Here might be the most commonly asked question a strength & conditioning professional must answer to youth athlete parents.

Question:

“Will my 13 year old child (or younger or teenager) have a stunted growth from lifting weights?”

Answer:

It depends.  It depends if the athlete is exercising biomechanically correct or not.  Stunted bone growth may occur when the open growth plates located at the ends of bones become damaged.  Damaged open growth plates can happen for various reasons, which include an injury from sport or poor exercising technique.  For example, if a 12 yo athlete playing soccer sustains a trauma to the knee in a soccer game, he/she could incur growth plate damage around the knee.  Another way an athlete can sustain growth plate damage in the knee would be biomechanically incorrect weight-bearing exercises.  Say a 10 yo athlete is front squatting and during every repetition their right knee caves in with a valgus moment.  If an expert S&C coach is not there coaching the athlete out of these poor mechanics, overtime knee growth plate damage might occur before the plate close.  However, most youth athletes will not experience growth plate damage from training or in sport as long as qualified professionals are monitoring exercises.

It’s important to develop youth athletes through sport and training participation because their young bodies and minds are like sponges and we want them to learn exercise technique and proper nutrition before they may learn bad habits.  To avoid growth plate damage in young athletes, their training should be focused on light loads (body weight or light weights) so they can learn the intention of each exercise.  When an athlete is below the age of 13 yo, they benefit tremendously from learning proper biomechanically correct exercise techniques and become strong through a long amount of isometric exercises.  Before weight is increased for the youth athletes, volume and isometric times should be increased substantially so proper technique is reinforced and the athlete naturally performs exercises biomechanically correct.  These exercises may include squatting, pressing, pulling, running, and jumping.  Typically we find that athletes starting to exercise around 5-8 yo will become strong enough and biomechanically adequate for progressive resistance training when they reach 14 yo.  Also, at this point, the growth plates are still open/undamaged and these athletes will start peak height velocity (puberty). 

Surges of hormones, including testosterone, are beginning to flow through the athlete naturally.  This is the ideal time for athletes to exercise with heavier resistance and advanced plyometrics.  With the surge in hormones and advanced strength and conditioning volume combined, the athlete will experience hypertrophy of lean muscles, increased bone density, length, and girth as well as other bodily tissue growing.  Sometimes, an athlete will grow rapidly and the muscles become stretch so fast that the brain has a hard time communicating to or controlling the muscles during this growth.  In this case the athlete will become clumsy or uncoordinated (you may have this seen this with young basketball players).  However, if during this time that same athlete were in a proper training program, especially involving isometric exercises (pillars or infant squats), their muscles would remain strong and would not become as clumsy.  During this time of puberty, the athletes’ recovery time will be much more rapid allowing them to endure progressive amounts of volume from day to day and week to week. 

To some it all up, participating in unsupervised training or with unqualified coaches could potentially put youth athletes in scenarios that could damage growth plates.  Again, few youth athletes experience stunted growth and damaged growth plates and these rare occurrences from improper movements should not detour youth athletes from exercising young.  The benefits a youth athlete receives from intelligent training and sport play are far too valuable to be passed up.  There are many brilliant minds and a plethora of scientific research that shows bone growth will be improved (sometimes more than genetics had planned) rather than stunted through biomechanically sound youth training.  Depriving a youth athlete from proper training before, during and after their peak height velocity is doing that athlete a major disservice and could potentially cause that athlete to never reach their full genetic potential. 

For more information join our BPSU and go research and study the work of Istvan Balyi (an expert in long term athlete development).

We’ve been approached by countless people over the years with the same standard questions about fitness, training, and overall health. These questions get asked by everyone: people who train themselves but are advanced and experienced, beginners looking to get started, even high level athletes.

1. What is the best way to lose weight?

2. What is the best way to get toned?

3. What is the quickest way to get “in shape” for just general, overall good health?

There is countless ways to answer those questions. However, one specific answer that will relate to all of the above “common questions” – Power Endurance and Variety within the Power Endurance cycles.

Power Endurance
Strength can be easily by understood by how much weight can you lift. Power is how fast you can lift a particular weight. Power endurance is how long can you sustain a particular level of power output. It has been proven in numerous scientific studies that Power Endurance intervals is the most efficient way to lose weight, get toned and increase our overall cardiovascular fitness.

For all you people that are timid of “lifting weights” or you just prefer alternative exercises: your body weight is a weight (hence, body weight exercises can be very effective if done properly); a resistance band is a weight; air resistance (like on the KEISER machine) is a weight. These types of weighted resistance can be very effective at providing good solid intervals for Power Endurance.

There is literally thousands of exercises that can be done for power endurance with body weight, air resistance, and bands. We are going to focus on three effective exercises that can be incorporated into any Power Endurance Circuit

Keiser High Rotation
Set a comfortable resistance, choose a power output level, and then try to maintain a certain percentage over time. All of this can be seen on the digital readout on the Keiser Machine.

From the start position, drive through the resistance in the rotation shown as fast as possible, return to the to the start position and repeat.

Time on: 30 seconds
Time rest: 30 seconds
Total sets: 10-20 (5-10 each side)

Band Low Row
Choose a resistance band that you can comfortably perform the low row action with maintaining good form and proper posture. Set the resistance level accordingly (how far you anchor the band to your body). From the start position (thumb down), quickly row the band towards your body rotating your thumb up. When the hand touches your rib cage, return to start position and repeat.

Time on: 10-30 seconds
Time rest: 30-60 seconds
Total sets: 10-20 (5-10 each arm)

Body Weight Explosive Step
Choose a box or bench height that you can safely perform the Step-Up action. From the start position, place your foot flat on the box (careful not to lift your heel), and then explosively step up onto the box/bench while driving your opposite knee up. Return to the start position and repeat. Alternate your arm action into the “running motion” as you perform the step up and return.

Time on: 30-60 seconds
Time rest: 30-60 seconds
Total sets: 10-20 (5-10 each leg)

Whether your goals are to strengthen your abs to be “ripped”, or not, having “abs of steel” will benefit any athlete or any person.  Having strong abdominal muscles along with a strong posterior chain will improve performance.  Performance could mean in sport or just general physical well-being.  Most of our abdominal work at BPS is performed with a slower tempo (232 or 323) since we want our abs under a lot of constant tension to stimulate growth and strength.

Below are 3 trunk & spine exercises that are a must for abs of steel.

1. Stability – Side Hip Bridge (or Side Plank)

• We can really target the lateral abdominal muscle to help further sculpt your abs and stabilize your trunk and spine.
• First, assume the side hip bridge position.  Either with knees bent and on the ground (for beginners) or legs straight and on the lateral edges of your feet.
• Place the elbow directly under your shoulder with your palm firmly face down on the floor.
• Maintain a “big” chest and keep your head and toes pointing forward
• Simply isometrically pause for a progressive amount of time
  • HINT: close your eyes and visualize your abs contracting.

1. Strength – Reverse Crunch

• This is an advanced exercise that will ensure “abs of steel”, if you can safely reach this level.  We recommend increasing volume with the previously mentioned exercises before exploring the reverse crunch.  However, this exercise may be progressed as well.
• Lay in a supine position with the top of your head about 4 inches from a sturdy fixed object like a support beam or heavy bench. You will use the bench or pole to grasp with your hands for support during the exercise.
• Next, bend your legs at the hips so the bottoms of your feet are facing the sky.
• Now, push the small of your back into the ground so your abs contract and move the bottoms of your feet directly straight up towards the sky without letting your legs drift toward your head.
• Again, this motion should be slow with a pause at the top and move slowly back down to the starting position.
  • Progress this movement from going straight up to slightly away from the head and up.  The farther you push your feet away from your head the more intense the contraction will be.  Once you can push your feet almost directly away from your head so your feet are only 10-12 inches above the ground you may progress further.  Now you may be ready to start by pushing your feet straight towards the sky then without returning to the start position lower your legs and feet until they are 10-12 inches from the ground and return to the position where your legs are reaching for the sky.

1. Integrated Strength – Lateral Landmine Rotation

• With this exercise you will be able to train your abs to contract through the entire range of motion while the trunk and spine undergoes rotation.
• Here’s how: Place a standard Olympic bar into a “Landmine” or a crease so the bar doesn’t slide on the ground, yet the top end of the bar can move.  Place the bar in your hands so it is in front of your hips (the barbell be coming from your left side in this position).  Keep your left palm facing up and your right palm facing down as your grabbing the bar.  From here, keep your arms straight as you rotate the bar up and your left.  Once you slowly reach your end range of motion slowly return to the starting position.
  • HINT: never release your abdominal contraction during the rotation, not even at the bottom starting position. 
  • Progress repetitions, sets, and resistance

**For full video demonstrations of these abdominal exercises plus many more, sign up for our BPSU online university.  There you can listen to and watch coaching cues videos as well as have access to our entire database to build programs and get the best out of any athlete. 

HERES THE LINK: http://www.bommaritoperformance.com/workshops/bps-university/

Part 1: Restraint and Effects On Force Output

Keith Shimon MATcs

“What is the best way to row?”  “What is the best row machine?” “Are machines evil or bad, and should I only use barbells, dumbbells, bands, or body weight?”  

As professionals you hear a gamut of questions and exercise mythology.  Is there really a “best row?”   Maybe a “best row” exercise for a specific individual.  It all comes back to the question of “who is it for,” and “what is the goal of this exercise” (Purvis, 2013, Exercise mechanics lecture).   Through the years we have all been introduced to the standard ideology of what a rowing motion looks like.  I imagine that we also have a framework in our head of the basic rules we were told in order to get the most out of any rowing motion, and the specific muscles that the exercise may challenge.  In addition, we have favored machines, dumbbells, kettle bells, cables, bands, or body weight because we were told that it was the best way to row.

This article is the first of a series.  We cover the use of restraint, and the manipulation of restraint to vary the custom training response in the context of two row examples.

In later articles, we will examine the various tools, implements, and machines that we use, how we use them, and why we pick them.  Lastly we will discuss variations of exercises and the ideas behind the variation in order to create even better, highly customized exercise regardless of past exercise rules we were all taught.  

In writing this series I hope to evoke ideas on how to tailor the rowing exercise to meet the needs of the individual, and to fill in the intentional or unintentional gaps of their training process.  We will not be covering bioenergetics, energy system development, or programing.  Our primary focus is understanding the wide variety of exercises known as “rows,” and other progressions that you can create on demand.  When a high level of structure, force, and client understanding is reached, your exercise options are only limited by your imagination.

WHAT DO WE WANT TO TRANSFER?

Most training ideologies refer to the performance of specific exercises because they believe that the exercise transfers to the skill an athlete is perfecting to refine their sport.  We are turning that idea on its side today and not thinking about exercise transfer, but the transfer of effects from the exercise that is of primary importance.  

When I say “row”, what pops into your head?  What type of machine or implement do you think of, or are you in crew and think of an erg?  How do you perform that row, and why do you call it what you named it?  I imagine that it is much easier to call the exercise a type of row than name all of its parts as they occur in a specific order, that would be a nightmare.  It would go something like, “Go ahead and do one of those standing, spinal muscles stable with the hip flexed at 90 degrees, scapular retraction, glenohumeral extension, concomitantly with elbow flexion, followed by concomitant elbow extension with glenohumeral flexion, and scapular protraction.”  What a mess.  With that description of shoulder, elbow, scapular, hip, and spinal positions I am sure that you all have an idea in your head of what your “row” would look like. Unfortunately without being more specific, we are not holding into account key variables.  Why aren’t we more specific with the paths of motion, and the specific angles that we choose?  Why aren’t we taking into account at what level we are supported and at what segments we are restrained?  More importantly, why are we not listing the stuff that is not supposed to move during the chosen movement?  In some cases, this can be even more important to the stuff that is moving.

Newton’s third law of reaction is commonly stated, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”(Norkin & Levangie, 1992, pg 15-16).

“You can only shove on something as hard as it shoves on you”(Purvis, 2013, Exercise mechanics lecture).

Restraint (Purvis, 2013, p 8:3)

1. Support (Purvis, 2013, p 8:3)

• Types/surfaces- The higher the degree of freedom reduces output capacity
• Levels – the number of joints involved

1. Guidance (Purvis, 2013, p 8:3)

• Any passively restraining influence to the path of motion and is in addition to the moveable resistance.

Think of support as a wide variety of options that you can choose for your client/athlete to completely change the challenge of the exercise, without changing the direction of the resistance or body position.  It can be thought of as using a stable surface to shove off of, whether it is standing, sitting or lying on the ground.  Don’t forget an important factor in Newtonian Physics, the lighter object moves and the heavier object does not.  You need to be able to shove in order to come up with enough force to overcome the force of the implement.

1. Support (Types/Surfaces)- If there is a high degree of freedom, there is a limited capacity to produce force.  If there is a low degree of freedom, the environment for output expression can increase dramatically.

If the goal is not to generate the highest force possible, but instead to challenge maintaining an alternative position or changing positions during a row, then understand that the maximal output to perform that lift will not be as great.  That is not a bad thing, just a different exercise with a different challenge.

1. Support (Levels)- The more body segments/joints that need to be controlled/stabilized, the less overall output can be expressed.

Again, this is neither all good nor all bad.  Progressing from supporting body just distal to joints targeted to specifically generate output, to gradually working on stabilizing or controlling multiple body segments in multiple directions and reducing output to focus on body orchestrated control may be a goal.  Both approaches have their place in the grand scheme of athlete/client development.  

1. Guidance – In the use of a machine, the path of motion may be defined but you are not limited to shoving/pulling through it.(Purvis, 2013, p 12:4-5)

Machine based rowing exercise gives you a variety of experiences that you will not get with the use of free weights, cables, or elastomers(bands).  If the machine path of motion is restrained, you get the choice of either directly opposing that path of motion, or choosing an alternate path slightly off of that path in order to change the challenge of exercise entirely (example: attempting to “pull apart” the handles of a fixed row machine that has handles  traveling sagittally).  If you are using dumbbells, bands, or cables you are subjected to the path of acceleration of the implement depending on its magnitude.

TWO EXAMPLES:

1. THE DUMBBELL STANDING ROW AT 90 DEG. OF HIP FLEXION VS. DUMBBELL CHEST SUPPORTED ROW:

http://youtu.be/y_yvZcoEVcw

In this scenario we did not discuss the ideas of strength profiles and matching magnitude profiles to create optimal resistance profiles.  This will be touched upon in a later article.

1. The XPLOAD LOW ROW UNSUPPORTED VS. SUPPORTED

http://youtu.be/QdMW5gPNDFw

Remember, we are only attempting to show the difference in supporting body segments and the ability to generate greater output.  This does not mean that this is the “best exercise,” only a way to increase the output if your goal is to generate more force.

The possibilities of expansion of your exercise options are truly limitless.  How many ways can you choose to experiment with supporting or not supporting the body as the force applied to the body runs with some of its direction anterior to posterior with the point of contact being distal to the glenohumeral joint?  You now have some ideas to experiment with to fill training gaps.  Then, if you choose to experiment with exercises through the force/velocity continuum,  and the endurance capacities of each of those specific biomotor abilities, you can add valuable tools to your tool belt.

1. Norkin, C. C.,  & Levangie, P. K., (1992). Joint structure and function: A comprehensive analysis 2nd edition, pg 15-16. Salem, MA.

1. Purvis, T., (2013). RTS manual for the sciences of resistance exercise: Resistance mechanics, pg 12:3-6, 8:3-5. Oklahoma City, OK.

T. Purvis (2013). RTS resistance mechanics

, Retrieved from Body Activation course audio database.

6-WEEK MASS HYPERTROPHY UNDULATING

10-6-15
Pete Bommarito, MS, CSCS, USAW, MATCS
Owner/President, Bommarito Performance Systems
Owner/President, Bommarito University

Maximizing muscle growth is obviously an extremely important concept for all different types of athletes and fitness enthusiasts. There is tons of data and research that shows different types of programs, and the hormonal response associated with each. The key is to implement the research into application – but with programs that can be safely and intelligently performed that gets the desired results without running the risk of overuse injuries. Separating a person’s goals into 2 main categories is important – the general population and athletes. The benefit of this undulating program is it can be performed and be extremely beneficial to all types of general population and all athletes at various levels.

As always the exercises in this program can be referenced in the BPSU Exercise Database. Make sure you give us feedback and questions in our Forum as you go through this program!

General Population
In the general population not necessarily focusing on an athletic event, it can be purely health related and for aesthetic purposes. Maximizing hypertrophy can lead to a number of health benefits – including but not limited to joint health, structural alignment, bone health, and accelerating fat loss for overall better function.

In terms of aesthetic purposes, males typically want to build as much muscle as possible with being as lean as possible. This program will help to accomplish both. The hormonal response for males is much greater than females, so a male can expect an overall muscle growth that is greater. Keep in mind that even if a male’s ultimate goal is to get “as lean as possible without getting bigger”, this program will still work. The more muscle mass, the higher the metabolic function, which will lead to overall fat loss to be accelerated. Keeping with this same hormonal concept, women should definitely NOT be scared off from an intensive program such as this. For a woman to maximize their genetic potential for muscle growth, doesn’t necessarily mean that they will “get bigger”. The “toning and definition” that I hear women talk about when discussing overall goals of a fitness program WILL BE accomplished with this type of program. Remember that a women’s overall hormonal response is just different than males. Meaning an intensive hypertrophy program will stimulate muscle growth so the muscle can actually be seen more prominently – hence, the “toning and definition” they crave. Couple this concept with the increase in metabolism and thus accelerating fat loss – and women can definitely accomplish their goals – mainly maintain weight but lose fat and gain the toning; OR even lose weight but still have that lean and defined look.

Athletes
The other positive about an intensive program such as this is that it can be used for all athletes, without compromising their overall goals of being explosive. Even an athlete such as a body builder, model, or fitness competitor can benefit tremendously with this type of an undulating model. Many times if an athlete like a body builder is trying to build as much muscle as possible, they get locked into high volume, longer tempos (speed of repetition), and short rest periods. Which is fine, because that is what the research tends to dictate. However, there is nothing wrong with occasionally shifting towards to neural component of maximum effort work and maximizing motor unit recruitment. In a sense, “getting stronger” from implementation of max effort work into a microcycle like this, will allow for greater loads to be placed on the actual “volume days”. If the volume days can be accomplished with these great loads because the athlete is actually stronger, the hormonal response can be elevated with these days – hence more muscle growth.

For traditional sport athletes, this undulating model is a phenomenal method to maximize size and strength, without compromising speed and power. The old way of thinking of “if you train slow you will be slow” can be interpreted in many ways. Hitting an aggressive 6-week microcycle like this to elicit as much muscle growth as possible will definitely not compromise the overall expression of power – especially when you think about how many other microcycles can be placed into an off-season that focuses on power and power endurance. Shifting the focus onto muscle growth for a short 6-week microcycle can really set a great base of size and various types of strength and strength endurance. This base can lead to more efficiency when the focus shifts over to a microcycle that focuses more on maximizing power. This is especially true when you consider the undulating model – note that there is still dynamic and explosive work strategically placed throughout the cycle.

Recovery
This could be the most important factor in the overall success of this model. Note that there are recovery days and off days placed into the workout. Because of the extreme time-under-tension on some of the heavy volume days, recovery is extremely important to allow the muscles AND the nervous system to adequately recover. This single biggest mistake made when attempting a cycle focusing on hypertrophy is that recovery days are limited or eliminated.

Recovery days doesn’t mean that the training stops, or lighter loads/intensities are even implemented. It’s just more of a focus on single joint work, lower overall volume, and controlled, focused tempos. This is necessary not only to allow recovery – but also (and probably more importantly) to keep the structural balance of each joint. This structural integrity will actually allow for more success during the heavier or higher volume days focusing on multi-joint lifts. Think of it in these terms: A multi-joint press will involve elbow extension. A multi-joint pull will involve elbow flexion. A multi-joint squat or single leg squat will involve knee extension and hip extension. It’s always beneficial to ensure that the individual segments are a strong as possible to allow for more overall efficiency (and less compensation for weaker segments).

Undulating Methodology
The overall model of “undulating” is really dominating the research. Meaning that each week doesn’t have a particular focus – each day of each week consistently switches the focus. This allows for an efficient rotating shift between neural (max effort), cellular (volume), combination (more time under tension with maximal weights), and recovery (segmental strength). Even “dynamic” or power based themes are placed into the rotation.

The research consistently dictates that in order to optimize the neural recruitment on a max effort day, hitting this type of workout every 10 days is necessary. Research also dictates that a high time-under-tension (longer, slower repetitions) coupled with shorter rest periods will optimize the hormonal response for muscle growth. Note that some days, a particular muscle group is the focus with this exact concept implemented – this is greatly exemplified in weeks 2 and 4. Some days, a complex (or superset) is implemented – usually in the form of a variation of GVT (or “German Volume Training”) model. These GVT days can be with volume (example week 1, day 1); max effort work with higher tempos (example week 3, day 5; or week 6, day 1); or even complexing single joint and multi-joint lifts for overall volume (example week 2, days 3 and 6). This type of consistent rotation of cellular (volume) and neural (strength) components will help maximize ALL expressions of hormonal response – which can allow for greater recovery, but ALSO greater overall muscle stimulus

Workouts
As with all BPS programs, the when writing with a “1” immediately followed by a “2”, this is an immediate complex (or superset). Taking week 1, day 1 as an example:

The “1” exercise Bench/Board Press with a 40X tempo with 10×10 volume. The “2” exercise below it is Pullups – WAG (wide angled grip) – also with a 40X tempo and 10×10 volume. Note there is not RI (rest interval) for the Bench/Board Press, but there is a 60 second rest interval for the Pullups. This means that a set of 10 (40X tempo) of Bench/Board Press will be performed; then IMMEDIATELY perform the Pullups (40X tempo) for a set of 10. Then rest 60 seconds. Then repeat that exact sequence for 10 total sets.

The Setup illustrates the overall periodization of the 6-week cycle. Note that each day of each week will have the muscle group focus along with the theme. The Theme of each day is also listed at the top of each day within the actual workout.

Implementation of Speed/Movement Work and/or Cardio Work
Each person is going to respond differently to this aggressive type of loading – so general rule of thumb is to listen to the body, and DON’T push through extreme fatigue and soreness. In terms of other general rules to follow
• Don’t hit any aggressive “application” methods of speed during this cycle (like over-speed or long absolute speed) or high-loading change of direction drills
• Focus more on technical aspects, linear acceleration, and multi-directional runs (not changing directions)
• Perform High Intensity Interval Training type of cardio on upper body days
• Perform Long Slow Distance type of cardio on lower body days
• Definitely do not do any type of boxing or grappling type of conditioning on the upper body days that is max effort, or extreme volume