Squats and Leg Press:Do They do the Same Thing?

I was at my new facility in Brookline last week getting in some early training sessions before things really start to ramp up the schedule, I observed a guy doing leg press and I was in the middle of a set of tempo back squats, yeah let’s not talk about how much those hurt. I could get into the benefits of controlling the eccentric action in a squat or any exercise. I could get into how much I hate having your knees being forced into your chest without the proper amount of mobility makes, while making me cringe and lose my sanity. Instead I’d like to compare the two exercises being performed by the other guy and myself.

Putting it in simple terms, they both work the same muscles when done correctly, except one thing, Erector Spinae, the muscle, actually group of muscles, that run right up and down the middle of your back. These muscles’ primary function is to extend your body at all three sections of the spine, cervical, thoracic and lumbar.

When you lay on a leg press it stabilizes your back, and Erector Spinae, for you, when you do a squat, you are forced to do it yourself or you are going to do a face plant like you’ve gone beyond the legal limit walking on cobblestone. A few of you are probably sitting there with the thought, “Putting back muscles under stress is an easy way to mess your back up isn’t it?” Yes it is, if you use form that’s bad enough to make me want to gouge my eyes out. Actually if you don’t load your back muscles correctly then you can eventually end up with a case of Kyphosis, to put it simply, think Quasimoto from the bell tower. Working your Erector Spinae, as well as other major upper back muscles will help you hold your spine upright. You don't want curves to your back, they are natural and let you bear weight onto your shoulders and such, but there is defiantly such thing as too much here. No one wants to end up being that ugly son of a gun ringing the bell in Paris. Other exercises that work this muscle group are pretty much any deadlift variation and good mornings. There are a few situations I would consider using a leg press for my legs, inexperience, coming off an injury and I can go on, but that’s not enough for me to switch.

Since you are all now informed next time you think about working your legs and face the decision of squat or leg press, make the decision that’s going to keep you upright.

2 new places to find me, find JD 3D on twitter here or follow it @JD3Dimensional

Also find my ugly mug on the new gig's site here

JD3D IS ON THE MOVE

I'm on the move folks, actually I've already made the move a little earlier than expected. After almost 7 great months at my old facility in Hudson I have moved on to a new facility and new employer. The new place will bring some new challenges and probably new things I've yet to see and rant about. Bodyscapes fitness in Brookline is now where you will find this ugly mug on a daily basis. I was very sad to say good bye to my old facility and all my old clients and they all know they will be missed, especially since the ending did come a bit abruptly, but what's done is done. Next time I post with video you will probably get a quick glimpse at the new digs. Just going to throw out there to keep in mind that things I post on here are MY opinion and do not reflect my current or former employer's. That being said look forward to getting more fun items posted up here for you all in the coming weeks and month. See you all on the flip side.

Assistance Lifts and Technique Perfection

Stop me if you've heard this before, but US basketball owns the world again. Am I the only one that thinks that it's no longer that competitive of a sport in the Olympics? The US absolutely man handled the field this year and have done so for quite a time. Under their current coach Mike Krzyzewski, god I hope I spelled that right, they have lost one game...ONE! I know Spain had a lead on them on Sunday, but it seemed like when the US players decided to stop messing around and put their foot on the gas Spain didn't have a shot. They've done it with other sports, see Womens Ice Hockey and Baseball, why can't we sack this or at least put an age limit like they do with the Mens Soccer.

Alright I'm done you can come out of the corner now. I've been using a term around here lately that people have left people wondering 'what in the heck are you talking about?' Assistance lifts help with your main lifts such as squats, cleans and deadlifts and give you an easy workout you can do on an off day without completely smoking your body 7 days a week, thus overtraining yourself and then things start to snow ball and yeah you get the point, they help. Mike Boyle writes about training movements not muscles in his book Functional Training for Sports. Great read by the way for those looking for a good functional training book apart from the Gray Cook FM book. I absolutely agree with him to a degree, after all he's got a mega-frickin-ton more experience than me and been around longer. Some assistance lifts can be useful to more than one movement.

Since they are two of my favorite things in the world I'm going back to them and using one of my stars as the demonstrator. Any guesses as to which exercises I'm talking about? That's right dead lifts and hip bridges or hip sleds. I know I've gotten into the both of these before so I won't spend too much time here babbling about it. Simply put, to finish a dead lift you need to push your hips forward by squeezing your glutes aka your bum. A hip sled or hip bridge is one single movement doing one thing primarily, squeezing your glutes to extend your hips and get the weight off the ground. I really like the hip sled because when you get into the low rep, high weight area you can really start to move some big weight and gets clients excited about moving that much weight, and you feel it so you know it's working the right muscles.

The nice girl above is my client Jenn. Jenn was my very first client here in Hudson in January. She has made so much progress it's  out of this world. Needless to say in January I wouldn't have even attempted some of these exercises with Jenn. Had I told her in January that she would be doing this stuff she'd think I was absolutely bat-s!$# crazy. Jenn started moving some good weight around with the hip bridge, in this case a modified hip sled, a couple months ago. She has now gotten to the point where I'm comfortable having her dead lift, started with the trap bar and currently doing some straight bar dead lifts. (See below)

                                            

The video looks a little funny because I held the camera the wrong way and yes it loops, call me stupid, I'll fix it in the mean time this will suffice. Hopefully some of you pick up on the face she made at the end which absolutely made my day because I laughed so hard. Now some of you are probably looking at it and saying 'Isn't she rounding her back and why are you letting her continue?' Yes she does have a slight round and this is where I will get into my second topic a bit. When it comes to exercise technique and how much of a perfectionist you are going to be with it there are a few factors you have to consider. In this case consider that Jenn has no history of back pain, she is not finishing with her back to compound it and she is making every effort she possibly can to keep those shoulders back and her chest forward. That may not be acceptable to some people, but she's just simply got to work on it so sorry Jenn but this will be your weight for dead lift for a bit.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being super ultra perfect with technique and 1 being Jillian Michaels, oops did I say that? I meant to say having no technique, I'm probably close to a 7 or 8. With all exercises there are standards that absolutely have to be met in order for the exercise to be safe, so if you're on the 1 to 3 range, time to get back to the basics. As you can see I am not perfect when it comes to teaching or maintaining technique throughout, but if you are a Nazi about it then you will just simply never get to that upper tier of training because you will be far too focused on the technique. Hope that someone out there took something positive away from this. Per usual any questions or comments please shoot me a message. More fun and some news coming later on in the month, until next time everyone, keep getting after it.

Rant Time

It's time for one of those posts where I rip apart something I saw someone doing or  heard someone saying here in Hudson. This is not the post I mentioned last week so don't worry about that. Now then at the end of another day filled with clients on Friday I was looking forward to getting a quick lift in and picking up some heavy freaking weight. I've been using the trap bar, or hex bar for some of you, mostly because I haven't deadlifted consistently in awhile so I'm trying to keep my form from slipping and trap bar is an easy way to make sure of that. Unfortunately we only have 1 trap bar here,  and it was in use by someone doing a farmers walk. I've seen it done before with the trap bar and it's actually a really good idea for when dumbbells get too light.

So yeah threw in a picture of Alex Morgan because it's somewhat relevant currently with the Olympics, she's pretty easy on the eyes and those of you that know me well know that I like her...her picture and talents speak for me.

Sorry got a little distracted there. Back to the point, overall the farmers walk is actually a very good exercise putting to use your arms, core and legs. This WWE wannabe completely defeated the purpose of this exercise by wearing weight lifting gloves. To not get too scientific on this and put it in fairly easy to understand terms, farmers walk is meant to help, in my opinion, your arms and grip strength simply by just holding onto some heavy stuff and keeping it from swaying back and forth while you move. This is something I use to help people that don't have the strength to the hang on to the weights that the rest of their muscles can handle. What this member of the meathead bunch has done, in my opinion, is all but completely defeated the purpose of this exercise by using gloves, on top of the fact that the method in which he picked the weight up made my back want to fold like a cheap lawn chair. Sure the legs and core might get some work, but there's probably a gabillion, yup don't care I know it's not a real number, other ways to get leg and core work than this. Did I mention the fact that another member of his fraternal clan that were taking part in what we sometimes call meathead hour came over and gave him a more detrimental way to handle this exercise...WRAPS, a tool along with the bosu ball, I absolutely despise using except for very few things, and those places I'm finding other methods and ways to make them disappear.

The worse part about that is he was still using the only freaking trap bar in the gym! He used it for 5 sets that did nothing more for him or me other than make me want to re-taste my dinner. OK sorry I'm done, but I did say it was rant time didn't I? So boys and girls, if you want to accomplish the goal of a farmers walk, do yourself a favor, take off the gloves and get ready to have your hands hurt like you slid down the climbing rope in gym class. I know it's a callas and it feels weird at first, honestly I'd rather pick up some heavy weight and get a callas over my whole hand than stick with hand bag weights and never see results. End of rant, I bid you good day folks. Drop me a line as always if you have any questions, concerns and the like. Until next time, keep pushing the limits.

Cool Way to Keep Track and Changes Coming

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile folks. I've been far busier than I expected to be and have been shuffling myself around quite a bit to make time for potential changes. I will be back on here soon within the next week or so with some more goodies for you all to enjoy and perhaps have a few laughs at.

In the mean time everyone can check out this great site I found thanks to a couple of the more well known fitness pro's out there. The site is called Fitocracy, you can sign up using facebook or twitter. I chose to use my twitter log in. Sign in and you can track your workouts, if you're one of those people that likes to see LEVEL UP come up on their screen then you'll be hooked in an instant. Give me a follow if you like JD7768 and you can give me endless amounts of praise or crap depending on the day. Be back soon folks.

Deadlift Max

Last week I put out a post with my client Joe being the showing point in the end. Well he's at it again everyone. Joe did a big test week before he leaves me for 3 weeks (or longer, hopefully not) and one was a max on his Trapbar Deadlift. I like the trapbar because it gives those that are new to deadlifting, which is most of my clientele to this point, an introduction and doesn't really expose them to injury as much as other variations. Joe did a deadlift for the first time about 2 months ago, and some rack pulls and modified hip presses later he pulled 335 lb. for 2 reps. Not bad considering he'd never really seen a deadlift before I met him. The video below is him doing 315 for 3 reps, the 335 one had an attitude with me so I had to put it down. Technique could be improved, but hey still pretty good, sorry Joe had to get one little criticism in there, can't let it go to your head.

Now then for those of you that did maximum lift testing in high school and only were told to do 1 rep, you are probably wondering why Joe did 2 and 3 reps. Well it's pretty simple, going for single rep maxes can really take a toll on your technique if you are inexperienced with the lift. You can see in the video a 3 rep percentage for Joe was hefty enough to let his technique slack just a bit. Imagine if I had given him a 100% max out. He easily could end up looking like all the other fools that come in here and think they can deadlift, but instead make me want to peel my eyeballs with a potato peeler when I watch them. 2 and 3 rep percentages are close enough to 100% that you will get a pretty darn good idea where you are at without making your vertebrae scream at you like you stole from your mom's pocket book. Please send me any questions, comments, concerns, hell even a joke if you got the time and feel like making me laugh, never know when it will come in handy. Hopefully next time some of you go for a 1 rep max and start to feel technique slipping you will go for a 2 or 3 rep percentage instead.

One of the Biggest Yet Most Underused Muscles

This post will be all about you're behind. Ok don't get too excited yet, not in that way. I also want to preface this with that in NO WAY, do I think I'm Bret Contreras, otherwise known as the Glute Guy, nor am I pretending to be. I can only hope to have the success and credentials that Bret has one day. Enough of that on to the good stuff. Some may wonder, 'Why do I need to activate my butt? I put it to use every day.' The short answer to that is No You Don't, and those of you that couldn't keep your mind focused after that comment, shame shame.
                                              
Sitting on your butt all day and every day like most of America does is not using it. It's quite the opposite, the more you sit on it the less you actually use it. No glute activation leads to a wide number of anatomical and life problems as most fitness professionals know that have been around for longer than 2 months without their head in the ground. I'll list off a few and some exercises to do to activate them and maybe a few other quick tips on ridding yourself of the problems.

First and foremost, if you are sitting on your butt constantly and not using it enough, you are most likely slowly going in the wrong direction in terms of your health, period. 12 oz curls, pressing the buttons on the TV remote, no matter how fast or hard, and pulling that lever to your recliner are not nearly enough work for you to call it good for the day in terms of fitness. Easy solution to that, get off your behind, get active and start training towards a fitness goal, if you need help picking a goal, think about what you would like to be able to do physically that you are simply unable to do currently and work from there.

Second, those 'tight' hamstrings that you have, or think you have, are probably 'tight' for a reason. Take a quick look at your hips, if your hip bone and rib cage are close enough together that they are thinking of becoming ying and yang then your hamstrings are tight because they are under constant tension to keep you from walking with your lower back yelling at you more than Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. Some of you have probably already reached this stage, sucks doesn't it? Well a big part of nipping this in the behind or ridding yourself of this pain is to get your glutes activated.

Third point kind of goes along with the last one. If you are doing any sort of lift or exercise that involves your hips flexing, make sure that when you extend them again to make your body straight you use your glutes to extend NOT YOUR BACK. Every time I see someone finish a dead lift by arching their back, after they picked it up with a rounded spine, I die a little inside and my own spine goes into a spasm.

Sorry I sounded kind of pissed/negative in this one, just a wee bit of aggravation creeping out of me, haven't done a Bruce Banner yet though so I'm good. I've posted videos on simple but effective exercises to get your butt going, literally.Yes I used a physioball for one, oh well sue me, the idea there is just a little variety. Remember that 2 legs are easier than 1 leg for those that aren't familiar with how your body works. The final video I have on here is of my client Joe doing a modified barbell hip bridge or hip sled, whatever floats your boat, I will go into more depth on why I posted it, other than the fact that Joe looks pretty good doing it. Thanks again to my steady hand camera man Paul for helping me with this. We both learned not to answer the phone with, "Hey can I call you back I'm about to make movies?" ever again.

Hip Bridge on Floor

Single Leg Hip Bridge (Extended)

Single Leg Hip Bridge (Bent)

Physioball Hip Bridge

Bench Bridge

Single Leg Bench Bridge

The last video is of my client Joe. Joe was one of my first clients here in Hudson, when I first got ahold of Joe he had no clue what a bridge was. Now he's doing a modified version of a Hip Sled, this has also helped him in his Rack Pull and Trap Bar Deadlifts. All in all Joe is stronger, but don't think just cause you do these once in awhile you'll all of a sudden start being a beast like Joe is becoming. Joe works his tail off on top of the fact that he is one of the nicest guys you'll find out there. Certainly a guy you will have an easy time rooting for. It doesn't look like he's pushing much weight, but hey give him a couple weeks. He pulled 395 for a rack pull, which is pretty good considering he didn't even know how to deadlift when we first met. The best thing to note is that Joe is starting to pull all of this weight without any back pain! So the moral of the story is this stuff does actually work so give it a shot.

That's it for this one everybody. Once again any questions, comments or concerns regarding technique or anything else in this post please contact me I'm always eager to talk about fitness and learn. Until next time folks, ta ta for now.