PDXStrength News

Blog 37 – Fall Goals – Cont’d

Inevitably we’re going to come up with at least one goal that we’ll have no clue how to reach. While I could end this blog by saying, “ask your coach” – again – that’s not really why any one is here. So we’ll go down another road, perhaps the one less travelled… or whatever literary cliché you prefer. “What road is that?” you ask. 

Well, sometimes “the hardest part, is deciding where to start.” (No, my friends, that’s not another Robert Frost reference it’s an Olive Garden commercial.) For example, I was having a hard time figuring out what to write this blog entry about. First, I assumed that many folks would come up with a strength-based goal so I was going to share all sorts of resources on different periodization methods and blah, blah, blah, but then remembered there is a such thing as too much information AND many of us really don’t give a shit about the technicalities of programming. So rather than write something that would likely only add to the confusion, anxiety, and likelihood of steering you farther away from your goal, I took inspiration from Kimmy and, yes, an Olive Garden commercial, and just started writing. 

Now, is the blog perfect? Nope. Did it start off reading like a person wrote it with no clue about what they were going to say in the next sentence? Yep.  Are there typos, poor grammar, and whatever other mistakes that could be made along the way? Sure are. But you know what else there is to this point? Most of a blog. And that’s really the goal here, write ( see what I did there?!?!?)? Sure it doesn’t look like I thought it would. Nor would I necessarily recommend writing a blog in the same way that I do. But it works for me. 

And THAT, my friends, is ultimately the way that we will all accomplish our goals. By just starting. By exploring. By making time to dedicate yourself toward your craft, or pull-up, or conditioning, or whatever you’ve decided to work towards. When we create time for our intentions, it somewhat doesn’t matter how we spend it. I know some of you will inevitably be chirping that you can’t just think about doing a pull-up. In which case, you’re absolutely right, but that’s not what I’m trying to get across here. Yes, you have to do something in relation to the your goal in that time, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to look like your neighbor or the Instagram influencer or whatever. It just has to look like you working toward your goal. 

Over time, with continuous effort, you’ll reach your goal… much in the same way that I’ve reached the end of this blog. 

More confused? See how I could have ended the blog in the second sentence. 

-D

Blog 36 – Fall Goals 

Welp. The smoke is clearing. Fall colors have appeared in Forest Park. And we’ve rotated the schedule and added more classes/options at PDX Strength starting next week – just in time for the fall rain to drive us inside. With all these changes, we’re also going to start talking about goals, or as the last blog called them, beautiful beaches and lagoons. 

We do this every-so-often at the gym, sometimes we all have a group goal or others we allow you to select them yourself. This fall is going to err towards being all about you, with perhaps weekly and monthly challenges for all of us – a la the wildly successful team challenges that we started at the beginning of the shut downs (Results are still being calculated, if you are wondering which team “won.”).

I’m going to avoid repeating the SMART formula here. Not because I don’t think there is value to it, which there is, but I assume you already know the formula AND I assume you’ll hear it from someone else. I could be wrong in both of those assumptions, but now I assume you’re reading this on some device that includes Google. No, this blog is more or less going to be a list of questions to ask yourself as you think through what’s a good idea AND what’s particle. This, to me, is the crux of goal setting (it should also surprise no one at this point that the only thing structured goal setting does for me is structurally plan for shit that just isn’t going to happen.)

So in light of that, I’d rather let you have an open dialogue with yourself or, perhaps, your coach around the following – This is not an extensive list:

• Why do I want this goal? 
• What will achieving this goal allow me to do? 
• Could I achieve this in a different way?
• How will I have to change my current routine to reach this goal?
• Am I willing to change what I am currently doing to prioritize this goal?

After you’ve filtered your thoughts through these questions, you should have a smaller and more attackable list of goals. At this point, go nuts with whatever structure you need – SMART formulas, color codes, phone reminders, et al. 

More questions? You know whom to call. 

D

Blog 35 – Our Workouts Should Have a Training Bias… AAARRRRRR! 

A follow-up thought to the pull-up blog. What we’re really talking about here is encouraging individual members to create their own training bias within our general programming; whether that be within the hour or so we spend together or sometime in between. PDX Strength’s goal isn’t to “prescribe” you what a one-size-fits-all program (though I understand the conditions that make it seem as such). The goal with our programming is to “prescribe” to you a framework in which we offer you a well-rounded group exercise experience, based-in a foundational pattern, and rotating intensities. Could you just take that at surface level and produce some sort incremental gains across the board or varying levels of success? Absolutely. Frankly, Nigel is the most thoughtful programmer I’ve worked with. 

But, alas, something funny happens in this process. A variable shows up, one as old as all living beings. That would be us – you, me, and the rest of the wild gang of rapscallions that hangs out down by the train tracks. You see, we are an ever-evolving being. When we throw ourselves into a structured process (like Nigel’s programming), we will often take it for a spin, dissecting what we like and don’t like, and come out the other side with newly formed opinions – a change in perspective if you will. Then the cycle repeats. And again. And again. And this could actually work for a REALLY long time if we keep a similar focus and perspective on what we are entering and engaging with. But what kind of humans would we be if we didn’t act out irrationally in the name of self-centered individualism and change?

In this light, it’s important to recognize that Nigel’s program (or any of the other class programming) is not for you. It is for us. Nigel acts as this pirate ship’s captain; keeping our course through sunny skies and nasty seas. But he also understands that sometimes his little swashbucklers need the ability and freedom to jump in a little skiff to explore new lagoons and beaches. (For those of you, that are now thinking, “What the fuck are you talking about, Dylan?!” I’m not sure to be honest. I’m just running with an analogy that I enjoy, and is making me laugh to myself while I write this blog as my shoulder pet, Fritz, sleeps soundly next to me dreaming of adventures past…. No? Ok, what I’m talking a giving you the freedom to explore a training bias – the beautiful beach – and what that might look like in the larger scheme of the programming – the pirate ship. )

For example, you personally might idolize a pull-up or muscle-up or whatever. You got your first taste in Groups Strength and Conditioning and you loved it. But then, “Nigel didn’t program it for another 2 months.” And you’d be right, he didn’t, because on the whole it’s no more important that any of the other ways our bodies are capable of moving. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t (or don’t) have the freedom to jump on that little skiff and explore that movement more often via accessory work, substituting movements within a structured class, asking for a periodized training plan, etc.

Yes, you’re inevitably giving up some of the time spent on the larger ship (or within the general programming for those of you that still can’t get behind my pirate analogy), but you’re also going to be happier for it. We are all going to be happier for it. You get more direct work as it relates towards YOUR goals, and we (the ship’s officers aka coaches) get to nerd out about what we really love – helping people explore their individual capacities. 

More questions? Pen a letter with quill and ink.

AAARRRRRRR! – D

Blog 34 – Small Pieces to Larger Parts of the Pull-up

The pull-up seems to be the movement most often idolized at the gym, and subsequently the one that we’ve lost access to. You might be saying well “what about THIS?” or “what about THAT?!” I will certainly grant you that we’ve been limited with other movements to varying degrees, but not in the same way as that elusive pull-up. 

Generally, we focus, separate, and rotate our work by larger compound movements that are grouped by upper and lower body and by push and pull movement patterns (This is probably too simple). What this means is that we’ve chosen to center programming around four basic movements – squat, hinge/deadlift, press, and pull-up. With each of the first three, it is relatively simple to reproduce without any special equipment. We can literally squat, hinge, and press with whatever device we are reading this blog on, or just using the ground and your bodyweight. Done long enough or with enough intention, we’ll get a certain stimulus that at the very least allows us to feel like we are working those targeted patterns. 

The pull-up, though, is quite different. It requires a fixed position or specific equipment – like a bar, stable and sturdy enough to withstand the forces of us hanging and pulling down on a bar. There are not many places that meet these requirements. Trees, decks, park fixtures (Columbia Park) are all great options, but also don’t often exist where we’ve chosen to workout – our living rooms, most open spaces, the front landing at PDX Strength – nor do they allow for modifications if strict pull-ups are not yet within our capacity. All of this makes the pull-up even more elusive. 

What can we do without access to a bar/rig? Being a compound movement, we break the compound movement in to its parts, and focus on accessory work. I know that accessory work is not the same as doing a pull-up. But if we consider that all compound movements are chains within the body, and a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, then we start to understand how we are improving the pull-up “chain” by focusing on each of its links. 

The basic links (or joints) of a pull-up are the hands/wrists, elbow, and shoulders/scapulae; involving basically every muscle group, tendon, and ligament from fingertips to our mid back. The muscles that we most commonly consider “pulling” muscles are the biceps, traps, and lats, but commonly neglect our hands and forearms and don’t often consider how much opposing muscles like the triceps, deltoids, and pecs factor in to our ability to stabilize a pulling motion.

To strengthen these links we’re looking at picking 2 or 3 the following type of exercises about 2x/week in sets 10-15:

• Wrist curls and extensions 
• Any curl variation; especially the Hammer curl
• Upright rows
• Lateral/ front shoulder raise
• Back/ chest flies
• Shoulder/bench press
• Triceps extensions
• Shrugs
• Pullovers
• And all the like bodybuilding exercises

None of the above requires much in the way of specialty equipment other than some type of weight or resistance band. Taking this information we can start to deconstruct our own pull-up to better understand where our imbalances lie and strengthen the links if the chain rather than trying to make the pull-up stronger all at once. You might be surprised how big of a difference how something we haven’t focused on, like wrist/grip strength, plays into the efficiency of your pull. – D 

Blog 33 – Furthering the SCIENCE! 

So, remember last week when I said, “There’s also an intensity/intent component to the chart that is not included for the sake of simplicity here… Did someone just say foreshadowing?” Well here’s the follow through. 

This statement was in reference to the very scientific Prilepin’s Chart – a simplified sets-and-reps framework that is backed by significant peer reviews, unbiased clinical trials, and factual accounts. *read: a bunch of bros, probably wearing spandex and racer back tanks* We’ll go a little deeper into the chart today and tie it back to one of the original blogs I wrote at the start of this whole thing (Can you believe we’re on Blog 33? I’m sure there’s a Lover of 3’s out there that will find significance in this…).

The extended version of Prilepin’s Chart looks like this (Yes, this is a different Prilepin’s Chart than shared last week. Yes, this has more categories. And yes, the numbers aren’t the same. But as I said before, this is highly specific and VERY scientific):

What’s significant here is the “Training Effect” column, which is separated into four main categories:

• Endurance (meaning muscular endurance not necessarily aerobic endurance)
• Explosive Power 
• Hypertrophy (or Size)
• Strength 

Other variations of the chart stick to 3 main categories, by lumping power and hypertrophy work together.  Leaving us with basically a chart that classifies loading suggestions based on longer efforts, medium efforts, or shorter efforts OR something that pretty closely resembles what I so eloquently laid out some time ago in one of my first blogs (Yes, I could look it up. Yes, I could even link to it. No, I’m not going to.) – the three energy systems oxidative, glycolytic, and phosphagen. In this instance… Endurance = Oxidative. Hypertrophy/Power = Glycolytic. Strength = Phosphagen. 

We could get really wild again, and layer in the energy system chart’s time component… which you could then, in turn, eliminate the reps prescription of Prilepin and replace it with a time component. (Did someone in the audience just say, Tabata? Or EMOM? Or AMRAP even? (Hopefully you’re having a moment where you’re recognizing that everything is everything… I’ll give you a minute… … Just breathe… … … …)

Applying this in our own training, the ideal workout or prescription is what gets you closest to your own goals. So we should think of what we really want out of our training sessions. Max strength? Then you’re shooting for a few reps with maximal loading. Want more explosive power or that first class ticket on board the GAINZ Train? Loading still needs to be heavy-ish but manageable and controllable. Looking for muscular endurance? … You get the picture. It should be noted here that YES you can get stronger without putting on much size because “size” or hypertrophy training is different than maximal strength training. At some point your strength will ultimately be limited by the size of your muscles, but to further debunk the I’m-going-to-get-too-muscular-if-I-lift-too-much-heavy-weight, maximal strength training is far more about neuromuscular coordination and efficiency than it is about size. Where hypertrophy training is about tearing down muscle fibers in order for them to regrow in a larger form. We simply don’t spend enough time under tension or do enough reps to create significant muscle damage and subsequent repair when we do something like a 1 Rep Max. (Liability note: This is not to say our risk for injury decreases because it doesn’t. It increases.) But all is to say; each type of training affects different part of the muscles in different ways – that is actually science. 

Our programs at PDX Strength are about balance. We program, so that every one gets a little of every thing, but that is not to say you can’t create more of a training bias along the way. You want to feel more explosive? Take 2-3 months and change every strength session we do into a dynamic movement at about 70%. Want to get stronger? Same idea. Try to work in small and maximal sets above 90%. (Yes, I know you don’t like to not do the same thing everyone in class is doing. No, they won’t care.)

Hopefully this all seems relatively simple, but I understand that this blog still doesn’t necessarily give you the permission you need to feel empowered to change a workout, but is a step closer in your own strength education. Coaches are at your fingertips, ready to punch your one-way ticket to GAINZville. 

D