Tag: Bobsled

Hans and Franz are my Homeboys…

Lately, I have been considering getting a part time job. It would give me more income to towards buying more/better equipment for the facility. (I like stuff, especially awesome stuff, and the kind of stuff that makes you more awesome!) It would also give me freedom to leave the facility, make some coin, and interact with other non-CA-going individuals.
Some job options I have considered:

1. Waiter/Bartender (Yep, been there done that)

2. Mailman (I generally have the middle of the day open. I look great in grey, too.)

3. Grocery Store Shelf-stocker (They work nights. And, I am really good at putting stuff away.)

4. Babysitter (Seriously, I have no idea why, but kids love me.)

5. Wal-Mart Greeter (It will help with my personal skills. And, I get a sweet vest!)
Then, it hit me like a ton of Palačinkes! (Swedish Pancakes filled with jam <- Epic. The only thing that could make them better is if they had bacon in there too!)

Here it is…

A part-time gig as Hans or Franz.

Here is why:

My dashing good looks (thanks mom and dad!), my calm cool demeanor, charming bedside manor, constant desire to have an awesome foreign accent, love for grey sweats, but, most importantly, I am pretty freaking good at deadlifts. If it’s heavy and on the ground, I can pick it up! (It’s a gift. lol)

In reality, I can’t afford to take time away from the CA, so a second job is out, but it does let me build on the idea of picking up heavy stuff. So, let’s talk about it:

Picking Up Heavy Stuff:

The Deadlift

The deadlift is possibly my favorite exercise. There are many reasons for this. I am going to elaborate on why and then really delve into the technique of a deadlift and the reason we do so, so, so many of them here in the CA. (Other than my absolute love for them.)

Why

Firstly, I think everybody loves to load up a bar and see what they can do. Seriously who doesn’t want to see the garden hoses (veins) come out and bar bend like crazy? Here are the reasons I LOVE (<- yup using the “L” word again.) the deadlift.
When doing the deadlift, you engage all of these muscles: deltoids (shoulders), pectoralis major (chest), latissimus dorsi (low back), trapezius (Upper back), bicep brachii (biceps), brachialis/ extensors (upper arm, forearms, grip), rectus abductus (abs), gluteus maximus, hamstrings, vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, vastus medialus, adductor longus, Sartorius… Let’s just say the legs as a whole. In a nutshell…everything. The deadlift works everything. (Also, it is difficult to read a magazine while deadlifting ;-))

How

The deadlift is pretty simple in theory: pick heavy weight off floor. However, I see them done wrong frequently. Doing a deadlift wrong generally leads to unnecessary strain on the lower back and ultimately injury. In minor cases, this injury leads to not being able to train for a couple of days. In more severe cases, major trauma, sometimes life altering, can occur.

It’s worth it to do a deadlift right. Here at the CA we work on doing them right all the time, and some of the technique we use cuts against the grain of traditional teaching on deadlift.

Firstly, prep the body to be ready to engage and pry the bar off of the floor. This all starts with setting the spine in neutral; but more importantly getting the right muscles to “turn on”. In order to set your stance, take your index finger and place it into your belly button. (Good news, we all have one. If your client/or you do not have one… Run. Run fast. Seriously, that person is an alien. They are probably going to try to harvest you for food.) Once you have located the belly button with your index finger, engage your abductors (stomach muscles) by extending it forward. When doing so the chest will rise and your posture should elongate (straighten).

While your stomach is engaged, align your hips into a posterior position to engage your lower back, and help you sit down into the deadlift, as opposed to bend over. This is first major mistake I see made when doing a neutral position deadlift: athletes bend and arch their back, collapsing their posture. (The Sumo style, or Romanian/straight leg deadlift work in different ways to be discussed in a later article). Sitting down into the set position allows for the shoulders to remain above the hips and for the arms to hang down naturally. This compresses the body in a similar fashion as the back squat and front squat, discussed in the previous article.

Next, (this is where the hate mail will begin, and the threats of endangering clients amongst other things I will hear from people) the head position should be to look up. This is how I teach it and want it done at the CA. Many trainers teach you to keep your head neutral to decrease strain on the neck and lumbar spine. There are some good reasons and benefits to looking up though.

Early on, I learned something really interesting by just being a kid… It was reinforced through athletics, and then there was this whole education and teaching thing: The body will go where the head will go. (Simple right? If you don’t believe me test it out. Go out in your yard or to a park. Run as fast as you can, then abruptly look left or right. Then tell me what happens. <- This is homework ;-))

Looking up helps engage muscles in your neck, which will allow muscles in your posterior chain to engage. When you look down, your back disengages and you “round out” allowing for unnecessary strain on your lower back, as this is where the load from the bar is now compressing.

By looking up, you also help keep the shoulders from rolling forward, a common mistake in heavy lifting. (This chain reaction – head up, shoulders back – is based in biomechanics and leverage.) When looking up it is also easier to keep the hips below the shoulders allowing for the vertical climb of the body: driving with the legs and not “lifting” with the muscles of the back. Finally, it keeps the shoulders from traveling too far forward and it will help you from getting stuck just above your knees.

As a nuts and bolts guy, I tend to do a lot of reading. That is the beginning of perfecting deadlift technique for the CA. Then, I look at who is at the top of the food chain and what they are doing. There are a number of lifters that “look up,” including the likes of Kirk Karwoski, Andy Bolton, and Ed Coan. (If you don’t know these names, take a trip to YouTube. Also make sure you put on some popcorn because you are going to watch some awesome stuff happen over and over again.)

Now here is the one thing I will say concerning neutral head position: moving the head from the “looking up” position back to a neutral at the top of the deadlift will help to lock out. Should you ever want to compete in the power lifting world, the last thing you want to have happen is to throw up a big number and then have it disqualified for not locking out at the top. This can happen if you continue to look up as you reach the apex of the lift, as sometimes the knees will remain bent.

Against:
http://www.rearickstrength.com/2011/07/3-deadlifting-tips-tricks-you-may-have.html

http://theheadlock.com/20-mistakes-that-prevent-perfect-deadlift-form/

http://charlieweingroff.com/2010/11/packing-in-the-neck/

For:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/little_known_controversial_deadlift_tips

Sir Mix-A-Lot had it right!

Prelude

In the last couple of weeks I have been collecting information from my youth and collegiate athletes regarding their strength and conditioning programs. Knowing their current training plan at school, I can build the structure for their training plan while they are at CA over break. Talking with all these student athletes revealed a new trend in the world of exercise and fitness that I have to comment on, because it debunks one of my favorite exercises: The Back Squat. (Cue the epic drum roll… Dun, dun, dunnn)

It seems that the back squat has become a dirty word in some schools; it is essentially banned in many of my student-athletes’ training facilities. The front squat has become the go-to lift. When I interrogated them about this, none of them seemed to have an answer to my persistent “why?!”. (This made me rather aggravated, because whenever they train at CA they generally want to know the “why” for every exercise and ask a fantastically annoying amount of questions. <-This is a good thing!)

Is this the new fitness trend?

Is this the groundwork for a war with the back squat?

For the love of all ninjas, I seriously hope not.

::Now, dragging my jump box to the front of the lecture hall to stand on. (These boxes are heavy!)::

In Defense of the Back Squat

As a foundational movement of the body, the squat is one of the most basic components of most athletic weight training programs. Debate on effectiveness of squatting techniques and variability of muscular engagement is frequent (and heated) between those with the PhD’s and us, nuts and bolts guys (and gals).

When you look at the hard scientific numbers behind different squat techniques, there isn’t a whole lot of difference. These numbers are based on electromyography (or EMG) activity. Whether it is the front, back, wide, narrow, partial, or full squat, there is minimal change in the muscle groups engaged.

Change in gluteus maximus (butt muscle) engagement is really only effected by squatting depth and stance width. The hip adductor (muscles of the hip, crazy you have muscles there right?) and vastus intermedialis (middle muscle of the thigh, yup the front of your leg isn’t just one muscle) activity can be increased using half squats and a wide stance, but this change is minimal. Often, the front squat is given preference over the back squat in order to decrease compressive knee forces.

So, yes, definitely do front squats, for the love of all things, PROTECT YOUR KNEES! I partially agree with the highly paid professionals in our university systems. (Note: This is said tongue in cheek. Most of them are underpaid in my general opinion.) However, simply erasing the back squat isn’t the answer. Let’s break it down.

The Front Squat

Photo Breakdown

Deep front squat, heels flat, knees pushed out over the toes, elbows in line with the shoulders. Still inside of the knees. As you can see, I prefer using clean grip. This forces the athlete to firmly rest the bar in the crux of the shoulder and helps build confidence in a deep squat position for the catch phase of a floor “power” clean. (I also see a lot of rotator cuff inflexibility, so they try to hold the bar instead of support it. That is for another post though.)

I prefer the knees to flair out so as to increase development of the vastus lateralis (inner quad) through the drive phase of the squat, and to counteract valgus collapse (knee falling in) for those that suffer from that very fixable and over looked issue.

Synopsis

By placing the barbell across the shoulders, you load the front part of the body and force the body to pull forward. This increases knee flexion as the athlete descends into the squat. This puts greater load on the quads rather than the glutes. In addition, this requires the lower back and spine to remain engaged to prevent the upper body from falling forward and dropping the weight. All of this means that front squats are great for working on deep squats, stability, and core development.

The Back Squat

Photo Breakdown

Deep back squat, heels flat on the floor, knees pushed out over the toes. Glutes close to the ground. The bar sits directly over the ankles; and the line created from the knee to the ankle is parallel to the line created from the shoulder to the hip.

Synopsis

By placing the bar on your back you load up the posterior half of the body. This creates a compressive force that causes the hamstrings, hip abductors, and glutes to engage in order to protect the vertebrae of the spinal column. Many people argue that the back squat will lead to back issues later on because of this large load on the spine. However, the spine is a pretty amazing thing. It can actually take huge amounts of compressive force, as long as you don’t compromise it by flexing or rotating it under load.

The real issue is this: any exercise can cause trauma, if done incorrectly. By maintaining a strong upright torso and not collapsing during the drive phase (bottom to the top), you ultimately can lift heavier weight over time because the spine is such a strong support. The back squat will also develop a hugely under appreciated power source: your butt. As some of my youngest athletes like to say, “There is nothing wrong with a big dump truck!” (<- This means butt.)

Note: To be clear, we do a lot of body weight squats at CA. My deep-rooted belief is that until they can move themselves; there is no reason to add resistance. This rule applies to adult athletes as well.

In Summary

When front squats are used exclusively, I often see underdeveloped glutes and hamstrings and over developed quads, generally vastus medialis (outer quad). In women, this imbalance is far more prevalent as all women are quad dominant. (It’s that whole making babies thing. Yay biology!)

In my youth athletes, I frequently see front squats that aren’t deep enough for increased range of motion as their ankle flexion is not nearly good enough to develop good lifting posture and depth. Their core strength is not well developed, so they tend to dip forward from the upper torso to “get deeper”. This sacrifices the whole getting stronger thing that they are trying to work on. This dip also comes from trying to lift too much weight.

The back squat is my go to lift at CA when it comes to lower body development for both the posterior and the anterior. It increases flexibility, without demanding it. It balances development between the quads and the glute/hamstring system. And finally, it supports large loads, without damaging the spine. This means faster, more powerful, and more explosive athletes. It may mean you have more developed glutes, but there is nothing wrong with a big dump truck, right?

So, Sir Mix-A-Lot had it right… long live the back squat.

agility Athlete back squat Bobsled Clifton Park Elite competition Contemporary Fitness front squat gym Health lifting Ninja Olympics power lifting speed school Squats Strength Tough Mudder Training

open house | october 5

It only took only took 11 months for me to plan an open house. (When I say me, I really mean all the awesome people that helped me in SOOOOO many ways put this together!)

What to bring:
Bring Friends! Lots of them!

Some people say I am slow. I like to think about it as tactical. All the pieces had to be in the right place and I think that they finally are. So on the eve of my initial lease signing almost a year ago I am quite ok with saying, hello public. Contemporary Athlete is here and Team CA is ready to change the Capital District.

Here is your opportunity to show off the place many of you call home.

Meet my friends and associates while you nosh on some awesome healthy food from Nancy and her staff at Good Morning Café (The Good Karma Ninja, oh and my favorite Thursday Breakfast Ninja); Robin Morgan of ANew Nutrition who I trust with all my nutrition (“What do you mean no more cookies?” The Food Ninja); Paul Jensen of Albany Therapeutic Massage and Sports Performance Center (“Paul I did this…so can you fix me?” Ninja) oh and ME (Humble Ninja)!

There are going to be some awesome door prizes to win, for anybody that’s interested, a 3pm “Warm Up”, and something I am really excited about, and have been for a long time now…

The Official Launch of…

CAIR

Don’t know what it is? Well, hopefully the anticipation will make you excited enough to show up!

agility Athlete Bobsled Clifton Park Elite competition Concept 2 Erg Fitness footwork gym Health lifting Ninja Olympics Rowing Salter Soccer Sochi Spartan speed school Tough Mudder Training

Athlete Profile: Lauren Salter (Part 2)

(Haley and Lauren putting in the work)

It’s September now, the weather is changing here in upstate NY. The temperature goes from crazy hot to cold enough to snow on any given day. The rain comes in in droves and leaves just as quickly leaving devastation in its wake it seems. There is snow on the horizon I can smell it on the morning air in the darkness when I wake to run. Well before the CA opens I am alone with my thoughts, generally empty as I prepare for the Ultra. It’s the peace I need in preparation for the day as shortly after my last step I get to face the always growing and developing L.

By the end of Lauren’s warm up I know what it is going to happen that day. I drink deeply of my morning coffee. Enjoying the oily, acidity of its blackness. Tasting the richness of it. It’s complexity, breathing in its heat. Feeling it roll down the back of my throat to fill my belly. It’s simplicity, in that fact is all encompassing. I square my head with what needs to be done that day. Another check mark in the logbook to help Lauren become the Lauren Salter I see. When I look at her is that of a future world champion, Olympian, star of the national team and combine perfect scorer. In my world that journey started 4 months ago.

Lauren recently wrote an article on her blog about her heroes. The USA soccer: women’s national team and how it shaped her. It made me think about my heroes; they were not entire teams; they were individuals looking to be the best at whatever they did. Not all of mine are athletes, but all learned to steel themselves against the naysayers, the haters, the jealous, the misunderstanding. They smashed themselves on the jagged rocks that are greatness. Did they shatter? Yes. Did they get back up and go back to work? Yes. Did they succeed? Yes. Greatness comes from the fire within. The impenetrable, self-confidence in your ability to be all that you can be. Nothing fancy, just knowing in your heart you belong there just as much as anybody else.

Interestingly enough Laurens sport is purely individual. The long runs, individual training sessions, remorseless driving that I put her through has changed her. Lauren is strong, fast, and mentally conditioned. She has struggled this summer occasionally at my hand, (well more than occasionally). She asks a lot of questions and I have a lot of answers. Her concepts of fitness have been destroyed and rebuilt. Her emotional breakdowns happen. She has learned how to keep moving forward, instead of running away to hide. She asks for help and she fears little these days. Other than her last big hurdle, her fear of accepting her own greatness. She can finally start to face that fear, as she will be deep into her US Skeleton Combine test when this posts. The combine will be the beginning of a long week of inter-team competition at the US Push Championships, in Lake Placid.

I don’t know where I will be. I might be in the CA doing what I do, possibly in her corner in Lake Placid helping her fight off her inner demons, maybe preparing myself for the Ultra, I am not sure. I asked her last week if she wanted me to come up to Lake Placid. She looked confused, like no one had ever asked her that. The decision is hers ultimately. All I know is this the happy go lucky, smiling brightly, excited young woman who walked into my facility back in February of this year is no longer that girl. She is a strong mostly fearless woman. Her weaknesses have been explored in depth. She has survived. She has an amazing support system, and is one step closer to getting that coveted place on the podium with people cheering for her.

Lauren is complex and everyone that meets her or trains with her knows this. She empowers the CA juniors with her excitement and physical prowess. Her peers look to her for strength and cheerleader like encouragement. In her time here she has become an embodiment of what this facility is. Who the athletes are that train here and why they are here. In her own way Team CA is her team. She is one of the captains of it and for as long as she chooses for it to be. Her strive for excellence, relentless self-motivation, and the willingness to keep walking through the door to this school for ninjas solidifies this for me everyday.

Her own team, team Salter.

agility Allied Athlete Athlete Bobsled competition Contemporary Fitness gym Health lifting Ninja Salter speed school Strength USBSF

The “C” Word

The “C” Word

There are some words that all coaches and trainers hate. We all have a list of words that make our skin crawl or blood boil. Our own verbal pet peeves but I think the “C” word is the most frequently used within many training facilities, and for me and what we do here at Contemporary Athlete is the most infuriating of all of them.

I CAN’T

Can’t is a lack luster, poorly descriptive, half hearted word for quit. It is generally used for early onset defeat; a submission to mental weakness, or in most cases the fear of failure. It brings about uncomfortable feelings, warm ears, sweaty palms, nausea, and an intense desire to find the closest exit and to use it… quickly. Can’t flows like a fast running spring stream of verbal diarrhea preceding or following the why’s and how’s for not trying.

For me, this is a debilitating word. It can take an amazing training day, filled with the opportunity for greatness, PR’s, and personal growth and immediately send it into the workout wood chipper. The downward spiral of doomed feelings and tears trigger a good trainers highly honed training as an emotional triage expert and an a long toothed conversation about desire, and positive reinforcement quickly follows the dirty word can’t.

Can’t is a choice, it’s a choice to not try.

Now here is the happy part of this trainer’s rant, it starts with a question:

Why not choose TO try?

I CAN

sounds exponentially better. It is much sexier. There is no hard consonant sound at the end of it. It’s shorter to say; so that is always nice for those of you that are endurance athletes looking to conserve energy. The best yet though, is it always ends with you smiling. (Yeah seriously, try that s**t out in the mirror)

By saying I can you accept the challenge, which lay ahead of you willingly and with a smile. So go out there and be a catalyst for awesome and stop standing in your own way, lead those around you with a smile. Best yet you won’t get up-charged by your trainer for the psychological services that will be offered for saying you can’t. Or the dry cleaning bill for crying on their clean training gear for saying you can’t.

Athlete Bobsled Clifton Park Elite competition Contemporary Crossfit Fitness gym Health lifting Ninja Nutrition Olympics P90x Rowing Salter Sochi Strength Tough Mudder Training USBSF xFit

Athlete Profile: Lauren Salter

Lauren Salter (Part 1)

Life offers you what you need when you need it. The question is will you know how to see it and will you accept the opportunity when it walks through your door? – Bender

img_5322_2-e1369314113983 — Lauren pushes her sled at the start of 2013 US Skeleton National Championships

Lauren goes by many names here in the CA, Captain of the “Salty Crew”, “L”, “Salter”, and my personal favorite “Optimist Beta” (Thanks Erin!). All of them are good, yet small indicators of who she really is.

I met Lauren through a great friend of mine, Lindsey Murray, who was Lauren’s roommate when they both slid skeleton together. Lauren was visiting Saratoga Springs, and Lindsey told her she should come check out the gym while she was in town.

Lauren came during a Saturday workout and we talked a bit of shop before I said I would love to help her train if she decided to move to Saratoga for the summer. A few months later, I got a phone call saying she was moving down, and wanted to know when she could start. I replied, “Great! I’ll see you in 6 to 8 weeks”.

She seemed perplexed.

Erin:Lauren DL:FS — Lauren (right) and Erin Little during a heavy lift day

As her trainer (I’m not sure what she actually calls me) I was going to help her get to the next step, but she was coming off of a season that essentially had lasted eleven months. Lauren needed time off. So I made her take it.

We talk a lot about what training is, and I have a simple formula. W+R=T (Work + Recovery = Training). It’s not complicated, but it takes all of those parts to make things happen. “R” is what she needed, so that is what I told her to do. During her month and a half of rest, she apparently finished several TV series via Netflix.

Lauren Jump KB — Another day, another test.

Lauren’s first day back was with my super awesome “Team XXX” (the Tuesday night women’s group). Unfortunately, she came out of the “pan” that is the Olympic Training Center, and into the “fire” that is CA. It was a dreaded “cards” day, where each suit is a different workout, and the number on the card is the number of repetitions the athlete does. I am pretty much sure that Lauren will never look at step-ups the same way again. She got through day one, but the road was long and full of adversity.

H&L PSUTU — Lauren and Haley Sive (right)

We all come upon forks in our psyche at one time or another. As we go from “faking it” to “making it,” there is a place where we are unsure, insecure, and question everything. Eventually, it takes us to a place where we ask no more questions, put our head down, and accept our wants and desires in order to take the next step.

Lauren Track day — Braving the heat during an early track day

Let’s jump ahead a bit. Lauren has now learned that “awesome” is a mindset, and it comes from somewhere that even most 13-year-olds know instinctively. Ironically, a 13-year-old client of mine reminded her of this during a goal setting session.

In order to win races, games, or matches, an athlete has to be strong and fast. If they want to be fast, they have to have to have fun. If they are having fun, then they will be awesome. As we get more experience our views change, but ultimately, it’s about having fun. If you want to win a 5k, or go to the Olympics, it all boils down to having fun, because if it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing.

The List

I recently was having a conversation with a friend and client about how they explain what happens here at Contemporary Athlete. I realized that I have a long list of things that aren’t done.

Contemporary Athletes…

don’t have treadmills

don’t have spin bikes

don’t do memberships (what we do is training programs, there is a difference)

don’t wear knee high socks

don’t do fitness. (It’s a fleeting goal, what we do is a lifestyle!)

don’t go shirtless (keeps the sweat off my pretty floor, excuse the marketing photos I already took it up with the boss won’t happen again. Sorry for the visual abuse!)

don’t play lame music (well sometimes it happens mostly because I have awful taste in music)

don’t own any cable – based equipment

don’t have anyplace comfortable to sit down

don’t have any magazines

don’t have any TV’s

don’t own any mirrors

don’t tell you we are a “Judgment Free Zone”… it just is.

don’t count for you. Crazy right?

don’t have costume days; although the more I think about it we might start…

don’t have a smoothie/shake/snack bar

don’t believe tossing your cookies is desirable or a “good” thing. Actually it’s a bad thing.

don’t have showers, or locker rooms. (Yeah we know we should, we’re working on it. Training space took priority; everybody loves a winner, even if they are smelly.)

Yep not cool…

This is what we do!

We do Awesome! (Thought it was funny so it’s what I’m starting with! Also its true.)

We do performance goals. (Sometimes a little crazy, life is short, live loud, smile often.)

We do quality movement over quantity. (Nobody wins the warm-up.)

We do better. (Anybody can make somebody tired)

We support each other! (If you can’t risk, fail, and try again you can’t grow. We all need help it’s given and taken freely and generally with a smile or a swift kick in the ass. Depends on what you need. Sometimes love hurts! [Thanks for the insight MOM, now let go of my ear!])

We do specialized. (Not everybody is training for the same thing. So one workout doesn’t work for everybody!)

We do good food choices. (Food is fuel; you don’t put regular gas in a Lamborghini.)

We do fast, and explosive! (If you weren’t before you will be soon!)

We do strong, both physically, philosophically, and mentally! <- (This is the most important).

We do fun! (G**damnit, and your going to like it!) ß That’s for you Molly!

We do Ninja!!!

If you don’t know what that means, come find out!

Welcome to the CA!

Athlete Bobsled Clifton Park Elite competition Contemporary Crossfit Fitness gym Health lifting Ninja Nutrition Olympics P90x Rowing Sochi Strength Tough Mudder Training USBSF xFit