucial time in your workout. If this happens, perform the bodyweight version instead. In fact, bodyweight exercises should always have priority over any machine based exercises. Why? Well first off, bodyweight exercises are far more beneficial in carrying over towards daily life in the fact that daily life is all about moving your own bodyweight. Secondly, being able to perform multiple reps of one arm push ups is far more awesome than sitting down for 4 sets of 15 on the pec deck.

Avoid the Chit Chat

Finally, this last one should go without saying. You are at the gym to train, not small talk with any one who makes eye contact with you. You can socialize the rest of the 23 hours you're not in the gym. Your gym time should be just that, time for you.

No Nonsense Cutting of the Fat,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS

Owner/Head Trainer

Strive Training 

Cincinnati, OH

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com

Training On a Limited Schedule

With work, school, social commitments, family obligations, travel time to the gym, and the like, being able to find adequate time to train can be hard. However, this isn't an excuse to drop training all together. The people who do, think it is mandatory that, for any results to occur, that training must take at the minimum 1hr, but usually 1.5-2. The problem? These people are horrible at setting priorities in the gym, and probably in life. They think that 45 minutes on the treadmill is one of the most beneficial things that they can do in the gym. Oh, what little do they know.

Training doesn't need to be complex. Training needs to be simple. Anyone can have an effective muscle building, fat scorching workout in under 20 minutes. The way to accomplish this is by prioritizing. Lifting heavy things, leaping over tall buildings, and sprinting like the wind need to be the basis for everyone's training program. BOSU training, steady state cardio, and endless ab circuits should not be things that you put as the make or break elements of you plan. Train like a warrior and you will reap the benefits.

As it comes to your actual weakly schedule, you need to make adjustments. The first step is to realize that nothing in training is perfect. Nothing will be like it is written in a book. Books on training cover many topics, but more often than not fail to address real life.

The second step you should take is to try and find a gym nearby your place of work. You can go to this gym 1-2 times a week during your lunch break and get in a quick workout focusing on your assistance work such as glute/ham raises, reverse flys, and back extensions.  Don't spend time waffling with other gym members or gazing at yourself in the mirror. Focus on the task at hand.

Your final step is to pick 1-2 days during the week when you know you will have a little extra time to train. Despite some of you who think that the weekends are for relaxing and partying, if you are determined, they are nothing more but another couple days to make better yourself. So if Saturday and Sunday are the only days where you have more than 20 minutes to train, so be it. Get to the gym and put in your work. These 1-2 sessions will be the days you perform your bench, squat, and deadlift variants. Get in and get out should be the name of the game.

By realizing what is important in training, and dedicating yourself towards your goals, you can train effectively on a tight schedule. Avoid the fluff that is out there, bear down, and tackle any barriers that are in the path towards your dreams

No Nonsense Clock Management,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS
Owner/Head Trainer
kyle@trainstrive.com
www.trainstrive.com

Back Pain Insights Part 4

In cased you missed them, Here are the previous installments of this series; Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

In the conclusion of Back Pain Insights, the focus shifts to the back itself. While thus far we have discussed the hip flexors, glutes, and abdominals, the lower back is the last element of lower cross syndrome to be addresses. Weakness and instability in the lower back will lead to increased anterior pelvic tilt, poor lumbar support, as well as poor core motor control which inhibits the activation of stabilizers at the right time, leading to injury.

Weak Back

When talking about a weak back in relation to pelvic tilt and core control, we must turn our attention to the erector spinae and the deep back musculature (and its surrounding fascia). Due to the constant hunched over position many put themselves in for hours on end a day while sitting at a desk in front of a computer, these muscles become lengthened and weakened, not to mention the arrival of upper cross syndrome. 

To address this issue, the first step is to be conscious about ones posture throughout the day. Remind yourself to keep your chest up, shoulders back, and neck neutral. Taking these steps will help to supplement the work you will be doing in the gym to address the problem.

Which brings us to the exercises themselves. An emphasis should be place on hip extension and any exercise which exhibits it. Squats and deadlifts address this, both of which should already be in your program. However, to take it a step further and directly target the lower back, the exercises below are a good place to start.

Band Good Mornings- Perform for high reps 20+

Bird Dogs- Also Serves to Address Glute Activation

45 Degree Back Extensions

So there it is, a plan to put in place to help address your lower back pain. Give it a go and let me know how you feel.

No Nonsense Pain Relief,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS

Owner/Head Trainer

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com

Back Pain Insights Part 3

It's now time for part 3 of the Back Pain Insights installment. In cased you missed them, here are Part 1 and Part 2. In continuation of the series, today we are going to take a look at the abdominals and their role in back pain and lower cross syndrome.

Weak Abdominals

When you think of the abs, more than likely you think about the 6-pack.  However, there is more to the abs than meets the eye. The abdominal muscle group includes the rectus abdominins (6-pack), the transverse abdominis (a natural corset), and the internal and external obliques (produces rotation and lateral bending). All of these must work together to provide a strong core and prevent back pain.

In relation to lower cross syndrome, the rectus abdominis is the antagonist, or opposing, muscle to the hip flexors. Thus if they are weak, they allow the hip flexors to exert a high pull, and move the pelvis into anterior tilt. If you remember what we talked about earlier, excessive anterior pelvic tilt is a major player in back pain.

However, when talking about back pain and the abs, it doesn't stop there. The other muscles must be strong in order to stabilize the core, allow the transfer of power from the lower body to the upper body, and reduce the pressure created on the lumbar spine. If they are weak, the compressive forces on the vertebrae in the spine rise greatly, increasing the chance for a bulging or herniated disc.

Solution
While many include endless crunches into their programs, they fail to strengthen their core enough. In fact, if back pain is already present, crunches can cause further harm due to the pull the hip flexors place on the lumbar spine past 30-45 degrees of flexion in the crunch. Also, they neglect to train the other abdominal muscles adequately. Rotational and stabilization work must be trained.

A sample ab circuit would be:

1A Planks 2x30sec

1B Russian Plate Twists 2x30secs or 30 total twists

1C Hanging Knee Raises 2x10

(Forgot to get a picture of me for these)

1D Side Bridges 2x30sec

1E DB Side Bends 2x10 bends a side

No Nonsense Rock Hard Abs,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS

Owner/Head Trainer

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com

Back Pain Insights Part 2

In the first part of this series, Back Pain Insights Part 1, I discussed the role of the hip flexors in Lower Cross Syndrome and lower back pain. As we move around to the other side of the body, we reach an issue that is enhanced due to the tightness of the hip flexors, but also is mainly prevalent due to our current lifestyles.

Inactive Glutes

In today's society, many live mostly sedentary lifes. Whether the desk you are spending hours behind is at work or school, the problem that can arise is the same. Essentially, due to the glute's lack of everyday use in hip extension and because of chronic hip flexion/anterior pelvic tilt, it essentially shuts off. Instead of being a prime mover in hip extension, it is dormant, and its contribution is much smaller than needed. This condition further feeds into Lower Cross Syndrome, allowing anterior pelvic tilt, and thus causing hyperlordosis in the lumbar spine which leads to lower back pain . If you can lengthen the hip flexors and activate and strengthen the glutes, you can go a long way in ridding yourself of low back pain.

Solution

The first step in addressing this problem will be to activate the glutes in their movement patterns. These patterns include hip extension, external rotation of the leg , frontal plane and transverse plane abduction (moving the leg away from the center of the body), and in some cases internal rotation.

For the below shown exercises, based on the work of Bret Contreras, perform them 3-4 times a week with two sets of 10 reps and holding the top of the lift for 5 seconds. Also, it should be noted that the below exercises are just a few of ones that can work in this situation. Those exercises might include bird dogs, HAER raises, lateral band walks, hip thrusts, etc.

 Glute Bridge

Single Leg Glute Bridge

Clam Shells

Side Lying Leg Raises

Once you have activated the glutes, you can begin to implement weighted versions into your program such as barbell hip thrusts.

No Nonsense Activation,

PS. Please leave your questions in the comments section below.

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS

Owner/Head Trainer

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com

Back Pain Insights Part 1

    A lot of people, athletes and non athletes alike, suffer from lower back pain. Studies have come to show that as much as 80% of adults suffer from lower back pain as well as 44-45% of athlete injuries being lower back related (Zatsiorsky, and Kraemer 138). The causes are numerous and can only be truly diagnosed after a through evaluation, but I wanted to at least give a brief overview of a few of the causes. The main overall theme of this series will be looking at the issue of Lower Cross Syndrome. 

Lower Cross Syndome

     As you can see from the photo, you can already get an idea of what this series will address. In Lower Cross Syndrome you have a situation where your pelvis is anteriorly rotated (tilted forward) due to muscular tightness and weaknesses which can lead to lower back pain. First off, I just want to say that anterior tilt isn't always a bad thing. It is  though when it is occurring when it shouldn't be or excessively. Anterior pelvic tilt in one quick assessment can be seen where the lower abdomen and butt stick out, there is excessive curvature of the lumbar, thoracic, and cervical spines, as well as the presence of forward rounded shoulders and a forward reaching head. Now while all of these symptoms won't be clear in all situations due to the severity and perhaps other structural issues present, it gives us a base to work from in diagnosing the problem.
  
  Since the information can be hard to digest for some, I am going to break this up into multiple posts. First up, the hip flexors.

Tight Hip Flexors

The Iliopsoas Muscle Group

    When discussing hip flexors and their role in causing lower back pain, I want to focus in on the iliopsoas muscles. The iliopsoas consists of three muscles, those being the psoas major, psoas minor, and the iliacus. The psoas group originates on the lumbar spine (Low Back) while the iliacus originates from the iliac fossa (a part of the pelvis/hip bone). These muscles all group together and attach themselves to the femur (Upper leg bone). This setup allows the muscles to participate in external rotation of the femur and abduction (moving away from the body) of the leg, but for this post we will focus on its main job of hip flexion. 
    Because of their origin and insertion points, when tight, they can create a pulling force upon the vertebrae of the lumbar spine. This pull creates a pressure amongst the disks which can lead to a slight 'bulge' of a intervertebral disc. This in turn can come in contact with a spinal nerve root leading to pain. How do they become tight? For one, being seated all day.  Our sedentary behaviors are a major reason for Lower Cross Syndrome. When seated, the hips are flexed and the hip flexors are thus shortened. When a muscle is in a constant state of shortness, it tightens up, leading to issues.

• Solution- Stretch your hip flexors utilizing the half-kneeling hip flexor stretch along with its variants.

Standard Hip Flexor Stretch

    Begin by performing 2 sets of 60 secs on each side. In the early going, when anterior pelvic tilt is high, perform this stretch 3-4 times a day. Be sure to work on taking the stretch further forward rather than down. To increase the stretch, tilt your upper body away from the side of the trailing leg.

Knee to Butt Hip Flexor Stretch

   

    This is a more advanced variation to the first example. Due to the adding in of pulling the knee to the butt, we incorporate the stretching of another hip flexor, the Rectus Femoris. Move to this option after flexibility has begun to be restored through the first example.

    While there are other variations and modes to increase the flexibility of the hip flexors, these two examples should go a long way in helping to relieve yourself of lower back pain. 

No Nonsense Function,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS

Owner/Head Trainer

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com

Source

Zatsiorsky, Vladimir, and William Kraemer. Science and Practice of Strength Training. 2nd Ed.                                    Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2006. 138. Print