Seven More Keys To Success

1. Lift For Strength - I would say the best thing I did in the past 6 months was to start following a upper/lower split instead of following a "bodybuilding" routine. My outline looks like so:

Monday - Lower Body

Tuesday - Upper Body
Wednesday - Activation Work/Slow Steady Work/Off

Thursday - Lower Body

Friday - Upper Body
Saturday - Kettlebell/Body weight Work
Sunday - Off

To get strong you have to lift for strength. My maximum effort lifts now have a rep scheme of 6x4, 5x5 or 8x3 for most part, depending on the week. You would think putting this much stress on your body lifting up to 90% of your maximum would lead to injury. Keep good form and you'd be surprised what a difference you'd see if you traded that squat from 3x8 to 8x3. Let your nutrition influence your physique and your training influence your strength. After only 16 weeks of switching from a body part split to a lower/upper split I've noticed a huge difference not only my physique but also my strength.

You don't need to follow a "bodybuilders" routine to get big

2. Decreasing Aerobic Work - This was a hard one for me to give a try, let alone actually see it work. Doing less has helped me a great deal. Strength gains are hindered if aerobic work is to heavy. I realized I was putting a lot of effort into aerobic work when I could do something fun like finishing up a workout with pulling a sled or some kettlebell work in interval fashion for example. The thought of running on the treadmill four times a week makes me bored just thinking about it.

3. Adding A Lot Of Single Leg Work - Playing baseball for the past four years at the college level has put some nasty imbalances in my legs. I'm lucky because I throw right and swing left so that has helped keep imbalances from getting to bad but they are still there. My right hip is less mobile compared to my right. The left knee pain I was having I thought was because of catching in college. But when I started incorporating some heavy single leg work the pain started to diminish. I've covered this in a past post, but fix imbalances/mobility issues and most people depending on the situation will see a loss of pain.

4. Working On Weaknesses - I have always had terrible deadlift form. Not because I can't deadlift, mainly because I've never felt comfortable with my technique. After just 16 weeks I took what used to be a 385 lbs deadlift to a 435 lbs deadlift. Sure a lot is thanks to improving mobility in my hips and thoracic vertebrae but I don't know how I went through years of training without a deadlift.

I also had terrible internal rotation (GIRD) in my throwing arms shoulder. Adding both dynamic and static movements to target the posterior capsule helped a bunch. Not only has pain in my shoulder diminished but my lifts (pull-ups, push-ups, rows....) have improved greatly once full mobility was reached.

Loosen up that posterior capsule

5. Getting Away From Program Design When Needed - There are days when you get to the gym and you don't have it. A cookie cutter approach doesn't work. I don't go a week or mini cycle where I don't need some modification in what I planned on doing. No reason beating yourself into the ground on what may not feel good that day. An example would be a deadlift switched to a trap bar deadlift a day where your deadlift doesn't feel up to par.

An somewhat extreme example of this is due to my shoulder I have dropped barbell benching for the past 16 weeks. Push-ups love me. Once I feel my external rotation strength and my internal rotation improves to where I want it I know I'll more then likely see a new personal record in my bench.

Another point that is somewhat along the same lines is it amazes me how in tune you get to your body. The days when I feel that left hip become a little more active than my right in a lift, I can tell. If I can't get that right glute/hip to "wake up" with some activation work it's time to modify and find a new exercise.

6. Incorporating A Deload Week - This the hardest thing I have ever done but plain and simple a deload is where volume is dropped so your body has a chance to recover from the previous 3 weeks. It's hard to stop when you know you have more in you after a lift but this little modification has helped. The intensity is still there but to a point. The weeks after a deload week my mind and body can tell a difference.

7. Nutrition Changes - I've put on 25-30 pounds in a little over 16 weeks. I was on a very low carbohydrate following for a long while and seen great results. When I tried to start putting weight on adding 100-200 grams of carbohydrates to my post workout meal/shake has make a big difference. I'm not as lean as I used to be (which was a hard thing to get over at first!) but I know if I started to cycle my carbohydrate intake a bit I would see a difference within a couple weeks. Again, I'm just amazed how in tune you get to your body not only on the training side but on the nutrition side also.

The pyramid sucks

Progress

Its been a while. But last week I did deadlift 405 lbs. for the first time in my life which is very exciting. I've been training for really about the last 6-7 years but I'm going to say only really training for about 8-9 months now. I've always loved to train and have really done it ever since I got started early in high school. I've learned more in the past 8-9 months as a trainer then I ever did in my previous training experiences. So really the first 5-6 years of my training almost made things worse for me as far as activation and technique goes.

I also have had shoulder and knee problems for the past 2-3 years and I've always thought it was because first off I was a collegiate baseball player and a catcher at that. Not to mention my pain was in my right shoulder and left knee, which thanks to reading on reading of Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson to name a couple have made me realize this is a very regular thing. Who would have very thought this pain could have diminished this much in the past couple months. Compensation patterns suck. I know baseball had was a factor but terrible programs design along with exercise technique did quite a bit to help in the pain I was having.
It's unbelievable how informed people are on things such as low back, knee, and shoulder pain. It was hard for me believe how far a these following things incorporated into a warm-up can do to improve pain:

1. Myofascial Release - A foam roller may be one of the best investments you can make.

Greatness

2. Activation Work - simply put you can complete a movement, but if you aren't stabilizing or activating the appropriate musculature you're more then likely going to run into problems down the road. Things from X-band walks, scapular push-ups, to glute bridges.

Scapular Wall Slides

3. Dynamic Warm-up - Yes I used to be that kid who did static stretch on static stretch to "get ready and warm" for my training session. Amazing what a little moving around can do.

4. Warm-up sets and reps - You need to get a "feel" of the movement on hand and who wants to throw 300 lbs on their back without a couple warm up sets?

5. Kettlebell Work - No I'm not saying kettlebells are going or should replace a good ole' deadlift by any means but they have helped me in activating that backside also know as the glutes. Not to mention they can be just plain fun.

Glute Activation = Good

6. Footwear - or no footwear. Nike Free may be one of the greatest things invented or just plain barefoot has helped greatly in deadlift and squatting technique and "feel"

Great Choice

Terrible Choice

Well there it is a little list of things that have helped me greatly in my quest to pain free shoulders and knees. I have seen great improvements from just incorporating an extra 10-15 minutes into my training sessions.