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Listen for a barbell logic podcast update. We're taking a temporary pause to pursue some exciting opportunities and will return soon with more great podcasts. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page to give us feedback on the podcast during the temporary pause. Barbell Logic Podcast Update The podcast has been an unexpected success for Matt, Barbell Logic, and all the hosts since its beginning in 2017. When Scott and Matt started recording those first podcasts, they didn't realize it would be continuing into 2023, have garnered all the support and audience and recognitions that it has. That it'd had over 450 single episodes, and almost 600 if you count series episodes. Because of some exciting opportunities that Barbell Logic needs to focus its efforts toward, Barbell Logic is temporarily pausing the podcast. Stay subscribed, as we'll return with more great podcast content. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Learn about the voluntary hardship mindset that allows you to crush your goals, makes life better, and underpins happiness and success. Dr. Jonathon Sullivan and Noah Hayden continue their Barbell Health podcast series, this time discussing recovery for seniors. Jaime Collins joins them, discussing psychology and her journey. You can check out more of Sully's work on the Greysteel YouTube channel. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page for free resources, recent offers, & more. Voluntary Hardship Mindset If you want to achieve lofty goals, you'll have to do difficult things. Whether you've found yourself struggling with the effects of a comfort-driven life, or you've generally been active but are pursuing strength training, you've determined that you want to change the course of your life and have some idea of what you want to achieve. To get there requires you choosing to complete challenging things repeatedly. If you're lifting, you're an athlete. Athletes train. They do hard things. They move intelligently toward their goals. The voluntary hardship mindset means you don't eat everything you want based on pleasure. It means you occasionally grind on reps you're not sure you can finish. It means you train consistently in the gym, even if you don't feel like it. You might have heard of the term "adulting." Well, the first person you have to take care of, the first responsibility you bear, is yourself. Embrace life and its loveliness, including the hard parts. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We discuss recovery for masters athletes, focusing on sleep and nutrition. Improve your sleep and nutrition, recover better, be stronger and healthier. Dr. Jonathon Sullivan and Noah Hayden continue their Barbell Health podcast series, this time discussing recovery for seniors. Ann Buszard joins them, discussing her journey and how she has approached recovery. You can check out more of Sully's work on the Greysteel YouTube channel. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page for free resources, recent offers, & more. Recovery for Masters Athletes It's often said, but less often followed: you get stronger as you recover. You undergo stress, allow for recovery, which enables adaptation. This is the way. On a population-wide level, too few stress themselves adequately to begin with. For gym-goers, many if not most fail to organize stress and recovery intelligently. Because of this, they fail to meet their goals. Promoting adaptation requires attending to recovery. Recovery for masters athletes and all lifters mostly falls into the buckets of nutrition and sleep. The principles underlying recovery for seniors don't differ from younger athletes. Masters athletes may face some additional challenges, just as they do when the barbell prescription (the stress) is examined. Nutrition for Masters Athletes Often times, seniors do not eat as much. What they eat (especially protein) their body does not process as well as a younger athlete's body would. The importance of getting adequate protein, therefore, only increases. Many masters athletes will need protein supplementation (whey protein powder or something similar). Similar to how training matters more for masters athletes, recovery matters more for masters athletes. You have likely seen teenagers and younger adults eating highly processed food and seemingly not being affected by it. Nutrition for masters athletes matters. Masters athletes cannot afford to fill their diets with highly processed food that doesn't provide the protein, fiber, energy, and micronutrients they need. The second key to recovery for masters athletes is sleep. Sleep for Masters Athletes Sleep seems to be discussed less than nutrition, but it does not matter less. You need to sleep. Sleep promotes recovery promotes strength and hypertrophy. Develop a sleep routine to help your body more easily fall asleep. This first includes the fact that it is a routine. Secondly, it should include things like not viewing screens, bright and blue lights, and nothing too stimulating. Creating a back-to-sleep routine may be just as important, as getting up in the middle of the night seems to afflict seniors even worse than younger adults. Find something that is boring and repetitive that you can go through mentally, that leaves you wanting to fall asleep. Sully, for example, goes through his tai chi drills. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We need more female masters strength athletes! Learn about the benefits, and myths of strength training for women seniors. What's different about strength training for female senior athletes - almost nothing. Dr. Jonathon Sullivan and Noah Hayden continue their Barbell Health podcast series, this time discussing strength training for women masters athletes. Debbie Wrotslavsky joins them, discussing her journey and the positive changes she's seen since beginning barbell training. You can check out more of Sully's work on the Greysteel YouTube channel. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page for free resources, recent offers, & more. Female Masters Strength Athletes - Mostly the Same What's different between strength training for men and women above the age of 50? Not much, really, as both desperately need the physical and mental benefits that barbell training provides. Some differences exist between training men and women, but as men and women age, those differences become less important. Plus, for seniors, we're mostly discussing training for health, not trying to eke out PRs for competitions. Female masters strength athletes train about the same as men. Programming, the approach to training, the exercises prescribed - these are the same for both men and women, before and after the age of 50. We Need More Female Masters Strength Athletes Women, for reasons we can only guess at, don't strength train as much as men. We'd love to start the trend to reverse this. Adding muscle and strength only becomes more as people age, men or women. Women look better and more feminine with the muscle that comes from strength training. Getting bulky doesn't happen by accident. Consider how many young men who want to look like Arnold and train with barbells don't. Instead, female masters strength athletes will gain confidence, vibrance, strength, mobility, and beauty - yes, beauty - from barbell training. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Dr. Jonathon Sullivan and Noah Hayden continue their Barbell Health podcast series, this time discussing programming masters athletes. They discuss the similarities and differences with programming younger lifters. Additionally, they cover common pitfalls, increased risks, and important considerations. Laura Welcher joins them, sharing her strength journey and how her programming has changed over time. You can check out more of Sully's work on the Greysteel YouTube channel. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page for free resources, recent offers, & more. Programming Considerations for Seniors Programming is balancing stress and recovery. Without stress there is no adaptation. Without recovery there is no adaptation. Seniors' muscle, bone, and connective tissue is older. Recovering from stresses becomes harder. Programming masters athletes must take this into consideration. The risk of overloading or overstressing a masters athletes is too great, and one must err on too little, not too much, stress. An injury, with the resultant break from training and activity, is too grave and serious a risk. Older lifters are intensity-dependent. If someone is only squatting one-hundred pounds, performing 5x5 @ 70 lbs is a waste of time. Additionally, be weary of too much volume (and, similarly, too much frequency). Programming Masters Athletes Masters Athletes begin their strength journey, like anyone else, on a linear progression program. Exercises may be modified, but the stress increases linearly while this possibility remains. As linear progression slows, the program almost always moves into a heavy-light-medium, as opposed to Texas Method, variant (although, of course, Texas Method is essentially a form of high-low-medium). Masters athletes almost never reach an advanced programming state. It requires a sustained consistency over a long period of time, which rarely occurs. It also requires an amount of time and focus that almost never occurs. Lastly, most advanced programs require the lifter to undergo an accumulation of stress that brings that athlete to the brink of overtraining. For programming masters athletes, the brink of overtraining must be avoided. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Dr. Jonathon Sullivan and Noah Hayden continue their Barbell Health podcast series, this time discussing exercise modification for seniors. John Claassen, their 93-year old client, shares his inspiring story. You can check out more of Sully's work on the Greysteel YouTube channel. Exercise Modification for Seniors Seniors, athletes of aging, masters athletes - whatever you you call them - can and should strength train. Coaches may need to modify exercises to meet their ability. Modifications may be as simple as lighter weights or broom sticks. Lifters may need to deadlift kettlebells or sit up from a chair. They may not be able to press or even bench press, but they can still train. John Claassen's Inspiring Story John Claassen shares his inspiring story of how he began barbell training at 89. Like many seniors, he saw the risks and limitations that came from a lack of muscle mass and strength. He looked into exercise, connected with Sully, and eventually came to deadlift 250 pounds. Exercise modification for seniors can be applied to his specific case. He sat down and up out of a chair instead of squatting. He had to perform incline bench press as opposed to bench press or overhead press. Instead of deadlifting a barbell, he deadlifted a kettlebell. Finally, he curled with a broomstick to begin. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Dr. Jonathon Sullivan and Noah Hayden continue their Barbell Health podcast series, this time discussing in-depth the strength prescription for the sick aging phenotype. This episode laid out Noah's thoughts on exercise & programming criteria, and an important discussion into the role the criteria play for the coach. You can check out more of Sully's work on the Greysteel YouTube channel. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page for free resources, recent offers, & more. Strength Prescription In the last podcast, Sully & Noah discussed the problems with conventional medicine and its inability to treat the sick aging phenotype. Keeping the notion of medicine, with the intent to actually address your athlete's root problems, helps frame the problem (and the solution). If force production underlies the various fitness attributes, and strength is force production, clients need to gain strength. Because strength helps all the physical attributes, barbell exercise need to be incorporated into the exercise prescription the client receives. As the client progresses, conditioning (especially HIIT) can be added, but initially, a simple, linear progression provides enough stress. Dosage Criteria for the Strength Prescription If we think about this under the concept of medicine, be start to think about dosage, the frequency of the dosage, and what exercises fall under that prescription. Barbells are good. Strength is good. How do we pick exercises. What follows is Sully and Noah discussing the traditional 4 exercise selection criteria, then Noah positing criteria for programming. Sully suggests the exercise criteria are a post hoc justification of the exercises coaches would program anyway. Certainly, for most coaches, these criteria become engrained, and rarely (if ever) are they running through these criteria to choose an exercise for their lifters. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Dr. Jonathon Sullivan and Noah Hayden are joined by RN Ann Buszard. They discuss how typical or conventional medicine today fails to address the root causes of most issues, including the Sick Aging Phenotype. They talk about how exercise medicine, specifically strength training with barbells, is the cure. You can check out more of Sully's work on the Greysteel YouTube channel. Bad Medicine and the Sick Aging Phenotype Too much medicine fails to address root causes. While modern trauma care can save life and limb, more and more reasons that people end up in ERs cannot ultimately be addressed in ERs. These causes need to be addressed earlier. Exercise medicine, as opposed to conventional medicine, offers a way to address what Sully calls the Sick Aging Phenotype. You know it. You may have it. If you don't, you almost certainly know someone who has it. The Sick Aging Phenotype is that combination of illnesses that worsen as many people age. It includes things such as obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Too many people accept that aging comes with a growing list of limitations. Exercise Medicine with Barbells Exercise medicine with barbells is safe, healthy, and effective. Contrary to many people's misconceptions, it doesn't mean getting huge nor is does it come with a high risk of injury. Instead, barbell medicine helps strengthen and add muscle and other tissue. This can give people more capabilities, as opposed to taking them off the table. Exercise medicine can give you years of quality life. Benefits of Voluntary Hardship This repeated process of doing difficult things regularly doesn't just come with physical and biological benefits, but spiritual and psychological benefits as well. It builds confidence, as well as muscle, and helps athletes of aging realize they can do more, not just in the gym but in their everyday life, that they may have considered impossible. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Niki talks to Brittany Snyder, a Professional Barbell Coach, nutrition coach, and the Director of Nutrition at Barbell Logic. Brittany shares her journey of how she ditched all or nothing nutrition, shoved shame to the side, gave the fundamentals a chance, and finally created a sense of control with her nutrition. All or Nothing Nutrition...Generally Leads to Nothing Avoid fat. Carbs are evil. Only eat meat. No, avoid all meat and meat products. You should be fasting. You should be eating small meals throughout the day. Cut it out. If any of the aforementioned approaches work for you, that is awesome. For most of us, extremes don't work (at least not for long). We're talking about making sustainable nutrition habits that last for the rest of our life. We're talking about walking around feeling and looking better, being healthier, and building the virtue that voluntary hardship brings. Voluntary hardship, though, isn't about the the extreme white knuckle 3-week diet plan. It's about taking up the challenges that come with moving toward our goals. Give the Fundamentals a Chance Not every diet is right for every person. Like many people program hop from lifting program to lifting program, too many people bounce from all or nothing nutrition approach to extreme diet. Furthermore, people tend to know what foods are unhealthy and what are healthy. While there's disagreement, and people avoid certain foods for a variety of reasons, good, sustainable diets will involve building habits that last, move you closer to your goals, and have you burning more calories than you consume. Identify areas that you can most easily change to create the biggest results. That first means identifying what you're baseline is. For Brittany, she realized she was consuming about 800 calories after dinner every night. Her first step was to reduce that to 500. Your first MED step might be different, but there's often one behavior or action that is creating the biggest damage. To move toward your goal, you don't need to end that damage but rather limit that damage. All or nothing nutrition generally leads to nothing. Nutrition Budgets Empower One approach that works for many because it empowers it giving a nutrition budget. It might be a certain number of calories for a meal or time period (e.g. after dinner). It could be a caloric limit to alcohol or a limit to the number of drinks per week. What this does, however, is allow people to maintain their non-negotiables but reduce their damage. For example, you don't have to give up drinking after dinner, but if you're drinking 3, 4, or 5 drinks before bed, reducing that to 2 or 3 can make a big difference. Shove Shame to the Side Emotionally detaching from her behaviors and looking at them like data has really helped. Your decisions don't make you a bad person and if there is room for growth, that is fine. The shame only hurts, and you need to focus on what you can do and when you slip up, return to the sustainable habits. If you're having trouble sustaining the habits, maybe a different approach would work better. Ditch all or nothing nutrition. Shove shame to the side. Give the fundamentals a chance. And listen to this very informative, enjoyable, and quotable podcast. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Online strength coaching provides the most value, flexibility, effectiveness, and personalization of any coaching method. It enhances the quality of life of coaches and clients. This is a rebroadcast of episode 408. Online Strength Coaching Provides More Flexibility Online coaching allows someone seeking high-quality coaching to find the coach that's right for them - not the coach or personal trainer that's simply close. It allows clients to continue when they vacation or travel, and it allows coaches to continue to coach their clients when they vacation or travel. Online coaching allows lifters to still receive coaching if they're unable to train during the scheduled time block. With in-person coaching, if something arises that prevents the lifter from coming to the gym at the normal time, that lifter typically still has to pay, doesn't get the coaching, and might not be able to lift. Modern life comes with moving for many people. You can keep the same coach if you move or your coach moves. This enables coaches and clients to have 5+ year coach-client relationships, which is extremely rare and challenging with in-person coaching. Are you sick and can't come to the gym but still want to get something done, albeit at a reduced difficultly? No problem - your online strength coach can modify your program, and you're not at risk for getting anyone else sick. Online Strength Coaching is More Effective The primary value of in-person strength coaching that we and others have stressed is how fast the coach can get the client lifting with correct technique. We get lifters moving correctly under the barbell quickly and in less time investment by the coach than in-person coaching. The typical initial session is 90 minutes and requires the travel time and other inconveniences of meeting someone at a certain time and place. Through a series of roughly 5-minute videos the professional barbell coach can get you moving correctly, and almost certainly in fewer than 18 videos. This amounts to less time than initial 90-minute session. Also, this assumes the client leaves the 90-minute session with perfect form and does not return with the almost inevitable form creep. It simply is not that critical that the client's technique is perfect within the first couple sessions. Furthermore, changes made through online strength coaching seem to stick and last longer. Online Strength Coaching Provides More Value A professional barbell coach can deliver high-quality coaching with multiple touchpoints each weeks at a much lower cost to the client than in-person coaching. Likely, it will be 25% or less of the cost of in-person coaching. Even though the coach charges less, the coach makes more money more minute or per hour. This enables the strength coach to have more clients and coach more people - ultimately providing more value to more people. This can be done from where the coach wants to live, whether that be sunny southern California or in a small town in the midwestern United States. Online Strength Coaching Improves Quality of Life Online coaching increases compliance because of its flexibility, reduced cost, and convenience. This ultimately mean it produces more lasting changes. These changes improve clients' quality of life. For the coach, the convenience and flexibility of coaching from home improves their quality of life, allows them to deliver more value to more clients, and is a win-win. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Walking seems so simple and easy, so mundane and pedestrian (literally) that it couldn't constitute an important part of your overall health and fitness plan, right? Wrong. Walking provides innumerable health and wellness benefits. These benefits include physical, mental, and spiritual benefits. Don't pooh pooh walking. Whether you're tracking your steps, hiking, or going for short walks throughout the day, consider adding walking to your routine. The wonders of walking abound. Get out there and walk! Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page for free resources, recent offers, & more. Physical Health Benefits of Walking As walking is a physical activity, the most obvious benefits, like other forms of physical activity, are physical health benefits. More walking every day - more steps - is correlated with better health outcomes. It may seem obvious, but humans aren't meant to sit all day in front of some type of screen. The low level physical activity fits solidly within the aerobic energy system, and unless you're walking briskly or up a steep incline, you shouldn't have to exert yourself too much. In addition to simply more activity, walking typically happens outside, which provides vitamin D from the sun, something that too many of us are lacking. Looking into the wonders of walking? Start with the benefits to your health and fitness. Mental Health Benefits of Walking You can't talk about walking without mental health. Physical activity and exercise, of course, improves mental health. Walking for most people doesn't induce the same stress that a hard conditioning or lifting workout does. It can get us out in nature, under the sun, and can be done alone, with someone, or with the accompaniment of a podcast or audiobook. Some people meditate when they walk, as opposed to the more traditional form where you sit and meditate. Whether you're looking for some alone time, some time with your partner or friend, or some time to listen to a podcast or audiobook, the wonders of walking include mental health benefits. Wonders of Walking - Time to Think Related to the above but deserving of its own separate mention, is the ability to think and have thoughts arise. Many artists, writers, and important figures have sworn by the benefits of walking. It can be an opportunity to do some deep work, away from the distractions of the home, the phone, and the computer. Have something that you're worried about? Think about it during a walk. Or, avoid thinking about it, and you might find that solutions and ideas occur to you, even though you weren't actively thinking about the challenge. Wonders of Walking - Ease, Simplicity, Availability Maybe it doesn't need to be said, but maybe the primary beauty of walking is how almost anyone can do it. It doesn't require hardly any equipment at all. You should probably have some shoes and weather appropriate attire, but really you can walk barefoot if you have to. Just walk. Start to develop different routes, so that you have a variety of lengths and scenery to choose from. Pick easier, shorter routes around your neighborhood, and maybe some walks further away in nature, when you really want to get away. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Strength and endurance - can you do both!? Yes, in fact, you can. While the adaptations and strength and endurance conflict, you can reach high levels in both. CJ shares his story of ruck marching, voluntary hardship, lifting, and joy. He describes how he balanced life, lifting, and rucking and realized he needed aerobic endurance events to be part of his life. He also shares how you could add endurance training to your program if you miss it (or want to try it out). Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page for free resources, recent offers, & more. Joy Lost but Rekindled CJ enjoys rucking. He had a background of aerobic endurance events in the military and his free time. During a particularly busy time in his life, he did not realized what he had lost and how he had repeated a foreign narrative of strength exclusivity that left him cold. Strength and endurance are mutually exclusive, right!? Then he injured himself on what should have been an easy event, that he could have crushed a few years ago. He did not want to be that fragile and remembered he enjoyed long, slow, endurance events. He evaluated his priorities, preferences, and available time, and decided to start rucking again. Rucking as Lifter - Strength and Endurance What's rucking? Rucksack is the German word for backpack. Its background comes from the necessity of Soldiers to move from one place to another with the equipment they need to fight. More recently, civilians seeking voluntary hardship have begun to ruck by themselves or in group events. Strictly, it's an endurance event, but strength and endurance benefit performance, as rucksacks can be heavy, and having a muscular frame helps. The other aspect of rucking, especially considering its martial history, is the communal aspect - this was something Soldiers did together. Shared Suffering Unless you train in a great black iron gym or have some good training partners, lifting is a solitary exercise modality. GoRuck and other organizations bring shared suffering into the event. You have to work together with other people to accomplish the event. This is something CrossFit gets right. The community aspect maybe more than anything else may be what keeps people coming back to CrossFit gyms. If you're looking to pursue strength and endurance events and looking for more social time, why not combined them? Suffer with your friends. Strength and Endurance It is true that you cannot pursue maximal strength and endurance. These adaptations limit each other. You can, however, pursue high levels of adaptations in both areas (as in better in both areas than the vast majority of people). This requires time and commitment, but it is possible. Ultimately, you need to decide on what matters to you - how much do you care about pursuing or excelling in a certain modality. If you've deadlifted 550 lbs, how much work are you willing to do to hit 600 lbs? GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

What does conditioning for lifters look like? Do you need to do "cardio"? We examine conditioning & cardio for strength athletes. This is a re-release of episode 396. Conditioning vs Cardio "Cardio" is a nebulous and negative term, like diet. I need to go do some "cardio." What's the best "cardio" for fat loss? The term "cardio" comes from the word cardiovascular as in the cardiovascular system of the heart, lunges, and blood vessels that pumps oxygen and nutrients to your organs. Conditioning for lifters comes with the implication of a goal. You need to complete conditioning for health, or for your sport, or for general physical preparedness. Conditioning for Lifters - Fat Loss Why would a strength athlete include conditioning in his program? There's generally 3 reasons why someone would consider doing "cardio" or conditioning: Weight loss / fat loss Being "in shape" or general physical preparedness (GPP) Cardiovascular health / energy systems efficiency Lots of people think they need to do cardio for the first reason, and it's really the worst reason to "do cardio." Why? Because cleaning up nutrition habits far surpasses the impact of conditioning. Often times, people increase their food intake after cardio, as their appetite increases as well. This doesn't mean that conditioning cannot help in the calorie burning side of the calorie equation. But it's not the first MED step to take. Conditioning for Lifters - GPP People have an intuitive sense of being in or out of shape, and they're not wrong. This often comes from a suddenly more rigorous physical event, such as a hike or sporting event. You find yourself out of breath and hating life, and feel out of shape. This is really recognizing the inefficiency of your energy systems, and that you're cardiovascular systems is delivering oxygen poorly. Life can throw us unexpected challenges, and being prepared for them is a good thing. Conditioning for Lifters - Health As the previous reason started to lead into, conditioning helps improve the efficiency of the body's energy systems: phosphagen, glycolytic, and aerobic. Training these systems improve your cardiovascular health and is correlated with longevity and overall health. Just as stressing the muscles helps improve strength and effects hypertrophy, and these are correlated with health, stressing these energy systems is good for them and for your health. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

HIIT is the best way to improve your conditioning and health and help with fat loss. Consider high intensity interval training for your conditioning. Energy Systems Overview HIIT's benefits come from how it uses and benefits the body's energy systems. Let's quickly investigate the body's energy systems. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the energy currency of the body. ATP breaks down into adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and a phosphate group. This reaction produces energy that the body uses. For low intensity, long duration efforts your body pulls energy from its aerobic energy system. This is likely the energy system you're using now, and the one your body uses most of the time. When energy requirements increase, however, the body has two other energy systems to meet its energy requirements. For extremely short duration, high intensity efforts (such as HIIT), your body uses its phosphagen system. This takes advantage of the ATP readily available in your muscles. It also benefits from creatine phosphate (CP). Creatine phosphate adds its phosphate group to ADP to produce another ATP and produce more energy. This system only lasts about 10 seconds. For high intensity, medium duration efforts, the body uses glycolysis. This is the breakdown of carbohydrates that produces energy less quickly than the phosphagen system but more quickly than the aerobic system's oxidation. This system lasts for maybe a couple minutes. HIIT: Why & What? High intensity interval training involves high intensity, low duration efforts with rest to allow for recovery in between intervals. During the interval, you will be using your phosphagen and glycolytic systems, but during the recovery both the glycolytic and aerobic systems will be providing ATP to replenish the ATP stored in your muscle. Because high intensity training requires all your energy systems when you consider recovery, it improves all your energy systems. Low intensity, long duration efforts do not provide the same benefits to high intensity. This is similar to how strength benefits endurance but endurance does not benefit strength. If you can do 40 push-ups, doing sets of push-ups will provide little to no benefit to your bench press. Improving your bench press, however, will help increase your push-up numbers. High intensity interval training helps your heart health and prepares you for potential events in life that require heavy breathing efforts that are longer than a 5-rep set of squats. How to Do HIIT High intensity interval training exercises should be low skill and low impact. This is where CrossFit often goes wrong, as they often perform high impact and high skill movements, such as high repetition, heavy Olympic lift variations for conditioning workouts. When and how often should you perform high intensity interval training? How long should your work to rest ratio be? How many rounds should you do? The general guidelines are below: 15-20 seconds hard effort 1:3 to 1:4 work-to-rest ratio 5-10 rounds 2-3 times per week perform after your lifting The above are rough guidelines. When you begin, just as with lifting, have your rest periods be longer, perform fewer rounds, and begin with only 2 times per week. Some examples of good exercises or machines to use include sled pushes, stationary bike, or rower. HIIT for Fat Loss Why does high intensity interval training help improve fat loss? These intervals don't take much time to do, which is one of their benefits. After you perform one of these workouts, however, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) will increase for about 24 hours after the workout. What does this mean? You will burn more calories performing the same amount of activity after a HIIT workout than after an aerobic workout, even if the aerobic workout burned more calories. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Wearables for health abound. They can track lots of different metrics for health and can help gamify the pursuit of your goals. Matt & Niki explore why you might consider wearing wearables & how they use them. Wearables for Health What are wearables? Wearables are devices that you wear (duh) that can track various data. Some of the things they can track include: calories burned, steps walked, heart rate, body temperature, and sleep quality. Wearables for health have grown more accurate in their measuring, but the primary reason for wearables is not accuracy but precision. You can compare different points in time and recognize trends (e.g. in general my sleep quality has improved over the last year as I reduced my alcohol consumption). Some things they track directly, such as heart rate and movement. Others they track indirectly, by combining and analyzing various pieces of information they record directly. For example, sleep quality can be assessed by recording heart rate and movement. Why Wear Wearables for Health? Wearables provide various metrics that you can track. So why wear them? As Dr. Sullivan, Niki, and CJ discussed in this podcast, if you're gathering data, you need to know why you're gathering that data. This does cost some money, attention, and time to record and observe these metrics. Wearables for health help gamify the pursuit of your goals. Anyone who has ever measured their daily steps has noticed that if they're close to a big number, such as 10,000 steps, they will typically do the extra work to hit the daily goal. This incentivizes you to push a bit harder to hit certain markers. These markers do not necessarily equal better health, but they may correlate with improved health. Thus, this gamification can lead to improved results toward achieving or crushing your goals. What wearables for health should not do is add stress. If you find missing a certain goal stressful, or you're worried about what your wearable will tell you about your sleep quality, then you're missing the point. These should be tools for improving health and accomplishing your goals, not another stressor (as if we need more). GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt and Rachel Reynolds bring you this special edition of the Barbell Logic podcast, holiday edition. Matt & Rachel share their 2022 holiday message of gratitude, joy, anticipation, and reflection. Thank you for being fans & clients, coaches & clients! This time of year is a time of reflection and joy, gratitude and anticipation. Families and friends gather, erect decorations and lights, and break bread together. Matt, Rachel, and all of us at Barbell Logic thank you. We are grateful for all of you. Barbell Logic turns 6 years this December and remains committed to its core values and doubling down on what we do best. In 2023, you can look forward to some of the following and more: More Barbell Academy courses & content (included at no additional cost if you've already signed up) TurnKey Coach, with out web application and backend support to you coaches who provide (or want to provide) online coaching A 2023 fitness challenge In this 2022 holiday message, we look back, look forward, and most especially thank you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Sully joins Niki & CJ to discuss health metrics that matter. Sully's biggest question is why do you think you need the test or data point? How will this information change your behavior? Check out the Grey Steel YouTube channel here. They refer to a red flag article a few times in the podcast. Read that article here. Drowning in Data - Helpful Health Markers It's easy to drown in data. One can wear wearables and get up-to-date health markers. We bombarded with inputs, news, sensory data, videos, podcasts, pings, updates, notifications. Going with the current, sometimes bolstered by financial incentives, means gathering more data. This data can give a blanket to client and practitioner of objectivity. It also allows delay. What to do with the patient? Let's get more data. Administer these tests (oh, and I paid more when I prescribe more tests). For coaches, it can be things like the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) and other tests. Complication's siren call can obfuscate the reality that we haven't moved the patient or client any closer to their desired outcome. What are helpful health metrics? Ones that drive decisions and behavior - pieces of data that will make you act differently. Data Should Drive Decisions - Health Metrics that Matter Gathering a host of tests & metrics provides the illusion of understanding and objectivity. It's mostly noise, and you might miss the signal. Coaches should know red flags, when training is contraindicated. The lifter and client should understand baseline, and when something changes that indicates something is off and further digging into the problem may help. What are some typical important health markers for coaches? Having an understanding of what the client does outside the gym (other physical activity, sleep, nutrition) & when that changes drastically (e.g. someone who is mostly sedentary goes for a long hike and then misses their squats). Pain matters too. Some pain seems to come with being a human (low back pain). Still, the type of pain, what movements cause it, how severe it is, and if modifications in dosing (intensity, exercise selection, volume) decrease or eliminate the pain. Health metrics that matter drive decisions. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt & Niki explore helpful strength equipment that helps you solve problems, make strength training more fun, and build your home gym. They share specific pieces of equipment and for whom this gear might help the most. This isn't equipment to get started or gear 101, but rather equipment and gear for those who are continuing on the path of strength and voluntary hardship. Helpful Strength Equipment You need a few items to begin strength training properly, though you can also start exercising today. As you progress and build the habit of strength training (and simultaneously get older) some equipment can help solve common problems you will likely encounter. Some of these items help add variety and make training more fun. Other gear helps deal with common injuries or pain points. Regardless, this list of items can help you build compliance and improve your training. If you use it, it is ultimately an investment in yourself and your health. Accessories for Accessory Work Accessory work can get repetitive if all you have is a barbell. A few pieces of equipment can multiply the potential hypertrophy and accessory work you can program. Adjustable dumbbells allow you to add dumbbell variations and accessory lifts without taking up a ton of space (and saving money compared to a full set of dumbbells). Not only can you perform dumbbell variations of the main lifts, you can also perform more accessory work that you simply cannot perform with barbells (e.g. dumbbell flies or lateral raises). A similar example of helpful strength equipment is a pulley system. This enables lat pull downs as well as using the pulley system for hypertrophy work (triceps, biceps, etc.). The last helpful items that focuses primarily on the upper body is getting a dip attachment to your power rack or an adjustable bench. They allow variation for pressing movements, and you can also perform accessory lifts on the bench. Enabling lower body accessory work comes in handy as you become more advanced, as deadlifts and squats don't only get repetitive but if you face a big injury, you might not be able to perform one or both of these lifts for awhile. Some helpful strength equipment for this area are a reverse hyper, glute ham raise, or leg extension/leg curl attachment. Some of these take up a lot of space, but getting just one of them can provide additional leg stress and make a big difference in your lower body training. Supplying Supplemental Lifts This might be the widest area, as we're talking about different types of barbells and other items that can modify the main lifts. A deadlift bar can really help your deadlift 1RM, as it has a smaller diameter and more whip (which reduces the range of motion). An axle bar for the press or bench press reduces your ability to grip the bar but enables good pressing variants. It is also necessary if you're considering Strong Man training. Getting a slingshot or board attachment can help overload the bench and work on the top portion of your bench. The slingshot can also help if you have shoulder pain. Bands and chains are helpful strength equipment that enables accommodating resistance. The safety squat bar and football bar (and variations of both) not only add supplemental variations to the lifts but can also prevent pain for the shoulders and wrists specifically. Convenience & Climate The last area of helpful strength equipment includes items that add convenience to your lifting or improve the atmosphere of the gym. The monolift attachment allows you to not have to take a step bar or move the bar from the pins to the shoulders on the bench. It provides the most benefit to the most people for the bench press, as many find it reduces or eliminates shoulder pain. Niki also uses it for the RDL. A deadlift jack makes loading and unloading plates easier for any lift that has the barbell on the ground, especially the deadlift. A 1-arm deadlift jack is smaller and more mobile - you can put it in your gym bag. A 2-arm deadlift jack makes more sense if you have a decent amount of space in your home gym or for public gyms. Wrist wraps & lifting straps help with wrist support or grip support for compression or tension grips. Ammonia or smelling salts help bring focus and intensity to big attempts. Clothes help you feel and perform better. Clothes really are helpful strength equipment. A timer or watch can ensure that you don't waste time in the gym between sets and make the rest time consistent. This is especially important at a public gym or if you're a coach, because the lifter isn't paying you to tell them stories. Last but probably not least for most people is something to help with climate control, specifically heating or cooling your gym. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Ni

Matt Reynolds, Niki Sims, and CJ Gotcher join up to answer your lifting and lifestyle questions. They cover wrist wraps and wrist straps for deadlifting, upper body pulling exercises for novices, BJJ, hiking & rucking, stuffing or dressing, and more in this fun but informative holiday Q&A. Wrist Wraps & Lifting Straps for Deadlifts If you're having wrist issues, don't hesitate to use wrist wraps for your lifts. Wrist wraps for deadlifts, however, should not really help. During the deadlift your wrists are in tension, not compression. Use the wrist wraps on all your lifts where your wrists are in compression, even the squat. Lifting straps, however, are fine if you're having grip issues. Upper Body Pulling Exercises for Novices Our Best Exercises for Strength video discusses the main 4 lifts to get stronger. We still stand by this. Lifters, however, add some type of upper body pulling exercise early on as a lifter, some adding them as they begin their novice program. It partly depends on their goals and current situation. Some people may really want to get their first bodyweight pull-up. There is no reason to weight, and this may be a good situation to have a lifter move to a 4-day split routine as a novice. Others may be in the military or a similar situation, and may need to maintain or improve their chin-up or pull-up performance. Others, however, may be true beginners with little to no experience in the gym. Focusing on the main four lifts for them is enough. As they get stronger and their technique improves, adding in something like a barbell row, lat pull down, or chin-ups makes sense. Hiking, Rucking, & BJJ Niki shares here favorite submission move in BJJ. CJ gives a brief description of his recent rucking event and if it was the hardest thing he's every done. Matt discusses how a supposedly friendly hike became a 7-hour ordeal of terror. Holiday Traditions How do you say the word "pecan?" Do you eat stuffing or dressing? What are their favorite dishes, drinks, and desserts for Thanksgiving. Learn this and more, and share your with us on Instagram. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We share our coaching lessons learned - professionalism over mastery, personability and personalization over optimal programming, flexibility over rigidity, long-term good over short-term gains, and more. Coaching Lessons Learned If you're not growing, not learning, not improving, then you're getting worse - that's the nature of this existence. Entropy comes with the deal. That's why, coming near the end of this year and during a time when we reflect on what we've learned, what we'd like to improve on going forward, and what we're thankful for, some BLOC coaches share their coaching lessons learned. Whether you're a coach, lifter, or within earshot of this because your spouse or significant other plays their podcasts too loud, we hope you learn something from this. Personalization over the "Perfect Program" The perfect program, lost to moderns, either buried in the lost city of Atlantis or created by some super secret Soviet coach, still encoded and not translated into English, does not exist. The principles of programming always matter, but they must be applied to the person who presents himself in real time in front of you - your client. What are his circumstances, limitations, preferences, fears, goals? These matter more than perfect technique, 12 minute rest periods, or the DUP template you've improved for decades. The programming has to work for your client, not, for the long-term. Coaching Lessons Learned - Source of truth. An easy example of this, especially early on, is the reality of biomechanically efficient form when it comes to the lifts. The truth of gravity tells you when you're doing it wrong. Personal records can be a source of truth, but look for other metrics as well. What is the client's motivation? Is nagging pain not improving? Seek ways to understand and track truth. Outside the Gym & Technique The biggest keys to success lie outside the gym. Niki and CJ share similar coaching lessons learned. Sleep, getting to the gym early and staying late, preparation, food, socializing - these all affect your performance as a coach and lifter. Relatedly, you have to be more than a form technician. You have to have basic knowledge of nutrition and the basic situations that are likely to arise (back tweak, elbow tendinitis, get sick, etc.). You will eventually encounter problems that lay outside the typical situations, and do your best to solve them, refer them out, or help find them a new coach. Your Ideal Strength Client? A decade ago, Niki & CJ would have likely said something like someone who is younger, eating tons of protein and calories, doesn't have other conflicting physical activities outside the gym, and can rest long between work sets. But, they've come upon more coaching lessons learned, and changed their minds. Who is this unicorn client? Like the perfect program, the perfect client doesn't exist. This ideal client makes things easier for you, the coach. Given them the program, if they don't want to follow your guidelines, they're not doing the program, and their failure is their fault. This might be the case sometimes - people have to put in the work, and shouldn't do whatever they want. But if strength is important, it benefits everyone, especially those who participate in other physical pursuits outside the gym. Strength would help their health and hobbies. CJ says it's a red flag when people avoid social situations or physical activities because they're afraid it will negatively affect recovery. Most people don't want to pay the price for continuous PRs - something matters to them more. That's okay. Content & Personability It's not 1983. We don't look numbers up in the white or yellow pages. We typically find a business or person online, and that person's content builds trust and credibility. After some time, this may lead to purchasing that person's or business's products or services. Create content, and keep it true to yourself. You're not just a strength coach. You probably don't only eat chicken breasts and broccoli. You probably don't only read scientific studies. And if you do only coach, read scientific studies, and eat chicken breasts and broccoli, that's probably what your social media should reflect. After Niki & CJ share their top 3 lessons learned, other BLOC coaches share their coaching lessons learned. We hope you enjoy and learn from them! GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Jordan Stanton returns to answer your questions on velocity based autoregulation. Why is this not for novices? What guidance would you give to lifters when the device tells you you should have a big PR? Who is a good candidate for velocity based training? Autoregulation for Novices? Form is not stable, and this is a requirement, especially for velocity based autoregulation. Novices, in addition to needing to improve technique and develop consistent form, beginners need to experience higher RPE sets. More advanced lifters cannot recover from RPE 9+ sets like beginners, can, but novices and early intermediate can benefit from just how heavy "heavy but doable" can be. RiR & RPE - Are They the Same? It depends. Some define Rate of Perceive Exertion (RPE) by Reps in Reserve (RiR). Others give RPE a more qualitative score. RPE comes from the endurance world, and can also be used for conditioning. For example, you might tell someone to run for 3 miles at RPE 6, which is an easy, conversational pace. Is Autoregulation Just Changing the Intensity? Not necessarily, though sometimes. The simple way to use velocity based autoregulation is to identify your estimated 1RM for that day, and then perform the work sets based off that information. Similarly, a lifter may work up to a single at RPE 8, and then do back off sets from that single. Some autoregulation techniques adjust volume. A lifter could perform an AMRAP for one or multiple sets. For velocity based training, a lifter could adjust the volume based on velocity decay. One week, a lifter may only do 2 sets of 2, whereas the next it could be 5 sets of 2. 1RM Every Workout? Some programs do work up to a heavy single. They typically are performed at a prescribed RPE, such as RPE 8, and are not a true 1RM. Other programs have a lifter work up to a 1RM, but often on a supplemental lift (e.g. Westside conjugate max effort day). Back off sets are completed based off the heavy single. The PR is There for the Taking For you pessimists out there, the main benefit of velocity based autoregulation out there may be the avoidance of missed reps, and more appropriate intensities for blue collars days. The flip side, however, is when the device tells you should have a substantial PR. In these cases, what do you do? Considering that this is an advanced training technique and that as lifters advanced, those PR days become rarer and rarer, Jordan tells lifters to go for the PR, with caution. For example, maybe the Rep One device suggests a 50lb PR. He might tell his lifter to attempt a conservative single first, or go for a 25lb single first. Part of this is because more factors determine the success of a PR attempt than your performance that day. Also, the lived experience of performing a heavy weight may change. Sounds, sights, sensations may occur that you've never experienced before in your life. Getting Started with VBT Who are good candidates for velocity based autoregulation, and how do you as a coach bring it up? Generally, the lifters need to have trained consistently for a relatively long period of time, so at least have gone through early intermediate. They need to be able to give full effort to warm up sets. Their technique needs to be consistent. Beyond that, you can see two groups of athletes that seem opposed but would both be good candidates. One is the powerlifter or strengthlifter or similar strength-based athlete who really prioritizes lifting and wants to chase PRs. The other is the lifter who trains to support another activity, such as martial arts or a sport. For this second athlete, their performance in the gym may vary widely based on their sport or activity stress, so the VBT can help provide more appropriate stress doses. Autoregulation & Accessories? Velocity based autoregulation really doesn't make sense for accessory work. Now, it can be appropriate for Olympic lifts, though the more important data is peak velocity, not average velocity. Regarding this, Matt and Jordan talked about some interesting and fun ways to potentially use the devices. One could, for example, work to identify and train where maximum power or maximum force occur, which would be at relatively heavy weights but definitely below 90%. Similarly, one could compare AMRAPs to see who did more work. For example, two lifters perform bench press AMRAPs at 225. One lifter performs 10 reps, one performs 6 reps. The lifter who performed 10 reps, however, has shorter arms. Who did more work? You could find out. One instance where autoregulation does make sense for accessories is AMRAPs. Doing AMRAPs of curls or rolling dumbbell extensions, for instance, especially if only for the last rep, is not that stressful. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram

Injury and recovery are no fun and not why we train. They're a part of life, and come with training, especially if you push yourself over a long period of time. How do you adjust programming and mindset to keep training and keep improving. Niki Sims shares her story of an injury that altered her training, identity, and pursuits, which ultimately caused her to not only alter reps and sets and exercise selection, but her approach and mindset regarding training and physical activity. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Tweaks and Tribulations Niki was trucking along nicely, hitting squat and deadlift PRs, improving in BJJ. Enter pain and injury. She heard a pop during some deficit deadlifts. Her approach in the past had always been to do what she could, as much as possible, so she continued to pursue PRs. She hit a nice squat PR soon after that. Performance continued to improve in the gym, and pain increased in intensity and frequency. One morning, she woke up and was in so much pain she couldn't see straight. She deadlifted later that day in a friendly competition. She started to realize that looking at her lifting shoes was inducing anxiety, and the time that had been fun and solace and a welcome break every day - her gym time - now came with pain and anxiety. She wasn't ready to stop lifting. Reduced intensity and doing as much as she could only increased pain over time. It wasn't working. Injury and Recovery: Mindset Matters Niki had built an identity around performance, competition, and ability. The previous period of relatively stable progress in the gym and on the mat had to give way to an examination of why she was training in the first place, what she wanted to get out of training going forward, and what was best for her - physically and mentally. She realized she couldn't go down that mental road of comparing what she used to be able to do to what she can do now. She also couldn't second-guess decisions she had made in the past about training or continuing to chase after PRs. She had to embrace reality and possibility, while digging deeper to understand her deeper reasons for training and exercise in the first place. Deadlift 440 pounds was an important goal for her, but based on current limitations and important whys, keeping this as a goal was counterproductive for her mind and body. You can't let yourself spiral into mental cycles of associating the gym with pain and failure. Injury and Recovery: Programming Changes Reintroducing play into the gym helped. Focusing on having training time be pleasant mattered. The cycle of pain and dread had to end. Finding exercises that can be pushed a bit more without pain can help - and those might not look anything like the four main lifts. This might and probably will involve exercises that use less muscle mass over a shorter range of motion with less weight. Niki found that not having programmed squat and deadlift workouts helped, because if these were programmed and she wasn't able to do them or they were performed at extremely low intensities, this created a feeling of failure. Be able to experiment with what works - what's fun, what doesn't produce pain, what makes you want to go to the gym. Find metrics that matter more (which also can quantify improvements outside of weight on the bar). Niki found that tracking pain in the morning not only helped inform programming decisions but also helped her see the big picture that pain had decreased and that she could have fewer days with pain, and the pain could be less intense. The programming changes that you might think would get her back to PRs more quickly only made things worse. Slight reductions in intensity, volume, and exercise selection did not suffice. If you're a coach or coaching yourself and something similar happens, you might try those smaller MED changes at first, but sometimes the MED change is actually quite big, and requires big adjustments to programming and mindset. Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Autoregulation adjusts to the lifter's actual, not expected, performance during a workout. Get an overview of this strength training method. Autoregulation - The Concept The underlying concept is fairly simple: adjust the work sets to the lifter's performance during the workout. During novice linear progression, a lifter adds typically 5 pounds each week. The lifter adapts quickly while also lacking the ability to stress himself with a heavy work set like an advanced lifter can. If the lifter misses a rep or set, a programming change probably needs to occur. If the lifter has a bad workout but hits all the reps, then she learns about just how heavy "heavy" can be. It can be a qualitative experience in RPE 8.5+ sets. As the lifter advances, weight is often added less frequently, though you often see a linear progression of supplemental and accessory lifts. Without autoregulation, a lifter performs work sets based on a past one-rep max or similar maximal effort (e.g. 5RM) or her expected performance. Past performance does best predict future performance, but occasionally a lifter experiences workouts on the tails of the bell curve. A lifter may suddenly fail to hit prescribed reps or have to perform the reps at RPE 9+ effort, whereas the intended difficulty was closer to RPE 7. The other extreme is the unexpected easy day, when a PR might be available. Especially as a lifter progresses, these days come less and less frequently, so taking the PR may be warranted. Subjective Autoregulation The lifter can attempt to make a more-or-less educated guess on his 1RM from his subjective assessment using rate of perceived exertion (RPE) or reps in reserve (RIR). Work up to a single at RPE 8. This means you assess that you can complete 2 more reps. Then, perform 1x3 @ 93% and 3x5 @ 80%. If your RPE assessment is fairly accurate, the training stress and intensity that day will be appropriate - sufficient but not too much. The other primary subjective autoregulation method is the coach's eye. The coach can watch your warm up sets and help pick your work set intensity based on his assessment of your performance that day. This is an informed input, if you have an experienced coach, but it is still subjective. Lastly, the two methods can be combined. Whether in-person or online, this method works better. You have two independently-gathered albeit subjective data points that help determine the work sets for the workout. Online, the coach obviously cannot pick the intensity that day, but the coach can help provide feedback on the lifter's RPE assessments and notice patterns. For example, a lifter may tend to assess RPEs fairly accurate most of the time, and especially for upper body lifts. On bad days and for squats - this hypothetical lifter's least favorite lift - he tends to rate them higher than they were. This growing awareness can inform the lifter's decisions. Objective Autoregulation AMRAPs or working up to a 1RM are objective, as long as the lifter gives her full effort for the set. The problem, is maximal effort sets, whether for one rep or as many reps as possible, are physically and mentally exhausting, will negatively affect the remaining work sets, and provide an extremely high-intensity training stress that must be accounted for in the training. Velocity-based training, therefore, offers an objective autoregulation method that doesn't require a maximal set. The lifter has to give her full effort during warm ups, but this does not come with the same difficulty or downsides as a truly maximal work set. The downside is mainly the cost, though they've become more readily available and more accurate. If you're an advanced lifter that is serious about chasing PRs for the long haul, you might consider investing in this for your training. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Velocity based training & autoregulation for strength sounds complex, but it's really simple - learn the secrets of this training method. Why Try Velocity Based Training? We like simplicity - our tagline is simple, hard, effective - so why add a seemingly complicated piece of equipment and method of autoregulation to your coaching or training? First, this is not for novices. Novices need to add weight simply and linearly, improve technique, and experience the range of difficulties (the many flavors of heavy but doable). Often, a lifter will finally achieve something that equates to something close to an RPE 7.5 or 8. This means, the lifter can accomplish two, maybe three more reps, and either give up on a rep or express fear that he won't be able to do another rep. The reality is, this lifter has likely never experienced this level of intensity. If they have, it's been during a one-rep max attempt. The middle and end of linear progression confront the lifter with hardship, and the lifter must willfully overcome the challenge. Voluntary hardship is not simply a catch phrase. Second, velocity based autoregulation is not as complicated as it sounds. Intermediate and advanced lifters regularly use, and coaches often prescribe, programs based on percentages of their one-rep max. The average velocity correlates linearly with percentage of one rep max, so what the lifter is doing is still using a program based on his one-rep maximum. Third, velocity based training (VBT) is objective without requiring the lifter to complete a maximum effort set (either an AMRAP or 1RM). Autoregulation - Subjective or Objective Autoregulation adjust the prescribed workout based on the athlete's daily fluctuation and performance. This idea and approach comes from the reality that your athlete is not the same athlete every day, that his theoretical one-rep max changes, and that this varies and matters more and he advances as an athlete. Subjective autoregulation methodologies exist and include rate of perceived exertion (RPE), reps in reserve (RIR), and percentage based training (where the one rep maximum is guessed, albeit in an educated way). Conducting a daily maximum, as many reps as possible, or velocity based training are objective autoregulation approaches. The first two approaches, however, require physically and mentally exhausting sets to accurately identify the lifter's one rep maximum that day. Either the lifter must attempt a 1RM or the lifter has to do as many reps as possible. Only after these grueling sets does the lifter execute his prescribed work sets. Velocity based autoregulation avoids the need for these maximum effort sets. How Velocity Based Autoregulation Works Velocity based training allows a lifter to accurately identify his 1RM for that day at sub-maximal (i.e. warm up) sets. How? Let's explore a bit. Some assumptions come here, that it's important we acknowledge. The lifter's anthropometry need to remain constant, so growing lifters (children or teenagers) lose objectivity if they complete this training. Form and technique matter, so novices or lifters consistently struggling with technique should not take on this methodology. One important note is that this data remains the same if the lifter gets stronger. If a lifter improves his 1RM squat from 200 to 400, 50% will move at the same speed. The device sits on the floor and connects to the bar with a wire. The athlete needs to collect five to ten data points. These lifts need to be performed with 100% effort for this data to be accurate (another reason novices should not use velocity based autoregulation). The coach or lifter simply conducts linear regression analysis. One this is known, the lifter can come in on another day, conduct warm up lifts with 100% intention, learn his 1RM for that day, and then perform his work sets based on that knowledge. Improve Your Coaching with VBT Using velocity based autoregulation for your training and some of your clients provides you good feedback and data that can help you learn more about your athletes as well as your programming and coaching eye. You can test your coaching eye. For example, what attempts should a lifter take on a 1RM attempt day or during a strengthlifting meet? As a coach, you can make an educated guess and then, from the velocity device, actually get objective data on that athlete's 1RM for that day. This means, your athlete can take attempts based on more objective information, and you can improve your coaching eye. You can learn both for individual athletes and your lifters aggregately truly what percentages of their 1RM they can complete 3x5, 5x3, 3x8, etc. This can help refine your percentage based programs. You can begin to compare different groups of clients and learn if certain types of clients bar speed decays more quickly or more slowly (velocity decay). For example, Jordan has learned that advanced athletes and female athletes bar speed decays more slowly, on average. Using Velocity Base

Stay sane while coaching family, friends, & co-workers. Successfully juggle dual relationships while getting good coaching experience. Why Coach Family? Before we talk about how, we must always consider why. Why would you consider coaching family, friends, and colleagues, and is it worth the risk? For new or aspiring coaches, one major hurdles is acquiring experience and your first clients. New coaches typically get both experience and clients by coaching family, friends, and co-workers for free. Too many aspiring coaches spend too much time considering coaching or thinking about coaching and maybe even studying the book knowledge for coaching. If you want to coach, you need to coach. Family, friends, and co-workers can help bridge the gap from beginner coach to professional coach. Is It Worth the Risk? Only you can answer this question. You're balancing two relationships and two goals here. You have the familial or friendly or professional relationship, which you hopefully want to maintain and improve. On the other hand, you have the aspirational hobby or side hustle or even career of coaching, which requires you to coach people. If you don't think your relationship can handle the additional risk or stress, then don't coach that person. Find someone else. Stay Sane Coaching Family Remember when coaching family, friends, and co-workers, that you're managing two relationships. Different relationships may require different boundaries. CJ discussed not talking work with his co-workers when he was in the gym. Rest time can be an indicator that too much talking is occurring. Keep in mind what you want to get out of the session. If you're coaching for free, set a goal or intention for the session. That might involve requesting something from the lifter. You might ask for a testimonial or take pictures. More simply, you may seek the coaching experience itself. Be aware of emotions and work on your relationship skills. This applies for all clients, but you may be extra aware of this with your wife or boyfriend. Try to avoid bringing life issues into the gym (or creating gym issues that go into the rest of your life). Finally, remember that you don't have to have all the answers, you don't have to be the expert on everything, and as you would with any other client, be transparent and honest. Coaching friends and family shouldn't and doesn't have to end with sleeping on the couch or tears. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Accommodating resistance means lifting with bands or chains for more resistance near the top of the lift. Learn how & why to use this advanced, fun training method, including practical tips for setting up the bands or chains by lift. What is Accommodating Resistance? Accommodating resistance is a training method that uses bands or chains to increase the resistance as the concentric portion of the lift progresses. How does this happen? Let's start with chains. The chain begins on the floor or on a similar surface (e.g. a box) and as the lifter presses or deadlifts or squats the bar, more of the chain comes up off the ground, increasing the weight the athlete is lifting. Bands can be used two ways: either increasing resistance or with decreasing assistance (reverse bands). Similar to chains, bands provide greater tension and thus more resistance closer to the top of the lift. Reverse bands do not add resistance but add assistance. Attach the bands near the top of a power rack. The bands come under more tension and are thus providing more assistance in the bottom. This essentially deloads the lift in the bottom. As the lifter squats or presses or deadlifts the bar, the band loosens, providing less assistance, so the effective load increases as the bar moves up toward lockout. Why Train with Bands and Chains? Why might you consider using accommodating resistance as part of your training program? Let's be honest, bands and chains look cool and scream "advanced lifter." While we love simple, hard, effective training, after a long period of consistent, difficult training, greater complication is needed, and bands or chains are one option here. So, one is reason is for the fun and novelty of a new method of complexity. Because the resistance increases toward the top, it also stresses the muscles that extend the joint(s) that are contributing to overcoming gravity more toward the top. This means on the bench press and press, the triceps and elbow come under greater stress. For the deadlift and squat, the hamstrings and especially the glutes come under greater stress. This increased resistance near the top of the lift also forces the lifter to finish focused on continuing to provide maximal force near the top of the lift. It can be easy to slow down near the top of the lift without accommodating resistance, as that portion of the lift is easy to complete. This is one reason why bands and chains are often used for dynamic lifts, where the lifter completes something like 10 sets of 2 or 8 sets of 3 lifts at a light weight but done quickly and with minimal rest time between sets (typically 1 minute). Comparing Bands & Chains for Lifting Let us first begin with Matt's general recommendation, that you're looking for the bands or chains to provide about 33% of the resistance (maybe up to 50%) and the barbell and plates providing 67% down to 50%. Chains continue to provide only the straight down force of gravity (as long as some chains remain on the ground). You want some of the chains to remain on the floor, as swinging chains change the nature of the movement. Bands, on the other hand, provide forces in directions other than straight down. Because of this, bands encourage the lifter to focus on the bar path more throughout the performance of the lift. Bands also beat up the joints a bit more than chains. Because of these factors, Matt argues that chains are probably better for raw lifters and bands are better for geared lifters. Because most people lift raw, they should start with chains. Of course, chains are more expensive and difficult to get. If you train in a public gym that does not have chains, your best option is probably buying a set of chains for the gym that you can use (and leaving them at the gym). Better options are training in a gym that has chains or purchasing them for your home gym. Ultimately, either option works. Buying and Using Chains Chains are more expensive, especially if you buy them online, as they will need to be shipped to you, and they weight a lot. A good option is to buy some chains at a hardware store. 5/8" chains are ideal, but they are difficult to find. If you live near a location where boats exist, especially the ocean coast, you can often buy 5/8" chain. For most of us, however, you'll have to buy 3/8" chain. Smaller chain means, especially for bigger, stronger lifts, that you will likely need multiple pairs of chains, potentially 3 or 4 pairs of chains. To save money, you should get thinner leader chains for the squat and bench press. This chain loops down. This prevents the heavy, more expensive chains from having to come all the way up to the barbell. Thus, the heavy chain connect to the leader chains, so that near the bottom of the lift all or most of the heavy chains are touching the ground. At the top of the lift, you want 1 or 2 chains (at least) still in contact with the ground. You do not want the chains to swing, as this becomes more like a bamboo lift or similar lift where

How do you approach non-expert coaching? How do you address coaching outside your expertise or comfort zone? Niki & CJ discuss how to handle this hurdle! Non-Expert Coaching: Identifying the Client's Why How do you approach a client who has a goal or endeavor that lies outside your expertise? Similar to any change in goals for a client, even if it remains well within your wheelhouse, you should learn, and maybe even help your client identify, why she wants this new goal. What may have happened, and what CJ discusses, is how a deep, important goal can initially be subsumed into a shorter, more concrete goal of "get stronger." You talk to your client, and the client agrees to get stronger for a bit. She enjoys it, she likes some of the changes that come with it. Still, the underlying goals haven't changed and haven't been reached. As CJ & Niki discuss, this might involve referring the client to another coach or professional (e.g. maybe they have underlying mental health issues that require a mental health professional). Similarly, though within the physical health realm, a client may want to compete in competitive bodybuilding. This comes with many skills that don't involve simply lifting, so it is likely - unless you yourself come from a bodybuilding background - that you might need to refer your client to someone who can better help her achieve her goals. Non-Expert Coaching: Different Paths Ahead Once the deeper why(s) have been identified, the path ahead needs to be identified and agreed to. Another consideration, besides the purpose, is the level of desired skill. Completing a 5k run is different than qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Dabbling in Olympic weightlifting is different than setting the state record. You might continue to train the client, but have the client take care of that particular physical endeavor herself. You might recommend a professional coach who can help with her new endeavor, while you continue providing strength training. Or, that coach may take over primary coaching responsibilities. Lastly, you may decide to help the client with her endeavor. Regardless of which route you agree upon, ultimately you need to be honest and transparent about your experience and knowledge level. In losing a client, you may still gain future clients, as the entire experience was so positive that she'll recommend you to her friend, family, and colleagues. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Tanner Guzy shares his thoughts and answers questions on masculine style and aesthetics. Dress better and become more confident. Seek Beauty in Your Style Beauty is good. We know this, because we enjoy the transformations that occur with our body as we train and eat better. Wearing good-fitting, appropriate clothing presents a better, more beautiful aesthetic. It helps you build confidence and presents a better version of yourself to the world. Masculine Style - Some Specifics Style doesn't necessarily mean buying expensive clothing and chasing the newest fashions. It means dressing appropriately based on your settings, the image you want to present, and what you're doing. This could mean wearing plain, well-fitted, high-quality t-shirts instead of baggy t-shirts with logos. This could mean tailoring some of your pants or spending some time finding jeans or chinos that fit and continuing to buy those over and over again. Style Linear Progression Like fitness or strength, improving your style is an ongoing process. You don't have to (and really probably cannot effectively) buy a new wardrobe all at once. You might find one or two items first: a t-shirt or jeans or shorts. Ensure they fit and you like them, then you might need to revise something else in your everyday uniform. Start with the big ticket items: the shirt and pants or shorts. Then you might move to shoes. From there, maybe you're looking into the socks, belt, and items you wear less frequently. You also have to realize that you'll learn more as you go, so if you tried to do it at once, you won't understand what you likes, what fits, and what you image you want to convey. Enjoy the process. You're going to make mistakes. That's okay. Keep getting better. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt and Scott continue their discussion from part 1 over a range of topics, including theology, business, softball, and more. This is a wide-ranging podcast that deviates from our normal content. We hope you enjoy! GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt and Scott chat over a range of topics, including theology, business, softball, and more. This is a wide-ranging podcast that deviates from our normal content. We hope you enjoy! GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Building trust - this can seem a bit nebulous. Andrew Jackson provides a coaching value equation or model for how you can think about and improve how you build trust and provide value to your clients. The Future of Coaching Technology has redefined coaching and will continue to do so. You might be reading this on your phone, whereas decades ago similar articles would be only in physical magazines. Similarly, Barbell Logic offers an online learning environment for barbell enthusiasts and current and future coaches, along with an online app and service to provide strength and conditioning as well as nutrition coaching. What are the trends that will likely stick around and redefine the coaching industry over the coming decades? Things like artificial intelligence, wearables, and the general interconnectedness of technology will enable nutritional and programming prescriptions. Based off your recent food purchases, you will be able to get recipes that only use what you have available. Artificial intelligence will be able to provide programs, and sensors can tell you your 1RM for that day and provide autoregulated programs. Likely an AI system will be able to analyze your squat and tell you your errors and associated corrective cues. So what's a coach to do? Come to terms with reality and embrace the opportunities. Know your VIP. Better Position Your Coaching Practice If your coaching practice involves nothing besides programming, recipes, and technique coaching, you need to adjust your practice. If you expect perfect compliance from clients and won't deal with personal side of coaching, don't be shocked when clients abandon your coaching when they can get what you provide through technology. So, what problems can you solve for clients? Clients are still human and want personal connection. So, you could focus on building a super tightknit gym community, that bucks the technological trends or incorporates them BUT provides value through a community of like-minded people looking to better themselves and their health. You might focus on a niche that demands high-expertise and precise adjustments, such as professional cycling or similar sports. You might focus on a high-touch either online model, where you build community as best you can through technology. You might deliver a white glove service to well-to-do clients, where you travel to their house. The point is, there will still be problems to solve, and we'll all still be human with human problems and foibles. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

What is the future of coaching? Niki Sims & CJ Gotcher discuss current trends that will likely define the future of coaching and how you can improve your coaching practice to be better positioned now & in the future. The Future of Coaching Technology has redefined coaching and will continue to do so. You might be reading this on your phone, whereas decades ago similar articles would be only in physical magazines. Similarly, Barbell Logic offers an online learning environment for barbell enthusiasts and current and future coaches, along with an online app and service to provide strength and conditioning as well as nutrition coaching. What are the trends that will likely stick around and redefine the coaching industry over the coming decades? Things like artificial intelligence, wearables, and the general interconnectedness of technology will enable nutritional and programming prescriptions. Based off your recent food purchases, you will be able to get recipes that only use what you have available. Artificial intelligence will be able to provide programs, and sensors can tell you your 1RM for that day and provide autoregulated programs. Likely an AI system will be able to analyze your squat and tell you your errors and associated corrective cues. So what's a coach to do? Come to terms with reality and embrace the opportunities. Know your VIP. Better Position Your Coaching Practice If your coaching practice involves nothing besides programming, recipes, and technique coaching, you need to adjust your practice. If you expect perfect compliance from clients and won't deal with personal side of coaching, don't be shocked when clients abandon your coaching when they can get what you provide through technology. So, what problems can you solve for clients? Clients are still human and want personal connection. So, you could focus on building a super tightknit gym community, that bucks the technological trends or incorporates them BUT provides value through a community of like-minded people looking to better themselves and their health. You might focus on a niche that demands high-expertise and precise adjustments, such as professional cycling or similar sports. You might focus on a high-touch either online model, where you build community as best you can through technology. You might deliver a white glove service to well-to-do clients, where you travel to their house. The point is, there will still be problems to solve, and we'll all still be human with human problems and foibles. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Staying sane on social media: seems impossible, right? CJ Gotcher explains how you can train the algorithm and train yourself to intentionally use social media for your purposes. Social Media is Toxic We're probably beyond the naïve understanding some people had about social media a decade ago, that it's a free way to connect with others and promote your ends. Social media wants you to spend money and time on its platform. It engages you to stay on to serve its ends. Staying sane on social media is challenging, as casual use will lead you to follow the engaging pathway, which isn't necessarily the better angels of your nature want. Bringing intentionality - knowing what you want out of social media, which platforms best enable those ends, and developing habits of use that train you and the algorithm can lead to the seemingly impossible notion of staying sane on social media. Staying Sane on Social Media - Train the Algorithm You play a part in the algorithm and whether you exist in social media in the first part. Which platforms do you use, when do you use them, are the applications on your phone, what content do you create and share, and what content do you engage with? Your actions on the platforms play into the algorithm. If you follow someone or like something, that feeds the algorithm. Although you might think you want to follow an in-real-life friend, following or engaging with that friend can throw off your newsfeed. Newsfeeds can slip if you're not careful. Your newsfeed needs to be managed. You must intentionally follow, message, like, dislike, friend, people and groups. Does this person or group's use of the platform align with your own (ignore whether you like the person). Staying Sane on Social Media - Train Yourself CJ gives specifics for how you can tailor your newsfeed to your goals, through being intentional about how you engage with various content on the platform. The problem, however, tends not to be the algorithm itself, but ourselves. We begin intentionally engaging certain things, but then maybe we like something political or something we don't really want in our feed, then the algorithm gives us more of this. We slip up, use the platforms more casually, and we get casual (i.e. toxic or dumpster fire) results. Setting ourselves up for success through some tips and techniques helps prevent ourselves from slipping up. Below are some ideas: Don't have the apps on your phone Take social media breaks for sabbaths Turn off notifications Take time regularly to intentionally feed the algorithm Limit time of day (do not disturb function) Dedicate only one time of the day to social media GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt, Niki, and CJ discuss introducing new exercises: why & how, different categories of exercises, determining your main exercises, and more. Why Introduce New Exercises? Novices need to get generally stronger. The process of doing this is simple, though hard & effective, of course. Add weight to certain compound barbell movements in a set and rep range that elicits a strength and hypertrophy adaptation, while the lifter also improves technique and confidence. The first exercise type of exercise that tends to get introduced may tell us something about at least one or a couple reasons why we would introduce new exercises. The first type of exercise that is introduced is typically an "upper body pulling" exercise, such as a barbell row, chin-up, pull-up, or lat pull down. While initially the upper back and arms receive sufficient stress from the four main lifts, more stress is needed, especially for the upper back and biceps. Other reasons exist, of course, for why we would introduce new lifts. We list some below. prevent or decrease boredom address a technique error address a muscular weakness "I want bigger arms" change in goals more specifically address goals prevent or decrease joints being beat up what works? novel stress You can probably think of more, but there are lots of reasons to Exercise Categories Different people and groups might have different categories of exercises, and really we could add more to the three we're going to discuss today. For example, some exercises serve more of a rehab or prehab purpose, not to elicit a strength or hypertrophy response. Generally, though, we discuss three main categories of lifts: main lifts, supplemental lifts, accessory lifts. We typically consider the main lifts the four main lifts - the press, squat, bench press, and deadlift, and for most novices this is true. But as a lifter advances and requires greater specificity, and, at the same time, the lifter refines his goals, the main lifts might change. Weightlifters train the Olympic lifts and the front and overhead squats. Powerlifters' main lifts are the competition style squat, bench press, and deadlift. Same for strengthlifters, except replace the bench press with the press. This matters, because the main lifts tend to be the most important gauge of progress - the PRs that most matter. Most other exercises should contribute to these most of the time. Supplemental lifts are variations on the main lifts. They modify the main lift, but look similar, typically modifying range of motion, tempo, or weight implement. Examples include deficit deadlifts, pause squats, pin press, safety squat bar squat. Accessory lifts are a bit more nebulous. They're not variations of the main lift, so they look different. They typically involve fewer joints and are easier on the joints. Accessory lifts can help prevent joints from being beat up, stressing a muscle with less stress on the joints. They might train smaller muscle groups (bicep curls, rolling dumbbell extensions). Introducing New Exercises - How How one introduces new exercises for a client really depends on that client - her goals, advancement, experience with various lifts. For an advanced powerlifter, a lift might only be introduced for a single workout. An example would be in a Westside-style conjugate program, where the lifter goes for a 1RM on a supplemental lift. For a less advanced lifter who simply wants to get generally strong, it's better to introduce a new lift a bit more conservatively and progress that lift until it runs out or the lifter gets sick of the exercise. As a coach, you might prescribe an RPE or reps in reserve with a ballpark for what the weight will be. If the lifter is more experienced, less guidance may work. Introducing new exercises, like any other coaching or programming decision, takes some understanding of the lifter and his goals, principles of programming, and some judgment. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

What is pain, how does it work, and why do we experience pain (what value does it provide us)? Jayson Ball explains all. Pain in the Flesh The process of pain begins in the flesh through sensory transduction. Information from the environment turns into an electric impulse in the nervous system, that eventually makes its way to the brain. Proteins exist in sensory tissue to help this process occur. For example, there are touch & heat receptors. Genes determine these proteins. This is why certain animals can experience a wider array of the electromagnetic spectrum in how they visually interpret the world. Another example might be with a super taster. This person has an unusually large amount of taste receptors, so they have greater depths of taste. This may be trainable, to some degree, but one cannot be a super taster if the proteins lack in the tongue. Pain - Why!? Okay, that's nice, but why do we have to experience pain? Jayson argues this is a warning. It signals that something is occurring that is causing damage. Touching a hot stove, for example, creates a withdrawal reflex loop. This means, without your brain, you automatically withdraw your hand off the heat source. Yes, this can be overridden, and that can probably be trained and influenced by motivating factors. Another important piece of information here is the existence of people who do not experience pain. They experience severe tissue damage regularly and early death, as they simply will persist in activities that damage their flesh. If they had experience pain, they would have stopped those activities and protected the flesh. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Karl Schudt discusses arete in the ancient world. This concept encompasses the words in English and underlying ideas of virtue and excellence. Depending on the subject, if you are reading an English translation of an Ancient Greek book, you will see this as either excellence or virtue. He continues to lead seminars and do the podcast at Online Great Books, and is an Exclusive Coach at Barbell Logic as well as the Director of Coaching Development. Aristotle & Arete: Virtue & Excellence Excellence and virtue are divided concepts today, but in Ancient Greece the both lived under the word or concept of Arete. If you're reading Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, you'll probably read the word virtue. If, however, someone is describing a knife or piece of pottery, you'll see the word excellence. What this concept really means is a good example of something. An excellent knife is one that serves its purpose well, so one that can cut well. This means certain things will come with it - it will be sharp and durable. It serves its end well. Aristotle has some good quotes pertaining to excellence and happiness. "Virtue then is a settled disposition of the mind as regards the choice of actions and feelings, consisting essentially in the observance of the mean relative to us, this being determined by principle, that is, as the prudent man would determine it." Another quote on excellence: "all excellence has a twofold effect on the thing to which it belongs: it not only renders the thing itself good, but it also causes it to perform its function well." Lastly, his quote on happiness: ""happiness is a certain activity of soul in conformity with perfect virtue." Arete & the Ancient World Karl stares stories and history from Ancient Greece to illustrate what this meant to the Athenians, Spartans, Trojans, and others. It was in part a reaction to the reality of man, that our lives our fleeting, and we are like leaves in the wind. What do you do when faced with your own immortality and apparent smallness and weakness? The Greeks pursued arete and glory. They did this in warfare and in the Olympic games, in philosophy and rhetoric. The excellence and virtue that individuals achieved contributed to the greatness of some of these ancient cities. Sparta did not defeat the Persians because of their love of freedom, but because the Spartans pursue greatness in warfare. If you're looking to pursue greatness in the gym or any other pursuit, this is the talk for you. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Bekah Krieg joins CJ to discuss lifting with back pain: modifications, mindset, & approaches as coach or lifter to deal with/overcome back pain & get stronger. She worked as a physical therapist for 20 years, is an Exclusive Coach for Barbell Logic, and is the Barbell Academy Curriculum Director. Weightlifting with Back Pain Back pain seems to come with being human. Virtually all of us, if not all of us, experience back pain at one time or another. Some of us struggle with more severe back pain or chronic back pain. How do we confront back pain as lifters and coaches? Some important concepts should be kept in mind. There is no perfect approach. A coach or lifter can deviate by being too aggressive or too conservative. An example of erring too conservatively is stopping all lifting and exercise and trying to do as little movement as possible. To err too conservatively would be to ignore the pain, especially if the pain increases or does not diminish. Strength Training with Back Pain Properly The important question is to ask: what can I or my lifter do? Movement is typically good. It involves lots of blood flowing to the tissue. Someone will often find, the next workout after a back tweak or pain coming from elsewhere in life, that it feels better after the warm up. The lifter can perform the workout as prescribed or with a slightly reduced stress, via either intensity or volume or both. If movement, even movement at reduced weight, causes pain, this is an important piece of information. Now, the workout may have to be executed with SOME pain, and that is okay. As a coach, you may have a pain scale that you prescribe. For example, Squat 4x3x225, but reduce weight to ensure no more than 3 on the 1-10 pain scale. CJ, though, shared a story where a seemingly normal back tweak caused a 4-month issue. CJ worked up to a single at 80%, which is not a heavy single, but this hurt. He backed the weight off to 315, no dice. 225 hurt. Even 135 hurt. All tweaks are not created equally. A lifter may be able to reduce the weight and lift that day. It may take a days, weeks, or even months to heal. Healthy Mindset: Don't Catastrophize Most tweaks don't take long to deal with. You return to normal training quickly. If you run into a more serious back issue, you and your client will have to be patient. Chances are, this doesn't mean PRs are done forever or you won't return to normal. Don't catastrophize. This is where you build up the worst possible scenario in your head. This might go something like your back will never return to normal, you'll never hit another PR, you'll live with debilitating pain and waste away and have to be in a wheelchair before you know it. No, no, no! First, your expectations may contribute to your outcomes. A positive, patient mindset, where you focus on what you can do and is better to move and lift how you can then do nothing. Stronger Back through Lifting Wisely Someone with a serious disc issue might do a trap bar deadlift with nearly vertical back. This is fine. It's certainly better than not deadlifting at all. If someone lives with back pain, it's better than they strength train and live with back pain with a stronger, more capable lower back. A goal that might come with this is simply maintaining the level of back pain. As a coach, you might need to tell your client to go see a doctor, especially if your normal adjustments aren't working. That is okay. Sometimes, the issue is something serious, and you're not a doctor or physical therapist. Relatedly, you as a coach might have to fire your client if you don't feel comfortable coaching him anymore. If the client ignores your adjustments in the face of serious back pain, you might have to fire him. That's okay. That might be the kindest thing you can do, and might send a message to him. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We discuss bringing order to the chaos to get important things done, improve your quality of life, and feel at ease. Bringing Order to Chaos Life can be difficult and hectic. Hardship, both voluntary and involuntary, is part of life. Certain times, though, seem especially difficult, and it's hard to keep your head above water. Everything is urgent, it's difficult to accomplish those things you consider most important, and you're constantly reacting. Even if you like a little chaos, you tend to keep a messy desk and enjoy when things less-ordered, a bit of order allows you to accomplish your goals. Even if you're only organizing the chaos into blocks. For example, you wake up, brush your teeth, and then you have a 90-minute period for a hobby, or for whatever you feel like doing. Let that time be chaotic, but organize anchor points so urgent tasks don't step on what you want to do. Anchor Points & Schedules Bringing order to the chaos doesn't mean the same thing for everyone. For some, it might mean establishing anchor points throughout your day. You might have a morning routing, a lunch routine, a training routine, and an evening routine, and in between these anchor points, it might be chaotic. For others, you might need things scheduled down to the hour, half-hour, or even more detailed. Many business executives have extremely detailed schedules. If this is you, you'll have to ensure that you block off time for the important things that are NOT related to business (family, friends, exercise). Regardless of personality type, regardless of job or age or place in life, fostering some discipline can help you accomplish your goals and improve your quality of life. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt talks to Nate Garrison about strength training with autoimmune disease. Nate is a videographer and video editor for Barbell Logic that Matt met through Tactical Response. He discusses his journey with autoimmune disease and how barbell training helped his physical and mental health throughout the ongoing process. Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease Nate's story begin with his older sister, who struggled with and ultimately died from Crohn's disease. He had seen his sister confront Crohn's. When going through Navy EOD School, he realized that he was seeing symptoms that his older sister has had. Instead of quitting or going to the military medical personnel, he toughed it out and got private medical care as long as he could. He was first diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Later, the doctors diagnosed him with Crohn's disease. He has undergone multiple surgeries, and struggled with excruciating stomach pain, chronic diarrhea, and resultant mental anguish. He had to constantly be aware of where the closest toilet was and bring extra clothes, just in case. He faced obstacles and pain, and could have easily used his disease as an excuse to not further himself and continue to pursue health and excellence. That's not what he did. Weight Lifting with Autoimmune Disease Nate was used to difficult military training, but had never lifted weights. Strength training provided an opportunity to build and better himself in an area he had no experience. He started squatting with 85 pounds, and began his linear progression from there. Strength training with autoimmune disease helped him, but came with voluntary and involuntary hardship. He did his bet to eat food to support his training, and sometimes had to go to the bathrooms multiple times just during the squats. But he completed his workouts and kept training. He worked with Matt as his coach to adjust the stress appropriately and dealing with the Valsalva Maneuver and wearing a belt after a surgery that require cutting through his abdomen. After every surgery he has completed, he has had to reset with a low weight, but he knows it's good for him. In fact, the surgeon asked what he had been doing, as his abdominal wall had grown noticeably thicker after he began squatting and deadlifting heavy. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt and Scott finish their talk discussing the coach-client interaction and being coachable. If you're paying for coaching, your coach is probably erring on not enough stress, especially if you're a general client trying to get stronger for general health and quality of life reasons. You're not training for the Olympics. If you decide to do 2, 3, 4 more reps than programmed because it's there, especially if you're older, you may have wrecked yourself for a week or more, and then the coach has to completely change the programming. If you do what is prescribed and you have 3 more reps, then it's easy for the coach to increase the stress the next week. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt & Scott developed the concept of Minimum Effective Dose programming (MED programming) through conversations on the podcast. Today, Matt and Scott discuss how to apply the principles of MED programming when PRs are behind you. Listen to Scott's podcasts: Online Great Books, Music & Ideas, or Growing Resilience. This typically occurs for older clients with high-compliance (though even younger clients who have trained consistently for a long enough time run into this problem). If you're a lifter who regularly takes vacations and misses training, you'll continue to return to linear progression, so this doesn't happen. Eventually, you can't recover from the stress it takes to hits bigger PRs. Older people tend to sleep less well and they cannot eat as many calories without adding bodyfat. Plus, the reality is simply that the body doesn't react as well to things as it ages - it's just a fact of life. This also applies to those who find themselves suddenly facing a huge amount more stress. Scott, for example, besides being a bit older, is doing manual labor on his farmstead. This stress matters when it comes to his recovery and ability to stress himself in the gym. Practically, what does this mean? It often means pulling slots - less frequent training and less volume. You may see 5s become 4s become 3s after awhile. More days of rest between training are needed. Eventually, weight will have to come off the bar, though. Scott has also found that he doesn't program cycles longer than 4 weeks for post-advanced clients. A disclaimer, though - if you're an officer worker who has never done intelligent training, you need to do this, you need to chase numbers, and you need to get big and strong. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Enjoy the rest of Matt catching up with Scott for this 2-part episode. Matt & Scott discuss some of what Scott has been doing on his homestead, and just chat about things. Listen to Scott's podcasts: Online Great Books, Music & Ideas, or Growing Resilience. Learn how Scott's reading the book the Restoration of Christian Culture caused Scott to move his family out to the country and start a homestead operation, growing food, planting trees, raising chickens, and living more simply (simple, hard, effective?). Training has changed for him, because he performs much more physical labor in a normal day than he ever did as the CEO of a data storage company. Training occurs for injury prevention and bone density, mostly. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Enjoy the return of Scott for this 2-part episode, where Matt & Scott catch up, discuss some of what Scott has been doing on his homestead, and just chat about things. Listen to Scott's podcasts: Online Great Books, Music & Ideas, or Growing Resilience. Learn how Scott's reading the book the Restoration of Christian Culture caused Scott to move his family out to the country and start a homestead operation, growing food, planting trees, raising chickens, and living more simply (simple, hard, effective?). Training has changed for him, because he performs much more physical labor in a normal day than he ever did as the CEO of a data storage company. Training occurs for injury prevention and bone density, mostly. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Are fitness certifications worth it, worthless, or does it depend? Niki & CJ walk you through how to consider the value of a fitness certifications as a barbell coach or personal trainer. Are Fitness Certifications Worth It? Personal trainers and barbell coaches have proliferated as the health and fitness industry grows. Fitness certifications also abound, and you can probably find a personal training certification for any niche or skill you would want to learn. Are they worth it? It depends. Thinking about certifications practically and personally, ask yourself "Do I need this certification?" This shifts the focus to YOU, your needs, and your situation. This question also tends to relate to two other questions that new coaches tend to think (even in subconsciously). Am I ready to coach, and do I have permission to coach? If you can provide value to a lifter, you can coach, and we've talked and written about coaching spouses and friends first, what that might look like, and how to not suck as a coach. Regarding permission, the personal training industry does not require a legal certification. You may coach our of your garage. If you're looking to coach at a gym, you may need a certain certification. Many fall into the trap of trying to collect certifications but failing to coach. We love and encourage academic study and are not anti-certification, but if you want to coach you must coach. Furthermore, your appreciate and the value of the certification becomes clear when you begin to coach (do I need to know this? does this help me)? As you learn the academic side, you have more to bring to the platform. Which Personal Training Certification Should I Get? We return to "Do I need this certification," with stress on the word need. Will this certification get you clients? Will this certification improve your coaching? Is an employer or potential employers requiring this certification? You might not know the answers to this. Consider getting one of the study guides or books meant to help prepare you for one of the more common certifications. Start reading it as you coach people. Does the information provide you useful information? Examine what type of information you're finding valuable - maybe there is a certification that focuses more on those areas. Are Fitness Certifications Worthless? The incentive of a credential can help motivate one to study and learn. Furthermore, a certification can provide a standard from which employers - gyms and online coaching companies - can evaluate coaches. Similar to the personal training industry in general, you have to sort through much chafe to get to the wheat. Fitness certifications signal to employers and potential clients you have a baseline level of knowledge. They may be required to get personal training insurance. Lastly, some may get you clients (or prevent you from getting clients). This is rare in either case, but if a certain brand is well-known and that certification is considered valuable and hard-to-get, you may get clients looking for a coach with that certification. Oppositely, if a brand gets associated with something such as getting clients injured, you may find yourself having to defend that brand or dealing with similar questions about the brand's approach. Are fitness certifications worth it? It depends, and this episode helps you weigh the costs and value of certifications to decide which fitness certification is right for you. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt & Niki discuss visual cues for lifting: how to best use them in-person & online, common mistakes to avoid, & some helpful examples. Visual Cues for Lifting When used properly, visual cues can reduce the time & words needed to get the lifter squatting or deadlifting or pressing with proper form. Used incorrectly, they can confuse and get lifters trying to mimic something inappropriate for them. Visual cues help with stationary, simple technique elements that can often be difficult to explain. For example, "take a shoulder width stance" actually requires a bit of thought. If you take the stance and toe angle they need, however, you've probably saved time and confusion. Similarly, showing the proper wrist, and elbow position for the squat helps the lifter see the "straight wrist, close grip, elbows forward." These visual cues, of course, don't occur in isolation. Combining different means of communication (verbal, tactile, visual) hammers home important points, allowing multiple senses to receive and comprehend the technique information. Visual cues for lifting can thus simplify and quicken the learning process. Visual Cues for Online Coaching In-person coaching typically uses visual communication during the teaching progression, when the coach shows the lifter what he's looking for. When the lifter is lifting, you have to be in the lifter's vision or peripheral vision to communicate with the lifter (necessary for coaching a deaf lifter, which Matt has done). In online coaching where the coach breaks down the video, the lifter gets to watch her own lifts and hear the coach's commentary. Additionally, the coach can pause or slow down the video. The coach can draw and many coaches include video of themselves, where they can use their upper body or arms to add a visual cue. Thus, the best online coaching provides verbal & visual cues, combining the auditory and visual senses. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Niki & CJ discuss what makes a bad strength coach and how to avoid the pitfalls of bad coaching. Being not bad, a very good place to start. Bad Strength Coaching Let's face it, we've all experienced a bad professional at one time or another. Whether they were unprofessional, rude, incompetent, sleezy, inattentive, we can all relate to the experience of knowing we're dealing with a bad professional. So what makes a bad strength coach? Bad barbell coaches fall short in at least one area of coaching. professionalism competence integrity client-centeredness Professionalism, Integrity, Competence You can be professional and have integrity on day one as you coach your friend. Take what you're doing seriously and commit to learning. Show up on time. Wear appropriate clothing. Honest and integrity go toward professionalism, but as a coach people are trusting you with their time, body, goals, and money. Respect these. Furthermore, tell the truth about your current experience & competency level. If someone asks you a question about something outside your expertise, be honest that you've never dealt with that but you can look into it. If it's completely outside your scope or something you don't want to deal with, you might look up some sources or professionals they can look to to learn more. For competence, of course, tell the truth about your competence, but if you've never lifted and have no direction to provide for a lifter, you probably shouldn't coach. Learn some teaching progressions and cues, have some understanding of common programming adjustments and problems you'll encounter, and commit to learning. Client-Centeredness You can't coach without clients, and you're ultimately working to accomplish your clients' goals. It may be true that more well-known coaches can be selective about who they coach and can say "my way or the highway." If this is you and you're doing okay for yourself, then great, but more than likely you haven't developed "a way" and you need to understand and appreciate your clients' needs and goals. If you never examine your coaching and always blame the client, you're not improving. Don't do this. When a client asks a question or suggests they're not quite happy with how things are going, don't dive into defensiveness. Embrace the discomfort, and consider what you could have done better. What can you learn? Take it as an opportunity. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt & Niki explore tactile cues: different types, how & when to use them for in-person and online coaching. Oh, and how do you pronounce tactile? Is it like "tactical?" Tactile Cues vs Verbal & Visual Cues Tactile cues, as you may have guessed, involve you as the coach or an object touching the lifter. Visual cues show the lifter how to properly lift. Visual cues explain (hopefully clearly) how the client should move. Tactile cues use the sensation of touch to deliver information to the lifter. You as the coach may physically move the lifter into the correct position. This avoids the lifter having to understand your verbal or visual directions, and allows the lifter to feel proper form. An example is bringing the lifters elbows up & forward in the press set up. Similarly, you may pace your hand or finger on a body part you want the client to focus in on. For example, you may touch the lifters low back to get the lifter to extend her lumbar spine. Lastly, you may have an object impose a physical indicator that limits the range of motion. Examples of this include using a foam roller or 4x4 (often called terribly useful block of wood (TUBOW) to prevent knee slide in the squat or setting up a band so the lifter knows proper depth in the squat. Some carryover exists between verbal and tactile cues. You may give your lifter a verbal cue for her to feel a physical sensation. "Pressure on midfoot" is a great example where you're trying to create tactile feedback for the lifter through a verbal cue. Tactile Cue Challenges You need to build trust with your lifter, so ask if it's okay to touch the lifter to correct their technique, and touch them professionally. There are some situations where you may simply want to avoid touching lifters. Matt, for example, used to coach junior high females. What physical cues can you use in online coaching? Adjusting the lifter into correct technique is impossible. You may recommend the lifter gets an in-person session with a coach if you trust. There are ways, however, to bring attention to a body part or impose a physical limitation. The lifter or person close to the lifter may touch the lifter to bring attention to a body part. You don't have to be a coach to touch someone's low back or mid-sternum. Setting up a band or TUBOW, as well, can be done with online coaching. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

The coaching transition can be hard, as you have to budget time, money, or both with a steep learning curve & avoid potential pitfalls. Niki & CJ help you learn how to make the coaching transition to become a good coach. Also, learn the correct pronunciation of CJ's last name! Coaching Transition - Let's Go So, you want to be a coach!? Awesome. You'll have to move from your current non-coaching state & bring coaching into actuality. Of course, there's the leap of faith method, where you quit everything, metaphorically burn all your ships, and decide you'll be a coach one way or another. Let's try another path, a more deliberate path, where you learn from the wisdom and mistakes of others. Even if coaching become your primary means of income - you find yourself coaching at a big box gym or CrossFit gym, you have to ensure you coach, learn, and avoid burnout. If you're in this position, we can't recommend enough our (completely free) Coaching Kickstarter eBook. Check it out! Avoiding Pitfalls During Your Coaching Transition Whatever path you follow, you must coach. Coach your spouse, your friends, your mom, your kids. Just coach. You need the reps, just as someone who wants to lift needs to get started - even if they have a 1" bar with concrete plates, no lifting shoes or belt, and are searching correct form during the workout. Begin. You need a deliberate learning method. This not only includes the basic academic knowledge - anatomy, physiology, principles of programming, physics - but also a way to reflect on and learn from every coaching session. Just as a novice may not be all that strong but can enjoy the rapid growth of a linear progression, a beginner coach can similar improve quickly through deliberate practice. Ensure your business model is sustainable - and sustainability primarily means in terms of money and time. CJ, for example, knew he had four months of runway before he or his wife would have to begin to earn additional money outside coaching. Similarly, someone who keeps their main job and coaches in their free time will either need to put a time-limit on this practice or ensure that their combined main job and coaching job does not lead to burn out (too much time) or resentment (not charging clients enough). A major pitfall is going professional too early. Example include buying or renting a huge gym space, getting a professionally-designed website, or purchasing some administrative or backend support when you only have a couple paying clients. As you grow as a coach, a more professional website, a bigger space, and other marks of an established, professional coach will come - but don't do the coaching equivalent of buying a treadmill when you've never run a day in your life. Start today, keep learning, know your coaching VIP, and - seriously - download that Coaching Kickstarter eBook. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Today, Matt & Niki delve into verbal communication - our primary means of communication as a coach, both in-person & online. While this may seem straightforward, many steps occur to correctly communicate to our clients & get them to move correctly. This begins & 3-part series of sorts where Matt & Niki will explore communication, beginning with verbal & touching on tactile & visual (and the differences between in-person and online). No video this week for YouTube viewers. We tried a new recording platform & lost the video. Bear with us while we try to improve our logistical & technological systems. Thanks! Verbal Communication on the Platform What has to occur for effective communication to occur on the platform? The coach must first see the lift, process that information, and compare what he sees to the model in his head (which may be imperfect). Following this, he must understand any deviations from the model, prioritize them, understand how to correct them, and deliver information to the lifter in the form of a cue (e.g. "knees out"). That's a lot. But communication involves two people and is a two-way street. Hearing the cue, the lifter must then understand it (each word and the words together). The lifter takes that information and use it to attempt to change her movement in light of that new information. Then the lifter moves. The coach returns to the picture, and the process is repeated. Did the lifter fix the error (and potentially additional errors)? Was there an overcorrection? Did nothing change at all? Don't worry, though, while much is involved, we can simplify this process and accelerate your effectiveness as a coach. Teaching Versus Cueing Typically, a coach takes in information regarding new lifters, to understand those lifters' backgrounds. This helps the coach determine his approach with their first interaction. Coaches may perform a teaching progression, which both gets the lifter moving correctly while including certain words & phrases that will likely inform cues that the coach may use during the lifter's sets. It can be a good idea to walk lifters through the teaching progression, especially if you're a newer coach. For online coaching, teaching may involve some how to videos demonstrating proper form. Articles and podcasts that address lifting basics may begin to deepen the lifter's understanding. Understand that in order for a cue to be effective, it must be understood. Teaching should first focus on the "how"s. Teaching enables better understanding of cueing and coaching during the sets. As teaching progresses - as the lifter & coaching relationship lengthens and deepens - the focus of teaching moves from the "how"s to the "why"s, and this is often why good coaches are born as clients, because as they improve as lifters and learn the "why"s from a good coach, they consider coaching themselves. Practical & Effective Verbal Cues Let's move past the theoretical and come to the practical. What should you do on the platform? Some basic principles of good cueing can help steer you in the right direction. Cues should be: Brief - keep cues short *Confident - don't portray doubt *Loud - cues must be heard Clear - avoid big words Positive when appropriate - a "good" communicates that the lifter is correctly performing the movement *Note: loud & confident does not mean yelling (necessarily) - deliver appropriate cue for environment & lifter Cues must be understood, and more words means more words that can misunderstood or not heard. Keep cues short and use short words. If you're a new coach and not 100% sure about the cue, act like you are. Don't deliver a cue with doubt or like it's a question. Give the cue and evaluate and re-evaluate based on the lifter's movement. Lastly, seminars and powerlifting meets can skew cue volume. Cues must be heard, but they don't have to be yelled. Furthermore, increasing the volume tends to increase the confusion. If you deliver a cue, nothing changes, and deliver it again more loudly, okay. But it needs to end there. A typical bad interaction goes something like this: lifter lifts incorrectly, coach delivers cue, lifter repeats the error, coach gets louder, lifter repeats error, coach delivers the cue again, this time yelling and getting frustrated and angry, lifter is beginning to tune the coach out. If you find yourself in this situation, stop. Shift your angle. Think about a different cue. Don't get frustrated. It's possible that this set gets away from you. That's okay. Keep observing, thinking, and coaching as best you can. Control the Platform, Control the Emotions Controlling the platform doesn't mean channeling your inner drill sergeant. You might feel frustrated and be terrified that Matt Reynolds is 5 feet behind you observing the lifter (which, if he's 5 feet behind you, you might take that as a suggestion to move 5 feet back, FWIW). Pay attention to how your lifter is responding to you and your cues on the platform. If you're frustrated, the lifte

Nerd out on pain science, what it's like doing scientific research, getting papers published, and what we understand about pain interventions for humans. Jayson Ball, staff coach & PhD student, rejoins the podcast with CJ Gotcher. The Pain of Scientific Research What does science look like from the trenches of laboratories, where experiments are designed and executed, papers are submitted and defended, and knowledge is furthered? Jayson is mid-way through a PhD program. He has transitioned from spending most time in the classroom to now spending more time in the laboratory. Research takes much time, and some studies end with apparent dead ends (though knowledge & benefits to those involved can always be gleaned). He enjoys the process, and conducts as much research as possible to learn as much as possible. Nerding Out On Pain Science Jayson & his colleagues focus their research on rats. Rats enables some methods & interventions that are not possible with humans, but how much can be gleaned from experimenting with rats is always an issue. Rats love exercise. Put a running wheel in a container with a rat, and you will get high compliance. Put a treadmill in someone's house, and the same result does not follow. Pain and exercise research focuses on mechanisms, not interventions. Psychosocial interventions best serve humans (at least for now). Biological interventions (e.g. pain killers) come with serious side effects. Psychosocial interventions such as not catastrophizing help people deal with pain and recover from injuries. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]