This entry was posted on
January 21, 2010 by Mike Robertson.
It was tagged with
Random.
Today, we're keeping it short and sweet. I do have a DVD to film
tomorrow, after all! :)
Here are my quick hit thoughts for the week:
- Laree Draper wrote up a fantastic review of "Assess and Correct" last
week, and I'm just now getting around to posting it. You can
find the review HERE.

- Speaking of Assess and Correct, there's been more and more
great feedback coming in. If you're still on the fence, you
may want to check out the testimonials page from the site.
- My good friend Mark Young wrote up a fantastic blog post about
using EMG for exercise presecriptions. I love Mark because he's a
critical thinker, and willing to look beyond the surface to find his
answers. If you're in the field, be sure to check out his post.
EMG for Exercise Prescription
- Finally, I did want to take a moment and thank you all for your
support. Not only have you been incredibly supportive of my site and
me over the years, but for supporting my recent Haiti endeavor as
well.
All in all, we raised $7,700 to help the crisis that's going on in
Haiti, and it's all because of people like you!
That's it for today folks. Have a great weekend!
All the best
Mike
PS Go Colts!
This entry was posted on
January 21, 2010 by Mike Robertson.
It was tagged with
Random.
The Strawman
It's easy for someone with little to no experience working with real
people to say that "corrective" exercise doesn't work.
It's also easy to do this if you've never seen it in action, or if
you've seen it executed by the wrong practitioner.
Naysayers will tell you that corrective exercise is nothing more than
some foam rolling, activation work, and maybe some core training sprinkled
on top.
This, my friends, is a straw man if I've ever heard one.
The fact-of-the-matter is, all training programs should have an element
of corrective training in them. Some people prefer to do a little bit
throughout the year (myself included), while others tend to dedicate 1-2
training cycles per year focusing on the smaller stuff.
The most important thing to remember, though, is that you're only as
strong as your weakest link. This is a consistent theme, whether
you're trying to rehabilitate an injury or set PR's in a squat, bench
press, or deadlift.
If your glutes aren't strong enough to extend your hips, your deadlift
weights (and possibly your lower back) will suffer.
If your scapular stabilizers can't get you in the appropriate position
to bench press effectively, the same thing will happen to your shoulders
and bench press.

I'll be honest - I, personally, hate the term corrective
exercise. It's kind of like core training; I use it because there's
no better term (as of yet).
Don't be misled - corrective exercise is a lot more than flopping
around on the floor for an hour or two a week. Done correctly, it can
help you get healthy, get stronger, or get leaner.
If you'd like to learn more about my thoughts on corrective exercise,
check out the link below:
Facts and Fallacies of Corrective Exercise
Stay strong
MR
This entry was posted on
January 19, 2010 by Mike Robertson.
It was tagged with
Training.
Understanding the Basics
Last week, I was talking with my good friend Zach at IFAST. Zach has not
only been a member for the last 7 months, but he's also going to intern
there this summer.
Too often, I think the up-and-coming coaches assume that you need to
know absolutely everything about coaching. You need to understand the
biomechanics, the physiology, how to write training programs, and a host of
other things
And while that's all true to some extent, it's not entirely the
case.
I remember listening to Dave Tate several years ago, and he alluded to
the fact that quite often you'll never use more than 10% of your knowledge
base training clients and athletes.
The more I think about that comment, the more I realize how true it
really is.
In fact, instead of continuously learning more "new stuff," I feel like
we should be more focused on
the 10 to 20% of the knowledge that we need to use every single
day.
Coaching a squat, lunge, or deadlifts may not be sexy, but it's
something that we're going to use daily in the gym.
Writing a basic fat loss program to help somebody lose 20 to 30 pounds
of body fat or body weight, as well, isn't sexy. But think about it - how
often do we get the chance to take an elite bodybuilder from 6% down to
4%?
Quite simply, it doesn't happen all that often.
When we're talking about the 10%, these are the staple ideas that we
use every single day. This could include (but not be limited to) the
following:
Regardless of who you'll train, these basic skills and ideas will come
back time and again.
Now keep in mind, I'm not saying the more advanced stuff isn't
important. I enjoy reading on advanced topics myself, but I also
understand that I'm pretty limited when it comes to the application of
those topics and ideas.
So while it's not as sexy as you might like, really worked to master
the 10%. You'll be rewarded daily for your efforts.
This entry was posted on
January 19, 2010 by Mike Robertson.
It was tagged with
Training.
Floor presses with chains
The floor press may be one of the single best bench training exercises
known to man that you aren't using in your program.
I'll be honest, I hadn't really used the floor press for many years. It
wasn't until I embarked upon a powerlifting specific program in the last
couple of months that I put floor presses back into my programs. For
years, they were
a staple.
Quite simply, floor presses train many of the areas where we are weak
during the bench press.
They take our leg drive and stability out of the equation.
They force us to slow down the lift and pause at the bottom, thus
negating the stretch-shortening cycle. For all you reactive lifters
out there (like me), this can make for a brutally tough lift.
And maybe most importantly, we can often use heavier weights in the
floor press than we can in the bench press due to the diminished range of
motion. While some might look at that as a deterrent, I look at look at it
as a positive influence.
Getting heavy weights in our hands often breeds confidence for holding
heavy heavyweights down the line. If you've never benched pressed 225
before, the first time you hold it in your hands for a PR attempt can be
unnerving.
But, if you're
acclimated to that feeling by overloaded exercises such as the floor press,
you'll have much more confidence and be much more likely to hit the
lift.
For raw lifters, I prefer the basic floor press. If you use gear, you
can get a little sexier with your programming by adding chains, bands,
etc.. One of my personal favorites when I was training exclusively for
powerlifting was band assisted floor presses. This really put a premium on
lockout strength, and got me accustomed to holding heavy weights on a
week-to-week basis.
The only downside to floor pressing is the setup. Unfortunately, many
gyms simply don't have the equipment to effectively floor press. However,
even in this case you can still use dumbbells to get some floor
pressing.

Including the floor press in your programming can make a profound
difference not only in your strength, but in your confidence levels as
well.
Give floor presses a shot for the next couple months and let me know
what kind of PR's you end up hitting!
Stay strong
MR
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