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

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!!

I attended the Perform Better Summit in Chicago this past weekend for the second year in a row and as expected, it was another great learning experience.  I got to listen to and observe many great presenters and catch up with and meet friends and professionals from all over the country.  One great presenter that I saw was John Berardi, of Precision Nutrtition.  Berardi is one of the best, if not the best, nutrition experts on the planet.  He put forth a very simple, yet amazingly effective idea.  It is the concept of focusing on one small habit or goal at a time. 

Whether we are talking about exercise or nutrition, this concept can go a long way.  It is something that is overlooked far too often by many. Instead of trying to accomplish a hundred things at one time, picking one or two key things is usually much more effective.  With an exercise program, trying to get as strong as possible, as lean as possible, as aerobically endurable as possible, as powerful as possible and also trying to balance out the muscles around the pelvis and trunk because you have lower crossed syndrome along with a right external oblique that is not up to par with the left external oblique, all at the same time will most likely lead to less than desirable results.  Can it be done? Maybe.  With the right person and situation; but in most cases it will work much better to focus on a couple of key qualities at one time and progress/shift focuses when needed. 

This same concept carries over to coaching exercises. When I'm coaching, I usually coach one or two key things at a time.  New variables can be added in the next workout or maybe the next set depending on the situation and the person.  For example, if I am teaching a beginner how to squat, it would not be very effective if I said get tall, sit back, chest up, push your knees out, push your stomach out, keep your trunk tight, back locked in, grip the floor, drive through your glutes as you stand, etc. all at one time.  It would be ridiculous and overwhelming.  With a beginner in this situation, I might say get tall and sit back.  These are two key things that will help develop a good squat pattern.  Once they are nailed in, I can add in some more detail such as pushing the knees out/spreading the floor and filling the stomach with air before descending.  Keeping it simple and focusing on one aspect of technique at a time goes a long way.

When it comes to programs, many uninformed trainees constantly try the newest program that they see in a magazine or on the internet that promises to add 5 inches to their arms or 50 pounds to their bench in 5 weeks, without ever allowing ample time for their bodies to adapt and make any kind of real progress.  Of course, it is important to advance to different programs after a certain amount of time (depends on the physical quality and situation) but enough time must be given on one program to allow actual progress and progression to be made.  Changing programs every week will usually lead to no real progress and even regression.  Keep it simple. Allow the results to come and focus on the task at hand.  You aren't going to add 5 inches to your arms or a thousand pounds to your bench in 5 weeks anyway.  It takes time and dedication to get real results. 

This can also carry over to exercise selection.  You don't need fancy machines and crazy weight/bosu ball combos to get a great and effective workout.  Stick to the tried and tested basics.  Do your squat variations, deadlift variations, push, pull, move heavy stuff, sprint, etc. and give your body a stimulus to make it get better.  If you had to, you could make an entire workout out of a bodyweight squat.  You don't need a building full of fancy crap to get an awesome workout in and make yourself better.

Berardi related this concept to nutrition.  Instead of telling someone to eat protein at every meal, get 5 servings of veggies, 4 servings of fruits, take fish oils, drink more water, eat grass fed beef, eat a cup of almonds, get protein after a workout, cut down on soda and candy, etc. all at once, it can be much more effective to pick one small habit at a time.  He uses this concept effectively with many many clients through his Precision Nutrition coaching program.  One small and attainable habit or goal is focused on for two weeks and if that habit is successfully established after the two weeks, a new habit is introduced.  If it is not, a different one might be tried.

Nutrition is often the hardest thing to get clients to be compliant with because I am not following them around all day when they aren't at the gym.  During a workout, I can see technique, instruct on what to do next, etc. but I do not have direct control over what goes on the other tons of hours that they are outside of the gym on their own. For people who have had bad nutrition habits for any appreciable amount of time, it can be very hard to get things on track.  Coming into the gym and busting your ass a few days a week is great but if you go and eat processed garbage the other hundred some hours that are outside of the gym, progress will be halted, straight up.  So helping the client to decide on a small habit that they believe they can adapt can help tons. An example may be eating a serving of vegetables at 3 meals for the day.  This would be the goal for the next two weeks.  Not too hard to achieve, right?  Eventually this habit will be automatic and a new one can be added in.  These things will add up and the client will be much more successful.  It is something that I plan on using much more often with certain clients and their nutrition habits. 

This concept can also carry over to many other things in life.  For me right now, I train clients during the day, have school at night and then have plenty of things to do to stay on top of these major things. Instead of trying to accomplish fifty things at once, I will pick a few select goals each day and get them done.  If I have something due for school, I'll focus on getting that done.  If I have a program that needs to be written for a client, I'll get that done.  If you have to pay some bills, go to the bank, play with the kids, get reading done, catch up on stuff for work, etc.,  pick the most important things and focus on them at one time.  Prioritize and keep things simple.  Guess what, exercise and proper nutrition should always be at the top of the list.  I always hear people complain about how they have no time to exercise.  This is just not true.  I don't care if its 20 minutes a few times a week.  There is always a way to make time.  Make that workout one of your habits or your focus for the day and it will happen.

Simple can go a long way.  End of story.

Does anybody have any examples or thoughts on this concept?

This man knew a thing or two about keeping it simple

I had a couple of really great workouts this past week and figured Id share them. Wednesday looked something like this.

Wednesday   Today was my max effort/high intensity lower body day.
Yoke bar reverse lunge 132lbsx3 172lbsx3 222lbsx3 237lbsx3 PR 172lbsx5 
This was the third week of a heavy cycle for this exercise; felt pretty strong.  I've been cycling between single leg work and bilateral work to make sure I give my back a break and keep things balanced out. I can definitely say that when I do squat or pull now, I feel more stable and stronger than ever.  All of the heavy single leg work and special hip and oblique work has paid off.
One leg rdl w/ farmers bar 90lbsx3 130lbs 2x3 110lbsx3
Felt good; really hammering out the single leg work right now.  The farmers bar works great for one leg rdl's.  I put 35's on and load it up from there; this allows you to pull the weight off the floor like a regular deadlift each rep. Killer exercise all around.
Bulgarian split squat 76lbs of chain 35lb db’s (70lbs) or 146lbs x8 130lbs2x8  These are killer in the middle of the workout; I believe this was the fourth week I did these for reps. I've been doing them with a slight pause in the bottom. They smoke me every time.
Roller Reverse Hyper +50lbs 3x12 +70lbsx12
I did these with a slight pause in the top.  The entire back side of my body feels great after them.  Great exercise to strengthen your posterior chain, improve glute function and keep your back healthy.
Single lying leg curl 50lbs 3x6-8
Noticed a difference in where my feet were trying to press into the plate during glute ham raises a couple of weeks ago so I've been doing these to make sure I hit my hamstrings evenly.
Bird dog w/ abduction  blue mini 2x8 each way
Finishing off the glutes and low back extensors nicely
Half kneeling cable hold 40lbs 2x6-8 each way
Training the obliques and hips to stabilize squarely; these are killer
Standing abs 50lbsx12 60lbsx12  One of my favorite ab exercises for carry over to deads and squats.  I do these with a neutral spine and move through the hips like a reverse deadlift

Wall press abs for reps, calf work.  No conditioning today as I was feeling pretty cashed and was running out of time.

Thursday   Had a good lifting crew today for once.  Four of us going at it with good intensity and hard music blasting.  Awesome session. Today I did my max effort work, heavy upper back and lat work and and incline db work; then hammered my arms especially triceps; finished with some cuff and scap work.
Floor Press w/ red band (adds ~60lbs at the top) 185lbs+bandsx1 225lbs+bandsx1 255lbs+bandsx1 275lbs+bandsx1 285lbs+bandsx1 PR 185lbs+bandsx12
This was the third week of a max effort cycle for banded floor presses.  I hit a nice pr with the 285+bands.  I did 5's and 3's the previous two weeks.  Will do db presses for reps the next couple weeks then go to a new max effort exercise after. 
Rack Lockouts 315lbsx5 345lbsx3 365lbsx3 400lbsx1
I set the pins so that I'm pressing the top half of the press.  Loaded these up and felt real strong.
Half kneeling cable row 100lbsx5 110lbs3x5 75lbsx12
Been really focusing on getting quality retraction and proper lower trap recruitment with these
Incline db press 85lbs 3x8
Neutral grip pullups 22lb chain 3x8-10 bwx8
Rolling db extensions 40lbsx8 50lbs 3x8 /  One arm band pushdown orange 3x8-12      Gotta have strong triceps for a strong press
High incline db curls 40lbs 3x8 / One arm rev cable curl 50lbs 3x7-8
Incline db flies 35lbs 3x12 w/ pause  (extra pec work)
I’s/T’s 10lbs 3x12-15 Y’s 5lbs 3x20  (gotta have strong scap function and strong, balanced trapezius muscles.  My lower traps have come a long way and are feeling good.
Face pull on pulldown machine 3x8-12
External rotation at side 3x10-12

Added in a few rounds of battle ropes to get some conditioning in.
Overall great workout; felt very strong all day.

Basically combining some powerlifting and bodybuilding stuff right now.  The upper day from this write up is basically my more intense day and has more of a chest and back focus after my max effort work.  The other upper day is done on Sunday or Monday and involves an overhead press followed by more of a delt and arm focus.  I do hit everything to some extent on both days however.  For lower, I have one day that is more intense like the one from this write up and one day that is a little bit easier depending on how I feel.  One day I usually do either a heavier single leg exercise or semi heavy squat or pull and the other I do either a moderate single leg exercise, speed squat or pull, or sled or prowler work.  Glutes, hamstrings, and obliques are hammered out during both workouts (I work quads too; they just don't need as much focus right now).  I definitely try to blitz my legs extra hard on Wednesday (like the one on this writeup).  I then have a couple of extra workouts I do on other days or later on these days that involves some type of mild conditioning workout or weak point/recovery work.  One might look like this:  light sled drags, side bridges, high rep reverse hypers, calf work.  My training regimen is ever changing depending on my goals and focus at the time so its hard to explain everything but this is a current idea of how my training looks.

Back feels good; not quite ready for max effort deads yet but getting there. (had a tear near the 12th rib attachment site of QL and iliocostalis)  I'm thinking about doing a bench only meet or possibly a bodybuilding show.  I need to compete in something soon; thats for sure. 

Perform Better summit in Chicago this weekend; should be a great time and a great opportunity to learn some great new things.

Train hard !