The Basics, containing chaos, and personal responsibility

 Some thoughts to consider this week:

Start with the Basics

“Sometimes the best way forward is the most basic path.”

People who find an interest in fitness will almost always be inundated with new ideas and routines that seem to get more complex as time goes on. This can be confusing and overwhelming. If you ever find yourself overwhelmed, get back to the basics. It doesn’t have to be complicated - it just has to work. Some of the most fit people on the planet have the most basic exercise routines.

Containing Chaos

“Before you start blaming your problems on the world around you, make sure your own house is in order.”

Everyone has their own share of problems that could easily be attributed to something outside themselves. Those who find their way past obstacles faced have a lot in common with how they did it. One of those things is that they always make sure their own house is in order first. Eat right, exercise regularly, learn daily, keep your house and workspace clean, etc. By getting your own house in order, the chaos that surrounds you will begin to calm down and allow you to look for opportunities. This is a hard but worthwhile process.

Personal Responsibility

An ancient Greek saying that captures the power of personal responsibility:

"If your doorstep is clean, then your city will be clean.”
Source: unknown

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

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Barbell Basics

All barbells are the same right? Wrong. At least if you want to get the most out of the equipment available to you. In the world of barbells, there are many different factors that influence the type of barbell best suited to your use and these differences, believe it or not, can impact the progress you make. I’m not saying you can’t make progress using the “wrong” bar, I am saying that the fitness game is one of small percentages and that every percentage that goes in your favor is one you should take seriously. After all, even if your barbell choice only improves your results by one percent- that is one percent better than you would have had otherwise. There is no set number as far as how much a barbell can improve your results, but that improvement does exist, nonetheless.

In this article, I will be covering the basic elements of barbell construction and purpose to provide a base level of knowledge for you to use. By no means will it be a comprehensive guide because that would be unnecessarily lengthy. For our purposes, a top-level view of the basics will be enough.

Some important vocabulary before we get started:

• Shaft - The part of the bar that you hold.

• Sleeve - The ends of the barbell where weight is loaded.

• Knurl - a small projecting knob or ridge, especially in a series around the edge of something. This is what gives barbells their grip.

• Knurl Marks - These are rings on the barbell shaft where there is no knurl. They are meant to provide a guide as to where to place your hands.

• Bearings/Bushings - What gives barbell sleeves the ability to spin around the shaft.

There are hundreds of ways to build a barbell using different variations of the above options. Over time, various standards have come into play due to some options being superior to others for specific reasons as well as organizations placing limits as to what can be used in their competitions. Currently, there are three standard barbell types that are the most common, but even these have many variations within each category. Once you understand the purpose of each barbell type, personal preference can play a much bigger role in choosing the right bar for you.

1.) The Power Bar

The Power Bar is the most common of the three standard variants. This is due to how well they perform in a commercial setting as well as their use in the most common lifts: The squat, bench, and deadlift. For all three lifts you want something that won’t bend too much under load, won’t allow the weight to spin too much, and that gives a lot of grip. For these purposes, the power bar is ideal. Standard features include:

• 28.5- or 29-mm diameter shaft. This is slightly thicker than the other types which provides more rigidity of the steel to prevent bending while not being so thick to affect the grip for deadlifts. There are thicker options, but that usually means the steel is not as high quality and thus requires the extra thickness to not bend. These bars will work fine for squat and bench press but will underperform on deadlifts.

• More aggressive knurl and single knurl marks. An aggressive knurl pattern will give you better grip on the barbell. Many people will call this style of knurl “sharp” due to the way it digs into your hands. While this may be uncomfortable at first, most people will get used to it over time and end up preferring increasingly aggressive patterns. It is not essential to use the most aggressive patterns available, but it is essential to use one that provides enough grip. On these bars, there will be single knurl marks on the shaft for a reference point on where to place your hands.

• Bushings instead of bearings. Power bars typically use bushings inside the sleeves. This provides the sleeves the ability to spin just enough to be useful. Bearings tend to provide a much better spin; however, it is unnecessary and can even be dangerous if the sleeves spin too much. Bushings also tend to be sturdier with less risk of breaking under load. While bearings aren’t “frail”, they are more prone to damage than their counterparts.

• Higher strength steel. Power bars tend to use higher strength steel to prevent bending under heavy loads. When squatting a lot of weight, the last thing you want is the end of the bars to be bouncing up and down because the steel is too weak to handle it. Steel strength is measured in tensile strength and expressed as pounds per square inch or psi. The standard range for bars in this class is 190,000 psi - 250,000 psi.

• Always has center knurl. Power bars will always have a small knurl section on the center of the bar. This is especially important for squats because that section helps keep the barbell on your back and not slide down as easily.

2.) The Olympic Bar

The Olympic Bar used to be the second most common barbell used but is now probable the least common of the three due to the rise of CrossFit (The last bar on our list is the main barbell used in the CrossFit world). This style bar is the most likely one to be misused and broken or deformed in some way due to its specific purpose and its construction. Some gyms have even taken to placing locks on them in order to prevent their misuse. While that may seem extreme, it may seem less so when you take into account that they typically cost $500-$1000. The precision and components that go into their construction result in much higher prices than other bars. It is also the most specialized bar of the group and is designed for only two lifts: the squat and the clean and jerk.

• 25mm shaft for women or 28mm for men. Due to the necessity to hook grip when doing the Olympic lifts, the bar shaft is the thinnest of the three bars. The Womens’ variant especially so to account for the difference in hand size between men and women. While a millimeter or two doesn’t seem like a big difference, it is definitely noticeable when you grab them.

• Knurl aggressiveness depends on usage. A unique aspect of these bars is that they are classified as “training” bars or “competition” bars. The training bars have less aggressive knurl patterns to allow for higher rep training protocols to be followed without risking damage to the hands. Due to the nature of the lifts done, high rep work done with aggressive knurl would result in tears in the skin of the palms and hinder training. Competition variants, on the other hand, keep the aggressive knurl to provide as much grip as possible for a single rep since these bars are not meant for training and only for a single rep done in a competition.

• Typically has “passive” center knurl. Olympic bars typically have “passive” center knurl opposed to the aggressive center knurl found on power bars. Passive just means that it is there but that it is much lighter and less abrasive than what it found on the grip portion of the bar. This helps to provide some grip in the front rack position of the clean without damaging the collar bone area too much. Some training bars opt to have no center knurl at all for the same reason they have a less aggressive outer knurl - prevent skin damage as much as possible.

• Bearings instead of bushings. Bushings may be less prone to breaking, but bearings provide a far superior spin. In lifts that require taking the barbell from the floor to overhead, the more spin the better. Bearings spin so much better that you can almost always tell by simply spinning the weight on the bar while its racked. If it spins a couple times and stops then it is probably bushings and if it spins forever, then it is probable bearings. Due to the way they are constructed, barbells made with bearings should never be stored vertically. Horizontal storage will help ensure the bearings stay in good condition and will lessen the chances of breakage.

• High quality steel but less tensile strength. With power bars you don’t want them to bend at all. Olympic bars, on the other hand, you do. This is typically referred to as “whip” and can actually be beneficial in lifting more weight when doing Olympic lifts. In order to create this “whip” manufacturers use extremely high-quality steel but keep the tensile strength lower to allow it to bend more freely. This is ok because these bars are not typically put under the same types of stress as power bars. However, if they are misused (or abused as some would say) they are much more likely to bend permanently. For example, if someone performed rack pulls with one, the chance of it bending permanently is almost certain whereas a good quality power bar would be likely to escape unscathed.

• Single knurl marks. Like power bars, Olympic bars will only have one set of knurl marks. They will be placed slightly further out on the bar to account for the fact that the grip widths done are significantly wider than with the power lifts.

3.) The Multi-Use Bar

The multi-use bar has become a very popular option with the rise of CrossFit but its usefulness isn’t constrained to just CrossFit. It has become more popular over the years because it takes aspects of the previous two bars and blends them into a bar that is decent for all of the lifts. While the other two bars are very good for what they are intended, the multi-use bars are the “jack of all trades, master of none”. They are good at everything but great at nothing.

• 28.5mm diameter shaft. Most power bars are 29mm and Olympic lifting bars are 28mm, so these have settled exactly in the middle. For the most part, 28.5 mm is a good diameter for grip strength and steel strength, so it is a good compromise.

• Knurl tends to be more passive. Due to the nature of the bar and that it is designed to do all lifts well, the knurling has to be made more passive for the same reason the training variants of Olympic bars are- to prevent your skin being ripped up. This is great for anyone who is doing both the Olympic and Power lifts, but it isn’t great for anyone who focuses on the main three power lifts. Passive knurl won’t provide the same level of grip and thus make grip strength a potential weak point.

• No center knurl. Again, this is a must have feature in order to make it useful for as many lifts as possible. However, the center knurl is such a nice aspect to have for squats that anyone who squats a lot will take issue with it.

• Dual ring marks. These bars will have dual knurl marks for both Olympic and Power lifts. This isn’t incredibly important and won’t sway too many people one way or another. I find single knurl marks more aesthetically pleasing personally, but function-wise it doesn’t really matter.

• Lower strength steel. In general, the steel strength found in these bars will be lower. This makes sense because you won’t find many generalists using as much weight in single lifts as you will when someone specializes in just a few lifts. Therefore, including really strong steel would result in higher prices that wouldn’t be necessary for the vast majority of people using them. This isn’t to say the steel is “weak” only to say that it won’t serve you as well if your focus is on the squat, bench, and deadlift. Not only will it be more prone to bending permanently, but it will have more “whip” than you will want.

• Bushings or bushing/bearing combination. Most multi-use bars will use bushings for their spin because they work well and hold up to high use environments. Some use a combo of bushings and bearings to provide the reliability of bushings and the spin of bearings. I prefer bushing only setups for these for two reasons. One, bearings are more expensive which adds to the cost unnecessarily. Two, you get more spin that may or may not help you at all, but you add in parts that are more unreliable - more risk of breaking without any guaranteed benefit. It is always best to try out both to see which you prefer, but if you don’t, I recommend sticking with bushing only setups.

Conclusion

The best barbell choice will come down purely to what you will be doing with that barbell. It pays to know the differences so that you can make the best decision possible and have the right tool to use in your training. In an ideal world, you will have access to a variety of bars that serve each purpose. This will allow you to explore new training styles as well as provide you with the right tools as your training evolves. It is not uncommon for people to start training in one area and move to others as they progress. For example, starting with Powerlifting and switching to Olympic lifting later. Training in a gym that has a good barbell selection solves that problem easily. If you are buying a personal barbell, I would recommend buying the bar that suits your training now.

No Olympic Lifting = Power Bar

Mostly Olympic Lifting = Olympic Bar

Some of Both = Multi-Use Bar or One of Each

Home Gym Must-Haves

Although we are firm believers in training in a gym setting that allows you to have access to a much broader range of equipment as well as a like-minded community of people, there will be times when having a home gym becomes a great option. Two specific examples would be when you can’t find a gym that provides the necessary atmosphere, and when the home gym is available as a backup plan due to weather or a hectic schedule. The most important part of a training program is the ability to follow through with it and home gyms can sometimes become beneficial in that pursuit. In this article I will show you some of the best pieces of equipment to have and how to prioritize their importance. As noted earlier, a home gym is almost always a downgrade from a commercial gym in both available equipment and the atmosphere to make the most progress. Our recommendation is to prioritize finding a good gym first and only resort to a home gym as a last resort.

1.) The Squat Rack

Without question, the squat rack is the most important aspect of a gym including home gyms and commercial gyms alike. Their utility is unmatched and the movements they allow you to perform are the foundation of any good exercise routine. Having a gym without a good squat rack is like having a bakery without an oven. There are a ton of options out there to choose from and we highly recommend not skimping on this one due to it being the main piece of your gym. A good quality squat rack from a good brand will last forever and retain its value over time. Brands such as Rogue Fitness and Rep Fitness will have better resale value down the road so that if the day comes when you need to sell, you will have a better chance of recouping more of the original investment. As the saying goes, buy nice so you don’t have to buy twice.

2.) Barbell

Having a good quality barbell in addition to the squat rack is essential. Squats, deadlifts, lunges, etc. can all be done with these two pieces of equipment and are foundational movements to most training routines. Buying the correct barbell is almost as important as the quality of the bar. If you will be using it for mostly squat, bench, deadlift type movements, a good power bar is the way to go. Key features of power bars include:

• More aggressive knurling

• Center knurl

• Slightly larger diameter and stronger steel to hold more weight without bending

• Bushings instead of bearings in the sleeves so they don’t spin as much

If you believe you would like to do or may dabble in Olympic lifts in addition to the power lifts, then a multi-use bar may be a better fit. They will have features such as:

• Slightly thinner diameter for better grip

• Knurling won’t be as aggressive

• Dual ring marks for power and Olympic lifts

• Either bushings or a combination of bushings and bearings for a slightly better spin

• No center knurl

Finally, if know you will mainly focus on the Olympic lifts, then a good Olympic lifting bar will be the best fit. These will have:

• Either no center knurl or a passive center knurl

• Bearings in the sleeves for great spin

• Slightly thinner diameter for better grip and easier hook grip

• Single knurl marks for the Olympic lifts

There is no wrong answer here, it truly depends on the style of training you want to do. The difference between the bars may seem negligible but when in use, the differences are very noticeable. In an ideal world, you would have a barbell for each discipline but that can be rather costly as most of these bars will be between $200 and $400 for a good quality barbell. As with squat racks, spending the extra money for quality is definitely worth it and you will notice the difference. Most of the higher end bars also come with a lifetime warranty against bending and breakage unless they are abused so you could potentially have the same bar forever. In our experience, power bars are the most popular and most people will want to pick up that style. Our recommendation is the Rogue Ohio Power Bar.

A more thorough discussion on barbells can be found here.

3.) Bench

Another must have is a high-quality bench. There are literally hundreds of options at this point so you will have plenty to choose from. If you have the space, we recommend having a dedicated flat bench and an adjustable bench. If space is an issue, then a good adjustable bench is the way to go. The best, most cost-effective benches in our opinion are from Rep Fitness and Titan Fitness where you can pick up really awesome benches that will last forever for less than $500. If cost is no object, then Rogue Fitness, Prime Fitness, Legend Fitness, and Arsenal Strength (among others) become viable options. However, those will run anywhere from $500 to $2000, and few people will find they are worth the upgrade for a home gym since they are built for commercial gyms with much higher usage rates.

4.) Weight Plates

While not as glamorous as the others, the plates are what bring everything else together. About 300lbs is a good place to start for most people since you can add as you get stronger. Once again, our recommendation is to buy high quality plates. Not only do they hold their value better than cheaper plates, but they also have more strict tolerances. What this means is that a 45lb plate is more likely to weigh exactly 45lbs. We have seen plates weigh anywhere from 40 to 50 pounds in cheaper sets which can cause some serious issues as more weight is added. Imagine doing a squat that has two plates weighing 50 pounds on one side and two plates weighing 42 pounds on the other side. Not good. To be fair, the weight differences are rarely that extreme and can be remedied by weighing the plates before using them, but it adds a lot of effort for something that shouldn’t be complicated. Spend the extra on the good plates and thank yourself later. Another thing to look for is the plate diameter of the 45lb plates. 17.7” is considered standard. We would avoid anything more or less than that as it will change the height of the bar when pulling from the ground. If you won’t be doing deadlifts of any kind, this won’t affect you as much but still something to consider for if you ever need to resell them down the road. There are too many good plates available on the market to name them all, but Rep Fitness, Rogue Fitness, and Giant Lifting all have very good offerings at decent prices.

That is it!

Seriously, that is basically everything you need to have a home gym worthy of using when needed. Of course, it doesn’t have everything you could ever want or need, but a lot of progress could be made in that small footprint. Replacing everything that a commercial gym can provide won’t be economically viable most of the time due to the amount of money it would take or the amount of space. It can be surprising how much space some equipment will take up and people are usually shocked with how little they can fit into the space they picked out.

Runners Up

If you have the extra space, there are a few options that can add a lot to your home gym experience. They are by no means essential, but a nice luxury to have either way.

1.) Dumbbells

Full dumbbell sets take up quite a bit of space and cost a lot but are amazing to have. They will allow to do almost everything that you can do with a bar, just in a different way and provide a unique training stimulus and more variety. They even have adjustable dumbbells now that go above 100 pounds and take up very little space. We don’t like using them as much as standard commercial dumbbell sets but having a full set of dumbbells in just a few square feet is awesome. Just make sure not to ditch your barbell movements.

2.) Cable Crossover

There are cable crossover units that are available in more space friendly setups for home gyms. They still take up a lot of space but can be a viable option. The higher end ones can get fairly close to commercial gym quality and open your home gym to hundreds of new exercises that would be impossible to replicate without a cable machine. Keep in mind though that these machines will typically cost $2000+ minimum if you want it to be as close as possible to the ones you find at commercial gyms.

3.) Cardio

Doing cardio is incredibly important for overall health but we left off any cardio equipment because most of it takes up a lot of room and can be done outside. Would it be nice to have a treadmill, elliptical, bike, stair stepper, rower, etc. at home? Absolutely. Is it essential? No. If you have the space and the money, then absolutely add cardio pieces to make it more convenient in your routine. If not, take it outside or find other creative ways to get moving and sweating. You can still get cardio in without a treadmill, but you won’t be able to do heavy enough squats and bench presses without a squat rack.

The Obstacle is The Way

When is the last time you did something truly challenging? Something that made you uncomfortable and stretched your abilities as a human? How happy are you currently? Are you living the life of your dreams? If you are like most of the population, your answers are probably along the lines of “A long time ago” (if not “never”) and that you are “trying to find happiness but not there yet”.

If you were able to answer differently, then that is amazing, and I am truly happy for you! Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for a huge percentage of the people you share the planet with. Depression rates are at an all-time high and most people are running from one thing to the next- certain that the “next thing” is what will bring them happiness. The problem is that more people than ever are also searching for a life of pure comfort. They want to live in the big house, with the fancy car and they want it right now. They want to be lean and muscular without having to exercise and eat right. When that doesn’t happen, they resign themselves to a life of being overweight and being unhappy with how they look and feel because working hard to achieve what they want is too much work.

Too many people have decided that happiness lies in the comforts in life. While the comforts are nice to have, it should be known that if you can’t find happiness in what you have now, you won’t find happiness in material things or comfort either. I blame a lot of these issues on social media (although there are plenty of other sources). Social media has created a false online world in which it seems like the grass is always greener somewhere else, doing what someone else is doing, living someone else’s life. Overnight success stories are all too common as well as posts from people who will show you how they made their millions overnight doing almost no work. Of course, they want to charge you for this knowledge and people that fall for the trap pay gladly. Little do they know that these people are actually making their millions preying on desperate people who believe the road to happiness and riches is ever an easy one that can be bought for $99 and distilled into an hour-long seminar. The chance of gaining riches that quickly and easily is almost nonexistent unless you have a hefty trust fund. Gaining happiness is even more elusive because even a trust fund alone won’t provide that without the proper mentality to accompany it. The good news is that material success and happiness can be found at the end of the same road. A difficult road, but a fulfilling one.

That road is the one paved with obstacles. Challenges that build skills. Situations that are so uncomfortable that you have no choice but to grow and adapt. It is scientifically proven that your brain releases more sustained happiness chemicals while pursuing an end goal and that the achievement of that pursuit results in a much shorter spike of happiness that leaves just as fast as it came. You can probably think of examples in your own life when you achieved something you set out to do and the happiness you felt was short lived after you reached it. You may have even thought to yourself “Wow, I thought I would be happier at this point”. Some of your best and happiest memories are most likely from the time leading up to the achievement. We get so caught up in the accomplishment that we don’t always truly appreciate the fun we had overcoming the obstacles along the way.

I’m still figuring this all out and I am by no means an expert. But I have learned a lot in my 34 years. And one of the most important things that I have learned is that the way to happiness can be found through the obstacles that we face, whether we choose them or not. Intermittent success is important to maintain the motivation to keep pushing forward, but each success needs to be followed by another obstacle to work through and overcome. Don’t ever settle for simple comfort. Don’t ever settle for complacency. It is easy to get caught up in it and forget what it is like to be challenged, face adversity, and come out on the other side a stronger and more confident person.

The best news is a lot of us live a life that allows us to choose our obstacles. Not everyone has that luxury. Some have obstacles forced upon them. If you are not in that boat, and it has been a long time since you truly challenged yourself, now is the time to start. Struggle with exercising regularly? Challenge yourself to set goals that will require dedication and persistence. Struggle with sticking to a diet? Challenge yourself to maintain a diet for “x” number of days without breaking it to test your willpower and prove to yourself you can do anything you set your mind to. Want to be more financially free? Challenge yourself to save more than you think possible or start that business that you have always dreamed about. These are challenging things. They will test you and make you questions yourself. But in the end, you will thank yourself. You will have found something that many people will go their whole lives never understanding. You will have found purpose and a path to happiness as well as material success if you choose to set your sights on that.

Everything you want is out there, you just have to be willing to do what others won’t to get it. You have to be willing to do what is hard while others choose what is easy. You have to learn and truly believe that the obstacle is the way.

“I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.” ― Vince Lombardi

*Looking for a good challenge and don’t know where to start? Look into the 75 Hard Program. Your first thought will most likely be “Hell no, I can’t do that”. That response is an even more sure sign you should do it. My wife Kendall and I completed it a couple of years ago and thought it was a great experience that resulted in a lot of self-confidence and pride in knowing we did it. A lot of people have even started doing it once every year.

**Obviously consult your doctor to get clearance before starting any challenging routines. Don’t use it an excuse to do nothing if you have health issues that limit you but use it as a way to find something that is challenging FOR YOU. It isn’t a competition with anyone else. This is about you and what you are capable of.

Why Baseball Players Shouldn't Barbell Bench

The Bench Press is a staple exercise in the vast majority of programs including those of athletes. For good reason. It is one of the most effective upper body exercises for developing strength. Obviously, this is something that most people will want to do and should be doing. Like always, there is an exception to this rule that isn’t all that well-known. The fact that it isn’t well known is a problem that needs to be corrected as far too many athletes are not living up to their potential and having their careers cut short because of it. The exception to the rule is baseball players, or more specifically, throwing athletes.

Risk vs. Reward

If the Bench Press is such an important exercise, why is it bad for throwing athletes? Glad you asked. It has to do with risk vs. reward calculations. You do this all the time in everyday scenarios. The risk of driving your car is worth it for the reward of getting essential food that you need to survive. The same calculations must be performed during exercise selection. The question of whether an exercise will provide enough benefit to warrant the risk involved must come back with a resounding yes. It is much more typical for an exercise to be worth doing than not due to risk because most exercises when done correctly are perfectly safe. That is why weight room injuries are very rare compared to injuries sustained in every other area of life. The Bench Press risk/reward calculation provides so much reward for the majority of the population that it should be a staple in most programs due to the hefty benefit involved. The same isn’t true when you add the throwing dynamic to the mix.

The Throwing Movement

Overhand throwing is already an unnatural movement to begin with. The shoulder joint is not designed to move well the way it is used when throwing overhand. It is much more natural to throw underhand, which is why softball pitchers can throw significantly more pitches and pitch on consecutive days while pitchers in baseball are very limited on how many pitches they throw consecutively and how often they can throw without enough rest. Every time a throw is made, and the more wear the shoulder joint receives, the more likely something is going to go wrong.

The Bench Press

Although safe, for the most part, the Barbell Bench Press is also quite hard on the shoulder joints. Anyone who has benched long enough or heavy enough can attest to the wear and tear their shoulders receive. Can it be done long-term without injury? Yes. However, it takes a lot of time and experience to develop perfect form, recovery techniques and a whole host of other adaptations to achieve, and even then, only a lucky few will make it without some form of problem with their shoulders. The difference between them and throwing athletes is that they don’t also have the wear and tear from another movement wreaking havoc on the joint already.

Putting it All Together

Throwing is hard on the shoulder joint. Barbell Bench Pressing is hard on the shoulder joint. Putting them together? Not a good idea. It is only asking for problems. Now to the most important part of all of this and why you should never bench press if you throw overhand in your sport: Not only is there a too high risk of injury, but the reward side of the equation is almost empty. There is basically no reward for bench pressing if you are an athlete that relies on throwing. It won’t make you throw harder; it won’t make you hit farther (for baseball and softball players); it won’t make you faster or more athletic. It may be cool to bench a lot, but it has no translation to the throwing sports in any way that would make it worth it. There are about 100 other exercises that will provide huge levels of benefit with significantly lower risk. If you play any other sport, especially football (unless you are a quarterback), then the reward for benching is high enough to be worth doing. So, if you don’t rely on throwing an object then have at it and reap the rewards! If you rely on throwing, on the other hand, it is best to put your focus on exercises that will actually help you with your sport.

Final Thoughts

• Just because you shouldn’t bench, doesn’t mean you should abandon all chest training. It is still important to develop the entire body. Just stick with weighted push-ups and dumbbell variant pressing. Using dumbbells is much easier on the shoulder joint, is great for gaining strength, and will also help develop joint stability.

• If a throwing athlete plays for a coach that insists on having them bench as part of their team training program, then we have our athletes bench press with a barbell as sparingly as possible. Just enough to perfect their form so that way they can do it with their team with as little risk as possible. Not our favorite situation but some coaches refuse to let some exercises go even though it would be better for the players and for their winning percentage.

• Focus on rotational movements. Bench press has very limited benefit for throwing because throwing is rotational, and bench is not. Spend that extra time developing explosiveness and rotational strength. There are so many movements to choose from that will have an immediate impact on your ability to throw harder and run faster.

• Theoretically, barbell benching could be done at younger ages (13-15ish) to help develop upper body strength while their shoulder isn’t under as much stress from the sports side. We have a hard time doing a blanket recommendation for this though as it will be specific to each player. Some need the additional development while others don’t. If you do add it during these building years, we just recommend slowly phasing it out as they get older and stronger and as the demands of the game increase. The benefit of the exercise will be fairly apparent at the beginning but will slowly fade away as they get older. The goal should be to get them using dumbbells for pressing movements as soon as possible.

Are 2-A-Days Worth It?

A lot of the time, when people start something new, or start to enjoy something they have been doing, they begin to think that more is always better. The same is true with fitness and working out. It is tempting to think that if you can make good progress working out once each day, that perhaps working out two times every day will provide even more benefit. So, is this true?

TLDR: Lifting weights twice per day is almost always a bad idea unless you are an advanced lifter who also happens to be using performance enhancing drugs. *Using steroids does help with recovery, but it is not something we advocate or endorse.
Adding in extra conditioning session on some days can be great, but only when recovery is monitored closely, and performance is tracked to ensure you recover properly and overtraining doesn’t start hindering progress.

The main point to remember is that you don’t grow while lifting weights, you grow from the recovery process after lifting weights. While you need to provide the stimulus for growth, you also have to provide ample time for your body to recover. By opting to add extra sessions, whether that be per day or per week, you have to ensure you have the ability to also recover from those sessions or you will start doing more harm than good. This is almost always easy enough to do when you limit your sessions to 3-6 days per week, but it will become nearly impossible when you start adding multiple sessions per day.

The question becomes a bit more complicated when it comes to adding extra cardio sessions because they can vary significantly in intensity. As a general rule of thumb, adding in extra conditioning is a great idea even when it means doing multiple workouts on the same day. Bodyweight conditioning workouts are great for heart health and are easier to recover from than lifting weights. As always, it is always best to track your workouts and progress to ensure you are recovering properly. If you are making steady progress and are feeling good, then you are most likely on the right track.

We recommend lifting weights for an hour 3-5 days per week and adding at least three days per week of conditioning. For most of the population, these numbers will be plenty to ensure growth while also not risking overtraining. The conditioning can be done on different days than the lifting sessions or on the same days, whichever works best for you and your schedule. Adding multiple lifting sessions on the same day is almost always something we recommend against and will most likely hurt you progress more than help it.

Frequency vs. Volume vs. Intensity - Which is Most Important?

The fitness world is full of highly contested and debatable topics. Among those that are highly debated is which part of working out is the most important - Frequency, Volume, or Intensity? Let’s take a look to see if we can provide some clarity and direction for those of you wading through all of the differing information out there.

First, it’s important to understand what each of those terms mean in relation to training:

Frequency: How often you train. For example, working out 5 days per week is more frequency than working out 3 days per week.
Volume: This is the total amount of work performed during a workout or over the course of your routine. It is a combination of how many exercises, sets, and reps you perform. For example, 10 sets of 5 reps performed in a session is less volume than 10 sets of 10 reps performed.
Intensity: How close to maximal effort you are exerting. For example, training to rep failure is considered high intensity as is lifting 90% of your max.

At the end of the day, all of these are important aspects of a well-balanced exercise program. Is one more important than the others? Yes. But it will change based on where you are in your fitness journey. Frequency will start as the most important aspect of a fitness program. As you progress and become stronger and more in shape, frequency will decline in importance and volume/intensity will begin to become more important.

Why is frequency so important at the beginning? There are a few reasons.

1. Building the habit: Anyone who has started working out knows that the first few months are critical in building the addiction. Every day you miss makes it easier to skip the next workout. Maintaining a high frequency for the first few months will help reinforce the habit and make it more likely that it will become part of your lifestyle.

2. Beginner gains: When you first start working out, you are more likely to make progress at a faster rate than someone who has been training long term. Training as often as possible will ensure you are taking advantage of this as much as possible at the beginning. Seeing such fast progress will be highly motivating, once again reinforcing the exercise habit.

3. Faster recovery: Similar to beginner gains, your body will recover much faster when you first start working out. It may not feel that way due to soreness levels, but those soreness levels are due to lactic acid, not poor recovery. High frequency training plans will help take advantage of your ability to recover faster when you first start out.

These benefits, unfortunately, will only last for so long. There is no set rule for how long you can expect to benefit either, but our recommendation is to put priority on frequency for a minimum of 3 months, but you may be able to keep that focus for up to a year depending on your age and genetics.

An important note to consider is that all three aspects are interrelated. The higher the frequency, the lower the intensity and volume must be. You can’t have all three maximized without running yourself into the ground. With this in mind, it is important that while the emphasis is on frequency to ensure you are not at peak volume or intensity. For example, if you are working out every single day, there is no need for 2-hour workouts that involve lifting maximal weights. The focus should be on more frequent, shorter, less intense workouts.

Ok, so you have prioritized frequency and have been going strong. When does frequency become less important than the other two? While it does depend on the individual, our recommendation is to start prioritizing the other two when training no longer feels like a chore; when you are excited to go and are disappointed on off days. The amount of time it takes for each person to reach this point will vary but we have found this usually happens somewhere between 3-12 months.

Once you have reached that point, what becomes most important? This is a much more complicated question, and the answer is, once again… it depends. At this point, with your newfound love of fitness, we recommend playing around with the different aspects to find what works best for you. Some people see great success keeping to the frequent, short, low intensity workouts while others find that adding volume and reducing the number of training days works best for them. It is really important to start tracking workouts to measure progress over time. As long as you are making consistent, measurable progress then you are on the right track. Feel free to adjust as needed until you find what works best for you and your schedule. Have fun with it!

One last note. Most of this applies to lifting weights in some form. Cardio (Walking, jogging, sled dragging, etc.) should be incorporated as frequently as possible even if your training routine would otherwise be considered high volume or high intensity. Cardio work is great for active recovery and is important for general health which is what we are after.

TLDR:

• Prioritize frequency and workout as often as possible when you first start.

• When you start to love working out, play with adjusting frequency, volume, and intensity.

• Track your workouts to ensure you are making progress.

• Only adjust when progress stops. Slow progress is still progress.

• Don’t neglect routine conditioning no matter what. It’s good for you and your recovery.