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Team GB has announced that British weightlifters Rebekah Tiler and Sonny Webster will be making their Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro. Teen sensation Rebekah Tiler is due to compete in the women’s -69kg category, while Sonny Webster, 22, will fly the flag for Great Britain in the men’s -94kg division.

17-year-old Tiler, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, is set to be one of the youngest athletes for Team GB in this Summer’s Olympic Games. She will go as reigning British Champion, having taken two British records at the most recent British championships. She is also the gold medal winner at the Youth Commonwealth Games. Sonny Webster is likewise the current British Champion and finished fifth at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, as well as being an U23 British Record holder.

On her selection for Rio, Tiler commented:

“I am so excited and honoured to be representing Team GB in Rio this summer; it’s a dream come true and something I’ve wanted ever since I got into the sport. The next few weeks of preparation are so important and…I’m 100% focused on ensuring that I’m in the best possible condition heading into Rio.”

Bristolian Webster likewise commented:

“The Olympics is undoubtedly the biggest stage for the sport. I’ve been training well and my recent performance at the British Championships has given me a fantastic platform to build on; the next few weeks of preparation are absolutely crucial.”

Former female favourite Zoe Smith was taken out of the running with a dislocated shoulder at the British Championships last month. Smith expressed her disappointmentto not represent Team GB at the Games in an Instagram post earlier today, but wished the best of luck to Tiler in the Summer Games.

Tommy Yule, the performance director at British Weightlifting, has expressed his pride at the selection of Tiler and Webster. In a statement, Yule lauded their recent progress and personal best efforts in recent national and international competitions, stating that all coaching focus will now be on giving their best chance of performing well in Rio.

Great Britain has won seven medals in Olympic weightlifting – one gold, three silver, and three bronze. The most recent was won by David Mercer in Los Angeles in 1984.

The 2016 Olympic Games will be held from 05-21 August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Recently we saw a flood of Facebook re-posts of UFC fighter Conor McGregor training with Ido Portal. These posts have drawn attention to free movement as training. The post linked above contains an important line for those who “don’t have the base level of joint health then don’t just run out and start doing all this.”This point is not to be glossed over.

Joint ill-health interferes with our ability to detect external and internal forces from the ground, the wind, an opponent, or our own inertia. Our ability to take in everything that occurs in wrestling, grappling, combat situations, or any situation with a direct opponent is measured in sport as an output.

The essence of an athlete is the ability to process internal and external sensory stimuli (inputs) into gross or fine patterns (outputs).

The essence of an athlete is the ability to process input stimuli into output patterns.

Poor Movement Isn’t Poor Coaching

Every effort to regain mobility improves the ability to detect subtle and not-so-subtle movement. Once athletes regain this movement, cues to improve skill will be more effective due to increased sensory input.

Once athletes regain mobility, cues to improve skill will be more effective due to increased sensory input.

How Ido Portal Helps Conor McGregor

Ido Portal and Conor McGregor both look as if they have excellent mobility in key areas (ankles, hips, thoracic spine, and shoulders). This means they will benefit from training in free movement and natural environments.

Following this sequence results in an improved readiness to display fine and gross motor patterns.

Conor McGregor demonstrates the value of mobility first, followed by the implicit cues that natural freeform movement provides. Following this sequence results in an improved readiness to display fine and gross motor patterns – in other words, the patterns that land or dodge a punch at the right time.

You’ll also enjoy:

• Stability Versus Mobility: The Bigger Picture is Movement
• Move Your Body, Move Your Brain: Training for Neuroplasticity
• Motor Control and Movement Patterns: A Must Read for Athletes
• New on Breaking Muscle AU

Photo courtesy ofAndrius Petrucenia on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

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When do you workout? Anyone who exercises consistently has an answer to this question. The people who build sustainable health and fitness aren’t the ones bebopping into exercise classes on random evenings, and convenient long weekends. These people have a plan. Ask them when they work out and they’ll tell you:

When do you workout? Anyone who exercises consistently has an answer to this question. The people who build sustainable health and fitness aren’t the ones bebopping into exercise classes on random evenings, and convenient long weekends. These people have a plan. Ask them when they work out and they’ll tell you:

• “First thing in the morning before the family is up.”
• “On my way to work. I shower and get ready for work at the gym.”
• “On my lunch break.”
• “Right after work, before I get home.”

Those who struggle to consistently exercise usually will cite being too busy as the reason. It stands to reason. Even if you are doing a very efficient 30 minute or less HIIT routine, the time getting ready to go to the gym, driving to the gym, locking up your valuables, and making small talk will usually accumulate to well over an hour. But you can fit in exercise so much more efficiently if you ditch the gym and split your workouts into a few short blocks throughout your day. We are humans after all. Like all animals, we’re made to move more than just once in a day.

I’ve advocated this approach in my five-alarm and four-alarm workout articles, but these plans both assume that exercises must be equipment free if you are going to fluidly fit them into the openings of your day. Bodyweight exercise is great, but options become even more fun and diverse if you master the kettlebell. This simple tool offers unparalleled effectiveness. If you keep a kettlebell by your desk, you could make tremendous strides towards any fitness goals. In fact, spreading exercise out over a few quick kettlebell-centered blocks may be an even more effective way to train than the standard all-at-once approach

As I argued in Learn the Kettlebell to Unlock Freedom, the kettlebell is the most effective, efficient, and portable tool in fitness. It tones, stokes endurance, enhances mobility, and builds functional strength and power. Its unique design brings a powerful training effect and allows for the fun of continuous skill improvement. Of course, it is still a great tool for those simple, easy meat and potatoes exercises.

Making Your Plan

Once you master the kettlebell (I recommend my Complete Kettlebell Program), the only things left to figure out are:

What three or four times of day work best?

• First thing in the morning, prior to lunch, before heading home
• Just find a fourth time or settle at three times
• Set phone alarms or some other predictable cues to trigger the exercise. Consistent action is based on habit and the science of growing willpower. For more help with this, see my free ebook, The Essential Guide to Self-Mastery.

How do you plan on storing your kettlebell at work?

• Under your desk?
• In the car?

What work clothes are easiest to exercise in?

• Look up work clothes you can exercise in for your gender. There are tons of women’s options. Men, it is getting better, too. Thank goodness for stretchy golf pants.

How can you reduce self-consciousness associated with being the weirdo who works out?

• You can close the blinds if you have an office. You could step outside or identify a rarely utilized space. Or, you could just not care. You are awesome, after all.

What kettlebell workouts can you do and how will you structure your plan?

• There are tons of options. Once you’ve mastered the basics, try mix and matching the following six to ten-minute blocks.

Kettlebell Exercise Block 1 Options

Each block should begin with this very quick kettlebell warm-up:

• 5 per side Kettlebell Halos
• Kettlebell Squat Pry Series
• 3 per side 1-leg Kettlebell RDL
• 5 Push-Ups

This block is, ideally, done first thing in the morning. Because this is prior to getting dressed for work, you have the opportunity to get a little dirtier. I recommend taking this opportunity to do Turkish get-ups (TGU), the king of all exercises.

Options include:

• Set a timer for six to eight minutes and continuously alternate between right and left hand TGU
• 3 rounds of 1 right-hand and 1-left hand TGU with 10 per side kettlebell rows

Kettlebell Exercise Block 2, 3, and 4 Options

Option 1

3 rounds of:

• 5 per side Kettlebell 1-leg RDL Rows
• 3 per side Kettlebell Snatch or Kettlebell Strict Press

Option 2

• Six to eight minutes of two hand kettlebell swing intervals. Start at 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest and work towards less rest.

​

Option 3

• Six to ten minutes of constant suitcase carries.

It is well documented that outdoor breaks boost energy and work productivity. Head outside and do this single arm farmer’s walk variation. Just pack your shoulder down and back and grip the bell tightly. Walk. When your grip loosens switch hands. Continue in this manner until you are out of time.

Option 4

• Six to ten minutes of single arm kettlebell swings—10 left, rest, 10 right, rest, repeat until time elapses.

Option 5: The Gauntlet

• 15 per side 1-arm Kettlebell Clean, Reverse Lunge, Press (alternate hands after one rep of all three exercises.)
• 20-30 Two-Hand Bent-Over Rows

Option 6

Five to ten minute AMRAP:

• 10 Kettlebell Goblet Squats
• 5 Push-Ups

Option 7

Two-Exercise Tabata:

• Choose any two kettlebell exercises to alternate between and do eight rounds of 20 seconds work/10 seconds rest.

Kettlebell Fitness Is Good for You

There are many other options, but these exercise blocks should be more than enough to get started. Any day that included three or four of these options would be an extremely active, healthy day. That is the benefit of learning the kettlebell—the most portable, powerful tool in fitness. It is a skill that unlocks a lifetime of fun fitness.

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The glute bridge and hip thrust are assistance exercises often used in an effort to strengthen the glutes for the squat. They are also utilized in the world of rehabilitation for “underactive” glutes.

The aim of this article is to break down the functional mechanics of the bridge in comparison to the squat, and explain how it’s possible to train the bridge, yet still be unable to recruit the glutes during the squat.

(From now on I will use “bridge” to cover the use of both the glute bridge and hip thrust).

How the Muscles Work

Before we analyze the squat and the bridge, we must begin with principles that allow us to understand how muscles function in an isolated exercise like the bridge versus the compound movement of the squat.

A lot of exercise science concerns strengthening muscles in an isolated way. This isolated method is based upon a concentric muscular contraction that shortens and creates motion. In the case of the bridge, the glute concentrically contracts to produce hip extension.

In an article called Hip Thrust and Glute Science, Bret Contreras discussed the science of maximally recruiting the glutes, including a study on the optimal amounts of hip and knee flexion required for the greatest EMG readings. The purpose of this article is not to question his methods, as they are correct for the function and goal for which they are used – maximum glute contraction for maximal hypertrophic gains. Instead, this article will show how the bridge is not correct for improving glute function in our goal, the squat.

The glute bridge has been supposedly developed further with the use of bands around the knees to push out against (hip abduction) and turning the toes (external rotation). The theory is that performing all three concentric glute muscle actions simultaneously (extension, abduction, external rotation) will ensure maximum EMG activity of the glute.

“Conscious muscle contractions come from isolated movements, but during functional (multi-jointed) movement it is impossible to tell every muscle to work.”

A high EMG reading is considered of great importance in terms of how good an exercise is at recruiting a muscle. The bridge has a high EMG activity; therefore, it should teach our glutes to work when we perform the more functional, compound squat.

So why doesn’t this happen?

How the Body Works

In the bridge, you aren’t teaching the glute to squat, but only to hip extend. The bridge works in the lying face-up position, with a nervous system that is as good as asleep. Relate this to prolonged bed rest, where muscles atrophy and people get weaker because we have lost our fight against gravity, which is the thing that stimulates low-grade constant muscle activation.

When we lie down, we are no longer fighting gravity. This means the nervous system throughout the body is experiencing little to no activation. So when the hips are driven upward, the only neurological drive goes to the glutes, hence the high EMG reading for the bridge.

When we stand under load ready to squat, the amount of pressure the whole nervous system experiences is greater than that of the bridge. As we begin our descent and the hips are moving toward the floor, there is neurological activity going to every muscle of the body. As we squat, muscles within the hip are all shortening and lengthening at different times, learning how to work as a team to overcome both gravity and the load that is traveling with momentum.

This is one of the key factors as to why the glute bridge doesn’t transfer to squatting. The body works as one complete system, with a huge neurological conversation going on between the muscles to complete the task. When we perform a glute bridge, the glutes are learning to work in isolation, and there is little conversation with neighboring muscular friends. Consequently, when we stand up and perform a squat, the glutes no longer know when they need to contract relative to the other muscles working during the compound squatting movement.

The nervous system works subconsciously to control all human movement. Conscious muscle contractions come from isolated movements, but during functional (multi-jointed) movement it is impossible to tell every muscle to work. You can’t choose the sequencing of muscle firing patterns because there is more than one muscle working. It is impossible to consciously control the complexity of that sequencing. Even if you could control the sequencing, you would be so distracted from the task at hand that you would probably fail the lift anyway.

How the Mechanics Work

The sequencing of muscles is not the only contrasting factor, the mechanics are also different. In the bridge, the glute is starting from a point of no activity and then shortening. The glute has stored energy, but there is no stretch-shortening cycle like there is in the squat.

During the down phase of the squat, the glute is moving through hip flexion, adduction (it starts in a relatively abducted position, but continues to move inward as you squat), and internal rotation. These are the natural mechanics of the squat descent.

The coupled mechanics of the knee are flexion and internal rotation, so an internally rotating femur occurs in the eccentric phase of the squat. Please note, I am not saying the knees kiss each other. If the knee tracks over the foot, then this is internal rotation of the hip.

The down phase creates a lengthening of the glute in all three planes motion (hip flexion in the sagittal plane, hip adduction in the frontal plane, and internal rotation in the transverse plane). This lengthening process creates an elastic load that enables the glute to explosively and concentrically extend, abduct, and externally rotate the hip, allowing us to stand.

“[L]imited range of motion means the glute isn’t learning what to do in the hole at the bottom of the squat, which is when we really need the glute to help us.”

The above joint motions are not replicated during a bridge, as there is no stretch-shortening occurring due to the limited range of motion the bridge is performed within. One effect of the bridge is glute tightness, meaning the glute can only contract in a shortened range of motion, not in a huge range of motion like the squat. This limited range of motion means the glute isn’t learning what to do in the hole at the bottom of the squat, which is when we really need the glute to help us.

Enter the Lunge

To truly assist the activation of the glute, the closest exercise to the squat is the lunge. The joint motions of the hip are almost identical – hip flexion, internal rotation, and adduction on the descent of movement, allowing the glute to work through its stretch-shortening cycle. However, there is a small difference between the squat and the lunge. In the lunge, we have ground reaction force as the foot hits the floor, so the mechanics are not fully identical as the squat has a top-down loading pattern.

But in the lunge the glute is learning how to work with all the other muscles of the hip in a coordinated and synchronized sequence of movement. The joint angles are similar to that of the squat (on the front leg) and, importantly, the ankle, knee and spine are learning how to move with the hips through that motion as well. In the bridge, only the hip is moving and extending, with the ankle and spine in a completely different position and under a different stress than in the squat, so the correct movement pattern and muscle sequence is not being learned.

“In the bridge, only the hip is moving and extending, with the ankle and spine in a completely different position and under a different stress than in the squat.”

References:

1. Contreras, B. “Hip Thrust and Glute Science.” The Glute Guy. Last modified April 6, 2013.

2.Worrell TW., et al. “Influence of joint position on electromyographic and torque generation during maximal voluntary isometric contractions of the hamstrings and gluteus maximus muscles.” J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2001 Dec;31(12):730-40.

Photo 1 courtesy ofShutterstock.

Photo 2, 3, & 4 courtesy ofCrossFit Empirical.

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The community aspect of athletic activity is important for multiple reasons. Our sports communities provide support, reality checks, and useful information about appropriate behavior. And notably, our community connections are also vitally important influences on our actual learning.

For as long as I’ve been training jiu jitsu, from my very earliest, flailiest experiences up to the present, my teachers and training partners have helped me achieve more in partnership with them than I would be able to by myself. Nowadays, I find myself doing for less experienced practitioners what my teachers have always done for me: using my knowledge to set them up for success. For instance, let’s say we drilled a triangle sequence during the technique part of class. During the rolling part, if my partner has significantly less experience than I do, I might purposefully place myself in a situation where s/he can execute the techniques we worked on earlier in the class.

Sometimes the athlete sees the opening right away and takes advantage, sometimes my simply asking, “What do you see here?” does the trick, and sometimes it requires an overt comment like, “Here you can execute the techniques we worked on earlier today,” accompanied by verbal cues at each step. Thus, depending on the athlete’s needs, I am able to provide assistance to help him/her accomplish more than s/he would be able to without that assistance.

In learning theory, the role I am playing in this scenario is known as the “more knowledgeable other” or “more capable other,” and the mental and physical space within which the athlete and I are interacting is called the “zone of proximal development.” In his seminal 1978 book Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, psychologist Lev Vygotsky defines the ZPD (as educational types like to refer to it) as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers.”

So what’s the “so what” here? This probably sounds like what many of us already do as coaches and teachers, no? We help our athletes and students along, enabling them to do more, with support from us, than they would be able to otherwise.

Well, how many of you have had a coach-athlete interaction that goes anything like this: “Okay, Athlete X. I’m going to walk you through this sequence of movements. Let’s start with you putting your left foot on your partner’s hip. No, your left foot. Your LEFT foot. Left FOOT. No, your LEFT FOOT. No, YOUR left foot. Okay, relax. I’m going to take your left foot and place it where it belongs. OW! I know you didn’t mean to kick me. It’s okay. Let’s take five.”

Sometimes, I hate to admit, I have shaken my head after an encounter like that, wondering what on earth is wrong with the athlete. Well, the answer is: nothing. What’s wrong is what I’m asking of the athlete. It turns out that Brazilian jiu jitsu is very demanding, on cognitive, neurological, muscular, and emotional levels, especially for beginners, and if an athlete cannot perform what I am asking, I need to ask something different – I need to be in the right zone with them.

More recently, when I teach or coach, the concepts of the ZPD and the more knowledgeable/capable other have helped me understand that sometimes I may be asking too much of someone, even if I believe I am effectively scaffolding them (another term associated in learning theory with the ZPD). Maybe they just aren’t in this particular zone yet. That’s neither good nor bad. It’s just useful information that can help me better tailor my coaching so as to more effectively set up athletes for success.

Understanding the learning process in this way helps me as a coach in several ways. First, it enables me to remain more patient than I would otherwise be able to, because I understand the mechanism at work. I know the athlete is not being obtuse and is certainly not uncoachable. Second, it gives me useful feedback about how I might more effectively adjust my expectations and my requests of the athlete toward a more successful result. I can reposition the ZPD to make sure the athlete is squarely in it. And finally, it reminds me of how inherently social effective learning is; if we want to make sure we help our athletes do more than they believe they can, we must believe it for them first and demonstrate that belief in every interaction we have with them.

How might you make the concept of ZPD work for you, whether as a coach or as an athlete? Post your observations to comments.

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

BJJ photo provided by David Brown Photography.

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Mashed potatoes are almost expected as part of a holiday spread. In fact, I would argue that mashed potatoes appear on more holiday tables than a turkey or roast, because even vegans will serve them. But, if you’ve been living more ancestrally and you’ve been keeping your carbs low, you may be looking for a low-carb alternative to mashed potatoes.

Whether you’re trying to lower your carb intake or just switch things up, why not try a different vegetable mash this season? Not to worry, each of these options makes a great vehicle for gravy, and we’re all in it for the gravy anyway, aren’t we?

Carbs in Mashed Potatoes

One cup of mashed potatoes contains 36.9 g of carbohydrates.¹ After you subtract the fiber, you’re left with 33.6 g net carbs in mashed potatoes.

If you’re limiting carbs, just one serving of traditional mashed potatoes doesn’t leave room for much else.

Low-carb and Keto Alternatives to Traditional Mashed Potatoes

• Cauliflower: 3.2g net carbs per cup
• Broccoli: 3.6g net carbs per cup
• Spaghetti squash: 5.5g net carbs per cup
• Turnips: 6.1g net carbs per cup
• Pumpkin: 6.9g net carbs per cup
• Carrots: 8.7g net carbs per cup
• Rutabaga: 8.9g net carbs per cup
• Celery Root: 11.6g net carbs per cup
• Butternut squash: 13.6g net carbs per cup
• Parsnip: 17.4g net carbs per cup
• Acorn squash: 21g net carbs per cup
• Sweet potato: 22.8g net carbs per cup

How to Prep Your Mash or Purée

Boiling or Steaming

This option will work for any of the above veggies. Simply peel, slice, or chop your vegetable into uniform 1-inch pieces and fill a pot with water and bring to a boil on the stovetop. Carefully place the veggies in the water if boiling them or lower them into a steamer basket if steaming. The total time will vary depending upon the vegetable and how large you cut them, but once they are fork-tender, strain out the water and place the soft veggie pieces back into the pot.

Roasting

Roasting will work best for winter squash and sweet potato. Cut your squash in half or cubes and drizzle with avocado oil. Place on a sheet pan and roast in a 375-degree oven until tender. Scoop out the flesh.

To Mash

Place your veggies back in the pot you boiled them in or in a large bowl if you roasted them. Use a potato masher to begin to mash the veggies.

Add a few tablespoons of butter and a little milk or dairy-free milk as needed to mash into a smooth texture. Some vegetables will mash more smoothly than others so the amount of time this takes will vary. Season with salt and pepper and you’re ready to eat!

To Mash Your Veggies in a Food Processor

Place the boiled or roasted veggies in a food processor. Add butter and pulse or turn the processor on and begin processing the vegetables. Add a little milk or dairy-free milk if needed to achieve the proper consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Flavorful Additions to Add to Your Mash

• Roasted garlic
• Crisp-fried sage
• Fresh herbs of any kind, but especially rosemary, thyme, sage, or parsley
• Coconut milk
• Tahini paste
• Cinnamon
• Maple syrup

Are Potatoes Keto?

Because potatoes contain over 30 g of carbs per cup, potatoes are not considered keto. You would have to eat an extremely small, unsatisfying amount of potatoes to stay in ketosis.

The post Low Carb and Keto Alternatives to Mashed Potatoes appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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As with any career, people become coaches and trainers for a variety of reasons. Some reasons are nobler, like surviving cancer and wanting to help others. Some are more practical, like coaching as a career because you’ve always been an athlete. Some more aspirational, like seeing yourself as an entrepreneur and a small gym business as a path. Regardless of how you came to coaching, now you are one and it’s time to make yourself a good one.

As with any career, people become coaches and trainers for a variety of reasons. Some reasons are nobler, like surviving cancer and wanting to help others. Some are more practical, like coaching as a career because you’ve always been an athlete. Some more aspirational, like seeing yourself as an entrepreneur and a small gym business as a path. Regardless of how you came to coaching, now you are one and it’s time to make yourself a good one.

As with your own training, there’s no point in coaching half-assed. There are far too many bad and mediocre trainers and coaches in the world. The following six rules aren’t easy, but they are simple. If you take them on, you will put yourself ahead of the game.

You will be a better coach and, resultantly, your clients will be happier. I call this The Coaching Manifesto. I learned these rules in bits and pieces over the years. I present them to you here as a whole, because as I pieced them together it made all the difference for me.

1. Educate Yourself

This is the first rule for a reason. This rule goes into effect the day you decide to be a coach and remains in effect until the day you hang it up.

There is not a single day in between where you shouldn’t be continuing to learn.

Take classes, attend seminars, read books, observe other coaches, watch videos – learn, learn, learn. New information emerges on a daily basis from journals, from researchers, and from working with your own clients. Learn something every day and never stop.

2. Know Your Client

Your clients are one resource for your learning, but in order to learn from them you must know them.

How can you teach people until you understand them and their goals? You can’t tell them what to do until you know who they are and what they want.

What are your clients’ injuries, histories, and motivations? You know their stated goals, but do you know their actual goals? Do you know what makes them tick? How amazing if you could see your clients so clearly that you could help them see themselves.

Know your client – better than they know themselves – but without judgment. Know their bodies, know their minds, and show them the mirror. Then share your knowledge and show them how you’re going to help.

3. Know Yourself

We can’t really ask others to look in the mirror and makes changes if we’re not willing to look at ourselves in the cold, hard light. To truly know others, you must know yourself.

Even communicating becomes easier if we know ourselves. If we don’t see ourselves clearly, then we take so many things personally. We think a client’s upset is with us, when it’s really about his or her own frustrations.

If you know your client, and know yourself, you know the true root of the problem and it’s solution is simple.

Knowing yourself also means knowing your weaknesses and solving your own problems. If we are educating ourselves on a daily basis, we need to know what we don’t know. This means acknowledging the gaps in our abilities and making constant progress toward filling them.

4. Get Over Yourself

This is a corollary to “Know Yourself.” Once you know yourself, then it’s time to get over yourself.

Yes, it’s great you can do a one-arm push-up. Do you need to do them in front of your clients for no reason? No. Let go of your ego and your need for attention when you’re coaching.

It’s not about you. The less it’s about you the better a coach you will be. It’s not about you when your client is upset. It’s not about you when your client is happy. It’s just not about you.

They did it. Not you. You are simply a conduit. Ego adds impurities and makes you a bad conductor of learning and progress.

5. Don’t Be Married to the Method

Learning and progress are possible using just about any method of training. It’s de rigueur in the fitness industry to claim your system is better than others, but typically it’s not. Coaching is good or coaching is bad.

You’re a good teacher or a bad teacher, whether your dumbbell is pink, you’re wearing a singlet, or you’re using sandbags.

If someone is saying their system is the best, they’re probably trying to sell you something. Don’t worry about the best system; just be the best coach at whatever you do. In general, people should work a little harder, pick up a little more, and move a little faster.

They should train strength, cardio, and flexibility. Call it whatever you want, but the body is the human body and there are only so many useful things you can do to it and with it. Be committed to the results, not any guru or method.

6. Do No Harm

Everything you do with your clients should result in something productive and positive. People don’t come to you to get injured. They come to you to build themselves up to loftier goals – sometimes those goals look like world championships and sometimes those look like running a mile without stopping. Whatever their level of fitness, it is your utmost responsibility to your clients to keep them safe and keep them training.

If you know your clients, you know what they should and shouldn’t be doing. If you know yourself, you won’t take it personally when you’re honest with them and they get upset. If you let go of the method, you’ll find ways to adapt the training for them. If you educate yourself you can explain why this is the best path for them.

You can’t follow just one of these rules and be an excellent trainer or coach. If you follow them all, you will be excellent, your clients will be excellent, and you will be the conduit for health and fitness you wish to be. Try taking number one to heart right now and see how it evolves for you.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Research of the Week

Modeling the effect of a leaky vaccine plus enhanced transmission viral variants.

Palmitic acid on trial again. I suppose I’ll have to address this.

Zinc works against cold and flu.

A little alcohol can curb inflammatory markers.

Everyone deserves full access to research.

New Primal Kitchen Podcasts

Episode 7: Farmlink—How a College Non-Profit Sparked Monumental Community Change: Morgan talks the founders of Farmlink.

Primal Health Coach Institute: Dr. Gabrielle Lyon.

Media, Schmedia

How has Africa escaped (largely) COVID?

Portugal takes work life balance seriously.

Interesting Blog Posts

Does linoleic aid induce obesity?

IV vitamin C works. Why aren’t we using it?

Social Notes

RIP.

Always look at all-cause mortality.

Everything Else

Virtual reality for back pain.

The FDA sure moves slow.

I can’t imagine a reason why not.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Knew it: The health benefits of grandmas.

Interesting podcast: Andrew Huberman chats with a light and circadian rhythm expert.

Interesting business hack: Giant eggs.

Interesting research: Human evolution sped up the last 3000 years in response to rapid environmental shifts.

Hard to accept: Does parenting have an effect?

Question I’m Asking

Would you try VR for back pain?

Recipe Corner

• Paleo Thanksgiving recipes.
• Pumpkin pie bites.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Nov 13 – Nov 19)

• Guide to Organ Meats— All about them.
• How to Choose the Best Olive Oil— How to do it.

Comment of the Week

“Whoa the berserker rage essay was fascinating. I’m a long time cop in a fairly violent metropolitan city. I’ve always thought myself to be empathetic in nature but when I look back on some use of forces I was duty bound to do, it baffles me. Like it wasn’t really me doing that. Or I displayed much more strength than I believe I’m capable of in the weightlifting room. Conversely, I have absolutely experienced (on the receiving end) what’s known as “excited delerium.” Cops always know it’s ED when 911 callers mention the person is naked and “he’s growling like a dog.” There’s never enough cops to subdue a man like that. It’s unbelievable the strength they have. Long ago we had no idea what caused them to so often stop breathing after being handcuffed. Awareness is out there now but almost no formal training for cops on how to physically handle before/after contact. Mostly on the job training. Anyways, great article.”

-Interesting comment!

The post New and Noteworthy: What I Read This Week—Edition 155 appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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There are many scenes in the movie Miracle, about the 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team, a group of underdogs that defeated the then-Soviet Union powerhouse and went on to take home the gold, that give me goose bumps. This includes one where the team has relatively recently come together. During a training session, head coach Herb Brooks repeatedly asks the players, “Who do you play for?” Each player, in turn, responds with his own alma mater, and this results in the new team being forced to run sprint after sprint on the ice until they are beyond exhausted.

It isn’t until eventual team captain Mike Eruzione finally responds, “I play for the United States of America!” that Brooks ends the sprints. With this statement, Eruzione provided the evidence Brooks had been looking for that the players were starting to identify themselves as part of a defined group, that they prioritized their new group membership more than their individual histories. (At that point, they probably prioritized no more sprints over absolutely anything else, but they got the message.)

Athletes of every stripe are called upon to be part of a group, whether they play a team sport or compete individually. Ideally they identify with the group and demonstrate a sense of belonging and loyalty such that the group itself develops an identity in addition to the athletes’ identity as part of it. The cultivation of that group identity may go a long way toward the development of trust and rapport, which are necessary for effective practice and performance in individual and team sports alike. This means it behooves coaches and athletes to understand the implications of those dynamics and make sure they are positive.

While coaches and teammates communicate overtly with one another and work toward stated, ostensibly shared goals, the experience of working and learning with a group can also bring with it a phenomenon educators call the “hidden curriculum.” This refers to the lessons, habits of mind, and accepted behaviors any members of a group – a class, a cohort, a team – pick up indirectly, by observation or other tacit methods. In other words, the stated goals of any group might be only part of what a teammate learns and comes to accept as appropriate. For example, a new team member might hear locker room talk among more seasoned teammates and intuit certain things from this about what it takes to get along and belong.

If the hidden curriculum reinforces the overt goals of the team, it could be a good thing. On the other hand, if the hidden curriculum undermines or detracts from these goals, disruption can result. As coaches, we must be aware of the existence of these more covert dynamics as well as the effect they may have on our coaching and our athletes’ behavior and mindsets.

To get a handle on the hidden curriculum that may be at work in your own training situation, and the effect it is having on the cohesion of your group, consider the following when observing interpersonal dynamics and interactions:

• Who are the de facto leaders in the group – who has influence over others’ behavior? Are these the people you have designated as the leaders? If not, would it behoove you to intervene to ensure consistent messages?
• What messages ARE being communicated, both overtly and covertly? Are the covert messages consistent with or undermining the overt messages?
• How does your own behavior play into the dynamics of the group? Do you convey your own expectations clearly and abide by them yourself?

When you start to pay attention to the dynamics of a group and the hidden curriculum that may be at play, you might find opportunities to ensure consistency of messages and expectations. Here are a few steps you can take to promote group cohesion:

• Hold regular meetings with team captains and other de facto leaders, both to make sure they understand expectations and also to learn about any issues that might need intervention. Solicit their input about effective ways to intervene – they will have an understanding of the players that will complement your own perspective.
• Group athletes for training and workouts, and switch up the combinations regularly so the same people are not always working together.
• Pair new members with a more experienced teammate to help with orientation to the team.

Group dynamics and the hidden curriculum can be powerful influences on the effectiveness of a team. With a bit of awareness and a few simple steps, coaches can increase the likelihood that these influences are positive ones.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post What Coaches Need to Know about Group Dynamics and the Hidden Curriculum appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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I’m a better coach because I was a stupid athlete. I didn’t know I was stupid then, but now I’m a good enough coach that I can see it plain and simple. I could spend my time wishing I’d not been stupid and imagining things I would have accomplished athletically, but that wouldn’t get me too far. Instead I’ve realized my bad and/or misinformed choices resulted in me being a far better coach than I would have been otherwise. I developed knowledge, empathy, and awareness from my missteps. And I can spot the stupidity in my athletes a mile away.

My stupidity manifested in two distinct ways – overtraining and injury. I separate these out, because while injury can occur due to overtraining, they are not always linked. Because of my experiences, I am able to coach my athletes from the perspective of both what not to do and how to handle the tough, dark times that come with training. And anyone who’s trained for any measurable length knows what I mean by tough, dark times.

In 2005 I got kicked out every gym I belonged to. I got kicked out because I showed up too much. I was unemployed and training two to three times per day. It was my coping mechanism. I had recently done an adventure race, I was doing BJJ almost daily, I was training for a kickboxing smoker match, and I was training CrossFit I don’t know how many times per week. I’d had a chest cold for over a month, I couldn’t sleep at night and couldn’t stay awake during the day, I was gaining weight despite eating less, and it took me a good ten to fifteen minutes of writhing and thrashing about to put my sweatpants on every morning because my sciatica was so bad I couldn’t bend at the hips.

For some reason it didn’t occur to me to stop training. But one by one my coaches told me to go home, that I wasn’t allowed through their doors anymore. When Andy Petranek of CrossFit LA sent me home, I walked out to the parking lot, sat in my car, and cried. I thought the world was over.

But the world wasn’t over. A few days later Andy invited me to come watch class or, better yet, help him coach. It was the beginning of a new career for me. It was the first step in what would turn into an eight-year mentorship where I learned more about both life and coaching from Andy than I’d learned in my thirty-plus years up to that point.

I never got to do a kickboxing match and I have lingering back problems to this day. But I might never have become a coach if I hadn’t overtrained myself into a pulp. I wouldn’t trade my career as a coach for being pain free any day. And, as I mentioned earlier, I also earned the gift of being able to spot the stupid a mile away. I know who you are, you overtrainers – I know you inside and out. And ever since those tough, dark times I’ve made a mission of reaching out to those on that same path, so maybe they won’t go quite so far down the rabbit hole as I did.

Turning injuries into missions isn’t something uncommon for coaches. When I spoke with Zach Even-Esh earlier this year, he told me he, too, turned an obstacle into an opportunity. After years of trying to use bodybuilding-style training to support his athletics, Zach’s body finally gave in:

When I was twenty-five grappling and the UFC was very big. I was doing shoot fighting and I tore my ACL during training. When I went into surgery I was so pissed off. I was so angry. I remember before going under anesthesia thinking, “I’m going to do something about this training and teach wrestlers around the world how to avoid all my mistakes.” I was on a mission.

Like Zach, injury for me turned into an eye-opening experience that forever changed my relationship to my clients. The second biggest lesson I learned that resulted in me becoming a better coach was when I broke my ribs.

I broke my ribs doing pull ups. No, I wasn’t so strong that I pulled and my ribs broke (this is what people always imagine at first). Rather, I was doing kipping pull ups and I got greedy. I was going for a personal record of consecutive pull ups. I completed my twenty-ninth rep, which was a record for me right there, but I decided to go for thirty. Thirty just sounds better than twenty-nine, right? Well, I lost my grip and fell. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except there are a lot of forces involved when you’re kipping, and our bar was too high for me to reach from the ground, so I’d climbed up to it from a wooden plyo box. Instead of landing on the floor, I landed ribs first on the box and that was that.

What I learned from that injury – aside from the obvious parts about max reps, greediness, and box location – came during the recovery stages. I had been training CrossFit for a number of years at that point. And I had forgotten just how hard it was to be a beginner. When I broke my ribs I couldn’t work out for a few weeks and it was slow-going for a number of months. My first workout back consisted of about twenty slow-motion walking lunges. A few weeks later I did a very mellow yoga session and I was sore for days. The first time I tried a pull up again, with a thick rubber band for assistance, it was really challenging.

I remember standing there mid-workout, looking at the bar, looking at the rubber band, and then saying out loud, “I don’t remember it being this hard.” Andy Petranek looked over at me and said, “What, pull ups?” And I said, “No, CrossFit.”

The months of recovery reminded me what it was like to have to work for everything, it helped me imagine how daunting it is to be new and un-athletic, and it gave me a sympathy and patience I never had before. Being stupid, being greedy and falling off that bar, made me a better coach for the rest of my life.

People have so many theories about why great coaches and great athletes are typically different people. They theorize that great athletes, too, forget how to be beginners. But I wonder, after all the coaches I’ve spoken with over the years, and all the coaches who’ve told me about their injuries, if athletes whose careers were stunted because of injury don’t become the best coaches because of precisely that. Jeff Martone, who’s endured a lifetime of injuries that he healed through kettlebells, shared this with me:

If you look at all the surgeries and injuries I’ve had over the years, I can say this for a fact: each one was a blessing in disguise, because it’s made me a better coach. It’s also made me more sympathetic to the people that have injuries…it’s made me a better coach, given me a better eye for detail, and I’ve got a lot more patience in dealing with people.

So whether my injuries were due to ignorance, to a stubbornly competitive instinct, or to the coping mechanism of overtraining, all those bad, misinformed, stupid things made me better. Even though it may have hampered my performance, it actually did make me a better athlete in many ways, and it most certainly made me a better, and more human, coach.

The post Being a Stupid Athlete Made Me a Better Coach appeared first on Breaking Muscle.