04.02.04

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Click here to Ask Joe about training. If you send a question, it may appear on the website. Please do not submit a question if you do not want the question published. Only your first name will be used for privacy reasons.
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Q: How long has Brian Cushing been doing glute-ham raises? His picture is very impressive - incline glute-ham raises with bands. What kind of progression did he do? He obviously didn't start this way.

A: Believe it or not, I checked Brian’s training log and this was only his 9th time ever doing glute-ham raises. Sadly enough, he never trained legs before joining our team of athletes.

Even with a pair of chicken legs, he was a first team all-state linebacker last year as a high school junior. He is now training like a madman with us and we are focusing on building him a pair of legs to match his upper body. (He’s currently 6’03”, 231 lbs.) I truly feel sorry for all of the poor high school kids that have to line up against him next year. He is going to put a physical beating on them. I can’t wait!!!

Brian already has full scholarship offers from Boston College, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Stanford and Rutgers. He is ranked the #2 high school linebacker in the country by some reputable publications.

By the way, Brian’s progression looks as follows (remember that he is an advanced athlete and progressed faster than most average athletes):

Workouts 1 & 2 –	3 sets of 8,8,6 regular glute-ham raises
Workouts 3 & 4 –	3 sets of 8 incline glute-ham raises
Workouts 5 & 6 –	3 sets of 8 incline glute-ham raises, holding a 10lb. plate over his chest
Workouts 7 & 8 –	3 sets of 8 incline glute-ham raises, holding 10lbs. on the first 2 sets and 15 lbs. on 3rd set
Workouts 9 & 10 –	3 sets of 6-8 incline glute-ham raises with a mini band “choked” around the base of the glute-ham bench and wrapped around his neck

Joe D.

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Q: Hey Joe,

First off, you are my idol. I want to be like you and the Poliquin's and the Dave Tate's and Louie Simmons'. Secondly, I want to give you props on your researching and publishing how to prepare athletes for the Football Combine.

Now on to my question: I am a Certified Personal Trainer and work in a gym where I don't have the equipment (chains, bands, boards and space to do floor presses) to increase someone’s bench, squat or deadlift. What would you suggest that I do to work around my lack of equipment?

A: When I first started my business I didn’t have access to chains, bands, reverse hyper machine or glute-ham bench either. I still managed to design very productive workouts and athletes were still banging down my door to train with me.

The bottom line is that bands and chains aren’t the cornerstones of my program; they are just two tools that I sometimes incorporate into my program. Do they work? Absolutely! Can you get an athlete strong without them? Absolutely!

I recommend that you read Dave Tate’s articles on T-Mag.com entitled “The Education of a Powerlifter, Part I & Part II”. The principles behind these articles can be applied to trainers, powerlifters, bodybuilders or any class of athlete. Simply put, you should build a great foundation of strength, flexibility and conditioning with your athletes and clients before you try and get “fancy”. This can be done with intelligent exercise selection, set & rep schemes, rest intervals, program design and nutrition advice. No need to panic because you don’t have access to some of your favorite “toys”. I’m sure your athletes have a lot of work to do before they need to incorporate these advanced techniques.

The bigger the foundation, the larger the peak!
Joe D.

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Q: After reading your articles on T-Mag, I had to check out your website. First off, I would like to say that it looks great and is VERY informative, a job well done!! Ok, enough with the brown tonguing and on to my question. I work two jobs and as a result, the free time I have is not so evenly spaced out during the week.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I have lots of free time and can train for as long as needed. Aside from that I could probably squeeze in a half an hour workout on Thursday and Friday.

My main problem is knowing what to train and on what days. I am primarily interested in building strength and getting as strong as possible. I am worried about recovery if I workout three days in a row. I don’t want to go on some wimpy bodybuilder program either!!!

Any advice and guidance would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
Spiderman

A: A: Spiderman,

This is how I would break it up if it’s maximal strength that you’re after: since you have time on Sunday and Monday, I would do a full Max Effort workout on each of these days.

Only having 30 minutes on Thursday and Friday is not a problem. We’ll make these your Dynamic Effort days – we just have to cut down on the accessory exercises. You will perform your Dynamic Effort exercise and then one supplemental exercise. You should be able to complete this workout in 30 minutes. Here’s a sample program:

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SUNDAY – ME UPPER BODY

A. Max Effort exercise – Work up to a max single or triple in one of the following lifts: decline bench, barbell floor press, rack lockouts, board press, etc.
B. Triceps exercise – Perform 4-8 sets of 6-12 reps in some form of dumbell extension
C. Lat/Upper back exercise – Perform 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps in some form of rowing movement
D. Prehab exercise – Perform an external rotator exercise for 2-3 sets of 12-20 reps

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MONDAY – ME LOWER BODY

A. Max Effort exercise – Work up to a max single or triple in some variation of the deadlift, squat or good morning
B. Posterior chain exercise – Perform 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps in the glute-ham raise, reverse hyperextension, 45-degree hyperextension, stiff-legged deadlift, pull-throughs, etc.
C. Abdominal exercise – Perform 3-6 sets of 8-20 reps in the weighted swiss ball crunch, hanging leg raises, barbell side bends, etc.
D. Prehab exercise – Perform lower body sled dragging or an exercise for the adductors/abductors of the hip

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THURSDAY – DE UPPER BODY

A. Ballistic bench press (with bands/chains if available) – Warm-up to 8 sets of 3 reps, resting 30 seconds between sets
B. Heavy triceps movement – Perform 3-4 sets of 3-5 reps of barbell extensions, close-grip benches or weighted dips

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FRIDAY – DE LOWER BODY

A. Dynamic box squat (with bands/chains if available) – Warm-up to 8-10 sets of 2 reps, resting 30-45 seconds between sets
B. Abdominal exercise – Perform 3-4 sets of 8-20 reps in the weighted swiss ball crunch, hanging leg raises, barbell side bends, etc.

Adapt & Persevere!

Joe D.

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Q: Joe,
Whenever I do squats I have a tendency to get pulled forward and my heels come off of the ground. (I know you like box squats, but I’m talking about Olympic squats.) I warm-up properly, but I just can’t seem to correct the problem. Should I just put a block under my heels or is there something else that I can do?
Sammy from Tennessee

A: Sammy,
This is a very common problem that can be caused by a number of different things. The best way for me to help you would be for me to evaluate your squat form. Since I don’t think it would be practical for you to fly in from Tennessee and squat for me, I’ll just give you some advice.

Many times this technique flaw is caused by a lack of flexibility. Again, it’s tough for me to give you advice when I’ve never seen you squat, but my recommendation can’t hurt. Try this; after a light warm-up, static stretch your calves and hip flexors before you squat. Yes, I said STATIC STRETCH these muscles! This is one of the few exceptions to the rule of not static stretching before heavy lifting. (“Weakening” these muscles with static stretching doesn’t hurt your squat do to the fact that neither of these muscles are prime movers when squatting.) Increasing the length of these muscles will help prevent you from getting “pulled forward” when squatting. Try the 2 stretches pictured below before you squat. Let me know if your form gets better.

#1) WEIGHTED CALF STRETCH – Perform 2 sets of 20 seconds each leg

 

#2) STATIC HIP FLEXOR STRETCH – Perform 2 sets of 20 seconds each leg

Joe D.

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