It All Starts With Your Feet and why I Dislike Machines

By | Published August 13, 2012

Pump up the Base!

Think about this for a minute.  When you are engaged in some sort of athletic activity, or even just walking down the street, what part of your body are you using the most?  Your feet.  The title of this post obviously gives that away, but it really isn’t some big secret either.  The issue is that very rarely do trainees think of it.

Your feet give you significant kinesthetic references about your body, its position, balance, and movement patterns to your brain.  Your brain reacts to these signals by engaging and disengaging muscular skeletal groups to help facilitate what you want your body to be doing.  Take as an example the basic squat.  Without the information given to your brain by what is happening with your feet, you probably would not even be able to keep your body in balace enough to do one rep.  If your feet weren’t in good contact with the ground, you would also loose a secondary function – the ability to use Newtons Third Law of Motion – and stand back up with the weight and finish the squat rep.  Your feet are the base of nearly every motion your body does when standing.  To further this point, consider how much of your life is spent on your feet even for more sedentary people.

Because of all this, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come to a reasonable conclusion that exercises and training done while standing has a more profound impact on strength training than work done while sitting, laying, or strapped into a machine.

This is made even more clear by taking a look at some of the major exercise movements.  The squat, deadlift, clean & jerk, snatch and overhead press are all done in a standing position.  Not only are these movements done while standing, they begin and end with the feet.  While the bench press is considered a major complex movement, it is omitted from this list for the obvious reason that it is preformed while laying on a bench and the main force is directed down through the arms and shoulders into the bench.  Additionally, I do not consider the bench press a functional movement, but that is for another article.

There is another major benefit from doing training on your feet.  When your brain gets the messages relayed to it from your feet, it works in the background to activate other smaller stabilizing muscles throughout your whole body to complete the motion.  This gives these stabilizing muscles a workout without you even having to do anything directly to them.  These are the same muscles that let you stand on one foot, or preform very complex movements with your body.  Without the input from your feet, this would be nearly impossible to replicate.

So what about the machines?

At this point you might be able to see where I am going with this.  If the best results are gained from training on your feet, what do you get from machine work where you are sitting or laying into a machine?  Don’t get me wrong, you may get your quads strong enough to rep the hell out of the stack on the leg extension machine, but what is that really doing for you?  How often are you in a sitting position, elevated above the floor, and forcefully extending your foot?  Additionally, with that machine in particular, you are now putting more shearing force on your knee than doing any other exercise.  Period.

Machines also ask your body to conform to them.  Their positioning of your body, their range of motion, and their range of weight combinations.  Plus they have so many different settings and adjustments, it is nearly impossible for someone with little to no biomechanical knowledge to get one set up in the proper way for YOUR body. Further, if you are not incorporating foot to ground contact, you have lost that kinesthetic awareness that we talked about earlier in the article. In fact, machines are so good at what they do, that you don’t even have to think about the motion at all.  You just need to apply force in a certain direction, and the machine does the rest for you.  That’s one of the reasons you may see people able to read the latest issue of Muscle and Fiction while cranking out reps on the leg curl machine.

Now I have to say that machines are fine for about 3 things.

  1. Very low weight, high rep rehab schemes.  Knee muscle, ligament and tendon strengthening after surgery is a good example.
  2. Assistance exercises. There may be some weak points in one of your major movements that you need to target directly, and this is where a machine might fit the bill.  Seated cable rows do a lot for the top end of a deadlift and posture correction.
  3. Cable machines.  These do put stress on your stabilizing muscles, and should be one of the first “go to’s” for assistance work since the machine works around you not you around the machine.  In fact, several of the products from Freemotion have you doing work while standing, so you are still working on your base while you are using the machine.  These would also be the machines I would use witha new trainee that has led a very sedentary life and is not yet ready for major compound barbell movements yet.

Remember that all this comes from a place of training for functional strength, not bodybuilding, aesthetic/social workouts or rehab.  We are concentrating on making your body the best machine to do work that it can be.  Not to look good with a fake tan, skin varnish, and a thong.

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Body Image – A Huge Thorn in Many People’s Sides

By | Published August 10, 2012

 

We are Responsible for Many Body Image Problems

As I write this, we are closing in on the last few days of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.  I really enjoy the Olympics.  To me it is a celebration of what athletes from all around the world have accomplished.  These competitors have worked their butts off for YEARS to get to where they are, and now it is all on display for the world to see.  Talk about all things that are great in sport distilled into one big extravaganza of competition!

Yet, in some cases, this celebration has descended into the cesspool of actually having primetime television and magazine taking heads discussing who looked the best, who was the sexiest, who is the latest heartthrob.  You have to be kidding me!  What in the heck does that have to do with sport?  NBC even went so far as to denigrate these games by having Ryan Seacrest reporting on what the nietzens of “Social Media” are saying about the way the athletes looked.  Not how they preformed, or where they came from to get there, but what they actually looked like, and how attractive they are or are not.  One word.  Disgraceful.  I can’t believe that someone like Bob Costas would even share the same production set with that kind of garbage reporting.

In my training and coaching world, I am amazed how much body image issues have found their way into every nook and cranny of what I do.  Several years ago, I had the privilege of training an up and coming female powerlifter.  She was in high school, and had significant potential.  In just that first year of real training, she was a force to be reckoned with, even earning 5th place at High School Nationals.  She had drive and passion for being the best she could be.  Everyone was very exited to see where she would go the next season – making the World Team was not out of the question.  But when that next season came around, she was no where to be found.  I caught up with her and tried to talk with her about what was going on, and why she wasn’t with her old team.  This girl was polite beyond measure, and gracefully dodged my many questions.  Eventually, I had to let it go, but it still ate at me.  What went wrong?  Was I bad coach?  Did she not have the “fire” that we thought she had?  Did she just want to do something else?  It wasn’t until some time later that I found out the truth.  She was relentlessly bullied by others about being a strong girl that didn’t fit the mold of the size 2 prom queen, and that she was excelling at a sport “for men” so something must me wrong with her.  She was not obese or even close.  She had the body of a strong woman.  But that didn’t matter to those that chose to humiliate her.  It didn’t matter to these people that she was great at what she did.  All that mattered to them was to ridicule her about what she looked like and the sport she chose until she chose it no more.  Congratulations everyone, you did what you set out to do.  You made someone feel bad enough about how they looked that they quit something that they were very good at, and could very possibly given her something that she could have made part of her life. To all those people, here is your gold star for being complete jerks.  You earned it.

Athletes come in all shapes and sizes

A few months ago, a good friend sent me a link to a blog post targeted at artists who were interested in the athletic form.  To quote from the post, “This is a photoshoot of various Olympic-level athletes by Howard Schartz and Beverly Ornstein titled “The Athlete”.”  In the post are many pictures of some of the best known athletes in the world showing what they look like.  The divergence in body shapes and sizes is amazing.  You can see for yourself here.  Everyone in those pictures is at the top of their game.  They have spent huge portions of their life fine tuning their bodies into machines of excellence.  And, isn’t that the point of all this?  To train your body to be great?  Yet, there are many, many people out there that would do nothing but stand back and say “Well she may be a great weightlifter, but she sure is fat”, or “That guy is a great equestrian, but he is as tiny as a prepubescent girl.”  What?  Seriously?  These are the best of the best in athletics, and there are those that are willing to toss that out the window and focus on their body type and dismiss the rest?  If we do this to the best out there, is it really a surprise that we have girls and women suffering from eating disorders, and boys and men dealing with dysmorphia?

Some are finally speaking out

During the Olympics, even Conan O’Brien couldn’t keep his mouth shut.  He just had to take a shot at one of our American athletes, in what I think is incredibly tasteless and indicative of the body image issues that are plaguing our society.  I won’t give the joke any space here.  That said, you can read the reaction from another Olympian, Zoe Smith, in this Salon.com article.  Zoe took most of the words out of my mouth, so I will only say that I agree completely with her.  I just wish more like her would stand up and call out those that peddle in these disgusting and pejorative sound bites.

While it does not step very close to the athletic world, even Vogue magazine has now taken steps to change the types of models that appear within its covers.  I don’t read Vogue, but good on them.  At the same time, these same magazines, the media and the fitness industry has redefined the perfect body type as devoid of any body hair, single digit body fat percentages and clothing that now comes in “vanity sizing.”  Tom Sellek never seemed to have a problem attracting people.

Pride

I am proud that I wear XXL clothing, and have to have suits sport coats and shirts custom made because nothing on the rack will even come close to fitting me.  For me that means I am carrying enough muscle on my frame that I can’t get my arms into the sleeves of a coat, and that my legs don’t fit many jeans so I have to wear a lot of cargo shorts.  My 36″ waist may have a little extra junk in it, but I can deadlift a car for reps and run around with a 200 lb sandbag.  Not bad for a guy well into his 40′s.  When I helped move my daughter into her new apartment this past weekend, I was handling stuff that others half my age couldn’t move.  I’m also healthy.  My Doc told me once not long ago that he wished that many of his other patients had bloodwork as good as mine.

I say this to help you understand that you too should have pride in what you can do, not vanity in what you look like.  One of the sayings I use with the kids on my powerlifting team is “Stop training what  you see in the mirror.”  We have become a society that values looks over performance, and promotes a training philosophy that then end goal is to look like what is on the cover of Cosmopolitan or Men’s Health.  We embrace aesthetics over function.  When Conan O’Brien can preform a clean and jerk and a snatch on stage for the world to see, I bet what he thinks is funny will change.

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Yes, Books are Training Equipment!

By | Published July 23, 2012

RIF – Reading is Fundamental

At least the “right” kind of reading.  What I mean by the “right” kind of reading, are books and publications that actually delve into the why’s and principles behind the training you are doing.  How many times do you think Muscle and Fiction has recycled the “Summer Arm Blaster Workout?”  Unfortunately, there is much more bad reading on strength training than there is good reading.  Its easy to go to the magazine stand, or your local bookstore and grab the latest copy of the flashiest magazine or book out there that promises a complete body makeover in just 12 weeks.  That’s all fine of you want to be a member of the “Bench on Monday Gym Rat Club”, but if you want to learn about real strength and put those principles into practice, you need to look elsewhere.

So, for your reading pleasure, I have put together an introductory list of books (introductory does not equal complete – you may be aware of others that are not on this list) you should strongly consider buying or checking out from your local library.  They are listed in no particular order of importance.  One thing to remember is that if you want to get one of these books, is to NOT to get a Kindle version.  Most contain many illustrations and pictures, and anyone with a Kindle will tell you that getting the pictures to match up with the text can be frustrating if not down right impossible.

 

Never Let Go by Dan John – Dan John is a very accomplished strength athlete and coach.  His book, Never Let Go reads like a novel.  He is very motivational, and has the ability to distill down some rather complex subjects into an easily digestible format.  On top of it, he is just a plain old good guy.  When I was starting a high school powerlifting program, he spent hours on the phone with me, helping me with everything from practice organization to training methods for teenagers.

 

 

Starting Strength, 3rd Edition by Mark Rippetoe – Rip is almost a cultural icon in the world of strength training.  He tells it like it is and doesn’t hold back what he thinks.  This may put off some readers, but I don’t think he really cares – its just his style.  His workout programming is fantastic, and he has a great reputation as a coach, having developed some of the best coaching queues in use today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strength Training Anatomy Workout II by Frederic Delavier – This is just one heck of a book.  Not only does it show you a gazillion exercises, and give you several workout plans, but the illustrations are second to none.  In this book all exercises are shown from a muscular/skeletal point of view, with each one distinctly showing what muscle groups are working, how they are working and why.

 

 

Science and Practice of Strength Training, 2nd Edition by Vladimir Zatsiorsky – I’ll admit that this book can get a bit heady at times, but it is important stuff.  At some point you are going to need to understand the $2 words and phrases used in this book if you are going to take your training to the next level.  Vladimir Zatsiorsky is currently a Professor of Kinesiology at Penn State, and specializes in the biomechanics of strength training.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are still many other great authors out there like Pavel, Tate, Cosgrove, Cook, and Kilgore just to name a few more for you.  Most anything from these authors is worth the read.  Each one has their own way of looking at things, and their own approaches to strength training.

The point here is to open your mind to what is all out there.  Unfortunately it is very hard to sift through the garbage to find to good stuff.  Internet gurus on message boards, magazine racks full of ripped dudes and pretty ladies in yoga pants do a lot to cast some dense fog on the scene.  Your job is to read past the flash and hyped headlines and decide for yourself what works, what doesn’t, and what is just plain BS.

 

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Whey the Facts of Whey Protein

By | Published July 22, 2012

Whey is the Whey!

Right off the bat, please accept my apologies for all the puns.  I love puns, but we are here to talk about whey based protein, not my choices in humor…

Over the past 20 or so years, powdered protein supplementation has gone through many phases, products and versions.  We have now come to a point where the supplement industry and trainees have settled in (for now) to whey as the primary source of protein supplementation.  I have to agree with them, and I think you will too.  Whey has a lot going for it, and is very beneficial to your overall heath, and of course your training.

Protein under the hood

The value of protein if it comes directly from food or from a supplement source is determined in its amino acid composition.  Amino acids are the building blocks of both protein, and muscle tissue.  Many physiological processes within the body relating to training (energy, recovery, hypertrophy, fat loss and strength gains) are linked directly to amino acids.  21 amino acids build protein molecules.  Of these 21 amino acids they are further broken down into three categories - essential, conditionally-essential, and nonessential.  Essential amino acids can’t be manufactured in large enough quantities to meet the demands of the human body so consequently, they have to come from food.  If your body is being affected by sickness, injury or moderate/extreme emotional stress conditionally-essential amino acids also cannot be produced by the human body in the amounts needed.  That leaves nonessential amino acids.  These amino acids can be synthesized by the human body in sufficient amounts and are not required in a persons diet.

There are essentially two basic types of protein; complete and incomplete.  Incomplete proteins are lacking in one or more of the eight essential amino acids, while conversely, complete proteins contain all of the eight essential amino acids.  If you eat incomplete proteins, your body will not be able to fully utilize them during protein synthesis.  That said, it is possible to mix two incomplete proteins to create a complete protein.  One example is mixing rice and beans.

If you look at the table to the right you will see some examples of complete and incomplete proteins.  Please note that the foods listed in the right column are not bad for you, they are just incomplete proteins, meaning that they are missing some of the essential amino acids.  I am not going to tell you to not eat fruits and vegetables since they are great for you.  Just don’t expect to be getting the full protein benefit from them unless they are combined.

Now we’re on our whey

Ok, we have the basics out of the whey (sorry) so lets get talking about whey.  Living in the Dairy State, I can tell you that for a very long time, whey was once a by-product of dairy farmers and discarded.  As I said earlier, however, for about the past ten years or so, whey has been the number one protein of choice among athletic training.  To understand this more, you need to understand something called the Biological Value Scale.  I won’t go into a whole lot of detail about it in this writing, but simply put it rates just how efficiently a body uses a specific protein source.  The higher the Biological Value (BV) the more amino acids and nitrogen your body is retaining from the food you eat.  This directly translates into the potential for quality muscle growth and strength.  Before supplemental proteins came to the general market, eggs (specifically egg whites) were at the top of the list and have a BV of 100 – all other food sources are rated as a comparison to eggs.  Whey protein has supplanted eggs with a BV of 106-159.  Not only is more nitrogen retained in the body when you consume whey, but it also gets into the bloodstream faster than other sources.  As a result, your body can receive the nutrients that it needs as fast as currently possible after training giving you a head start at recovery and and growth.  When you are done with a workout, your muscles are screaming for the valuable amino acids to increase anabolism (muscle growth) and prevent catabolism (your body eating its own muscle).  As an added plus, whey protein is full of Branched Chain Amino Acids as well as glutamine.

Many people call whey the anabolic protein since it increases protein synthesis with a greater efficiency than other sources.  Now we have come to the point where we can actually select they type of whey we consume.  There are three types of whey protein available to us; whey concentrate, whey isolate, and whey hydrolysate.  Each has different characteristics, and pricing.  Concentrate is between 50% and 80% proteins.  Isolate separates whey from lactose, ash, fats and carbohydrates so that you receive 90% – 97% protein.  Since it is nearly completely lactose free, this is a good choice for those out there that have lactose intolerance.  The last version hydrolysate is partially digested and is already broken down into peptides allowing for much faster absorption into the bloodstream.  Whey hydro is most responsible for producing an anabolic effect with ingested immediately after your workout.

What whey is the whey for me?

I get this question all the time.  First, lets talk about requirements.  Depending on what research you are reading, and what type of training you are involved in, you should be consuming between 0.8-2 grams of protein per pound of body weight every day from all sources – food and supplements.  I subscribe to the philosophy that you should bet taking in at least 1 gram for each pound of body weight.  Anything less is not going to give you enough, and I am not thoroughly convinced that anyone other than elite level strength trainees need 2 grams or more.  It also makes the math pretty simple.  If you are 200 lbs, then you have to consume 200 grams of protein per day.  Just for additional reference no matter the source, there are always going to be 4 calories for every one gram of protein.

Given that information, I would then say that a product that blends both isolate and hydrolysate proteins is what you should be after.  It is going to be expensive and you may have to dig around to find it (Google is your friend), but it will contain the best of both worlds.  Please try and stay away from concentrate.  As you can see, it has the lowest amount of protein per serving, and it is the least pure.  If cost is an issue, then by all means use it since something is better than nothing.  Just make sure that you are getting the correct amount into your system.

 

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Anaerobic Training – Rarely Done yet Always Needed

By | Published July 20, 2012

You must have an anaerobic training program

Anaerobic training is new to a lot of people, but it has been around for a very long time.  In short, “anaerobic” means “without oxygen.”  Therefore, if your activity is done without your muscles having to be supplied with oxygen, it is considered anaerobic.  As we all know, you need oxygen to survive, so you will have to “repay” that oxygen “debt” after working anaerobically.  You do this by breathing very hard and fast after doing such an activity.  It almost feels as if all your body wants to do is devote all its resources to breathing.

To further understand anaerobic training, you are going to need to know a bit more about the biochemistry working behind the scenes.  Movements in sports and training are classified as being driven by the ATP/CP energy pathway, the glycolytic pathway, or the oxidative pathway. The first two do not involve oxygen so they are considered anaerobic.  ATP/CP refers to the biochemicals in your muscle fibers that produce energy for your muscles to work (ATP = adenosine triphosphate CP = creatine phosphate). Glycolytic refers to the sugar stored in muscle tissue called glycogen.  When you run out of ATP and CP, your body starts using that glycogen to resynthesize ATP and CP so you can continue training or working.

OK, so why is this so great and why should I do it?

This is where things get a bit more interesting.  Anaerobic training greatly increases the body’s functional capacity for development of explosive strength, and the ability to maximize short-term energy systems.  Unless you are an endurance athlete, nearly everything you do in life, work and training is short-term.  Think of the last time you saw a football play go on for more than 30 seconds, or having to load something into the bed of a truck was more than a few seconds, or even your exercises at the gym.  All of these fall into the short-term category.  You also get the benefit of experiencing some major changes in your body as a result of anaerobic training.  Some of these include, increased size and number of fast twitch muscle fibers, increased tolerance to high levels of bood lactate, an increase in the enzymes involved in glucose breakdown (remember unused glucose is turned into fat by insulin), and an increase in resting levels of ATP, CP, creatine and glycogen stores.  If that isn’t enough, additional changes include an increase in growth hormone and testosterone.  I don’t need to remind anyone that growth hormone, testosterone, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) are the four hormones directly responsible for muscle hypertrophy, and fat loss (especially adipose tissue – the “beer gut”).

One more point on this subject is that of calorie burn vs. fat loss. With aerobic training there is a concept out there called “The Fat Burning Zone.”  You probably hear about it all the time, and in fact, see specialty programs for it on many cardio machines like the treadmill and bicycles. The idea here is that the body burns a greater amount of fat during lower intensity aerobic exercise than it does at higher intensity work.  In truth, the body does use a higher percentage of fat calories (nearly 50%) during lower intensity aerobic training, whereas high intensity anaerobic training gets about 35% of it’s energy needs from fat calories.  On the surface this sounds great, and flies in the face of what has been said about anaerobic training.  However, when you read the research, and peel the onion a bit more you will discover that high intensity anaerobic training actually burns significantly more calories.  So while you are getting a smaller percentage of fat calories, you are drawing from a vastly larger caloric pool.  Put another way, would you rather have 50% of $100,000 or 35% of $1,000,000?  You also get the benefit of a higher EPOC effect.

Finally, as strength trainees, we need to be very aware of preserving and  growing our precious muscle fibers.  Long duration, low intensity aerobic activity actually has a deleterious effect on these fibers. In this situation, the endurance trainee uses fat as a major energy source.  That’s fine until you consider a few things.  ATP is the fuel of your muscles, but unfortunately it only lasts 4 – 50 seconds before it needs to be regenerated (as seen in the graphic above) requiring glucose.  Again, unfortunately for the athlete, free glucose is generally low and when its gone, the body resorts to an oxidative (meaning requiring oxygen) process to regenerate ATP.  These oxidative pathways are called the Krebs Cycle and electron transport.  These work just fine for converting fat into energy, and we know that the body stores fat as a reserve energy system.  The problem that comes into play is that the oxidative cycles take a very long time to regenerate ATP.  The fat molecules have to go through two extra steps to get back to ATP, and must be combined with another molecule carnitine that you body has limited stores of.  This is where the rub for strength trainees comes in.  Because the oxidative pathways take so much longer to complete their cycles, your body’s energy requirements can quickly overrun the process, forcing your body to get it’s energy from additional sources, and this means catabolism rears it’s ugly head.  Catabolism is a $2 word that simply mean eating muscle.  So if you have overrun the oxidative pathways, your body is going to eat all those wonderful muscle fibers you have worked so hard to develop and train.

Anaerobic training

As we have already gone over, anaerobic training is simply very high intensity, short duration training in an oxygen depleted state.  These intervals typically last from 1-4 minutes with a 3-10 minute recovery period depending on the activity performed.  Generally speaking, you can use just about any exercise in anaerobic training as long as you are able to accomplish the cycle/interval and maintain good form while giving 100% effort.  Below are three of my favorite examples.  Doing one of these sessions 2x/week right after your normal training routine is more than enough.

Tire Flip - Using a tire of reasonable weight for your strength level (400-500 lbs seems to fit the widest range of athletes), flip the tire as fast as you can 9 times.  Recover for 5 minutes and repeat the cycle up to 3 times.

Rowing - This little demon was introduced to me while training with my friend Jason Bergmann.  You will need a rower that measures distance and time for you.  In this exercise, you just need to row for 500 meters as hard and fast as you can.  500m should be completed in less than 2 minutes – preferably in the 1:30-1:45 range.  When you are done, roll around on the floor for about 5-7 minutes and do it again.  After that, you may want to curse the world and say some prayers, but all that will come out are grunts and moans.  Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.

Tabata - This workout will test you in ways you may never have thought of or witnessed in your worst nightmares.  It also happens to be the reason that the Korean speed skaters give Apollo Ono such a thorn in his side.  It is very hard, but very worth it.  You will want to die for up to 10 minutes after you are done, but you probably wont, and you’ll feel better in a while.  A Tabata series is simple enough on paper.  Just pick a movement that you want to do.  Some examples are sprints, low box jumps, burpees, thrusters, or goblet squats.  For this example, lets use burpees.  Have a friend use a stopwatch to time you.  At 100% effort, crank out as many burpees as you can for 20 seconds.  At the 20 second mark, have your friend call it out, and rest for 10 seconds.  When the 10 seconds are up, go after those burpees again – with the same intensity - for another 20 seconds followed by 10 more seconds of rest.  Repeat this until you have gone for 4 minutes total (work and rest).  When you are done, that cool feeling on the side of your face will be the floor.  In about 5 minutes you’ll be able to lift yourself into a sitting position.  After that all will be good.

In the end…

For the strength athlete/trainee anaerobic training has a significant place in just about any situation.  As with all forms of exercise, it is not a be all and end all, and certainly should not replace a solid strength training routine.  Great gains can be made, and fat will be burned off more efficiently with anaerobic training without sacrificing that hard earned strength and muscle to catabolism.  Anaerobic training is just one more tool for your toolbox.  Learn to deal with the aftermath, and you will love the results!

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Your Second Piece of Equipment

By | Published June 27, 2012

I Bring you the Glute Ham Raise

The Glute Ham Raise (GHR) is just plain awesome.  Unfortunately, you won’t find the equipment in very many gyms unless you are at a college facility or one that specializes in strength training.  Go to a big box fitness facility and you are probably out of luck.  If you have a home gym, this should be the second piece of equipment you buy after your squat rack/bench combo.

The equipment itself if decidedly simple in design and use.  Lock in your feet at one end, adjust the large pad so your upper thighs and pelvis is supported by it and go to town.  The movement is equally simple.  Let your torso down slowly until you are at 90 degrees with your legs, and using your glutes, hamstrings and spinal erectors, raise your torso back up, allowing your knees to drop below the pad, and your upper body is upright and erect.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  The picture to the right illustrates the equipment, motion and highlights many of the muscles involved.

Simple.

Don’t confuse the GHR with its backcountry cousin the hyperextension. The GHR forces a stronger concentric movement of more muscles – muscles that are some of the most important to you when you squat, deadlift or do power cleans.  Another feature the GHR has over the hyper is that you can flip your position so that your butt in in contact with the pad and you are looking at the celling instead of the floor.  Reverse the motion, and you now are hitting your abs hard enough that the next day you will wish they didn’t exist.

Need more?  Grab a sandbag, resistance bands or even a 45 lb wheel, and ramp up the intensity.  Try that also when you use the GHR for ab work.  God help you.

When should you use it?

That’s the beauty! The GHR can be used anytime. That said, I recommend that its use should fall into one of three categories; Prehab, Warmup, and Accessory.  Essentially they are all the same with the main differences being when you do the work in your training routine, and what part of the movement is emphasized.  Prehab movements are to help your body stay healthy and prevent injury. Warmup is a bit more obvious – get that sweat going before the main workout. Accessory is done after the main workout to really target the muscle groups hit during a training session.  Lets break it down a bit further.

  • Prehab - Remember that the goal with prehab is not to focus on strength building as much as we are keeping our bodies in tune. Using th GHR for prehab is pretty straight forward.  Keep the movements slow, and spend some time (try a slow count to 10) letting your torso and arms hang in the down position.  Relax into it.  Let your hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors relax into a nice comfortable stretch.  If you weigh over 220 lbs, your bodyweight should be sufficient.  If you are under 220, you might want to consider holding a small sandbag or 25 lb weight when you are at the bottom to help with the stretch.  Do this for 1-2 sets of 10.
  • Warmup – Here the goal is to get the blood flowing to the muscles that you are training that day.  Similar to the prehab above, the focus is less on strength development and bodyweight should be just fine.  Again, 1-2 sets of 10, concentrating on squeezing your glutes a bit at the top, and working the kinks out of your knees and hips so you are ready to deadlift squat or power clean.
  • Accessory – This is where the GHR really shines.  Accessory work is done after your main workout.  As an example, after you have completed your deadlift routine, hit the GHR.  This time, we are going to really focus on the muscles you have just been training.  Try 2-4 sets of 10-15 reps.  Try and be a bit explosive off the bottom of the movement, and really concentrate on contracting your glutes and hamstrings.  You should even feel your claves working hard as well.  You may even want to increase the resistance with each set.  Do the first set with just bodyweight, and then with each set add 10-20 lbs by holding a sandbag or weight against your chest.  I will warn you that if you do this as an accessory workout, you will feel like your glutes and hams are on fire and more than likely you will get the dreaded low back pump.  Hopefully when you’re done, you’ll feel like you have tapped all your erector chain has to give you, and every time you sit down, stand up or climb stairs for the next few days, you will feel it.  This is good.

 

Girl GHRThere is another great benefit to the GHR.  Women love the results.  While my main interest is in strength training, I know of no other exercise except the deadlift that will strengthen and shape the glutes (read as: Make your butt go POP!).  This does happen to men as well, but the effects are much more pronounced with women.  Please, I don’t want anyone to think that I am in any way promoting any type of body image crap on this site.  Yet, I am aware that at least some motivation for strength training by women is derived from what they see in the mirror.  Whatever gets you in the gym and training is fine with me as long as it doesn’t become some way out mental obsession. There is really no room for that in strength training.

 

 

 

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Why I Think CrossFit Needs to go Away

By | Published June 26, 2012

I Know this is Going to Upset a lot of People

I have to stand up and say something.  I think CrossFit is dangerous, is poorly instructed, and steals people’s money.  To me the risks of CrossFit training significantly outweigh the benefits.  I know I am going to catch hell for writing this piece, and even some of my friends will vehemently disagree with me, but I need to say my piece.  I suggest you read what I have to say, then do something completely wild – do more research and come up with your own conclusion.

DISCLAIMER: I know that there are going to be exceptions to everything I am going to say here.  There are good CrossFit instructors out there.  They all don’t fleece their trainees, and most of all, at least those trainees are doing something to get off the couch and take responsibility for their health and well being.

What is this CrossFit thing you are Talking About?

I think its important to at least give a quick definition of what CrossFit is.  From their own website…

“Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.”

Wow.  Sounds pretty cool doesn’t it?  Read it again and look for the marketing hype.  Buzzwords like “combat”, “survival” and “life” really tap into what lots of people want to hear.  Heck, even Reebok is sponsoring the CrossFit Games and has a whole marketing campaign devoted to their line of CrossFit approved workout gear.  Slick.

Further reading of their website and listening to its practitioners and you will come away convinced that this is THE program for you.  Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t.  Read on, and like I said, do some research of your own (yes, I am asking you to think for yourself) and decide what’s best for you.  I’m going to give you my take on it.

Pros:

CrossFit isn’t all bad.  There are a few redeeming qualities.

  • It gets you off the couch
  • It gets your heart pumping and your lungs burning
  • It exposes your body to lots of different movements
  • There is an avenue for competition if you so desire to pursue it
  • High intensity interval training can help promote fat loss
  • Sweaty girls training in yoga pants (this can be a pro or con)

Many of these things I preach myself.  I am all for fitness and good health.  I love it when the sedentary get moving and take some responsibility for their bodies.  For some people, this may be their calling to a higher level of fitness.  I just happen to disagree with much of what the CrossFit industry teaches, how it is taught, and what the goals really are.

Where I Stand:

I’m sure that it is pretty clear by now that I am not a fan of CrossFit.  Personally, I think I have very valid reasons why I think it should go away.

One of my big complaints with CrossFit is the high repetition Olympic lifting.  FOrm is sacrificed to get as many reps in during an allotted period of time.  First of all to quote Mark Rippetoe “Olympic lifts are like gymnastics with a bar.”  The Oly lifts (snatch and Clean and Jerk) are very technical lifts.  Many, many trainees work for long periods of time with just a broomstick or very low weight just to get the form correct before actual heavy weight is used.  Further, there is a reason that Oly lifters limit their sessions to only 6-10 repetitions – they are very taxing exercises with a high degree of complication that if done incorrectly or when overtired lead to significant injuries.

This leads to what the CrossFit industry calls “Twenty Percent Slop.” Translated, this means that during a CrossFit workout, there is an allowable 20% form degradation while performing any given exercise or movement.  This is some very significant latitude that will (not possibly) cause injury.  What type of injury dempends of the exercise being done, but the majority are SLAP injuries to the shoulder or bicep tears.

Because CrossFit, by its very nature, is meant to put the trainee into a different workout every time, basic strength training concepts like periodization are completely ignored.  Essentially what this means is that at no point do you every really master any part of the workout or exercise.  On top of that, I will go right out on the thinnest limb and say that I have never met any CrossFit instructor that has ever competed in any of the sports that CrossFit takes their programs from, nor do I know of any instructors that hold certifications in even the most basic training that you would think would be appropriate like from USA Weightlifting or even CSCS. So, in the end you have an exercise routine with no programming, and with undertrained instructors. Great combination for disaster.

Eric Brown also speaks to another point about CrossFit that often gets swept under the rug.  Allow me to quote him…

“Contrary to the claims of Crossfit founder Greg Glassman, your resting heart rate has no bearing on your ability to pull a limit deadlift, and despite his claims, no one the history of Crossfit has pulled a 750 lbs. deadlift using Crossfit methods. Limit strength requires conditioning of the central nervous system, including improvements in inter- and intra-motor coordination as well as motor unit recruitment that do not occur unless they are trained regularly, and regularity is nothing that occurs in CrossFit.”

I’m not saying that to be strong you need to pull 750 (although that is pretty darn good), but Glassman makes many claims about this, and yet has shown any proof.  So, if you are a CrossFit trainee, my recommendation would be to never attempt a maximal or 1RM lift.  You are setting yourself up for failure at the least and injury at the worst.  Your body is not being trained for that.

If you are looking for a multi-disciplinary approach to strength training and GPP training would be to investigate Strongman training.  It is highly functional, has anaerobic and aerobic properties, and teaches you to use your whole body ans a machine to produce muscular strength and force.  Leave CrossFit to the lemmings.

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Her First Time

By | Published June 17, 2012

My Amazing Wife

I just wanted to post a quick comment about my wife.  This past weekend, she participated in her frist powerlifting meet.  It was a smaller regional USAPL meet – a perfect venue for her first competition.

My wife is not new to competition.  She was awarded a full scholarship to an NCAA D1 school to play volleyball back in the later 80′s from several different schools.

Her whole life she has stayed fit and active.  She has tried many other sports like tennis and running and even rugby.  Finally after several years of prodding she decided to try a powerlifting meet.  We have a great marriage, but I am not the coach for her, so we enlisted the help of one of our best friends, Jason Bergmann.  If you follow Worlds Strongest Man or strongman competitions in general, then his name is probably familiar to you.  He is an amazing strength athlete in his own right, and one of the best trainers I know.

With his help, my wife trained for just 9 weeks.  From beginning to end she made substantial gains in her 3 lifts, and in the process had a great time, and I think got bitten a bit by the “Iron Bug.”  She went 7 for 9 with a total of 256 kgs.  Pretty impressive stuff.  To say I am proud of her is an understatement.

Powerlifting is a great sport with a great community.  If you are looking for a way to test yourself and your strength training I highly suggest it.  As a coach, of course I’m a bit partial to the sport, but I can still say that you would find the sport very supportive and welcoming.

Thanks again to Jason for all of his help, and a big shout out to my wife for her amazing accomplishment!

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The Strength Training Curve – Get Ready for Reality

By | Published June 13, 2012

The Hard Truth

I know many of the strongest people in the world.  I have trained with one of them since 2008. They are at the top of the heap.  These are people that have devoted much of their lives to strength training and strength competition.  One friend of mine even trained on Christmas Day before any family events.  When you get to this point, just maintaining that level is a goal all its own, and to put an additional 5-10% on the bar in a year to 18 months is considered an amazing achievement.

Conversely, I have trained new strength athletes that have been able to double their squat and deadlift 1RM and put 20-30% on their bench 1RM in a matter of a few months.  What the hell is going on here?  To many a lot of this just doesn’t make much sense.

Enter The Strength Curve

The strength curve is an evil master.  She is there to sap the life right out of you.  Her whole goal in life is to make it longer and harder for you to make strength gains.  Trust me when I say that eventually she will slap you across the face and make you question all the hard work you have put in.  I am not talking about training plateaus here, but rather a point in your training where your perceived effort is nearing its highest level and you and the rapid strength gains you have made to this point are fading into the distant past.  Fortunately for most people, this comes far down the line and you will be expecting it and it wont matter because you are too hooked on being strong for it to derail you.  Before I go any further take a look at the chart below to get a better idea of what I am talking about.

Strength Curve

Strength Curve

As you can see from the rudimentary graph above, the new trainee enjoys significant gains during a very rapid time frame.  However, as time goes on, the curve flattens out rather dramatically.  Remember as I said before, this is different than a traditional training plateau.  Plateaus can be broken though by changing training techniques.  Unfortunately the strength curve is there in stone.

Let me explain it with an analogy that may help you better understand it.  Lets say that you are pushing a weighted cart up a slight incline.  In the beginning you are making great time and covering a lot of distance.  After a while, the grade increases and the effort you have to put into pushing the cart increases and slows you down.  You are still making good progress, but the pace is slower.  Further along the road there is another increase in grade, your effort increases again, this time your pace slows even more.  This continues, with the distance between grade increases shortens and the grade becomes even steeper.  Eventually you get to the point where it takes all that you have just to barely move the cart.  This is essentially the strength curve in action.

This Sucks. When Will it Happen to me?

The short answer is it is impossible to predict with any certainty.  There are just too many factors at play.  Genetics, hormones, nutrition, training, lifestyle, and many other elements all play a role.  In the end it happens to all of us.

There is a bit of good news.  Most strength trainees will not seriously butt heads with this evil vixen very hard.  The real flattening of that line happens far down the life of a strength athlete.  Look at a football player as an example.  Through high school their progress is full of steady increases, and as they move into the collegiate level they still continue their gains, just at a slightly slower pace.  Should they be good enough to make it to the NFL, they continue to gain throughout much of their carrer.  Assuming the player stays healthy and injury free, a 5th year NFL player barely resembles their collegiate self.

Don’t Stop!

Don’t let this get you down and impact your training.  By the time all this kicks in you will more than likely be one of the strongest people you know.  When it does happen you’ll know what to do about it, how to handle it, and adjust your training accordingly.  The important thing is that you are strong enough for just about anything that life will throw at you.

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Getting Started – 8 Weeks of Strength Training 101

By | Published June 10, 2012

OK, Lets Get Going!

Just a minute there. Sit back, relax and read on.  There are a few things you need to know before you go charging in to your local gym and start throwing around the iron.  If you are using this program, I am going to make the assumption that you are starting from the beginning.  First off, congratulations!  It’s great that you have made the decision to get stronger.  You body is going to thank you, and you will be full of pride with each milestone you make.

All that said, lets talk about the program, equipment, and the exercises you are going to be doing.

Disclaimer:

I am not a doctor.  I probably have never met you before.  I have never done any type of assessment of you, or your body’s movement.  I have no real way of knowing if this is going to harm you.  I strongly recommend that you see your doctor and have a check up before you begin this or any other training regimen.  There might be some underlying problem that even you are unaware of.  Strength training is great, and can cure many ills, but it can also exacerbate other medical issues.  The idea is that you get better, not worse.  So please make sure you are in reasonably good health before you begin.

Also, if you are unfamiliar with any of the exercises or lifts mentioned here, seek out the advice of a certified personal trainer, or someone you know that is serious about their training.  While the lifts are not overly technical, they do require some instruction and practice to be done efficiently and safely.  Teaching you the lifts is out of the scope of this article.

Equipment:

This is probably the easiest part.  You are just going to need some very fundamental equipment.  The added bonus is that what you are going to use in this program will be the same equipment that will make up the core of your needs for all your strength training form here on out.  Most comercial gyms have what you need, but there are those that don’t.  If your gym doesn’t have these rudimentary items, find a new gym.  This is not Zumba, P90X or Body Pump.  This is strength training.  You may have to weed your way through a plethora of machines to get to the free weight section, but that is a good thing.  Find a good efficient path past these contraptions – they aren’t menat for strength training, and with only some very few exceptions, you wont be using them.

Squat Rack & Barbell:

squat rackWelcome to your new best friend – the squat rack.  As you progress in your training, you are going to be spending more and more time in here.  The exercises that can be performed in it are nearly endless.  In fact, you could do just about everything you would ever need to do in here.  It truly is that versatile.  If you plan on putting together a home gym, this is the first piece of equipment to by after a barbell and weights.

A good rack has lots of holes to adjust the safety pins, and j-hooks (the j-hooks hold the bar as seen in the picture).  It should be sturdy, well constructed, and in a good state of repair.  Having it bolted to the ground is not completely necessary, but a good safety feature.  Some gyms have a weight racking system on the back of the rack for your convenience.  You should be able to stand in the rack with your feet wider than shoulder width and not be touching the base.

Take careful note of the safety pins.  They are there to save you should there be a mishap.  A good rule of thumb is that they should be adjusted to just above your mid thigh.  You may need to raise or lower them when you begin squatting so that they do’t interfere with you getting deep enough when you squat, but still allow you to set the bar on them and crawl out from underneath should you have to.

As you can see in the image, there is also a barbell and some weights.  All of the work you are going to be doing is going to be done with a barbell.  The barbell and the squat rack are symbiotic.  One cannot work without the other.  The bar should be straight and have 2″ diameter end on if for the weights.  Some bars have knurling on the left and right side where you would put your hands, while others have a third, narrower band, in the middle where the bar rides on your back.  Either will work just fine, but if you can get the bar with the middle knurling.  It is assumed that all bars of either type weigh 45 lbs.  Keep that number in your head so that you can accurately calculate the weights you will be lifting.

If you are going to train by yourself, this is also the best place for your to bench press.  All you need to do is move a bench into the rack, lower the j-hooks and safety pins and you are all set to go.  I would go so far as to say that this is in fact the ideal set up for all your training over the next 8 weeks.  Your gym may have dedicated stations for the bench press, but as a beginner, I highly recommend that you bench in the squat rack for safety reasons.  Should you lose control of the bar, the safety pins will save you. Just make sure that they are set so that the bar can touch your chest unimpeded, but the bar cannot touch your throat.

On to the Program:

So you have found the free weight section of your gym, and picked out a squat rack that you like.  There are just a few more items we need to clean up before we begin.

What this program is not:

  • This is not for “firming and toning”.  There is no such thing.
  • This is not going to give you a Jersey Shore body.  Do you really want to look top heavy and if the wind blows too hard you are going to fall over?
  • This is not Muscle and Fiction’s template to huge bulging arms.
  • This program is not easy.  You are not going to be able to read your favorite magazine while doing it, and you are going to sweat.

What this program is:

  • This program will allow you to learn the core lifts – squat, bench press and deadlift – that will be key to all your  future training.
  • It will start your body on the road to more advanced training.
  • It will bring you very recognizable strength gains.
  • It will give you a taste of what you can accomplish over an extended training program.

The Breakdown

This introductory strength training program is broken down into two 4 week cycles.  You are going to be training 3 times a week for 8 total weeks.  Once you have some experience with it, you should be able to accomplish each workout in less than an hour.  Before you can start there is just a little work that you need to do first.  You are going to have to determine what your “1 rep max” is for each of the three lifts.  I strongly suggest you enlist the help of a training partner or a personal trainer to help you with this.  Since you are new, your form for the lifts is not going to be the best, and you probably don’t know where to start.

The process to determine your maxes is relatively straight forward. Let’s use the bench press as an example since it is a lift that many people already know at least at a rudimentary level.  Begin with just the bar and do 10-12 reps concentrating on controlling the bar and getting your body warmed up.  Do not just see how fast you can get your 12 reps done, but actually concentrate on what you are doing.  After that first set of 10-12 add a little weight to the bar.  How much will depend on how heavy the empty bar felt to you.  Don’t try and go for any records yet – you are still warming up.  This time do 8- 10 reps.  Now rest for at least a minute or two.  From here on out you will only be doing sets of three reps each.  At the end of each set, you will rest for at least a full minute (preferably two) and add more weight to the bar.  Add weight in small increments of no more than 10-15%.  When you get to the point where your training parter has to just barely help you get that third rep record that weight.  Follow the same pattern for the squat and the deadlift also.  If you are going to do this testing in the same day, I suggest that you do squat first, then bench, then deadlift.  The squat and deadlift are a bit taxing and work many of the same muscle groups, so it is best to get rest in between for more accurate results.

Now you are going to have to calculate your 1 rep max for each of these lifts.  Don’t worry, this part is completely painless.  It is possible to get a pretty accurate determination of your 1 rep max with some math.  Fortunately there are many websites that will do the work for you.  In fact, here is a link to one that will not only calculate your 1 rep max, but will help you fill in the tables below the comprise your workouts.  On the left side of the page, enter the max weight you lifted and the number of reps, and magically the rest of the page will fill in for you, showing not only your calculated 1 rep max, but what the weights are as a percentage of your 1 rep max (we call a 1 rep max a 1RM for short).  Some of the weights that will be listed may be odd numbers.  Round them all down to the next 5 lb increment.  For example, if 60% of your 1RM is shown as 143 lbs, round down to 140 lbs.  You may even want to print that page for reference in filling out the following table.

First 4 week cycle workout plan

Exercise Reps sets Weight
Squat 12 2 20%
Squat 10 1 30%
Squat 8 1 40%
Squat 4 2 60%
Bench Press 12 2 20%
Bench Press 10 1 30%
Bench Press 8 1 40%
Bench Press 4 2 60%
Deadlift 12 2 20%
Deadlift 10 1 30%
Deadlift 8 1 40%
Deadlift 4 2 60%

The table above represents your workout for the first 4 week cycle.  In the weight column, replace the percentages with appropriate weight that you calculated earlier.  Give yourself at least a minute rest between sets, and 3-5 minutes between exercises.  For best results, do this workout Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.  When loading the bar, remember to take into consideration that the bar will weigh 45 lbs.  If the weight percentages in the right most column are less 45 lbs or less, just use the empty bar.

I will warn you that if you are new to strength training you are going to be sore.  This is your body’s way of thanking you for putting work into it.  Don’t worry, it does get better over time, but the first few weeks are going to be taxing on your body and its systems.  Make sure you drink lots of water during the day, and don’t miss any meals.  It is in this first 4 weeks that you need to start thinking about fueling your body rather than feeding it.  Plenty of water, high protein, and complex carbs are going to be very beneficial to your workouts, and to your recovery.

The next 4 week cycle

Save the table above.  You are still going to be using it for the next 4 weeks, but slightly differently.  By now you may already be noticing that the workouts are getting a bit easier, the soreness is significantly reduced, and you are generally feeling better.  Most of all, you have had 4 weeks to concentrate and work on your form for the exercises.  Form can not be stressed enough. If you have sloppy form, at the least you will be cheating yourself, at worst you risk an injury that will delay all your training plans.

As I just mentioned, we are going to change things up a bit for the next 4 weeks.  In this cycle, you are still going to do the workout above with no changes to the table.  This time, however, you are going to do the workout from the past cycle on weeks 2 and 4 of this cycle.  For the sake of this program we are going to call these recovery weeks.  On weeks 1 and 3 you are going to spend one of each of your three days doing only one exercise; Monday squats, Wednesday bench press, and Friday deadlift.  On these days you are going to be lifting slightly heavier weights than you did before so it is imperative that you rest at least 2 minutes between sets.  You will also note that the number of reps has declined slightly for each exercise.  It is important that you have a good warmup leading into these lifts.  Spend some time stretching and walking on the treadmill – get up a bit of a sweat before you start.

Monday

Exercise Reps Sets Weight
Squat 10 2 30%
Squat 6 1 40%
Squat 6 1 50%
Squat 4 1 60%
Squat 3 1 70%
Squat 2 2 80%

Wednesday

Exercise Reps Sets Weight
Bench 10 2 30%
Bench 6 1 40%
Bench 6 1 50%
Bench 4 1 60%
Bench 3 1 70%
Bench 2 2 80%

Friday

Exercise Reps Sets Weight
Deadlift 10 2 30%
Deadlift 6 1 40%
Deadlift 6 1 50%
Deadlift 4 1 65%
Deadlift 3 1 75%
Deadlift 2 2 85%

Note that the workouts for Monday and Wednesday follow a similar reps, sets, weight pattern.  But look closely at Friday’s workout.  Here you are going to be deadlifting with a similar reps and sets scheme, but the weight percentages change the last 4 sets – they are slightly higher.  This if for two reasons. 1) You will have the whole weekend to recover and 2) it can be argued that the deadlift is the most all encompassing and most beneficial exercise.  Think about it for a moment.  You were built to pick up heavy things.  Of the three exercises you are doing, the deadlift is the most functional in the real word.  Additionally, it uses nearly all of the muscle groups in your body.  If I had only one exercise I could use for the rest of my life it would be the deadlift.  Because of all this, we are going to work it a bit harder.  Your body will thank you for it.

Remember that during these last 4 weeks that you are going to be alternating weeks between the full body version, and the one lift per day version.

Some final thoughts

After reading all this and making the decision to peruse some strength training, you are probably like me and much of the population – you are ready to jump right in and go for it!  That’s great!  But be careful to remember that this is a process.  Training like this is not at all like what you see on late night infomercials of between the pages of some magazine.  This is real life, not fiction.  You are going to hurt at times.  You are going to be tired.  Don’t worry about that, it all gets better the longer you stick with it.  Don’t be tempted to run to your local supplement store and drop a ton of money on heavily marketed supplements that promise insane results – they don’t deliver.  For these 8 weeks all you are going to need is plenty of rest, quality food, and lots of water.  The rest will come with time.

One last thing – and this is the really cool part – make sure to keep a record of your starting weights.  Then at the end of these 8 weeks, take a week off and retest your 1RM to see how you compare to when you started.  My bet is that you are going to be really surprised.  I would love to predict what kinds of gains you are going to make, but that varies from individual to individual, how hard you trained, how well you stuck with the program, and if you fueled and rested your body properly.  Strength training gives back all that you put into it.  Give it your best, and your results will be great.  Phone in your workouts and eat like a broke teenager, and you are in for a long painful haul.  The choice is really yours.  You are in total control.  Good luck!

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