In This Issue:
– Robertson Training Systems Updates
– Training Tip
– Nutrition Tip
– Interview with Craig Ballantyne
– New Articles
– Schedule
Updates:
Mike on the FitCast
If you haven’t heard of the FitCast yet, it’s a downloadable audio show that features different training experts every week. In the past, experts such as Alwyn Cosgrove, Eric Cressey and Bill Hartman have been interviewed; and this past time around, it was my turn!
Kevin and I discussed a ton of different topics, including my return to the powerlifting platform, staying healthy, and a little insight into the development of my home gym. If you haven’t checked it out yet, follow the link below to download Episode #28.
Announcing the FitCast INSIDER!
The FitCast Insider is an exclusive source of training information. While the traditional FitCast show has done an excellent job of interviewing experts and bringing knowledge right to your mp3 player, the FitCast Insider is going to take it to another level!
While the FitCast often ends up being more of a Q&A session on a variety of topics, the FitCast Insider is going to delve deeply into each interviewees area of expertise. How would you like to hear Craig Ballantyne talk for 30-60 minutes solely about achieving rapid fat loss? Or how Eric Cressey writes programs to keep people healthy AND get them jacked at the same time? If this interests you in the slightest, the FitCast Insider could be just what you were looking for.
Now, the question should be asked: Is the Insider for everyone? And my answer would be absolutely not. The casual gym-goer or fitness enthusiast probably can’t warrant the expense. But if you’re a strength coach, physical therapist, personal trainer, or just someone who wants to learn more about exercise and learn from the best, the Fitcast Insider will definitely satisfy your thirst for knowledge! As well, since the content is downloadable, you can easily listen to it in your car, or during down time throughout the day. I spend so much time in my car that I might as well listen to it and feel productive!
If you’re interested in the content, Kevin has posted a portion of my Insider interview on the FitCast homepage as well; just go the FitCast home page (linked above) and download Episode #29. My FitCast Insider interview was a 45 minute discussion on the joint-by-joint approach to training, and how to ensure that you’re training your body in the most biomechanically efficient way possible. Why subject yourself to needless injuries and poor performance? This interview will set the record straight on how to train around each joint for maximum performance.
Please note that the SPECIAL OFFER for the FitCast Insider expires December 1st; if you want to get the year-long discounted rate (and save 50% on your purchase!), you MUST purchase your subscription before December 1st.
The holidays are right around the corner – why not reward yourself and purchase the FitCast Insider for the next year and take your training to the next level?
Purchase the FitCast Insider TODAY!
New Article Up
In case you missed it, I had an interview with Bill Hartman go up on Thanksgiving day over at T-Nation. Bill is an amazing guy on all fronts, and this article gives a little bit of insight into his life. Check it out here:
Training Tip:
Focus on your assistance lifts!
A lot of trainees get so caught up in pushing their core lifts up (squat, bench, deadlift, rows, chins, etc.) that they either neglect, or don’t put in the necessary effort to raise their assistance lifts. In this case, take a step back from your core lifts and really pound your assistance lifts. Quite often you’ll find that you not only have an increased desire to train, but when you go back your core lifts will have gone up to boot!
Nutrition Tip:
Why choose oats?
by Dr. John Berardi
If you’re looking to gain mass and have a good carbohydrate tolerance, place a bowl of fiber-rich, low-GI rolled oats along with ½ scoop of vanilla protein powder, frozen mixed berries, pineapple and a small quantity of mixed nuts right next to your omelet. This is a muscle building breakfast that’s hard to beat. I place this bowl right next to my omelet for a breakfast that’s hard to beat.
If you like this tip and want to learn more about JB and his products, check out his Precision Nutrition website.
Interview with Craig Ballantyne
When I asked Craig to do an interview with me, I figured he’d fire back some hodge-podge answers and call it a day. After all, Craig is a really busy guy in the fitness industry.
Needless to say, his interview blew me away! I think you’re really going to like it – enjoy the ride!
Craig, the RTS readers may not be up-to-speed on your resume; tell us a little bit about yourself first and foremost.
Thanks Mike.
I’m a strength coach (CSCS) in Toronto and I write for Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, and Maximum Fitness magazines. I have worked extensively with young athletes and members of Canada’s National Rugby team.
I’ve also developed my own training system that has been featured in the magazines, and I call it Turbulence Training (www.TurbulenceTraining.com). The goal is to get maximum results in minimum time, no matter what the goal (mass, fat loss, or athleticism).
Turbulence Training (TT) for Fat Loss uses a combination of the basic, most effective lifts, structured in time-saving supersets, as well as interval training. It’s based on research, but I’m not going to claim that it’s any magic secret or rocket science. It is simply about getting things done quickly in a logical order. It’s amazing how complex some trainers have made training when it is generally such a simple process to achieve your goals.
Guys and gals love the fat loss program because it fits their often hectic schedules. Three 45-minute strength & interval sessions for fat loss are a lot easier to fit in rather than five 1-hour cardio sessions. And the bodyweight workouts I have, you can get done in the time it usually takes you to get to the gym and back.
I’ve also put together Turbulence Training for Mass workouts that I’ve used with a couple dozen bodybuilders and off-season athletes and regular guys. Bodybuilders like it because it cuts their 5 days per week, 1 hour workouts down to four 45-minute sessions per week, and they get much stronger.
That’s good stuff; so what brought you into the industry? What sections of the industry are you passionate about, or get you fired up?
Like many other coaches, a childhood of extensive sports participation led to my interest in this industry. I started lifting at age 16 to get stronger, and it just evolved from there. Went to University, started writing newsletters and programs while in Grad School and working with athletes at the University, and just sent some stuff off to the magazines. I’ve been doing a magazine piece almost monthly since 2000.
I like to make training fun and basic, no matter what the goal (athlete, muscle, fat loss). And I also like to save people time. So it means sticking with traditional movements (although there are lots of exercise variations in the bodyweight workouts).
I like to keep things simple for my readers, as too many of them are confused by all the complex and contradicting theories and ideas floating around out in the fitness and mainstream media.
If you had to classify it, what’s your major demographic? Are you training athletes? Regular Joe’s? Bodybuilders?
Definitely the intermediate level, via Men’s Health readers, or anyone for that matter that is busy and can only workout 2-3 hours total per week. Men and women with kids, commutes, and 8-6 jobs, but that also like to put some effort into their workouts. Lots of intermediate and beginner trainers as well. I’m not offering anyone any T-nation rocket science.
I just give people the basics, and fast. The goal is to get them in and out of the gym in as little time as possible and help them reach their goals faster than ever.
We use…
– A bodyweight warmup (& some stuff from your Magnificent Mobility and Inside-Out DVD’s – good stuff there).
– Strength training supersets
– Intervals
Done.
That’s it. So simple, so effective.
You’ve got a great program out now called “Turbulence Training,” which is possibly one of the catchiest training terms I’ve heard in a while! However, it sounds like a great program, too. Could you give us a little bit of background on this?
A catchy name is all about alliteration, as you seemed to have picked up on for Magnificent Mobility.
Seriously, the fat loss version of Turbulence Training is simply the best strength training exercises that you can do at home with only dumbbells and a bench, and can done in supersets. Combine that with interval training, and Turbulence Training shows men and women how to get a complete fat loss workout done in 45 minutes. To some, it looks almost deceptive, too simple; but the workouts kick your butt and does the job. And they progress from beginner right through to advanced (for my demographic, I’m not creating any Mr. or Ms. Olympias with TT – Not yet, anyway).
Again, as you can see from the explanation, the workouts are geared for men and women that get up at 5am to train and then make breakfast for themselves and the kids, and then are on the go all day. Alternatively, the reader can sneak these types of workouts in at lunch, immediately after work, or after the kids go to bed. Although I’ve had men and women well over 65 years of age using the program – anyone can use it if they adjust to their fitness level.
You seem to be a very educated guy, what do you feel like most trainers are doing wrong with their clients? Poor programming?
If all trainers simply understood the basics of neuromuscular physiology, we’d see a large improvement in the strength training programs of their clients. What most trainers do with their clients shouldn’t even be called strength training at all.
With some groups of trainers, every exercise is about “the core”. If you are doing lateral raises or dumbbell presses or biceps curls, these trainers always seem to have to modify them so they are working “your core”. It’s never about the main muscle groups like shoulders, chest, or biceps, it’s always about the mythical “core”.
For example, last week I saw a trainer teaching his client do to cable lateral raises while stepping on and off a BOSU ball. Needless to say it looked like the client was drunk when he tried to do the exercise. He was falling all over the place, and his trainer was beside him explaining how this was “working his core”.
Same with biceps curls. I’ve watched 30-year old men curling a 12-pound bodybar on a BOSU Ball. What’s the point of this?
If more trainers knew how much “core” work was required by proper lifting in the basic exercises, we’d probably see a lot less of this “stabilty, core, balance” philosophy. Maybe its good for rehab, I don’t know, I’m not a rehab expert, but it is a colossal waste of time for men and women that want to change their bodies with strength training.
I just don’t know why so many trainers refuse to use the basics (squat, press, row, split squat, etc.) without throwing in a ball or wobble-board type apparatus. If a client can’t do a proper bodyweight squat on a flat surface, what makes them think that its better to have the client attempt an overhead squat on a BOSU ball? How is that a good exercise for an untrained, un-coordinated, weak person?
Another big problem is that most trainers do not respect the physical capabilities of women. Both male and female trainers. I’ve trained women that have never been asked to do a chin-up or even a push-up in their workouts before, and they had been working with trainers for 5 years sometimes.
C’mon, show the ladies some respect. And most women love to do those exercises too, especially when they find out how hard their abs have to work. One woman had sore abs for 2 days after her first day of chin-ups with me (1-2 sets of negatives, that’s it). Maybe her past trainers had never done a chin-up either. I dunno, I’m just amazed sometimes at trainer’s exercise selection. But I grew up training with the basics – it just seems like common sense to me.
And finally, if you are going to teach a client how to do a barbell squat, it would probably help if you had done a barbell squat at some point in your life.
I could write a novel on this, but I have to stop before my BP goes too high. Needless to say I don’t spend much time in the gyms that feature “core” training anymore. So I think the problems with most trainers lie with their lack of understanding of how the body works, let alone actual programming problems. That would just be a whole other book…
Those are some of my senitments too, Craig; and thanks for taking the time to talk with us. How can our readers find out more about you?
I have a bunch of sites…
www.TurbulenceTraining.com – for fat loss.
www.workoutmanuals.com – for a daily fat loss motivational message.
www.TTMembers.com – my upcoming Membership site for fat loss – February 2007
www.grrlAthlete.com – for female training
www.cbathletics.com – Advanced strength & conditioning interviews of guys like Cosgrove, Ferruggia, Hartman, etc.
Awesome Craig – thanks again!