Hello All,
As some of you have noticed, my blog has slowed down just a tad these past few weeks. Well, I do have a good reason for that. As of next week, I will be a Maine resident. Yes, you heard that right! I am packing my bags and moving to Orono, Maine. If you're not familiar with Orono, it is the hometown of Maine's only Division I school, University of Maine. I have several opportunities up here including an internship with UMaine Strength and Conditioning, a position at a veterans affairs health care facility, and a position at one of the largest hospitals in Maine. So, needless to say I will be pretty busy. I actually have been up here for about 3 weeks, and thanks to my girlfriend and her family, I have had a place to stay. I will be moving into my apartment next week, and I am looking forward to it.
Work with me for the next week or so while I get settled into my new place, but I promise the blog will be back in full swing with great material soon. My online business will see no changes with my move, so no need to worry about that.
As always, if you have any questions or would like for me to write about a topic, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Doug Spurling
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The truth about eggs
How many of you throw away the egg yolk and just eat the whites? The truth is, all the nutrition is in the yolk. I remember in college, I would consume upwards of 12 eggs a day. Why? Because I knew that they wouldn't raise my cholesterol, they had some awesome protein, I didn't have time to grill up some chicken or steak, and I could give the cashier a $5 bill and get change back! Here is an awesome article on why you should eat the whole egg! It is an easy read, and written well so that everyone can understand it. I suggest you share it will all your friends so we can work on getting rid of the myth that egg yolks are bad for you!
Click here for the article
Have a good weekend!
Best,
Doug Spurling
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Click here for the article
Have a good weekend!
Best,
Doug Spurling
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Another great resource
As you have noticed, most of my posts have been fitness and strength and conditioning related. I know a lot of my readers are also interested in the rehab/sports medicine field, so I would like to share a great resource with all of you.
Mike Reinold is a physical therapist, athletic trainer, and strength and conditioning coach. He has an incredible website that has a plethora of information on everything from rehabilitation and injury prevention to performance and strength and conditioning.
He truly has information for everybody! I highly suggest you check out his website.
Click here for Mike Reinold's website!
I have some new and exciting news coming to Spurling Strength & Speed so be sure to stay tuned!
As always, any questions or comments let me know.
Best,
Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Mike Reinold is a physical therapist, athletic trainer, and strength and conditioning coach. He has an incredible website that has a plethora of information on everything from rehabilitation and injury prevention to performance and strength and conditioning.
He truly has information for everybody! I highly suggest you check out his website.
Click here for Mike Reinold's website!
I have some new and exciting news coming to Spurling Strength & Speed so be sure to stay tuned!
As always, any questions or comments let me know.
Best,
Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Developing Power (jaw dropping video included)
What is power?
To some people it being able to bench press 400lbs. Some people may see it as how fast they can throw, or how high they can jump. There is one simply equation used when looking at power:
So, broken down, power output is the ability to move something heavy with speed. Someone may be able to bench press 300lbs, but if it takes them 8 seconds to lockout, then that is not power. Power must have a speed component. An example of this is the vertical jump. Everyone knows the vertical jump it is used in all sports, and is pretty common in the commercial gym. When was the last time you saw somebody complete a vertical jump slowly? Vertical jump is testing power, it is your ability to push against the ground, release energy, and explosively jump as high as you can.
So how do you go about developing power? There are several ways, but I want to focus on the two major ones, which are Olympic movements and plyometrics.
Olympic movements:
Here I am talking about lifts like the hang clean, power clean, snatch, push press, clean and jerk, etc. The lifts you see done in the Olympics, hence the name. Look at anyone doing those lifts PROPERLY, they are done with a good amount of weight, and explosive. You need to develop power in order to move that much weight quickly. My professor always told me, if you want to be slow, train slow, you want to be fast, train fast. Completing lifts like the power clean and snatch well force you to move quickly and develop power.
Now that I have mentioned all of that, please note Olympic movements are complex exercises and not for beginners. They can be dangerous, and correct form is critical.
Plyometrics:
Remember those days in elementary school where the PE instructor had you jumping over small hurdles and onto boxes. That my friend is plyometrics. Again, in order to develop power you must have a speed component. So, plyometrics are explosive movements, usually done with body weight. Some examples of these include vertical jump, squat jump and turn, broad jump, hurdle jumps, box jumps, plyo push-ups, etc. You can also incorporate medicine balls by doing a variety of slams for the upper body. Plyo's are good because they are pretty safe, and if taught correctly can be in anyone's program.
Please note, these two topics that I covered could each easily be a semester long course. So, don't go run to the gym tomorrow and start power cleaning and jumping off 5 foot boxes. Like anything, you have to learn it, practice it, and perfect it.
Now, for the video. One of my clients sent this to me, and I had to share it. I do realize that the video may be sped up a tad and the floor may have some spring to it, nonetheless this guy has a ton on power.
Check it out here
Hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know if you have any questions on this topic. Like I said, this is a HUGE topic that can take a whole semester to go over, but at least you got the wheels spinning in your head about power.
Once again, any questions, comments, or ideas please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Doug Spurling
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
To some people it being able to bench press 400lbs. Some people may see it as how fast they can throw, or how high they can jump. There is one simply equation used when looking at power:
Power = Strength X Speed
So, broken down, power output is the ability to move something heavy with speed. Someone may be able to bench press 300lbs, but if it takes them 8 seconds to lockout, then that is not power. Power must have a speed component. An example of this is the vertical jump. Everyone knows the vertical jump it is used in all sports, and is pretty common in the commercial gym. When was the last time you saw somebody complete a vertical jump slowly? Vertical jump is testing power, it is your ability to push against the ground, release energy, and explosively jump as high as you can.
So how do you go about developing power? There are several ways, but I want to focus on the two major ones, which are Olympic movements and plyometrics.
Olympic movements:
Here I am talking about lifts like the hang clean, power clean, snatch, push press, clean and jerk, etc. The lifts you see done in the Olympics, hence the name. Look at anyone doing those lifts PROPERLY, they are done with a good amount of weight, and explosive. You need to develop power in order to move that much weight quickly. My professor always told me, if you want to be slow, train slow, you want to be fast, train fast. Completing lifts like the power clean and snatch well force you to move quickly and develop power.
Now that I have mentioned all of that, please note Olympic movements are complex exercises and not for beginners. They can be dangerous, and correct form is critical.
Plyometrics:
Remember those days in elementary school where the PE instructor had you jumping over small hurdles and onto boxes. That my friend is plyometrics. Again, in order to develop power you must have a speed component. So, plyometrics are explosive movements, usually done with body weight. Some examples of these include vertical jump, squat jump and turn, broad jump, hurdle jumps, box jumps, plyo push-ups, etc. You can also incorporate medicine balls by doing a variety of slams for the upper body. Plyo's are good because they are pretty safe, and if taught correctly can be in anyone's program.
Please note, these two topics that I covered could each easily be a semester long course. So, don't go run to the gym tomorrow and start power cleaning and jumping off 5 foot boxes. Like anything, you have to learn it, practice it, and perfect it.
Now, for the video. One of my clients sent this to me, and I had to share it. I do realize that the video may be sped up a tad and the floor may have some spring to it, nonetheless this guy has a ton on power.
Check it out here
Hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know if you have any questions on this topic. Like I said, this is a HUGE topic that can take a whole semester to go over, but at least you got the wheels spinning in your head about power.
Once again, any questions, comments, or ideas please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Doug Spurling
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Is the Bench Press Overrated?
The bench press. We all know it, and most of us love it. It is in every young mans weightlifting program, sometimes done everyday for ego boosting. However, is it really that beneficial? Well, it all comes down to what your body type is and what your goals are, like all other exercises.
So who should be benching? First of all, I must clarify, for this blog I am solely talking about the flat barbell bench press. As far as who should bench, there is no true answer. Like mentioned, it depends on several factors. If you have any type of shoulder injury, I would suggest not bench pressing. If you are looking for chest definition as a bodybuilder, I would suggest not bench pressing. There are several reasons that someone should not bench press, but it is all individual based.
Lets take a look at why we bench press. It a compound exercise requiring activation of the chest, shoulders, triceps, and more. You can add a lot of weight to the bar, and if done right it can help in strength and power development.
However, the bench press if easily the most over used exercise in the fitness field today. You have kids bench pressing every day to impress the girl on the treadmill, win a bet against their buddy, or simply thinking they will get stronger by doing so. What happens if you bench press to much is you become extremely "caved" forward. Your chest muscles are so tight and your back muscles are so stretched, you end up looking like Hunchback of Notre Dame. There should be an even split between horizontal pushing and horizontal pulling. Horizontal pushing includes any form of bench press whether it be dumbbell or barbell, push ups, etc. Horizontal pulling would be any type of seated row.
Another issue that comes into play with people who bench to much, is they cause deficiencies in vertical pushing and pulling. Vertical pushing would include overhead pressing. Vertical pulling would be a chin-up, pull-up, or lat pull down variation. Again, there should be a even split between vertical and horizontal pushing and pulling.
Think of the motion of the bench press. You are laying on your back pushing something off of you. Let's take a look at sports. Other then football and some field events what sport would you do that motion. So, baseball players, basketball players, tennis, etc might not see benefit to traditional barbell bench pressing. Of course they need to do some form of horizontal pushing so this may be a dumbbell press variation, a push-up variation, etc.
The bottom line is, bench pressing is over rated. Yes, it is an excellent compound exercise for developing strength and power. However, if not done properly it can cause a lot of injuries and deficiencies in the body.
If you have a question about your program design and if the bench press should be a part of it, let me know.
One last note, all programs should be individualized and periodized. So you should not be going to the gym every Monday and bench pressing. That may be fine for a couple weeks, but then it needs to change.
Any comments or suggestions let me know.
Best,
Doug Spurling
Spurling Stength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Lets take a look at why we bench press. It a compound exercise requiring activation of the chest, shoulders, triceps, and more. You can add a lot of weight to the bar, and if done right it can help in strength and power development.
However, the bench press if easily the most over used exercise in the fitness field today. You have kids bench pressing every day to impress the girl on the treadmill, win a bet against their buddy, or simply thinking they will get stronger by doing so. What happens if you bench press to much is you become extremely "caved" forward. Your chest muscles are so tight and your back muscles are so stretched, you end up looking like Hunchback of Notre Dame. There should be an even split between horizontal pushing and horizontal pulling. Horizontal pushing includes any form of bench press whether it be dumbbell or barbell, push ups, etc. Horizontal pulling would be any type of seated row.
Another issue that comes into play with people who bench to much, is they cause deficiencies in vertical pushing and pulling. Vertical pushing would include overhead pressing. Vertical pulling would be a chin-up, pull-up, or lat pull down variation. Again, there should be a even split between vertical and horizontal pushing and pulling.
Think of the motion of the bench press. You are laying on your back pushing something off of you. Let's take a look at sports. Other then football and some field events what sport would you do that motion. So, baseball players, basketball players, tennis, etc might not see benefit to traditional barbell bench pressing. Of course they need to do some form of horizontal pushing so this may be a dumbbell press variation, a push-up variation, etc.
The bottom line is, bench pressing is over rated. Yes, it is an excellent compound exercise for developing strength and power. However, if not done properly it can cause a lot of injuries and deficiencies in the body.
If you have a question about your program design and if the bench press should be a part of it, let me know.
One last note, all programs should be individualized and periodized. So you should not be going to the gym every Monday and bench pressing. That may be fine for a couple weeks, but then it needs to change.
Any comments or suggestions let me know.
Best,
Doug Spurling
Spurling Stength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
A True Success Story (must read)
You remember those days when you were in elementary school and the teacher asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up? All the girls said nurses and models, and all the guys said cops and pro athletes.
Well, here is a story about a kid named Tim Collins. He has an amazing story that I had to share with you.
This is a must read! Check it out the link here
Hope you like the story, and stay tuned for a new blog at the end of the week.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
Well, here is a story about a kid named Tim Collins. He has an amazing story that I had to share with you.
This is a must read! Check it out the link here
Hope you like the story, and stay tuned for a new blog at the end of the week.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu
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