Rosencutter Ultra Fitness & Performance - Blog

Good Read

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:25:24 -0800

Great article by Mike Rousell on adiponectin, a hormone released from fat cells that helps increase insulin sensitivity, calorie burning, curb appetite, increase muscle efficiency and lean you out. Read the article to find out what you can do to increase its production in your body HERE

Stay tuned for upcoming articles from me on the importance of aerobic development, off ice figure skating training and self soft tissue methods!!!

Muscle Imbalance Revealed 3.0

Sun, 06 May 2012 21:30:29 -0800

Whether you are talking about fitness or strength and conditioning training, therapeutic training, getting rid of pain or anything along these lines, proper muscle balance and proper movement from the right areas at the right time is absolutely essential. When it comes to the lower body, issues from the pelvis down to the foot can have major effects on the outcomes of training.

Muscle Imbalances Revealed is a great product that covers assessments, exercises and movement training to help clients of all levels fix imbalances , improve performance and get rid of pain. It features over 6 hours of webinars and presentations from great professionals including Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, Rick Kaselj, Eric Beard, Kevin Yates and Dean Somerset addressing everything from hip and pelvic function to ankle and foot mechanics. The new 3.0 edition features extra content including a bonus e-manual from myself. This product is full of amazing information that fitness, strength and conditioning, therapy and rehab professionals can all learn and benefit from. I pick something new up everytime I go through one of the presentations. If you are in the industries and want a great product that you can learn from in the comfort of your own home, I highly recommend checking out MIR 3.0 out!!!
Muscle Imbalances Revealed 3.0

Great Read- "Just Because a Doctor Said It"

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:18:07 -0800

Great article on Tony Gentilcore's blog by Joe Lightfoot about the "gap" between a medical doctor and a qualified strength and conditioning professional. Check it out HERE

Training update

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:48:34 -0800

Training has been going great the last 4-5 months and I've been hitting some nice weights on multiple lifts. I'm hoping to get back on the platform this summer. Heres video of my workout from yesterday where I work up to a 675lb reverse band rack deadlift and a 315lb zercher squat for 5 reps; the rest of the workout is listed in the video after the main lifts.

I'll list a couple of other notable workouts I've had lately in no particular order.

Max floor press week 1
Floor Press w/ 40lbs of chain 135lbsx3 185lbsx3 225lbsx3 245lbsx3 275lbsx3 PR 285lbsx2 (325lbs w/chains) PR 225lbsx12
Lockouts (pin3, ~top half of press) 225lbsx3 315lbsx3 335lbsx3 365lbsx3 405lbsx2 PR
Incline db press 85lbs 3x15-10
Chest supp row 1platex5 2platesx5 2plates&25lbx5 2plates&35lbx5 3platesx4.5
One arm pulldown 60-80lbs 3x7-8
Rolling db extensions 40lbs 2x8-10 50lbsx8 45lbsx8 Chain extensionsx20
One arm rev curl 65lbs 3x8
Chest supp Y 12lbs 3x10-15
External rotation at side 15lbs 2x12

Max floor press week 2
Floor Press w/ 32lbs of chain 135lbsx3 185lbsx3 225lbsx1 275lbsx1 300lbs2x1 PR (340lbs w/ chains)
225lbsx~10
One arm face pull 30-60lbs 5x8-12 (in between sets)
Rack lockouts (hole 3) 225lbsx3 315lbsx3 365lbsx2 405lbsx1 315lbsx8
Incline db press 85lbs 3x8-15
Chest supp row +45lbsx5 +70lbsx5 +90lbsx5 +125lbsx5 +115lbsx6PR +90lbsx10
One arm pulldown 60lbs 3x8
Db extensions 40lbsx8 band pushdowns grey 3x8-10
One arm rev cable curl 50lbs 3x8
One arm chest supp Y 15lbs 3x8-10
Ext rotation at side 3x10-12

Max Box Squat week 1 at Badgers Facility
Buffalo Bar Box Squat w/ 88lbs of chains (buffalo bar is 52lbs) worked up to 282lbs+chainsx3 322lbs+chainsx3 (410lbs) PR 332lbs+chainsx2 (420lbs) PR 332lbs+chainsx3 232lbs+chainsx8
Trap Bar Deadlift 1platex5 2platesx5 3platesx5 4platesx5 3platesx5
One leg glute ham raise 3x8
One leg belt squat machine 3x8 (+10-+45lbs)
Reverse hypers +90lbs 3x~20reps
Hanging leg raises, high to low rope chops, offset farmers carry
Clams/side leg raises/psoas raises/adductions
Belt squatx20/belt pullx20 3rds nonstop airdynex20s

Max Box Squat week 2
Saturday
Box Squat w/ ~80lbs of chain 135lbsx3 185lbsx3 225lbsx1 275lbsx1 315lbsx1 335lbsx1 355lbsx1 PR 365lbsx1 PR (445lbs w/chains) 315lbsx5 PR 225lbsx6
Yoke Bar Good Morning off rack 132lbsx5 172lbsx5 222lbsx5 262lbsx5
One leg press 2platesx8 3plates 2x8 3plates&25lbx8
One leg glute ham raise 2x8 ghr w/ grey band 3x8-10
One leg reverse hyper short strap +70lbs 3x8 Lateral kb lunge 52lbs 3xreps
High to low chop 90lbs 2x8 Hanging leg raise straight and to sides 2xreps
Offset kb carry 52lbs 2x fwd and bwd

From about a month back
Wednesday
Front Reverse Lunge 95lbsx5 135lbsx5 185lbsx5 235lbsx5 PR 205lbsx5 135lbsx5 w/ pause
Barbell One leg hip thrust 135lbsx5 155lbs2x5 135lbsx5
Tall kneeling cable hold 40lbs 2x8
Hanging circumductions 3xreps
High to low chop 80lbs 2x8
Long strap reverse hyper +90-+140lbs 3x12-20

A couple weeks ago
Speed Box Squat 135lbs+greensx2 185lbs+greensx2 205lbs+greens ~6x2
Speed Deads 135lbsx2 225lbs 4x2
Step up 135lbsx5 185lbsx5 215lbsx5 225lbsx5 PR
One leg bb hip thrust 135lbsx5 155lbs2x5
Reverse Hyper long strap +180lbs 3x12-20
Tall kneeling cable hold 50lbs 2x8
Hanging/cap chair oblique/leg raises 3xreps
High to low chop 90lbs 2x8
One leg calf raise/ reverse raises

A couple months ago
Saturday one
Reverse Band Box Squat w/ greens straight weight warmup 135,225,315 bands on 365lbsx1 405lbsx1 455lbsx1 495lbsx1 505lbsx1 PR 405lbsx5
Sumo Deads off rack (floor level, speed) 225lbsx5 315lbsx3 365lbsx2 335lbsx3 315lbsx5
Sled Drag 5-6plates fwd bwd 3 trips
Reverse Hypers long strap one leg/dbl leg 180-230lbs 4x8-10
Back extensions 2x15-20 w/ rotation on 2nd set/ reverse hyper 180lbsx20
Hanging leg/knee raise 3x15-20 Horizontal cable chop 70lbs2x8
Suitcase hold 115lbs2x6
Band one leg curl grey 3x12
One leg calf raise/reverse 3x6

Saturday two
Zercher Squat off rack w/ yoke bar 122lbsx3 172lbsx3 222lbsx3 262lbsx3 312lbsx3 PR 332lbsx1 PR 352lbsx1 PR 372lbsx1 PR 402lbsx1 PR 172lbsx5
Good Morning off rack w/ yoke bar 122lbsx5 172lbsx5 222lbs2x5 172lbsx8
Sled drag 6platesxd*b 7platesxd*b 8platesxd*b
Back extensions (45deg) avg band 2x12-15, offset kb x16/bwx10 w/rotation
Superset w/ Roller Reverse Hyper +90lbs 3x10-15
Band one leg curl avg band 3x12,12,10
Hanging leg raises 3x8-15 alt raisesx~20 leg/knee raise pulse above 90xreps
High to low cable chop 70lbsx8/side 80lbsx8/side
Suitcase hold 135lbs 2x8
Calf raises dbl and sgl, dorsiflexions dbl and sgl

Those workouts are taken straight from my log. Essentially my training schedule right now looks like this.
Monday- Speed Work for Bench if in cycle, Overhead work, accessories with shoulders/arms focus

Wednesday- Speed or power work for squat/deadlift, heavy single leg variation, accessories for glutes/hams/back/abs/quads, etc.

Thursday- Max Strength Upper w/ a heavy press and pull variations, accessories w/ more of a chest/back focus

Saturday- Max Strength Lower w/ accessories for glutes/hams/back/abs/quads/etc.

Conditioning 2-3 days a week for extra workouts

I still do lots of low/mid trap and tricep work on my upper days and lots of glute/oblique work on my lower days. These have been weak points I've been bringing up the last couple of years.

I've been doing 4 week cycles of max strength and speed strength work followed by 2-3 week cycles of deloading from barbell work with mostly moderate to high rep sets with exercises like pushups, goblet squats and pull throughs in place of barbell presses, back squats and deadlifts. This allows me to ramp up neural output and strength for a month, rest my CNS for a few weeks while adapting differently to some superset, high rep bodybuilding style stuff, then coming back for another 4 week cycle hitting new strength levels again. This has been working good for strength and muscle gains, recovery and staying healthy. Reading and understanding lots of material on block periodization has helped me plan my training a lot more effectively than I have in the past. I've found that if I go too intense/heavy for much more than 4-5 weeks that I will start to drain my nervous system a little too much. Thats not to say that I'm not challenging myself at all during the 2-3 week lower intensity cycle; I'm just training in a way that allows my nervous system to recover while still building the important muscles and movements that will help the big lifts.

I'm looking to hit some nice numbers coming up. For raw numbers, I'd like to hit a mid 1300 total with a mid 400's squat, a low to mid 300's bench and a low 600's deadlift. Geared (w/ lifting suits/shirts) I'd like to total 1500-1600 w/ a mid 500's squat, a low to mid 600 deadlift and a 400+ bench. I'm also closing in on a 225 overhead press; I've come close with 215. I've been doing lots of overhead work as its something I've wanted to bring up. It definitely helps with my bench. I've done one arm presses w/ a slight push with 85lbs for 8 reps as well. All of the heavy single leg work I've done has contributed greatly to improved squat numbers, which will help with improved pull numbers. I've never felt more stable or stronger with squatting and all of the single leg work, glute work and oblique/core stability work has helped tons.

I got a nice workout in at the Badger's facility a few weeks ago with Jeff Zuhlke, a good buddy of mine from college, who is an awesome strength coach out there. Also checked out Nx Level in Waukesha last week and caught up with another buddy from college, Nic Hansen; very awesome place with lots of knowledgeable coaches out there. Always good to pick up some good tools to add to the toolbox from other good professionals. My facility should be opening this summer and I'll knock out some details when everything is set. All I can say is that it will be THE place to train in this area. Lots going on and lots of exciting things coming up. I should have a couple of articles posting either here or other sites relatively soon. A great one on the importance of aerobic training, one on self soft tissue modalities and a couple on figure skating training and firefighter training. Stay tuned! Hope everyone's training is going as well as mine.

Anesley Middlecauf Takes First

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:14:22 -0800

Congratulations to Anesley Middlecauf on her accomplishment with her skating. She won first place in the pre-preliminary freeskate at WIM Figure Skating Competition held at Wilson Ice Rink in Milwaukee. She and her brother Palmer (who I fully expect to have a nice showing at his next competition) both train hard every week both on and off the ice. All of the hard work is paying off as they have both improved movement patterns, stability, strength, power and posture.

It is absolutely essential that skaters of any age, especially at a young age, perform the proper off ice training to not only optimize performance but also to prevent injury, especially when jumping becomes more frequent. The ability to stabilize the pelvis in one leg stance, control the knees, maintain an erect thoracic position, maintain stiffness during rotations and perhaps most importantly, the ability to absorb force correctly upon landing are some of the most important needs to address within an off ice strength & conditioning program. An article is in the works that will get more in depth with off ice training. Stay tuned kids.

Fire Fighter Training

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:49:31 -0800

Over the course of this past year, I have had the privilege of working with multiple fire fighters from the St. Francis Fire Department. They are all very hard workers and have made great progress with their training and bodies. A couple of them are shown in the videos below. Todd, who you see in the top video, has lost over 10% bodyfat and gotten rid of multiple pain issues in pretty decent time. Abbie, in the bottom video, has made some pretty awesome strides herself and can hang with most guys with multiple exercises and lifts. They have gotten to the point that they are implementing work specific circuits within their firehouse to improve strength and conditioning for better job performance. Its not an easy job and you have to be in shape to do job tasks successfully. Here are a couple of training videos that were sent to me that show some awesome conditioning circuits they are using at their firehouse. Firehose battle ropes and body drags!! Awesome stuff! I'll write more about common training needs for firefighters in the near future.

Exercises for Injuries Article Continued

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:22:45 -0800

Part 3 of my article series for exercisesforinjuries.com is now up. Be sure to check it out. If you missed Part 1 or Part 2, be sure to check them out first, as its a continuous series.

As I mentioned previously, 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. Be sure to check the articles out and share with friends and colleagues if you like them. Train hard!

10 Things You Should be Doing to Improve Your Race Performance but Probably Aren't

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:00:11 -0800

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.

Another Great Success Story

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:25:47 -0800

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

Guest Article at Exercisesforinjuries.com

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:08:25 -0800

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