January is the best time to be in the gym business. New members are coming through the door all the time. If you’re a trainer in January, you know you’re pretty much not going to have time to eat for the entire month. Everything you’re going to do in the first quarter of the year is set up in the first two weeks of January.

This year we have plans to completely make over the entire gym. We’re also expanding by another two thousand square feet, which will really allow us to do some amazing stuff.

New Items Released 

The sequel to New Rules of Lifting – NROL for Women - dropped on Dec 27^th. Wait, did I just say, “dropped?” Jeez. I apologize for that. Anyway, sales have been very good so far. There are somewhere in the neighborhood of one billion training books for females, but this might be the first that tells them they need to eat food and lift heavy. The response so far has been awesome.

I’ve also just launched a DVD on metabolic acceleration training. This DVD will cover examples of all the programming we use to target "metabolic acceleration" - or cardio respiratory training using non-traditional means. We’ve included time-based programming, density workouts, tabata training, complexes (including a BRUTAL DB variation) and bodyweight finishers. This is one of those times that "the market decides" and we just listen.

I've received more questions on complexes and bodyweight circuits/metabolic work than anything else recently. I track the questions I’m sent/asked on websites and the like, and I look for what the market is asking for. This determines what articles I write, what products we release, and so on.

I kept getting emails about the Real World Fat Loss presentation I was doing for Perform Better, so I recorded one and it's now available.

Next up for me is a follow up to the "Inside the Muscle Labs" article that was in Men’s Health last year. It's been over a year since it was published, and I still get emails about it, so a manual and/or DVD is a likely next step.

Also, keep an eye out for a new project aimed at powerlifters, boxers and MMA fighters that will cover the best ways to safely make weight. It’s almost done. There hasn’t been a book this in depth since JM Blakely’s, which you can’t get anymore because it’s out of print.

How is your own training going?

It’s tough. I can’t lie. There just isn’t a whole lot of data as to how to regain muscle and strength after intensive chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, you know? The ultimate goal is not to die and to be cancer-free.

The treatment saved my life and I really have no complaints at all. Recovery from training is hard, my cardio system is shot, and my energy levels are lower than most people’s. I sleep a lot, and can’t do much training. But I’m improving all the time, you know?

2007 was the first time since 2003 that I’ve been “all clear, all year,” so I hope that by 2009 I’ll at least look like I work out a wee bit!

What’s chemo like? I’ll leave you with a quote from The Bucket List (with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson):

"Chemo? Not too bad. Once you get used to the 'round the clock vomiting, watching your veins turn black and the feeling that your bones are made of napalm...it's a day at the beach."

-- Carter Chambers
(Morgan Freeman)
'The Bucket List'

LiftSTRONG

Last year we launched LiftSTRONG and raised over $50,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in a few months. We need more, though. I guess I’ll need to come up with LiftSTRONG II and get people to keep giving.

Q&A

I’m a 140lb female trying to get leaner. A nutritionist told me that if I’m above 25% body fat (I am right there), I should eat no more than 30g of carbs per day, but when I drop 5% and get in the low 20's - I should adjust that to 0.25g of carbs per pound of body weight per day. Do you think this will speed up my fat loss results?

Ummm…let's review. You’re currently 140lbs at 25%. That means you have 105 lbs of lean mass and 35lbs of fat. So you'd get 30g of carbs. And then you lose 10lbs of fat - so you're now 135 at 22% body fat.

If I do the math correctly, you'd now be up to a whopping 33.75g of carbs. That’s an extra 15 calories per day.

Do you see how unrealistic this recommendation becomes when you start to get "real world?”

I don't think there is any nutritionist in the world that has carb intake for fat loss narrowed down to one hundredth of a gram per 500g of bodyweight. That's extremely exact. I'd love to see the data that this person collected at 0.24g and 0.26g of carbs per lb (that obviously didn't work) to come to this extremely precise recommendation.

So, I think it's completely fictional advice.

What do you think is the most important factor for success in the fitness profession?

Simple. Be brilliant at what you do.

And the fastest way to do that? Learning. Studying. Experience. Take notes from every client workout. Track results. Record everything. See what works. Attend seminars. Watch educational DVD's (the writers’ strike is continuing, so there's nothing on TV anyway). Listen to educational audios.

And read. I know you've heard me say that before, and I know you're sick of hearing me say it, but it's absolutely 100% true. Someone who doesn't or won't read regularly gets the same education as someone who can't read.

Andrew Carnegie is perhaps one of America's – and the world’s, in fact - most successful businessmen ever. His entire life story (and an amazing insight into his mindset) can be found condensed into 42 chapters of a biography. If you read only one chapter a day, you'd have a great education in only six weeks.

And remember, you don't have to believe everything you read. But don't just read things that you believe.

"I believe that whatever your job is there is a book written with insightful information that can help you come to a greater understanding of where you were, where you are, and how to get to where you want to be. BUT you can’t just read the book; you must also highlight the book and write down your thoughts about how the principles in the book apply to you and your situation in the margins. Read it, underline it, remark in it, apply it, make it a habit, become more proficient at it, and ultimately master it. Reading will inspire you with new ideas, new approaches, and new challenges. "
-Jeffrey Gitomer

I recently began charging people for training and nutrition advice, but it's my system that I have a little trouble with. Currently I'm helping a guy who hasn't accomplished anything yet in the last three weeks.

I outlined him a training program and gave him basic guidelines on which to base his nutrition, including a number of “rules” to follow when training and eating. For example, always eat breakfast, lift fast under all circumstances, the body is one piece, etc...I also gave him an explanation of the terms I used, and demanded that he asked questions.

My question to you is this: How do you make someone follow your advice and program ?

Understand first of all that it is unlikely that someone will hire you, pay money, and spend time working towards a goal and have a goal to not follow your advice. I've honestly never seen that.

So keep that in mind. People are going to want to follow your advice. If they don't follow your advice (I've written this before: http://alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com/2007/06/compliance-habits-and-behaviors.html ), it's because your advice stinks.

ANYONE can write an extreme program that works in the short term (two-a-day training, zero-carb, very low calories, etc) but can you write a program that works long term and the client is able to follow? That's the skill. The program shouldn't be so difficult that they can't follow it. Compliance trumps pretty much every other variable. You can convince me that a protein sparing modified fast combined with intermittent fasting is the "best" plan, but if most clients won't follow it, it's a useless plan.

Do you charge people up front, after every session, or after a few sessions (or a combination of these)? What works best for motivating them?

This is just a business decision. We have an initiation fee and then we bill at the end of each month. Billing in advance is more common though.

I do a lot of partner stunting for collegiate cheer (I know that sounds really fruity). Anyway, this mostly involves me deep squatting and explosively "keg tossing" 110lb girls over my head and catching their feet. From there I have to do all sorts of overhead presses and holds. Basically, I have to have a LOT of explosiveness in my legs and lots of tricep and shoulder strength, as well as lots of core and shoulder stability.

My problem is that I'm always itching to get in the gym because I miss LIFTING. Anytime I lift though, I lack the strength and explosiveness to stunt in practice or at games. What can I do that is minimal and will allow FAST recovery, but will still get me stronger throughout the season?

Thanks,

Drew
PS: Like I said, not as fruity as it sounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YZ2vxUDHfc

Hi Drew,

The first thing is that you need to cut your volume in the gym. That puts us an a "training economy" situation where we need to select the biggest return on investment exercises for your goals.

For total body training, the clean and jerk or the snatch would be ideal choices. I'd suggest alternating between deadlifts and front squats as your primary lower body exercises with a push press or push jerk being your primary upper body lift (alternating between bilateral and unilateral loading).

The unstable nature of the "load" in your sport means that you should rotate between push pressing bars, DB's and unstable objects such as sandbags or kegs. If you don't have access to that equipment, do a lighter set of push presses with DB's of different loads, or a barbell with 5-10 extra pounds on one side.

As far as total volume goes -- start with only 1-2 work sets of each exercise and assess from there. If you aren't getting stronger and more explosive, then we can assume that you need to increase the volume slightly. If you started at 5 sets of each - we wouldn't know if it's too much volume or not enough - so start low.

Frequency: two workouts a week to begin with.

Scheduling: ideally you should lift AFTER a practice. I'd hate to send you into a practice session with fatigued shoulders.

PS: Get your partners to drop as much fat as possible too :)

My friend is into mountain biking. What are the strength training exercises you recommend to increase his overall body strength for those long upward climbs, for tricks, and for more power?

Mountain biking is interesting.

Recently a lot of coaches have criticized unstable surface training (e.g. balls, Airex pads, etc). It’s an over-reaction. We know that these tools can be useful in rehabilitation settings but have a more limited use with healthy individuals. But the usual line is “there are no sports or activities which are performed where the ground moves under you.” Really?

I guess it’s true to a point, except when you realize that sports like mountain biking (and water polo, snowboarding, motocross, wakeboarding, surfing, etc) all exhibit a “tilting” reflex – the surface does move under the athlete. They have to maintain their center of balance over a constantly changing base of support. So perhaps unstable surface training could/should be used with this group.

I'd start him with a base strength phase that is more classical in nature - working to building up his core strength and leg strength. So this would be traditional strength training - squats, chins, etc. For lower body I’d really focus on the deadlift.

Then we'd move to a more specific phase where I'd favor a lot of offset loading and unilateral lower body training (lunges, split squats and step-ups would replace squats and deadlifts).

If you consider the position of the bike, some isometric strength work while resisting external forces could be useful too. And I'd definitely implement some complexes or combination lifts to replicate the full body nature of the sport.

How do you design a strength program for a sport that you haven't experienced much? Imagine an aerial freestyle skier comes to you tomorrow and asks for your help in determining their needs? What do you do?

Here's a good way to go about it: