The truth behind wraps, bands, belts, shirts, gloves, and all other assisting devices

Being forced to workout at a commercial gym these past few months, I have seen a ton of things. Some good, most bad. One thing I see a lot of is the use of assisted devices such as wraps, belts, shirts, etc. I see guys coming in wrapped up like a Christmas present from head to toe. The issue I have with that is nobody in my gym is a power lifter or strong man competitor.

A power lifter is someone who lifts extremely heavy weight usually for reps between 1-4. They focus on something called "the big three." The big three included the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift. Competitive power lifters are extremely good athletes moving upwards of 3-4 times their body weight at times. Since these men and women, yes women, are lifting this extreme weight they sometimes require assisted devices such as wrist wraps, knee wraps, belts, and more.

The issue comes in when the average Joe who is just looking for a good beach body starts using all these assisted devices for every workout. Things like wraps and belts and gloves, are doing some of the work for you, so you are not getting the full benefit out of it. Take for example the weight lifting belt. Some people use it for every lift. I once saw a guy use a belt for bicep curls. The issue with that is when you put the belt on your core does not need to be activated. So, you are never developing your core. You should have a strong enough core to stand their and curl without requiring a belt. The same applies with gloves and wrist wraps. Everyone complains that they don't have the grip strength to hold the bar. Well, you will never develop that grip strength unless you ditch the wraps.

Now, I want you to know, I am not suggesting that these assisted devices be taken off the market. There are select people who should be using these devices. However, if you want to develop a strong core, a strong grip, and a strong body, you need to lift the weight yourself, not with wraps, straps, and all that other crap.


Disagree? Let me know. Please let me know if you have any questions or blog topic ideas.

Best,

Doug Spurling
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu

Art of the squat..Part 3

Tonight I want to talk about single leg movements. Now I know, single leg movements are not technically squats, but I like to group them together sometimes because you can do these in place of squatting and get the same, if not better results.

Like I mentioned before, not everyone is suited to squat, whether that be traditional, front, or whatever, some bodies just should not be squatting. The good things about single leg movements is that they put less stress on the whole body, the surrounding joint, and don't require a lot of weight to see results.

Some of the single leg movements I love and use often include:

Bulgarian split squat (rear foot elevated lunge)
Reverse Lunge
Lateral Lunge
Single Leg Deadlift
Single leg hamstring tuck

The Bulgarian split squat is my favorite. It allows you to isolate one foot at a time. It requires a lot of core strength and balance. It works your entire lower extremity while improving flexibility in your hip flexors.



The reverse lunge is similar, but doesn't require as much balance as both feet are plated on the ground.



The lateral lunge focuses more on the glutes, and can be a bit more awkward for someone who has not done them before. You have to think of sitting back on your but, not going to the side.



Single leg deadlift is another great exercise focusing a lot on the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, lower back).



Finally, the single leg hamstring ball tuck. I am sure you all know the traditional hamstring ball tuck where your laying down on your back, lifting your hips up, and bringing the ball into your butt. This is the same thing, just know you elevate one foot, so you isolate one leg at a time. Again, similar to all single leg activities, this requires a lot more balance and core strength.

Unfortunately, not a lot of people do the single leg hamstring ball tuck so I don't have any pictures of it. I am however beginning the process of taking pictures of each and every exercise I can think of, so I am not forced to use cheesy, no shirted, google images.

I challenge you to give these single leg movements a try. They are a lot more challenging then they look. You have to remember your goals, and how your body works and reacts to certain exercises. There are some people who can squat great, and see great results from it, others not so much. You also have to look at program goals. If your goal is to develop power for a sport. You may see benefit from doing a single leg movement for some functionality and strength, but your not going to develop power.

If you have any questions on program design, and what exercises are appropriate for your goals feel free to shoot me an e-mail. Also, I am always looking for feedback on my blog, and any advice or criticism you may have, so please let me know.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

Best,

Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu

Everything and anything about squatting part 1

Squatting is a basic human body movement that we have done since we were a baby. Yet over the years of development, people lose the ability to do a proper squat. I am just talking a body weight squat, forget when they decide to throw some weight on the bar.

Don't get me wrong, squatting is a foundational movement and should be a part of most everyones program. However, not everyone is made to do traditional back squats. For example, a person like myself. Being 6'6" tall I have many disadvantages when it comes to lifting. The two main lifts that are difficult are benching and squatting, simply because my extremities are so long. So, I tend to do more box squats and front squats.

People sit way to much. They sit at work, sit in the car, sit when they get home, and so on. As a result, sitting caused extremely tight hamstrings. On top of that, they think there doing good by going to the gym, and they go do 60 minutes on the elliptical. Well guess what? That also shortens and tightens your hamstrings. Because so many people have tight hamstrings, they tend to compensate when their lifting with there lower back. That is when you see a lot of forward trunk flexion and kyphotic movements, which then causes pain and injury.

As you look around at college strength and conditioning programs and the leaders in the field like Mike Boyle and Eric Cressey, you will notice that they are doing more and more non-traditional squatting. These include things like front squats, box squats, and lung variations.

The box squat is one of my favorite exercises to do. It really emphasis the hips and glutes while working on your form on every rep.

Here are some great lines from Dave Tate, one of the strongest and most intelligent men in the field.

1) Training on a box will allow you to sit back onto the box to a point where your shins are past perpendicular to the floor. This places all the stress on the squatting muscles (hips, glutes, lower back and hamstrings.) When you can increase the stress on these muscles and lower the stress on the quads, then you'll be ready to see your squat poundages start moving.

2) Restoration is another major advantage of box squatting. You can train more often on a box when compared to free squatting. According to Louie Simmons, the original members of Westside Barbell in Culver City, California, used to perform box squats three times a week. Currently at Westside we train the box squat every Friday for our dynamic workout and occasionally on Monday's maximal effort workouts. If you're new to box squats, I suggest you do them once per week.

3) When performing box squats you never have to guess how low you're squatting. It'll always be the same. Think about it: when most people start adding weight to the bar, their squats get higher and higher. You see this all the time in any gym you go to. They look good with the light weights, then begin doing quarter squats when the weight gets heavy. With box squats, you'll always go low enough.

4) The last reason to box squat is to reinforce good squat technique. Many times for the intermediate or beginning squatter, the hamstrings aren't yet developed and "sitting back" into a squat is impossible without falling over backward. To teach these athletes how to free squat properly would take months. The squat wouldn't look right until the hamstrings and glute strength increases. Why wait two or three months? Put them on the box and you'll have them squatting properly within five minutes. Within one month the hamstrings will begin to kick in because of the added stress of sitting back on the box.

So, today I focused a lot on box squats. My next blog I want to focus on front squats. A squatting technique that puts more focus on the anterior part of the leg, but a very humbling exercise.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Best,

Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

Interval Training and EPOC

After a amazing week in Florida completed with a long 26 hour drive home, I am in zombie mode right now as I write this. However, I wanted to check in with my viewers and give you guys some new reading.

High Intensity Interval Training(HIIT)

Today, HIIT is extremely popular, producing great results in fat loss and anaerobic capacity training, with plenty of research to support it. However, I still find several people just running/walking on the treadmill for hours on hours, while getting frustrated with their results.

Everybody has busy schedules and is lucky to get to the gym. So, when you are there why not make the best of your time. The benefit of HIIT is you can get the same results both metabolically and cardiovascularly from running on the treadmill for 60 minutes in 1/3 of the time.

HIIT is typically completed in about 20 minutes with about 5-10 minutes of warm-up and cool down. The intervals can be done on any piece of cardio equipment or even better, going outside and running. After a good warm-up beginners usually complete a 1:3 ratio. For example, you would sprint for 15 seconds, and then walk for 45 seconds. Continue that pattern for 15-20 minutes. As you advance you can work up to a 1:2 or 1:1 ratio.

There are extreme benefits to HIIT training in addition to saving time. HIIT training increases your Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). In layman's terms, by doing HIIT training you increase the amount of oxygen you take in after exercise resulting in burning more calories after the exercise bout.

So, by exercising at a higher intensity in a shorter time, you are able to increase your EPOC. Thus, burning more calories each hour after the exercise bout.

HIIT Training is intense. It should not be done everyday, and is not for beginners. If you have more questions or would like more information on programming HIIT into your program shoot me an e-mail.

Also, be sure to "Like" my Facebook page "Spurling Strength & Speed."

After being up for about 30 hours straight, the mattress is calling me.

Any questions or topic ideas please e-mail me anytime.

Best,

Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Spurling Strength & Speed
dspurling@une.edu