Chad Waterbury, best known for beating you over the head with what equates to a sledgehammer of knowledge in the realm of the central nervous system, spoke about just that, the central nervous systems usefulness. It shouldn't come as any surprise to you, it's kinda important. Chad's speech revolved more around something called the "Size Principle". It shows that motor units (Type I, Type IIa, and Type IIb/x) are recruited in order from smallest, being Type I, to largest and strongest, being Type IIb/x. He says that in order to get maximum gains in size and strength, we must somehow get to our largest motor neurons. This can be reached by either moving the weight quickly in an explosive fashion or using a heavier stimulus, meaning weight. This is generally done with 85% of the 1 rep maximum for maximal loads but with small sets or can be done with submaximal loads, which are between 60-85% of 1 rep maximum, but moved more explosively. So, basically, what to take away from this is lift heavy weight and lift it fast right? WRONG!!! Don't forget to do it safely, or Chad will castrate you with a weight training implement.
Greg Vandermade, head strength and conditioning coach for Cal State Fullerton, which is right down the road, spoke about program design considerations for various athletic programs. Basically, he said that what we do in the weight room is to help these kids get a level of General Physical Preparedness, or GPP. We need to make sure that the athletes can do basic movements that are at the foundation of movement and kinetics in the human body, like skips, jumps, push ups and the like (Side note: I think it's really sad that people these days can barely jump or skip. Didn't we do this as kids or has Halo made us immobile?). Once they can perform those, THEN we can implement weights into the program. Also, we need to cater to the demands of the sport we are training. We wouldn't be doing massive deadlifts for a marathon runner or rotator cuff work for football players (when I say football, I mean soccer. It's played with your feet, it makes sense) but we would do those for football and baseball players. Lastly, he says don't forget the posterior chain. I will repeat that, my gentle snowflakes. DON'T FORGET THE POSTERIOR CHAIN!!! To reduce injury, you need to work what you can't see in the mirror, meaning the hamstrings, glutes, lower back and upper back. Put it this way:if you can bench 300 lbs but can't do 5 GOOD pull ups, there is something wrong there.
Ken Vick, sprint coach extraordinaire, spoke about if sprint technique is important in sprinting. His logic was if sprinting was just about how much force you can produce toward the ground for propolsion, then does technique matter? Well, he says that it does, A LOT. You see, there is a time where someone can be too strong for their own damn good when it comes to sprinting. So, when they reach that point, technique needs to be worked on. However, if the guy runs a 4.4 40, but his form is not what people say it should be, don't change a muda fuckin thing. At that point, it's all about making him stronger and comfortable. I would delve deeper, but to be honest I don't understand the science behind the kinetics and kinematics, so I won't say shit that could be wrong.
Valerie Waters, who is the "trainer of the stars", has trained such Hollywood hotties as Jennifer Garner, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Richard Gere. Wait, how did that last won get in there?! Anyways, she spoke about how to speak to the client to make them happy. You see, magazines forged terms like"toned" and "long muscle" and "fit". People see these words, associate them with a model or actress and say "I wanna be like that!" and use that lingo when conveying that to their trainers. Well, if trainers try to explain that there is no such thing as toned, then they would keep that client long because that clients intelligence has been insulted. So, to keep money coming in, we need to speak the lingo of the client and swallow the knot in our throat that makes us want to take a cheese grater to the face of the editor of Allure.
Alwyn Cosgrove spoke about fat loss programming (side note: he had 48 hours to prepare, and the sheer amount of information and studies he had was enough to make a college research paper look like nonsense.) He said that there are 5 things that must be done to lose fat (I only got three because he went fast. If he posts the info, I'll post it): #1. Correct nutrition-this means eating 5-6 meals a day, reducing carbs by tossing out refined and processed crap (no one ever got fat off eating apples), eating breakfast and having protein with every meal. #2. See #1-ya, it's that important. #3. Do activities that boost the metabolism and burn calories- in one study, after 1 hour of intense weight training, metabolism was boosted for 38 hours after training ceased! You might wanna start putting intense weight training into your routine. Also, he showed a study that showed aerobic exercise, like running and jogging, did little to burn fat. One study showed that after 12 months of running 6 miles a day 6 days a week, people in the study lost only 1.25 lbs! I don't know about you, but I would be kicking small animals out of sheer rage at that point. Instead, add in some interval training like sprints to your regimen. This forces the body to work harder and use fat stores as energy. That's why running backs are so damn lean. Here is an example session:
- Kettlebell swings: 15 seconds
- Rest: 15 seconds
- Push ups: 15 seconds
- Rest:15 seconds
- Jump Squats:15 seconds
- Rest: 15 seconds
- Pull Ups: 15 seconds
- Rest: 15 seconds
Do each exercise twice and that is one set. Repeat 3 times. Make sure you go hard!
Do 2 days of intense circuit total body training and 2 days of metabolic interval training a week for best results.
Well, all in all it was a good clinic and I can't wait til next year.
Until next time, be strong.
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