The BS of the Strength and Conditioning Field
By
Travis Mash
This article isn’t going to make me any friends, but hopefully it will open
the eyes of some people and help them look outside their fields of thought and
expand their thinking. During the last seventeen years, I’ve been exposed to
several concepts and ideas as they pertain to strength and conditioning,
including Olympic lifting, powerlifting, core training, assessment based
training, Western periodization, Westside methods, tempo and volume based
workout regimens, and others.
Here’s the big question I have—if all of these so called experts are correct,
who is wrong? And if all of the others are wrong, who is right? It’s absolutely
insane! Now, let’s look at a few training protocols to get an idea of what I’m
talking about.
First, there are the assessment based programs. The people who swear by these
programs are insane about assessing every area of the athlete. I’ve actually
seen 100 item assessments for certain sports. While I agree that assessments are
needed to address any imbalance or mobility issue an athlete might have, too
many times these programs lack any type of real atmosphere. Westside Barbell
Club possesses an atmosphere that can only be experienced at Westside. An
athlete will get stronger just from breathing the air at Westside. That is the
big secret of Westside or any other hard core facility that turns out champion
after champion.
Then there is the Olympic lifting community who swears by the Olympic lifts
and the amazing force generated by those lifts. Once again, I agree with a large
part of Olympic lifting such as the athletic component, the mobility
requirements, and the force produced. However, Olympic lifting isn’t very
practical. In most high schools and colleges, the strength coach has about 50
minutes to an hour to train 20 to 30 athletes. It took Shane Hamman, the best
heavy weight ever in America, over a month with a broomstick to become
proficient with the lifts. The problem with Olympic lifts is that when they’re
performed improperly, the risk of injury is increased significantly. Therefore,
unless the coach can be assured that each and every athlete is properly
supervised each session, the program isn’t practical or safe.
Next up is the powerlifting community. They train with mainly the squat,
bench, and deadlift. All three are very important and fairly simple to teach,
but they lack the athleticism and explosion of Olympic lifting, and they can
cause or increase imbalances within the athlete. How many times will a
linebacker be on his back pushing vertical with his arms like in the bench
press? Hopefully, he won’t find himself on his back at all. The other flaw of
powerlifting is that without proper assistance work the posterior chain isn’t
worked nearly enough. Over time, the bench will be particularly damaging to the
shoulders unless proper precautions are taken. In reality, the bench press could
totally be eliminated and replaced with the military press and push presses, but
much confidence comes with a 300- or 400-lb bench press. The positive attribute
of powerlifting is that all three lifts develop some overall strength, and, if
used properly, some major functional muscle can be added to the athlete.
What about training the “core?” This is probably the latest phenomena on the
fitness scene. These gurus call it “core” or “functional” training. Let me start
by saying that I use a lot of core and functional training in my methodology,
but it just isn’t the staple of my training. Here’s one example to clarify
exactly what I mean. In 1998, I had the chance to work closely with a
self-proclaimed guru in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While there, I witnessed an
ex-Olympic lifter turn “core” trainer squat 225 lbs standing on a physio ball.
Right away, I was blown away, and I thought that this guy had gone on to become
unbelievably strong with this type of training. However, I later found out that
his max squat was still the same if not lower. This is the hypothesis that I
came away with—a really strong athlete can “learn” the core exercises, but the
“core” people can’t learn to squat 1000 lbs!
There are facilities that develop many strong guys such as at Juan Carlos
Santana’s facility in Florida, but he uses a lot of big movements as well as
core exercises. His intensity level matches or exceeds Louie’s at Westside as
well. Research shows that core training definitely aids the athlete, but you
have to define “core,” assess the person, know what sport or activity they’re
involved with, and design the exercises around your findings. “Core” is every
muscle that supports the spine and pelvis, so the abdominals are just the
beginning. What about the multifidus, erector spinae, obliques, transverse
spinalis, glutes, psoas, or even the serratus anterior? All these “gurus” should
know their anatomy and then prescribe the workouts.
The big question then becomes what program works? The answer is all of them
work. Of course, all athletes should be assessed for muscular balance like quad
to hamstring ratio, hip flexor strength and length, hip mobility, shoulder
mobility, posterior to anterior chain balance, and athletic capabilities (i.e.
40-yard dash, vertical leap, etc). At that point, mobility plans should be
developed and muscular imbalances should be addressed. Olympic lifting should
definitely be used based on three variables—the individual athlete’s ability to
perform the lifts, the coach to athlete ratio, and the time available to coach
the athletes on proper performance of the lifts. For example, if only one coach
is available per 20 athletes for 45 minutes three times per week and most of the
athletes are new to Olympic lifting, start with only the clean pull and snatch
pull to develop the explosive components of the lifts.
With powerlifting, Westside Barbell Club has developed a very athletic
approach to powerlifting. Squats performed dynamically along with deadlifts
definitely increase the speed and velocity of the lifts, which equate much
better to athletes. Their focus is on posterior chain work such as glute/ham
raises, reverse hypers, and good mornings, which are much more important to an
athlete than leg presses or leg extensions. The extra workouts can be used to
develop general physical preparedness or simply explosion with plyometrics.
Their templates seem to be the most practical, and all of the other programs can
be implemented within the Westside system. The system itself was developed from
eastern European Olympic lifting programs.
Here’s one more question—what about other forms of training like tire flips,
functional training, and balance work? Once again, the answer is simply develop
the program around the sport, the athlete, the time available, and the
availability of the coaches. Athletes are being short changed on the workout
programs because coaches are too small minded to look outside of their small
boxes. In my opinion, coaches fail to open their minds for several reasons
including fear of new ideas, laziness to implement new ideas, and the inability
to grasp new ideas (not very smart). A strength coach simply needs to understand
the basic concepts of program design and implement new ideas accordingly. The
one “key” that none of these programs can lack is atmosphere. That is the one
variable that can’t change! An athlete has to have it to thrive. Whether it is
Carlos Santana or Westside Barbell, they’re going to get a little crazy. The
athlete is going to get stronger because they and everyone around them is
expected to get stronger! Period.
I hope that this article opens the eyes of some people. All of us are right,
and all of us are wrong! As long as there’s an atmosphere of excellence in the
facility, it’s the combination of all the new information out there in the
strength and conditioning world that makes the perfect system. So go out there
and learn about each other! Take what is good, leave what is bad, and develop
the perfect plan for your athletes. They deserve it. They deserve for all of us
to get over our pride and continue our search for knowledge.
Travis Mash made history at the 2004 GNC Show of Strength by totaling 2414
lbs in the 220-lb class. This total surpassed the legendary Ed Coan and places
Travis as one of the greatest powerlifters in history. He pursued Olympic
lifting for awhile and trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs, Colorado. In 2001, Travis’s best lifts included a 970-lb squat, a
705-lb bench press, and an 800-lb deadlift, all done in the 220-lb class.
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