Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Angry Lifter
“Damn!”, screamed the guy dead lifting across the gym. Curious, I asked him what was wrong. “I only got 405 for 4!” he retorted, clearly annoyed. “Hmmm,” I said. “Have you ever deadlifted 405 before?” Calming slightly, he replied “No, well, I guess I haven’t.” Laughing at this point, I said “Well, how can you be mad if you have never done it before!” Believe it or not, I see this phenomenon play out on a weekly basis, and while it is lifters who care so much that make our gym great, I do feel as though in general, there are a lot of irrational people out there when it comes to getting angry in the gym. This is most definitely a humorous post, and those who have spent time in the gym have seen these guys. Without further adieu, here are my Top 3 irrational angry lifter moments.
1.) The guy who doesn’t understand the concept of pre fatigue. Some people just don’t understand the concept of exercise order, and its HUGE impact on performance. Let’s take shoulder presses for example. If you do them first, you are going to do far better than if you are doing them as your fourth exercise, with 12 working sets under your belt already! Understand this, and don’t get mad.
2.) The angry PR guy. We have a kid who we absolutely love, but who gets angry every time he benches a Personal Record because he always wanted one more rep. Even though he has never done that before. Yep.
This guys just set a PR...and he's pissed!
3.) The overanalyzer. When this guy doesn’t perform well, he overanalyzes EVERYTHING, and attributes his lack of progress to how he slept 3 days or ago, or maybe it was that 5 lb dumbbell he picked up yesterday, or maybe it was something he ate, or blah, blah blah, blah blah…
Got any angry lifter moments in your gym? Do share!
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Monday, December 21, 2009
Train Your Neck!
One of our most popular athletes at the gym is “Sam Bonato.” ”Sam plays Nose Tackle for a Division III school in Central New York, and while I cannot provide you with his real name per NCAA regulations, everybody who trains at our gym is undoubtedly laughing right now. Why is Sam so popular? Because he has the biggest neck in the gym! He takes a lot of ribbing for it (rumor is he even has strangers approach him in the street about his neck), but most of it is out of sheer jealousy of the 18 inch tree trunk that supports his head. And for all of you internet warriors out there claiming a 20 inch neck, I am calling you out on it. A 20 inch neck is like a 40 inch vertical or a 4.4 40 Yard Dash. Everybody “has one.” Anyways, I am having a little too much fun at Sam’s expense, and there is a point to all of this.
HOW on earth can you consider yourself a serious football player and NOT train your neck? Despite the fact that you are taught to lay a bone crushing hit with a shoulder pad, football is a violent instinctive game, and sometimes there is helmet to helmet contact. Having a strong neck is extremely important to prevent spinal injuries that may occur during such collisions. When going into a big hit, do you want a neck like Gumby or a neck like a tree trunk?
In this sport, you had better protect your neck!
Ok, so we know training our neck is important, but HOW do we train our neck. At PTS, we have 2 neck exercises that we really like, and both are far cheaper than a 4 way neck machine. For neck extension, we like the neck harness, and for neck flexion we like to place a dumbbell on our forehead using a towel. When training the neck, here are a few tips that we would like to advise you on:
1.) A slower tempo is advisable. Going too quickly cut lead to pinched nerves, and injury.
2.) Start light, and progress slowly. In other words, don’t go trying to be Mike the Machine in your first neck workout!
3.) Be careful about using extreme ranges of motion. Never go into cervical hyperextension. (Where you are leaning your head ALL the way back).
4.) Use higher rep ranges when training the neck in order to maximize muscular hypertrophy and keep safer working loads.
5.) DON’T leave your neck training to be finished “later”. In my experience, “later” means “never.”
6.) Don’t neglect your traps. Plenty of deadlifts, shrugs, scarecrows, etc will also help build a nice protective base.
Neck Flexion Start (Above)
Neck Flexion Finish
Neck Extension Start
Neck Extension Finish
At PTS, we like to incorporate neck work as “filler” between our core lifts. For example, if you train on M, W, F, on M you would perform neck extensions with a neck harness, and on W you would perform dumbbell neck flexion with a towel. Perform 4-5 sets of 20-30 reps after each warmup /working set. However you choose to incorporate it, just do it! Alternate flexion and extension each time you train, and you will be well on your way to a bigger, stronger neck that will provide your spine with the reinforcement it needs on the gridiron.
By Matt Phelps
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Bench Tips For Football
Bench Tips For Football Players
Recently a lot of internet trolls have emerged from their lairs of misery and claimed that the tried and true bar bench press isn’t football specific. The claims often state it’s over rated, impractical and the ever popular “sure it’s a good exercise if you’re on your back, but if you’re on your back chances are you’ll soon be on the bench.” Would the creator of the gym friendly swim move machine please stand up? How about the weighted pin and rip Nautilus? Oh yes, how could I forget EliteFTS’ newest football specific exercise… the banded QB friendly three step drop. Here’s the deal- if you are looking to develop upper body power and engage the most muscle in a bang for your buck scenario, then the bench still reigns king.
Position specific upper body strength is a different matter however. When looking at the archaic NFL 225 pound bench reps test (it’s an endurance test, a 1-3 rep max would illustrate true max effort pressing strength) there are different standards based on what position you play and the requirements associated. Last years average numbers were around the high 20s for most DL and hovering in the mid teens for WR’s. Clearly if you are a NFL GM you are paying more attention to the pressing numbers of a DL than that of a WR. Sure it would be nice to have a slot wideout bench 225 40 plus times but wouldn’t you be more concerned with his vert, broad jump and three cone times?
Lets look at two otherworldly athletes. Now they are about as different as Paula Abdul & MC Skat Kat but both dominate their respective positions: DeSean Jackson and Haloti Ngata. As a game changing speed based WR, I don’t care if DeSean Jackson can bench a stick of bamboo (truth told he never participated in the test at the combine, so he very well might not be able to). His innate ability to consistently dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge around hapless defensive backs is a sheer joy to watch (even if he sometimes forgets to hold on to the football: first offense and second) However, throw DeSean’s waifish frame into the interior defensive line and you would have better luck with Raggedy Ann. Conversely, when looking at the nose and defensive tackle position most coaches are looking for a fast twitch human bench press machine. The ability to separate and disengage from potential blockers relies a lot on ones pressing power. This little gem illustrates Mr. Ngata doing his thing. He’s been rumored to throw up over 500 pounds on the bench and finished with a whopping 44 on his combine reps test.
Would you want this on your D-Line?
Unfortunately not all of us are blessed with the genetics and football skills of our two models. And believe me, this isn’t a promotion for all you high school WR’s to say well DeSean can’t bench a lot, why should I have to get under the bar? Until you can beat a NFL corners press technique with your feet alone like Mr. Jackson it’s time to shut up and start benching.
Everyone who has ever squeezed a bar and attempted to plow it off their chest knows one thing: We all have sticking points. It’s the moment where you are driving, pushing and (sometimes) screaming with every fiber of your being and that cursed bar just won’t move. Depending on your frame that spot can be mid point or near the top. All are equally annoying and stand in the way of everyone’s goal-to lift more weight. Here’s a list of some tools/tips that I have witnessed in the gym that can help smash past sticking points, lift more weight and hopefully lead to a more explosive upper body on the field.
1) Chain Benching
I’m of the taller and longer armed persuasion, so I’m not ideally biomechanical adapted to the bench (6’9” wingspan). I’ve often found that many of my fellow stork armed brethren get caught at the top of their bench. The bar may fly right off of their chest but gets stuck right near the lockout, an inch or two from the J hooks. One way to attempt to smash through the stick is by incorporating chains into your bench routine. This method made famous by the folks out at Westside Barbell, uses a technique called accommodating resistance. The chains become de-loaded at the bottom part of your bench; as you press the bar up the links in the chain rise with the bars progression making the total weight pressed heavier as the bar goes up. The bar should initially jump off your chest and as the weight increases you to really strain through the upper portion of your lockout, hopefully strengthening that weakness.
2) Board Presses
For people who stall in the middle of their press a pin or board variation (usually a one or two board) can be the remedy to their struggle. The two board works the range of motion 4 inches off of your chest and differs from a pin press because it really allows the lifter to get the eccentric (negative) and concentric (positive) benefits of the lift often lacking in a pin press. Another advantage of board pressing is that it allows the lifter to handle a heavier load than they would normally be able to handle in their full ROM. It enables you to feel and press a heavy weight that would normally trap you in a full conventional press.
3) Thrash your Triceps
This doesn’t mean 300 kickbacks with your mothers pink rubber dumb bells. Being that the bench press success is predominately predicated on tricep power you need to train them heavy with a variety of pressing movements. JM presses, close grip variations, skull crushers I could go on, point is do them heavy with intensity and watch your numbers jump.
4) Stay Tight/Incorporate as Much Muscle as possible
I’m always flabbergasted when someone steps (or lays down) to a max effort bench attempt and limply grips the bar with a relaxed core, legs splayed haphazardly to the sides. Would you take the same gumby spined posture to a goal line situation with the game on the line? Of course not, you’d be tighter than Ebenezer Scrooges wallet. White knuckle the bar, firm up your core and drive your heels through the rubber (and I don’t mean hip thrust). The bar is heavy; use what you have to move it!
Don't grip the bar like this guy!
Being able to lock a defender out as a blind side tackle or shoot your hands through a full back as a pass rushing linebacker has a lot to do with ones ability to press their arms out in a violent, sudden manner. Yesterday, today and in the future, the one exercise we can count on to help develop that ability is the bench press. Smash through your sticking points, handle more weight and watch your performance on the field improve.
Be the hammer not the nail!
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Speed and Strength
I have written about this topic before, but it bears repeating. Speed and strength are CLOSELY related. I don’t care how many ladder drills, dot drills, or parachute sprints you do. If your legs are weak, you won’t be fast. Now, in regards to be speed, OF COURSE I am talking about relative body strength. You must be strong relative to your body weight. In other words, if the 300 pound lineman squats more than the 175 pound wide receiver, he may not be faster due to the difference in relative strength. It is quite shocking how unbelievable it is that more people don’t piece it together that added strength, with added hip mobility/flexibility, along with sprinting a couple of times per week, will yield far better results than performing ladder drills and parachute sprints with the local “speed guru” who basically makes his living convincing parents that he got their kids faster by pulling out all of the speed gadgets he could order in one training session.
Speed is the most coveted physical attribute. It is also the most genetically predetermined one, BUT that doesn’t mean we can’t improve it. Get your lower body stronger and watch your speed go up!
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009
How do we determine football talent?
I don’t know about you, but if you are anything like me you spend your Sunday nights with the lovely Faith Hill and the rag tag boys at 30 Rock. Sadly, Faith’s presence is regrettably short-lived while Bob Costas’ is obnoxiously extended, but that’s a post for another day. This week’s marquee matchup featured America’s team vs. South Jersey’s, Dallas vs. Philly.
The game had a decidedly playoff tone to it with both squads vying for a shot to climb to the top of the uber competitive NFC east heap. Several things stuck out to me, but one feature left me totally perplexed and I don’t know why I didn’t think about it earlier. No it wasn’t Costas hair plugs or the average Philly fans disregard for dental work, it was how the game was won. Dallas’ Division I-AA QB finding his Division I-AA wide out on a beautifully timed slant and go for 6. Wait a second….hold the phone, you mean to tell me Americas most widely recognized football franchise is getting by with *scoff* second class players? Pure blasphemy I say!
This guy MUST be a Philly fan.
Well Virginia, that is the case and clearly I was joking about Tony Romo and Miles Austin being the football equivalent of the untouchable caste, but it helps in bringing about my point. How did USC, Florida, and Texas miss out where Eastern Illinois and Monmouth cashed in? Romo has transformed himself from an undrafted free agent to starlet wooing People Magazine cover boy and (regardless of how his social life strikes you) Pro-Bowl caliber player. Austin, on the other hand, just accomplished something that no other WR in the storied history of the Cowboys franchise has ever done. He strung together the largest three game receiving total of any Dallas receiver in history. No it wasn’t Bullet Bob Hayes, Michael Irvin or even you T.O; those 482 yards belong to Monmouth’s finest.
Monmouth's Finest.
This got me wondering the million dollar question: WHY? Why were they overlooked, shirked by other universities and professional franchises? And it’s not just Austin and Romo, not by a long shot. Kurt Warner, Tom Terrific Brady and countless others played at obscure schools or rode the pine at a notable one only to find NFL fame and wealth several years down the line. This is a feature that I think you only find in football, no-name guys rarely strike it big in the NBA. Sure, many point to David Robinson, but growing 7 inches post high school would change the way any of us are viewed.
Conversely, there are a lot of players who excelled at prime time schools only to fail miserably at the professional level. The name Chris Leak comes to mind, sorry Gator fans. This guy was Mr. Everything coming out of high school (#1 recruit in the country according to some services) put up solid numbers at Florida and eventually won a national championship. This is no personal knock on Leak, but how is it that he was good enough to win at the highest level in college and then not pan out in the NFL?
Good enough for a National Championship in college, but not the NFL?
The talent evaluators and recruitnicks of the world seem to miss more often then they hit. Too often people become enamored with measurables (myself admitably one of them, see post: James, Lebron) and forget what’s important, playing the game well with heart.
This happens at other levels too, not just at the major college or pro ranks. We have an college football player who trains at the gym (we’re going anonymous here people) who was playing football at a school in Western Massachusetts, who decided to transfer to a school in western New York. He was told by his former coaches that he was “too slow” and wouldn’t play at either school. Fast forward a couple months and Mr. “Too Slow” is starting as a Sophomore and was a big part in his current squads pasting of his former 34-7. All he did in the big win was drop 8 tackles, 2 for a loss and 1 sack.
Ultimately, as I stated earlier, playing with intensity and tenacity seem to be major factors in football that often supercede the tremendous athletic marvels many fall in love with. But what do I know, tell us what you think, why is football seemingly the only sport where guys can come out of nowhere and shine or be “gods gifts” and fall flat on their faces?
-Brian Matthews
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