Featured Exercise: Plank Progression

Here is a nice progression for the plank exercise. Like always, spend time mastering the first exercise before moving on to the next. It's about what you CAN do, not what you CAN'T do.



1. Kneeling Plank - This is a good entry level plank exercise for those who not yet have a strength base.

2. Plank - This is where most athletes will start.

3. Feet Elevated - This is a good progression from a regular plank. A 12" to 14" box works best.

4. Marching - Anytime you take a limb (arm or leg) off of the ground during a plank, it now becomes an anti-rotation exercise. Make sure you don't bring the leg to high. You should only move from the hip - not the spine.

DN

A Strong Neck

Q: I am an MMA fighter and was wondering what you think of wrestling neck bridges for building strength in the neck?

A: A strong neck is VERY important for MMA and grappling sports but I would never use the traditional bridges that you see in wrestling. They place tremendous stress on the joints. Instead, we perform the following for 15-20 sec holds. If you don't have a matted wall, just use a stability ball to put your head on.




DN

Efficient Ways To Get Fat And Stay Fat (re-post)

I posted this sometime last year as somewhat of a sarcastic, yet educational look at fat loss. Unexpectedly, it was big hit with people. I had a very large and positive response from it. So I am re-posting it and putting it up on the IPT website as an article.

Losing fat isn't all that tricky. There are exercise methods that yield better results than others (interval training vs. aerobics), along with nutritional methods that yield better results than others (getting your carbs from fruits and veggies vs. processed breads and pastas). If people do MOST of these things right MOST of the time (meaning like 90% of the time), THEY WILL LOSE BODY FAT.

I find it interesting when someone comes to me and says they CAN'T lose body fat. So I ask them some basic questions. Questions that must be answered as "YES" in order to lose body fat:

Are you lifting weights at least 3 days per week?
Are you doing interval training?
Do you eat breakfast everyday?
Do you eat 5-6 mini meals per day?
Do you eat 1-2 servings of veggies and fruits at every meal?
Do you consume about 1 gram of protein per lbs. of body weight?
Do you change your workout program every 3-4 weeks?
And do you do all of these things about 90% of the time?

Generally people answer NO to many of these questions.

If they say that they are doing all of these things and still cannot lose body fat, they are lying. They are not ready to change.

So here you go.... Efficient Ways To Get Fat And Stay Fat. Enjoy!!

DN

The Draw in Maneuver vs. The Abdominal Brace

The draw-in maneuver (hollowing) is commonly taught as a technique to activate the abdominals in order to stabilize the spine. In reality, this not a very effective technique for achieving spinal stiffness for a few reasons.

First, drawing in the abdominal wall (belly button towards the spine) activates the transverse abdominis in isolation. In order to draw-in, the abdominals must be nearly inactive. Weakening of the abdominal muscles certainly cannot support stability for the spine. This is one of the reasons pilates is NOT the best choice for exercise.

Second, isolating any one abnominal muscle could never yield more stiffness than activating the entire abdominal wall. This is why "bracing" is a much better technique to enhance stability.

"Bracing" is achieved not by drawing in or pushing out but rather my a simple co-contraction of the abdominals. We will commonly cue, "brace the abs as if you were getting ready to get punched". With MMA guys, we need to be careful of this cueing because they may get into "fighting posture". Fighting posture is bad posture for exercise (hunch back).

Bracing also activates the extensor muscles which acts as a "natural" weightlifting belt to offer more support. Along with the "natural belt", the obliques and rectus abnominas offer stability as supporting "guys wires".

Stuart Mcgill has crushed more spines in his lab than anyone in the world. He has proven over and over again that drawing in the abs under significant load will result in buckling of the spine. I'm on Stu's side :-)

DN

A Tip For The Trainers

Today we have a special "Guest Blogger", Mike Robertson. First let me start of with a big thanks to Mike for letting me post this up.

If you are a trainer, you already know who Mike is...... if not, shame on you. Mike really hit the nail on the head with this. Most trainers (especially new trainers) focus solely on "how to make more money" and become a good salesman. Mike reveals the secret below:

A TIP FOR THE TRAINERS:



I'm always amused by people who tells others how to make more money.

So by giving you money, you're going to tell me how to make more money?

It's intriguing, at the very least.

And that's not to say there aren't some great examples out there. I think Pat Rigsby is one of the most knowledgeable business guys I've talked to. EVER. He really helped Bill and I solidify the mindset and operations behind I-FAST.

Some of the others out there, though, aren't nearly as adept at their craft.

I don't know about you, but I got into this industry because I had a genuine interest in helping people achieve their performance-related goals. Over the years, that interest has spread - it's not just about sports now, but also rehab, fat loss, etc. Basically, my goal is to learn as much about this industry as possible, and to be able to deliver consistent results time and again.

It doesn't always work out perfectly, but more times than not we're getting great results. Any trainer who tells you the get results 100% of the time is either delusional, a liar, or both.

So if you're a trainer, and you're reading this blog, take this post to heart. Are you serious about making more money? If so, there's one consistently sure-fire way to do it....

Are you ready for it?

Get really good.

Not just kind of good. Better than the average Schmuck trainer good. I'm talking really good.

People seek you out good.

People consistently refer their friends and family to you good.

If you can do this, you will never have a shortage of clients. You will never have to worry about making ends meet (unless you're just a total momo when it comes to running your business and spending money, which I can't really help you with).

I guess the thing that really irks me is that no one mentions this. Everyone wants to talk about making more money and all these great business ideas, which are absolutely fine. But where did we forget about putting people first?

When we put our clients and their needs first, we always win.

When we combine that with the skills necessary to deliver results, we have a truly lethal combination.

So there's my tip. It's not sexy. It doesn't occur overnight. But if you are serious about making more money, forget about making more money.

Get really good at your craft first. When you do, the money will follow.

Stay strong

MR

Commonly Ignored Soft-Tissue Work For The Mixed Martial Artist

This is for the MMA folks who are being "good boys and girls" and are all ready doing soft-tissue work on themselves.

Typically, the areas of focus tend to be the larger muscles like the quads, hip rotators and lats. But their are a few areas that MMA guys are commonly tight and bound up in that get completely ignored.

1. The forearms - This is even more important for BJJ guys training in a gi. I am telling you from personal experience. When my massage therapist digs into my forearms, it feels like I have chucks of thick rope in them.



2. TFL - When playing the guard position, the hip constantly flexes, abducts and medially rotates. This is the action of the tensor fascia lata (TFL) so it makes sense why it is constantly tight in BJJ athletes. The IT band also has attachments to the TFL. Being that the IT band is basically non-contractile, one would probably release IT band "tightness" better by addressing the TFL. A ball that is larger in diameter than a tennis ball tends to work the best for this (a soft ball works great but it is very hard..... be careful). "Warning": If you play a lot of guard this may bring tears to your eyes :-)



3. Traps - Neck cranks, guillotines and just MMA in general can wreak havoc on your neck. How many times have you gotten up in the morning after a hard training session and you are doing the full body turn to look to your right and left because your neck can't move (in our gym we jokingly call this Jiu-jitsu neck)? All of these things add up to tightness in the traps. Use a soft-ball on the corner of a wall and apply pressure to the trap. It has to be the corner of a wall so that you can apply more pressure and your head doesn't run into the wall.



4. Posterior Shoulder - This is more of a problem for bigger MMA athletes and bigger athletes in general. They tend to be much tighter in the shoulder complex. Because of "fighting posture" (hunch back/rounded/elevated shoulders), there is going to be a lot of barnacles growing in the posterior shoulder. I prefer to use ART (active release technique) on this area. Simply place a tennis or lacrosse ball on the posterior shoulder (find a bad spot) while going through internal and external rotation.



It's amazing to me that for how rough the sport of MMA is, there are athletes out there doing "zero" soft-tissue work on themselves. Remember, if you get injured you are going to be sitting on your couch. And the less time you are on the mat, the longer it will take you to improve your skills. Take the time to invest in your body. It will thank you for it.

DN

Featured Gimmick: The Bender Ball and The Bender Method

I am sure you have seen this infomercial on tv. This is from Master Trainer (please don't ask me what a Master Trainer is..... I have no idea) Leslee Bender. Apparently she has found a way to jack up you spine more than Pilates. Instead of herniating your discs from doing crunches, she suggests jamming a small ball into your back to increase the range of motion during crunching. Being a Master Trainer (I am actually beginning to giggle at that title), I am sure she realizes that doing this will cause a disc to herniate quicker. And also, since she is a Master Trainer, I am sure she is aware of this study:

Callaghan JP, McGill SM.
Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2001 Jan;16(1):28-37.

I am also sure that she has read pages 68-70 in Stuart McGill's book "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance".

Let me be serious for a second. Their are quite a few products out there like this where they shove something in your lumbar and give some crazy sales pitch like the one in the video. You will see these products on tv, in magazines and even at gyms. Stay away! Crunching sucks! Crunching on junk like this sucks more.

DN

Single Leg Squat: A better way

For those of you using the single leg squat, I am about to show you a much better way to train it that I learned from Mike Boyle a while back. Fist, take a second to look at the anatomy of the single leg squat as pictured below and in the last post. Pay attention to the non-working leg. What you will see is the hip of the non-working leg is having to isometrically contract for the entire duration of the set. The Psoas (hip flexor) originates and attaches at the transverse processes of L1-L5. So what you will commonly get from people with past or present back pain is a complaint of low back pain during or after the set. This is one of the reasons Stuart Mcgill chooses the "bowler squat" for his single leg squat training.

Here is how we train our single leg squat (notice the hip no longer has to flex as it is able to now stay relaxed):



Another thing to point out is that the athlete in the video is squatting to a depth of 14" with an additional 60 lbs load. Let's also add that he was unable to do a single leg body weight squat on his right leg to a 22" box when he first started :-) Hard work = PROGRESS!!

DN

Training Lower Body: Unilateral vs. Bilateral

First off, if you are not training single leg movements for the lower body, you are crazy. Life and sport is on one leg. You don't run two legs at a time..... rabbits do. Actually the reason for this post is not to state that single leg training is great for athletic performance or that it activates more stabilizers but rather to show that it is safer for most.

Here is what I want you to think about. If I were to have a 200 lbs person barbell squat (bilateral) 300 lbs, that would be a 300 lbs load on their back right? So that would be 300 lbs of spinal load. If I took the same person and performed a single leg squat variation (split squat, RFE split squat, SL squat) with 100 lbs, we would essentially have the same load on the lower body with FAR less load on the spine.

200 lbs person + 100 lbs load = 300 lbs (100 lbs would actually be a much, much larger load in a SL squat because the 300 lbs total would be on ONE leg. I am using the #'s to simplify)

Bodyweight really doesn't matter that much when squatting or deadlifting bilaterally but it definitely plays a HUGE part in unilateral exercises. I can't say that it is 100% of their bodyweight they are lifting but I would say it is a high percentage.

The thing is, many people have present or past low back issues. Single leg training is a great way to avoid exacberating or reintroducing back pain. I am not saying don't train the lower body bilaterally. I am just suggesting that most athletes and regular people don't need to train bilateral movements heavy if they can get it through single leg training.

I find myself using bilateral lower body training less and less with my clients and athletes. Everybody is getting so strong in the single leg exercises that I really don't miss the bilateral stuff.

For those of you using single leg squats, I will show you a better way to single leg squat in the next post.

DN

How to Warm-up

In general, warming up for 5-10 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment is a waste of time (unless it is for special populations, injured client, overweight, etc). If this is your warm-up, stop now. If your trainer warms you up this way, find a new trainer. If you are a trainer warming up your clients this way, SHAME ON YOU!! I hope you are not charging them for those 5-10 minutes. If you are, your a thief.

People need to move, stretch, and activate the muscles they are going to be using in their workout and in their sport. Warm-ups should start with slower movements that are a bit more static in nature. Progressively the movements should become more dynamic. Really, with a good warm-up, you should not be able to tell when the warm-up ends and where the workout begins.

Here is how we warm-up our athletes and clients:


Activation: We spend a few minutes with some mini-band walking and small exercises to turn on muscles that tend to be asleep. For most, this is the hips and scap stabilizers.




Movement Preparation: From activation, we get a little more dynamic and will roll right into some movement prep. This consists of lunging, squatting and crawling variations.





Movement Skills: Again, we get even more dynamic and progress into things like skipping, shuffling, cariocas, speed ladder work, etc.



That is pretty much what our warm-up consists of. From there we move into power work, with plyos, med balls, olympic lifts and variations of the olympic lifts. And next would be our strength work.

Warm-ups should always have a rhyme and a reason. Ask yourself, what, why and how. What needs to be warmed up? And what would be the best way to accomplish that? Hopefully your answer is not a treadmill.

DN

Flying Humans (A.K.A Someone bought the wrong hemp seeds)

It's 1:30 am. Insomnia is back. This is what I found on this sleepless evening. These guys are absolutely out of their mind!!


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

DN

Scap Stability

I thought I would post some of our favorite scap stability exercises. Many of our athletes tend to be a bit screwed up in the shoulder complex (and our normal clients due to sitting at the computer) when they first come in. We use a lot of different exercises but here are a few that we use very often:

YTLW - This is a version with a dowel that I adopted from Mike Boyle. With the dowel, they should actually be call IYLW. The dowel makes the athlete maintain a consistent arm position.


Scap Pushup - A nice one for the winging scapulae


Wall slide - A great "bang for your buck". Active lat/pec stretch while you turn on the scap stabilizers. I have posted this one a few times and I will say it again, the seated version is a progression. Begin standing.


Wall Crawl - Sue Falsone (head PT for Athletes' Performance) showed me this last year. Make sure your elbows don't flare as you crawl up the wall.


DN

Hemp Seeds?

Yes, hemp seeds rock!! This is my new favorite thing to throw in my shakes. I know what your thinking...... Dewey has become a complete reefer head and walks around all day saying "You wanna get high"..... (that was said in my best Towlie from South Park voice). But seriously, these things are very healthy!! Check out what is in a serving:

10 grams of Protein
3,000 mg of Omega 3
7,000 mg of Omega 6
1,750 mg of Omega 9
Essential Vitamins and Minerals

DN

"Grappling With The Truth": A Mike Robertson interview with Dewey Nielsen

I just recently did an interview with Mike Robertson. Mike is the President of Robertson Training Systems and the co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training (I-FAST) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mike has made a name for himself as one of the premier performance coaches in the world, helping clients and athletes from all walks of life achieve their physique and sports performance goals.

It was a real honor to do an interview with him.

Exclusive Interview: Dewey Nielsen

MR: Dewey, thanks for being with us here today! Please take a moment and tell my readers a little bit about yourself.

DN: I am a strength coach from Oregon. I am also an MMA/BJJ coach. I co-founded the Newberg Impact Jiu-jitsu and I am the co-founder of Impact Performance Training. I currently hold a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

MR: What got you into strength and conditioning? Were you an athlete yourself in the past?

DN: In High School I was actually more of a skater kid. I was really more drawn towards the extreme sports at that time. Although high school is actually where I fell in love with weightlifting. So, ever since then it has been a big passion of mine.

MR: How did you end up in your current niche of training fighters?

DN: I think the big reason is that because I am actually an MMA athlete and coach, I can really relate and understand the sport differently than many strength coaches. I know what it feels like to feel like crap by the end of the week and to have the bumps and bruises that come along with the sport. It is a great sport and some of the training demands are so much different than other traditional sports. Continue reading......

Power Endurance (offically the 100th post of this blog)

Q: You have emphasised the importance of power endurance for mixed martial arts. How do you train this component of strength?

A: This is an interesting one. The term "power endurance" is actually an oxy-moron but at the same time it is something that exists within combat sports.

Athletes first need to become proficient at the basics. They need to really be dialled in on their form, because as we get into training power endurance, form can deplete quickly. Once we have a solid strength and conditioning base, we will have athletes doing power endurance circuits which will be one exercise after another with almost no rest period. The circuits will be specifically put together to mimic the fight time, rest periods and rounds (ex: 5 minute circuit with 1 minute rest). We will combine power and strength exercises with some metabolic stations (ex: Airdyne sprint), use complexes along with specific drills like shooting, etc. Depending on how long the fight round is scheduled for, we would also use some active rest exercises. For example, many amatuer fights are 3 minute rounds, so the need for active rest would be less than a fight that is 5 minute rounds. So if the athlete has 3 minute fight rounds, it is going to be 3 minutes of hell!

There must be a logical progression to get athletes to train like this. It’s something that guys should not just jump into. If form gets too ugly, you increase the risk of injury and decrease the effects of training.

Here is a video of my friend Jon Chaimberg putting Denis Kang through and acyclical circuit. Our circuits look very much the same.



DN

IPT Beaverton

Thats right!! Another IPT location!!! Bigger and badder (is that a word?)!!

Over the holiday break, the fitness elves (big thanks to all that helped -- Carole, Phil P, Forrest, Phil S, and Bill O) snuck into IMPACT Beaverton and did some remodeling.

Here is what they added:

650 sq. feet of weight lifting area
two Olympic lifting platforms
over 375 kilos (825 lbs) of weights
dumbbells and kettle bells ranging from 5 lbs to 115 lbs.
3 plyo decks
20 ft long pullup bar
4 airdyne conditioning bicycles
over 30 ft. of med ball throwing wall
1150 sq. feet of multi-purpose training mat
LOTS more training gear will be added over the next few months ... so be sure to come and check it out!!!

Tom Oberhue and myself are very excited about the new facility. I will be at both locations in the near future........ so if you are in the Beaverton/Portland area, give us a call.

Here are some pictures of how it is looking so far:







IMPACT Performance Training - Results Driven Performance Training ... taking athletes to the next level! '09 is going to be a defining year!!!


DN

Random Stuff You Should Have

Here is a list of random things that I think everyone should have:

The Magic Bullet


This thing is a God send for blenders! It is small enough that it doesn't take up to much space in the kitchen but has enough power to blend up anything you throw in it. It also comes with some many different cups that you can make any size protein shake. Its not just for protein shakes though (although that is all I use it for)...... You can make salsa, peanut butter, grind coffee beans and a million more things. I don't know how I existed before the Magic Bullet!!


Gourmet Nutrition

Speaking of protein shakes....... once you get the Magic Bullet, make sure you pick up a copy of John Berardi's Gourmet Nutrition. It has some killer recipes for shakes that taste amazing. It also has a ton of recipes for meals that are healthy.


Lumbar Support


Here I go again, LUMBAR FLEXION SUCKS BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!!! If you know me, then you already know my opinion on crunches, situps, etc. I won't go on a rant. I think EVERYBODY should have a lumbar support in there car and if you have a "sit down" job, get one for your work too. This is a must!!! The best one I have used is one that Stuart McGill gave to me when I was in Montreal. It is called the LumbAir. Here are the specs:

"The LumbAir is a lumbar support that also promotes ideal posture and posture changes. It is easy to carry for use in cars, airplanes, theatres, or for home use.

The LumbAir is made with exclusive fabric that is immune to bacteria, fungus and body odour. It is guaranteed for one year against defects in materials and workmanship. The valves are guaranteed for life. The foam is engineered to last 15 years."

You can order a LumbAir here



Foam Roller


I know that most of my readers use a foam roller at the gym but I think everyone should have at home. Why wait to go to the gym roll out your aches and pains? Keep it in front of the tv and roll out when you are watching your favorite show (hopefully nothing that has Tyra Banks on it). A PB Elite Foam Roller will last much longer than a regular roller.

DN

Featured Gimmick: P90X

I have had numerous people ask me about P90X and I have to be honest....... I didn't know what the hell it was. I thought it was a new type of motorcycle or 4 wheeler. I just finally got around to checking it out and I cringed the whole time I was watching!

They use the science of "muscle confusion"...... (yes that is the sound of crickets you are hearing). Let me give you the scientific definition of "muscle confusion"

mus-cle con-fu-sion
A made up term that an uneducated trainer uses to cover up the fact that they don't understand periodization.

They are literally selling people on this "muscle confusion" word. Basically it is a bunch of exercises thrown together with no rhythm or rhyme and no thought process in the program design. High class garbage. Beyond that, I had a chance to check out the plyometric workout. This is where I stopped watching. I wrote about this before but I think the P90X plyo workout is a way better example of how NOT to train plyos.

Of course some people are going to say, "I lost this many pounds doing -insert gimmick here- so it has to work. Sure, you can lose weight and get stronger doing many things BUT realize it doesn't make it right and there is a better/safer way of doing it. I could burn a ton of calories doing forward rolls without a shirt on down a gravel driveway........ this doesn't make it a GOOD way to burn calories.

Whats next?

DN

How to Stretch Your Piriformis...... Correctly

A while back I read an article by a young strength coach, Nick Tumminilo about how the typical figure four piriformis stretching is actually stretching more of the posterior lateral hip capsule and may lead to problems such as hip impingement. I also just listened to Nick on a strengthcoach.com podacst talking about the same subject. Nick is a smart young man and you know what? He is right.

In the supine piriformis stretch and the standing leg cradle the hip is flexed above 90 degrees, externally rotated and abducted. This is actually putting the piriformis in shortened position, not a stretched position.


"The supine piriformis stretch is not an effective stretch for the piriformis"



"You can see the hip is obviously abducted during the leg cradle"

"In the neutral hip position the force vectors of piriformis action contribute to hip abduction, extension and lateral (external) rotation. It might be assumed that the hip must flex, adduct and medially rotate to stretch piriformis, but this isn't the case. As the hip flexes, the rotation moment of piriformis changes such that by full hip flexion it becomes a medial (internal) rotator." (Travell & Simons, 1992)
"The transition point for this change in action is considered to occur at about 60 degrees of hip flexion." (Kapandji 1970, Lee 1989)

In the article, Tumminilo states that "In order to effectively stretch the piriformis as an internal rotator (above 60 degrees of hip flexion) we need to place the hip into flexion, external rotation and adduction. You will see this occur in the protocol below."

So here is the strategy that Nick is using. I have been using it and I like it a lot.



DN

A Message to Trainers And Coaches (New Year's Resolution)

My friend Jon Chaimberg has a new DVD coming out soon and in it, he has a message to trainers and coaches. The summary of his message is to practice what you preach. The message may come off harsh to some but he makes a very good point. The truth hurts sometimes.

Too often I see trainers/coaches who are fat and out of shape or are postural, distorted train wrecks that cannot show a single exercise correctly. In fact, this is actually more common then seeing a trainer who CAN demonstrate correct form. This may sound like I am being negative towards out of shape people but I am not. I think it is BS for someone in this field to be out of shape (no matter the age) and be training other people. It is also BS if a coach cannot demonstrate an exercise and expect an athlete or client to perform the exercise correctly. I have even seen trainers give exercises to their clients that they have never even done personally.

"This guy probably isn't the best choice as a trainer"


I will be the first to say that I am not the strongest, fastest, leanest or most muscular trainer on the planet....... Not even close!! But, I do workout. I am in shape. I am trying to get stronger. I am trying to get leaner. If I give a client an exercise, I have done the exercise before and I CAN do it correctly.

It is the trainers at the commercial gyms (24 hr fitness, ballys, etc, etc) and tv shows like the biggest loser that make it embarrassing to be called a personal trainer. Guys and gals in the industry........ PLEASE get educated. For the price that they are paying, you owe it to your clients. Read a book every week. Watch a DVD every week. Attend seminars as often as possible. Learn progressions. Become a member to strengthcoach.com. And last but not least...... workout, eat clean and try to better yourself.