Rosencutter Ultra Fitness & Performance

I worked with a ton of triathletes and runners at the Milwaukee Multi Sport Expo last weekend and did mini assessments, soft tissue treatments and some basic exercise/movement coaching.  A majority of endurance athletes do not understand how they should be training outside of their specific sport activity.  Here is a list of important things that I discussed with many of the athletes and that can  help you if you are a runner or triathlete, etc. 

1.      Develop adequate muscular support.  Every time your foot strikes the ground while running, 5-7 times your bodyweight of force goes through your joints.  Without adequate support, injuries will come.  It is of utmost importance that you strength train appropriately if you run a lot of miles.  Long distance activities release excess amounts of cortisol, which tends to promote muscle atrophy.  If you don't build some muscle to balance out and assist all of the long duration activity, its not a matter of if but a matter of when an injury will occur. 

2.      Address muscular imbalances and movement faults. With repetitive activity such as that involved with endurance races, imbalances and patterns are bound to develop.  When muscles that work with one another are out of whack and/or movement along different joints is impaired, certain areas will become overloaded; leading to injury and decreased race times.   Movement faults and imbalances must be assessed and then addressed through appropriate exercises and tissue work to make sure that loads are distributed evenly among the kinetic chain.  A very common problem that I saw particularly at the expo is a lack of big toe extension on either one or both feet. When the big toe can't extend far enough, push off stresses are overloaded in other areas of the foot and the rest of the way up the body.  It can have effects all the way up to the head. Muscles such as the adductor hallucis can often be released to help improve movement here along with some mobilization drills and retraining push off patterns with gait. 

3.      Address postural issues-  With impaired posture such as rounded shoulders (kyphosis, a very common issue I see with runners), breathing will be less than efficient, which means your body has to work harder to deliver oxygen to your tissues; which means that you will not perform as well as you could.   Get the rib cage elevated, and breathing will be much more efficient which means that working tissues will have better oxygen supply which means that fatigue will not set in as easy.  Postural issues such as this also make running gait less than efficient, which can lead to injuries and wasted energy with each step. 

4.      Develop Max Strength- The nervous system must be trained to tap into a wider variety of muscle fibers and to do so more efficiently.  The more force you can put into the ground with each strike, the faster you will be.  The stronger you are, the easier your body has to work with each step.  Its like giving your body a bigger engine.  To do this, heavy weights must be lifted for multiple sets of 2-5 reps (specifics will depend on the athlete) in big bang exercises like squats, deadlifts, rows and presses.

5.      Develop Speed Strength- Training the nervous system to activate more fibers faster will make you faster and take time off of your race. This can be done with exercises such as speed squats and speed pulls,  for multiple sets of 2-10 reps.  For straight speed strength, the lower rep range will be used.  For speed strength endurance, the higher rep range will be used.  Unlike powerlifting speed work, where only the lower rep range for speed work is usually needed, endurance athletes will also need endurance speed work to be programmed in for optimal carryover to race performance. 

6.      Perform Free Motion Functional Movements with Strength Training To train for performance, muscular coordination, balance, stabilization and movement patterns must all be addressed with exercise.  This means that squatting, pulling, pushing, rotation and locomotive variations all better be addressed within a runner’s strength training program.  (Unless you run while sitting down on a pad while the rest of your body is stabilized for you that is).

7.      Develop Other Energy  Systems-  Endurance activities primarily train aerobic endurance; however, all energy systems are active to some extent.  Developing anaerobic capacity, anaerobic power and aerobic power will assist the aerobic system and will make you faster, more durable and will give you that extra kick when you need it.   Anaerobic capacity can be trained by performing high intensity intervals with an activity such as a sprint for a long period of time.  This trains the body to buffer substances such as hydrogen ions more effectively and trains the body to perform at higher intensities for a longer duration of time without gassing out.  Rest periods will be long enough to allow the body to generate sufficient intensity but not long enough to develop full power, which is mentioned next. 

Anaerobic power can be trained with a similar activity but with a longer rest period between rounds.  This trains the body to perform as fast and powerfully as possible while utilizing the fastest of the fast twitch muscle fibers.  Each individual round is more important here. 

Training for aerobic power trains the heart to pump blood stronger with each beat and betters the aerobic system's ability to work effectively (i.e. deliver oxygen) towards higher intensity ranges and heart rates.  Increasing the heart's performance here will make aerobic endurance feel like cake.  This is done with fairly high intensity activities with the heart rate towards the upper end of the aerobic range and lower end of anaerobic range. The intensity and heart rate is not quite as high as anaerobic work (which can get up to 180+) but it is significantly higher than typical aerobic endurance work (150-160 vs. 120-140) and the work to rest ratio is generally 1-1 to 1-0.5.   Sprints, prowler work, sled work, jump rope, kettlebell drills and battle ropes are all good options to train these qualities.  I highly recommend checking out Ultimate MMA Conditioning by Joel Jameison and Block Periodization by Vladimir Issurin to learn more about specific energy system development.  Bill Hartman also has tons of great info on specific energy system development.  Priceless sources full of great information!

8.      Develop Fast Twitch Oxidative Fibers-  Your body has different muscle fiber types.  There are two fast twitch types.  Although primarily used for high intensity power movements,  one fast twitch type has quite the potential to assist with endurance, known as fast twitch oxidative fibers.  Developing these fibers can go a long way with assisting your performance.  These will be developed pretty well with anaerobic capacity and aerobic power training discussed above (there will usually be some overlap between training with these two qualities).  To develop these specific fibers, performing activity that is intense enough to activate the proper motor units must be done over and over again for long periods of time. A couple examples that I like to use include the following.  Pad or Prowler pushing with a decently heavy weight is done for ~8-10 second trips every 20 seconds for up to 20-25 minutes.  Squats in the 90% intensity range are done for 1-2 reps every 20-30 seconds for up to 20 minutes. This is brutally hard work but will pay off in huge dividends for any endurance athlete as developing the oxidative capacity of these fibers will give lots of assistance to the slow twitch fibers that are usually relied heavily upon during a race. 

9.      Develop Slow Twitch Fibers-  These fibers are heavily relied upon with endurance activities.  Specifically training them in the weight room can make them stronger and help them to reach their full potential.  Many people don't realize that these fibers can actually be developed outside of endurance activities.  A great way to do this is by using a fairly slow tempo with exercises.  Performing an exercise such as a row with a 3 second eccentric and 3 second concentric phase will train these fibers; thus, helping them to perform better when called upon in a race. 

10.  Do Something Other than Your Usual Events-  If you do anything at all, at least perform some other form of training, as doing the same activity and nothing else will limit your progress.  Adaptation is one of the most basic laws of performance.  Your body will adapt to what you do.  If all you do is run, bike, etc. you will only improve so much.  Developing all of these other qualities will provide your body with the change and shock that it needs to improve and will give it the true help that it needs from all of the appropriate systems. 


Remember, random training equals random results.  Create your goal, develop a plan to reach it and work hard. 

 

Could the competitive stage be in her future?

The last transformation story featured Joe Becker.  Joe has a favorite quote that was written by the man himself, Louie Simmons.  "Some men grow older, others grow stronger."  This is a brilliant quote and I'm going to go ahead and change "men" to "people." In this month's feature, Veronica Ariens, aka Big Ron the Ripper, will be featured and she is the definition of this quote. 

At 61 years young, she outtrains and outperforms most people in their twenties.  She is truly an inspiration.  Over the course of the last year, she has dropped around 9% bodyfat and is now in the low 20 percent range, which is considered excellent for females at any age let alone over 50. She has also shed inches off of her waist and abdomen. She can knock out pushups and pullups with the best of em, squat and deadlift well over her bodyweight and has developed the conditioning of an animal.

Even more impressive, she follows some amazingly consistent eating habits and it shows in both her physique and performance.  She has even been asked on more than one occasion if she is a cop.  There are some clients that, with a little guidance and direction, will go above and beyond what you would normally expect and take things into their own hands in order to push limits and achieve their goals.  Ronnie is one of those clients.  Even when she is not working directly with me, she gets in for extra workouts multiple days a week with her partner Gwen (who I'm sure will be featured soon as well).

Any females (and males for that matter) that think pain, injuries and osteoporosis are all that await you as you grow older and that you can't train hard and be an athlete after college have proof right here.  Get better everyday; there are no excuses.  In addition to the body comp changes in the pics below, take note of the great postural improvements all the way up and down the body, both in rotation and flexion/extension.  Big congratulations to Ronnie, keep up all of the amazing work!!

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After



Get to work kids.

Ronnie in action

I recently wrote an article for Exercisesforinjuries.com.  Its being posted as a series and the first part can be read now HERE  Be sure to check it  out and share it with friends and colleagues if you like it.  I discuss my journey to coming back stronger from a back injury including what issues that I had that gave me problems, training mistakes I've made and learned from, exercises and training I've done to come back stronger than ever and advice for anyone trying to get through an injury or setback with their training.  Give it a read!!
And dont miss
PART 2

This awesome transformation has taken place over the course of the last 4 months.  The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

Joe came in to see me back in August and said that he wanted to take his body to higher levels that he'd never taken it before.  When I first consult with a potential client, I can usually tell within a few minutes whether or not they are serious and going to be successful with what they claim they want to do.  I knew right away that this guy was going to be successful with any goal he set. He wanted to get strong, powerful, ripped and in awesome overall shape.  Well, in 4 months hes accomplished more than many people do in 4 years.

Strength? Joe went from struggling to perform a proper bodyweight squat to front squatting 300 pounds.  He went from never really deadlifting at all to pulling 315 for reps.  He took his bench from 185 to 225.

Ripped?  Joe dropped around 11% bodyfat and 10 pounds.  He lost inches off his waist and hips and put on muscle everywhere else.  He dropped at least 8 millimeters on every single body fat site, including 20 on his abdomen site alone!! Look at the pics if you don't believe it. 

Great overall shape?  Kettlebell swing intervals, prowler pushing, box jumps, band sprints, circuits, sled work and plenty of specific energy system development to go along with the strength and muscle development. Movement and neuromuscular coordination has improved and back pain is gone.

Joe works extremely hard both in and out of the gym to better himself.  By training to get stronger and performing the proper conditioning along with practicing good diet including upping his eating frequency, cutting down processed food and getting ample protein, he has gotten himself along a successful path to a new body.  Sky's the limit from here.  May this be a piece of motivation to anybody out there who wants to change their life and body.  Stay tuned for more transformation stories coming up!

Before

Training has been going great as of late and I'm feeling real close to 100%.  I can almost taste that platform!!  Just want to share a couple of workouts I had last week that were great. 
Saturdays squat and deadlift workout looked like this.

Box squat w/ avg bands (add ~ 140lbs at the top) 135lbsx2 185lbsx2 225lbsx2 275lbsx2 300lbsx1 315lbsx1 PR 325lbsx1 (465lbs at top w/ the bands) PR 225lbsx5  These felt great and my squat feels stronger than ever.  Could've went heavier but want to be smart and work up gradually.  Those bands are intense. 

Rack pulls from below knees w/76lbs of chains 135lbsx2 185lbsx2 225lbsx2 275lbsx2 315lbsx2 365lbsx2 405lbsx1 (~480lbs w/ chains) 315lbsx5 
These felt great and again, I could've gone much heavier but want to be smart and work up gradually. Moved these pretty fast. Think I'll be good for a 600 pull before you know it.

Bulgarian split squat 52lb kb offset 3x8-12 w/ pause

Glute ham raise  avg band 3x10-12   Pulled the band over my shoulders.  Glute hams w/ band tension are killer.  I've done these with an average and light band for reps recently.

Band one leg curl avg band 2x8-12

Long strap reverse hyper +180lbsx~20 +230lbs 2x15-20

Rotating side bridges, offset farmers carries, calves

Overall great workout.  I'm feeling stronger than ever and all of the glute and stability work I've done during my time off of heavy bilateral squatting and pulling has definitely paid off! Here are a couple of vids from the workout. 

A couple days before this workout, I had a great upper body session and hit a 205 overhead press before just missing 215.  I've really been focusing on getting my overhead strength up as its something I feel that I need since I haven't focused on it in awhile.  Should be interesting to see how it helps my bench. 
Workout looked like this.
Thursday
Seated Military Press off rack 135lbsx1 155lbsx1 185lbsx1 205lbsx1 PR 215lbs miss 205lbsx1 175lbsx5 PR

Close Grip 3board press 185lbsx5 225lbsx5 245lbsx5 265lbsx5 185lbsx5  Didn't push these real hard but felt pretty good.

Chest supp row +45lbsx5 +70lbsx5 +90lbsx5 +115lbsx5 PR +125lbsx5 PR +115lbsx5 +45lbsx8 ( I say plus because the lever has weight and a strong angle of pull)  Felt strong on these today

One arm pulldown 70lbs 3x8

Incline db press 95lbs 2x12 PR 97.5lbsx8  Good reps here.

Chest supp Y  2x12 I 2x20

Low  cable cross  3x8

Db arc row  3x10-12     
One arm rev curl  3x8, one arm cable curl  2x8
One arm overhead extension 3x8-10, band pushdowns 2x12-15
Ext rotation at side 30lbs, 25lbs 2x8-10

Overall pretty good workout. Feeling good and strong.  Excited to keep going at it and hopefully get into a meet this winter or spring.  I'll keep you all posted on my progress. Definitely feels amazing to squat and pull heavy again. 

This may come as a surprise to some people but guess what?  We have known what works for getting people into great shape for years and years.  There really is no hidden secret on how to get into great shape.  The only thing that has changed and continues to change is that there is more and more stupid and senseless misinformation that comes out, ultimately making it harder for those who don't know to figure out what they need to do.  Today, I'm going to give you one giant piece of advice that is guaranteed to help you make progress with whatever your goals may be.  GET STRONGER!!!

Strength is the one physical quality that will have positive effects on pretty much every other physical quality.  It will make you faster, jump higher, improve cardiovascular performance, prevent injury, improve power output, improve quickness, better coordination, build more muscle, lose more fat, increase bone density and the list goes on.  On the contrary, spending too much time on a quality like aerobic endurance can have negative effects on strength and other qualities (if not programmed properly).   Strength is the root quality that needs to be developed regardless of goals, plain and simple!

So, forget all of the garbage.  Forget about counting your calories down to a t (unless you need to for some specific reason of course, i.e. bodybuilding show), forget about worrying about how many calories you are burning during a workout, forget about what the latest magazine said about the "new" workout that will shed 20 pounds in 2 days, forget about what the  skinny fat self proclaimed commercial gym "expert" says about the 20 supplements and 30 hours of cardio you supposedly need to do every week, forget about what your friend's dad's doctor told him about exercise and focus on getting stronger.  Set some goals in the big bang exercises.  Try to add 20 pounds to your squat or deadlift.  Try to do 10 pullups with your bodyweight.  Try to press or row 10 more pounds.  Add another plate to the sled.  Push the prowler for 2 more rounds with ten more pounds.  Push yourself past limits and gain STRENGTH.  If you do this, you are guaranteed to make progress and get results.  You will build more muscle, you will lose more fat, you will perform better on the field, you won't get hurt picking up a pencil and you will grow stronger as a person both mentally and physically. 

If you feel lost with your training, simplify things.  Just get stronger!!!  And like I always say, consult a qualified professional to at least set you on the right path with programming and technique.  LIVE STRONG BABY!!

Thats Samantha. She has built a rockin body by pushing herself past limits and striving to get stronger.  Shes not lifting 2lb pink dumbbells, performing endless hours of cardio on the elliptical or starving herself to be "skinny."  Shes lifting heavy things and breaking goals and personal records.  Thats close to 200 pounds shes pulling there and she does the same with squats; not to mention knocks out around 8 bodyweight pullups and around 30 pushups.  The results? An awesome body that is strong, fit and functional that many set out wanting when they begin their workout journeys.  The recipe is there for you folks, you just gotta make it happen!!

My mentor, friend and colleague Mike Robertson has released yet another brilliant product- Complete Core Fitness.  It is a great webinar that covers everything from functional anatomy to exercise and training progressions for developing optimal "core" function.  There are a lot of misconceptions and bogus recommendations out there when it comes to "core training" and even on what "core" truly means.  This product gives the truth about how to properly train the core and properly develop the hips and trunk.  I would highly recommend it to any professionals or trainees interested in learning more about the topic and how to prevent hip/back issues and develop optimal performance.  It is worth every penny and comes with some great bonus products as well, including an e-manual by yours truly.  You can check it out here.

I recently finished reading a great book called Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. It is a book that gets very in depth into the science and physiology behind stress and the effects that it has on all aspects of the body. Stress is a huge factor when it comes to exercise and training since what you are basically doing with exercise is generating a stress on the body; physiologically, anatomically and psychologically.

One major thing that you need to understand when it comes to stress is that there is eustress and distress; eustress being a healthy and beneficial stress while distress is an undesirable stress to be dealing with. Stress can influence everything from diseases to fat storage to mental breakdowns. For the purposes of this writeup, I am going to discuss how stress relates to exercise. To begin, lets get into the title of the book and what it basically means. It really does give a great overview of stress and how it relates to humans in society today from a generalized viewpoint.

Reading the title, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, ask yourself the question. Why is it that zebras don't get ulcers? Our nervous system can be broken up into the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The PNS can be divided into the somatic and autonomic nervous system. The ANS can be divided into the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system. These are the components that function unconsciously. The sympathetic is usually understood by the phrase “Fight or Flight.” It is activated during periods of arousal and physical stress. The parasympathetic nervous system is usually understood by the phrase “Rest and Digest.” It is active during periods of relaxation and rest, or during most periods of an average animal's day (normally, though we will soon see that this is not always the case today).

If you look at an animal like the zebra, the only real stressful situation that it needs to worry about is getting chased by a lion or some other predator. When it gets chased by a lion, its sympathetic nervous system is going full force and there are various physiologic changes that occur, including the release of specific hormones, one of these major groups of hormones called glucocorticoids. Basically, the body sets itself up to efficiently and effectively fuel muscular activity so that the zebra can sprint away from that lion and stay alive so that it can go graze in its field again. The key thing to realize here is that while there is a sympathetic stress response that occurs, the zebra uses up all of the hormones and substrates that are released and things inside the body return to normal; and parasympathetic state comes back shortly after. With humans today, there are an unlimited number of occurrences that can stimulate the fight or flight response. Relationships, work problems, traffic jams, bills, annoying people that make you wanna break things, exams, essay deadlines, processed foods and the list goes on. There are tons of things that release these hormones, increase heart rates, stimulate specific brain centers, etc. and they can do this multiple times a day, every day. It is generally a stressful society that we live in today. Zebras don't have to worry about these kinds of things.  The problem with this is the following. When these things happen in the body as a response to stress, most people are usually not sprinting away from a lion and therefore do not use up the “fuel” that the body produces. Glucocorticoids build up, blood pressure gradually adapts and rises, fat storage increases, atherosclerosis develops, diabetes comes about, ulcers form, anxiety develops, brain cells are worn out and the list goes on. This brings me to my main point of this article.

It is an ABSOLUTE MUST to get in a decent amount of effective exercise in order to combat these effects. Strenuous enough exercise can use up the “fuel” that is produced with the fight or flight response and help return the body to its normal resting state. Exercise also creates a good stress to the body that will help it adapt and get stronger and better. The trick involves a couple of important points to consider. The exercise must be strenuous enough to both relieve the effects of the bad stress and generate enough good stress without going overboard and causing more bad stress. Overtraining needs to be avoided as this can add fuel to the bad stress fire that is already burning for many people.  This means that doing a few curls with 2lb dumbbells or using a shake weight at Planet Fitness is not going to be anywhere near strenuous enough for most people.  It also means that doing max effort squats and deadlifts before running balls out sprints 5 days a week, every week is going to be far too much for the body to adapt to and recover from effectively. 

People who experience a lot of daily stress and do not perform any physical activity will enter a viscous cycle that will bring about detrimental effects both mentally and physically. So give your body some healthy stress through exercise and save yourself a lot of trouble while making yourself healthier mentally and physically. As an added bonus, if you ever do find yourself getting chased by a lion, you'll be much more prepared to get away safely.

Brian St Pierre did some great guest blogging over at Eric Cressey's site on the truth about dairy.  In depth info about grass fed/antibiotic free vs grain fed/given antibiotics, hormones, etc. ,whole milk vs skim milk and raw vs pasteurized milk. Be sure to check out his 3 piece series.  part1,   part2  ,   part3    

So I am finally finished with massage therapy school.  With the high volume of training I've been doing and the final intense stages of school, I have not had much time to do any extensive writing lately.  Now that I am done with school and the national board exam, I plan on getting some more frequent writing in.  To kick things off, I have written an article for Suite 304's newsletter (Miller SWC and Hands on Inc.) and want to share with you an experience that one of my clients recently went through.  You can find the article on my articles page.  Read about Kaz's adventure below!!

One of my wonderful clients, Kathy Kas Amby aka Kaz (which coincidentally happens to be the nickname of a legendary powerlifter and strongman) recently competed in a powerlifting meet for the senior olympics.  She won the women's division and did an awesome job.  It was great to watch her go through her training leading up to the meet and then go out there and tear it up when it counted.  She finished with a 135 squat that was easy; she definitely could have hit more and will for sure next time.  She then hit a 65 pound bench press before just missing 80 pounds.  To finish her day off, she pulled an awesome 160 pound deadlift that solidified the win. She accomplished these great lifts after only just under 2 months of powerlifting specific training.  Awesome job Kaz and may her performance and determination be an inspiration to everybody!!! Check out some pics and vids below!!