Skill of Strength is an LLC!

It's official! We are Skill of Strength, LLC.

We're working on taking our business to the next level. Stay tuned for some other exciting news, including pictures of the Skill of Strength vehicle we're getting and more details about what we are currently offering. If you're in the Greater Boston/Southern New Hampshire region and you or anyone you know is looking for Kettlebell Training or for personal training in your home or locally, please feel free to contact us.

A big huge thank you to all of our friends, family, clients and readers for all of your support to date!
We look forward to continuing to provide you with information, news and videos on strength training, conditioning and nutrition.

Can you write up a program for me?

When I meet people and they know what I do for a living, this is what happens.

New Person- You are a strength coach, can you write me a program? I have been stuck lately and I am not sure what to do. Can you help?

Me- Yes, I can help. I need some background information. First, we should set up a time for an evaluation.

New Person- Well, can't you just write me some exercises to do and maybe some cardio.

Me- No I can't, I have no idea on your medical history, injury history, medications, bad habits, lingering injuries, your current workout routine, your sleeping habits, your diet, your alcohol consumption, whether you smoke or not and how much time you have to dedicate to the gym. We also need to do a functional movement screen to address weak links, imbalances etc.

New Person- Wow, that's a lot, I am not sure I have the time.

Me- That's ok with me, you can go buys Mens Health or search Google for 'Best routine to get jacked '.

This is reality folks, people want the quick fix, the short cut. There are not too many people that actually want to do the necessary things to move better, feel better and look better. It's too much for them. They are lazy, maybe not lazy with their job or family, but lazy when it comes to working out. This is why people always ask trainers if they can write a routine for them.

I don't have a problem writing a routine for them once I evaluate them and teach them the proper way to execute the exercises on their own. Then, for a fee, I will write them a routine. I am a professional and it takes time and knowledge to write a program. If you don't want to pay for it, you want to take the easy way out and don't really want to move better, feel better and look better then, like I said, buy a magazine or go on the internet.

I want you to try this out. Set up an appointment with a brand new Doctor and say this verbatim.

"Doc, I know we just met but I am gonna need some vicodin, oxycontin, flomax, viagra, celebrex, lomotil, accutane and some GHB."

My guess is that he is gonna think you are two sandwiches short of a picnic. He should not prescribe you anything until he gets your medical history and performs a physical. If he does prescribe you the drugs mentioned above, he may not be a legit doctor or he likes breaking the law.

This happens with trainers as well. A good trainer should not just write up a program for you. He/she should evaluate you, look at your goals, perform some type of movement screen and then decide what the best path is for you.

If a trainer/strength coach does not do any of this and the first exercise they do with you is the nautilus leg adduction or rear deltoid machine, please run for the hills!

The Ultimate warm-up- The Skill of Strength 20/20 Movement Prep

This warm-up is simple. 20 exercises, 20 reps and it takes roughly 20 minutes.

This prep was designed to improve mobility, flexibility, increase work capacity and improve muscular endurance. It was based off of 100's of FMS screens and the goal is to address weak links and imbalances commonly found in athletes. This is a great prep for anyone that wants to move better and feel better.

Enjoy and please comment!

Note: The video is in 3 parts since its 20 minutes long.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Why you suck at pull-ups :)

Pull-ups are IMO one of the best body weight strength training exercises out there. I've witnessed tens of thousands of pull-ups in my day, some good and some bad...mostly bad. Why do people suck at pull-ups? Because they practice sucking at pull-ups. Do they suck on purpose? Is their primary goal to suck at pull-ups? Probably not, but they have never been taught how to do pull-ups and they haven't practiced pull-ups correctly. The apostle Dan John has a quote he uses a frequently "if it is important, do it every day." This is a great quote for many reasons but the angle I am going to take is related to motor learning and the nervous system.

Here are some quick facts about the CNS and skill development.

1. The nervous system does not have an on/off switch, it remembers everything you do, good and bad.

2. It is the fastest system in the body; Signals can travel over 300 mph.

3. Skill is developed by practicing drills and exercises perfectly. If you perform a drill wrong, you have just taught your body how to perform the drill wrong. Every time you accrue a bad rep, you are telling your body that its's ok to perform the repetition incorrectly.

Now, lets take a quick look at the 3 stages of motor learning and see how this applies to learning an exercise.

Cognitive (1-100 reps)

This is when a person is introduced to a task. The athlete is concerned with what to do and not so much how to do it. This is when we learn something new, like a pull-up. :)

Associative (1,000 to 10,000 reps)

The athlete starts to perform and refine the skills learned. They understand the task and begin to make changes to achieve the goal. Again, in this case, the pull-up.

Autonomous (100,000 to 300,000 reps)

The task becomes automatic, no thought is required. The athlete simply performs the drill and does not even think about it.

These are general numbers, some can master the task more quickly than others, but it all comes down to how much you practice and HOW you practice. As I mentioned before, if you practice the drill poorly, you will continue to perform the drill poorly.

Practice

Now, how do we practice getting better at pull-up? We do them every day. Does this mean we do weighted pull-ups every day? Do we do neutral grip pull-ups every day? Do we do reverse grip pull-ups, or how about band pull-ups?

Keep it simple stupid. If you want to get better at overhand grip pull-ups, practice them with an overhand grip.

The Experiment

Try this and see how you do. Do 1 or 2 pull-ups every 10 minutes at the gym. Or, you can do them when you get water or when you finish a different exercise. The key is to practice one or two with perfect form and with no fatigue. If you train for 1 hour you can accrue any where from 6-12 pull-ups a day with no fatigue. If you do this every day of the week you can accrue 42-84 pull-ups a week. This can equate from anywhere to 168 to 336 perfect pull-ups a month. That's a heaping pile of perfect pull-ups. Try this and I can guarantee you will get better at pull ups.

Also, consider this. When was the last time you practiced any exercise over 300 times in one month? And, if you did practice that many reps are you proficient at that specific exercise?

"If it is important, do it it every day "

If you want to get better at pull-ups, do pull ups. :)

Man vs. Mountain...Mountain wins

I went mountain biking with my wife last weekend at Ahern State Park in Laconia, NH. Here was my attempt at a knarly hill. I lost this battle but I will win the war.

This is pretty entertaining ;)

A few thoughts on training young athletes

I am lucky to have the opportunity to train young athletes. I especially enjoy training high school athletes. I have been asked by several trainers/parents and coaches how to introduce strength training to their kids. If you are in the business of training/coaching young athletes here are five things that I suggest you nail down first.

1. Perfect hip hinge with a neutral spine- this is a must. This will teach the athlete how to extend their hips properly and safely. The hip hinge lays the foundation for RDL's, Bent rows, Deadlifts, KB swings and several other essential movement patterns. Teach this early and often, if will make your life easier as well

2. Body Weight squat- IMO, kids have no business putting a bar on their backs if they cannot perform at least 100 body weight squats in one session. Teach them to squat with proper depth and pay attention to their joint alignment as well as their lumbar spine. If you cannot teach a proper squat you might want to reconsider being a strength coach.

3. Anterior/Posterior pelvic tilt- teach the athlete about neutral spine and how to execute it by pelvic tilting. When paired up with the hip hinge will lay the foundation for proper movement patterns. This will also help the athlete during planks, and push-ups.

4. Push ups-Ahhh the push-up. Great when executed properly, terrible when taught wrong. Half push-ups don't count. Their is no need for a anterior cervical glide in a push-up. There is no need for a hyper-extended lumbar curve in a push-up. There is no-need for a butt in the air push-up. Teach the kids to connect their core with their upper body, do the push-ups right. End of story. There are way too many kids that cannot do a push-up, its embarrassing.

5. Lunge patterns- Too many kids cannot lunge these days. Here are my cues on teaching the lunge. Tall spine, vertical shin angle, weight in the front heel, no valgus or varus forces in the knee. These are simple cues but they work.


Here is my rant :)

High school athletes look bigger and stronger than ever but they are weaker than ever. Most kids train to look good not to perform good. I see way too may kids that can bench 225 but cannot perform 20 perfect pushups. The same kids can't even do 1 perfect pull-up. Their planks are terrible, they cannot deadlift due to poor mobility. They can't squat or even lunge.

Stop training your athletes like bodybuilders, train them to move better. Strength training is a skill and is slowly getting lost when it comes to our young athletes. It makes me sick

Z-health R phase practice day

Today I am going to run through all of the Z-health R phase mobility drills. I will be attending the certification in Boston on June 11-13.

Perfect practice makes perfect

Visit www.zhealth.net for more info

Great Resource

For all of you Strength Coaches looking for a great and free read. Please check out Dan John's ebook on Training and Olympic lifts. This is a guy who gets it and is one of the best teachers out there. I highly recommend this!!

http://danjohn.net/from-the-ground-up-free-ebook/

Having some fun!!

We were filming some videos for work and I decided to have a little fun :)

Triple Clap Push-up



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A80bNdzD04


95lb single arm barbell snatch



http://www.youtube.com/user/skillofstrength#p/a/u/0/19AZQPo-Hmw



Enjoy!