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Coaching Lessons Learned - #441 Nov 22, 2022

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We share our coaching lessons learned - professionalism over mastery, personability and personalization over optimal programming, flexibility over rigidity, long-term good over short-term gains, and more.

Coaching Lessons Learned

If you're not growing, not learning, not improving, then you're getting worse - that's the nature of this existence. Entropy comes with the deal.

That's why, coming near the end of this year and during a time when we reflect on what we've learned, what we'd like to improve on going forward, and what we're thankful for, some BLOC coaches share their coaching lessons learned.

Whether you're a coach, lifter, or within earshot of this because your spouse or significant other plays their podcasts too loud, we hope you learn something from this.

Personalization over the "Perfect Program"

The perfect program, lost to moderns, either buried in the lost city of Atlantis or created by some super secret Soviet coach, still encoded and not translated into English, does not exist.

The principles of programming always matter, but they must be applied to the person who presents himself in real time in front of you - your client.

What are his circumstances, limitations, preferences, fears, goals? These matter more than perfect technique, 12 minute rest periods, or the DUP template you've improved for decades.

The programming has to work for your client, not, for the long-term.

Coaching Lessons Learned - Source of truth.

An easy example of this, especially early on, is the reality of biomechanically efficient form when it comes to the lifts. The truth of gravity tells you when you're doing it wrong.

Personal records can be a source of truth, but look for other metrics as well. What is the client's motivation? Is nagging pain not improving?

Seek ways to understand and track truth.

Outside the Gym & Technique

The biggest keys to success lie outside the gym. Niki and CJ share similar coaching lessons learned.

Sleep, getting to the gym early and staying late, preparation, food, socializing - these all affect your performance as a coach and lifter.

Relatedly, you have to be more than a form technician.

You have to have basic knowledge of nutrition and the basic situations that are likely to arise (back tweak, elbow tendinitis, get sick, etc.).

You will eventually encounter problems that lay outside the typical situations, and do your best to solve them, refer them out, or help find them a new coach.

Your Ideal Strength Client?

A decade ago, Niki & CJ would have likely said something like someone who is younger, eating tons of protein and calories, doesn't have other conflicting physical activities outside the gym, and can rest long between work sets. But, they've come upon more coaching lessons learned, and changed their minds.

Who is this unicorn client? Like the perfect program, the perfect client doesn't exist.

This ideal client makes things easier for you, the coach. Given them the program, if they don't want to follow your guidelines, they're not doing the program, and their failure is their fault.

This might be the case sometimes - people have to put in the work, and shouldn't do whatever they want.

But if strength is important, it benefits everyone, especially those who participate in other physical pursuits outside the gym. Strength would help their health and hobbies.

CJ says it's a red flag when people avoid social situations or physical activities because they're afraid it will negatively affect recovery.

Most people don't want to pay the price for continuous PRs - something matters to them more. That's okay.

Content & Personability

It's not 1983. We don't look numbers up in the white or yellow pages. We typically find a business or person online, and that person's content builds trust and credibility.

After some time, this may lead to purchasing that person's or business's products or services.

Create content, and keep it true to yourself. You're not just a strength coach. You probably don't only eat chicken breasts and broccoli. You probably don't only read scientific studies. And if you do only coach, read scientific studies, and eat chicken breasts and broccoli, that's probably what your social media should reflect.

After Niki & CJ share their top 3 lessons learned, other BLOC coaches share their coaching lessons learned. We hope you enjoy and learn from them!

GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. There's no contract and you can cancel anytime. Start experiencing strength now: https://bit.ly/3EJI18v

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Autoregulation Q&A - #440 Nov 15, 2022

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Jordan Stanton returns to answer your questions on velocity based autoregulation. Why is this not for novices? What guidance would you give to lifters when the device tells you you should have a big PR? Who is a good candidate for velocity based training?

Autoregulation for Novices?

Form is not stable, and this is a requirement, especially for velocity based autoregulation.

Novices, in addition to needing to improve technique and develop consistent form, beginners need to experience higher RPE sets.

More advanced lifters cannot recover from RPE 9+ sets like beginners, can, but novices and early intermediate can benefit from just how heavy "heavy but doable" can be.

RiR & RPE - Are They the Same?

It depends.

Some define Rate of Perceive Exertion (RPE) by Reps in Reserve (RiR). Others give RPE a more qualitative score.

RPE comes from the endurance world, and can also be used for conditioning. For example, you might tell someone to run for 3 miles at RPE 6, which is an easy, conversational pace.

Is Autoregulation Just Changing the Intensity?

Not necessarily, though sometimes.

The simple way to use velocity based autoregulation is to identify your estimated 1RM for that day, and then perform the work sets based off that information.

Similarly, a lifter may work up to a single at RPE 8, and then do back off sets from that single.

Some autoregulation techniques adjust volume.

A lifter could perform an AMRAP for one or multiple sets.

For velocity based training, a lifter could adjust the volume based on velocity decay. One week, a lifter may only do 2 sets of 2, whereas the next it could be 5 sets of 2.

1RM Every Workout?

Some programs do work up to a heavy single. They typically are performed at a prescribed RPE, such as RPE 8, and are not a true 1RM.

Other programs have a lifter work up to a 1RM, but often on a supplemental lift (e.g. Westside conjugate max effort day).

Back off sets are completed based off the heavy single.

The PR is There for the Taking

For you pessimists out there, the main benefit of velocity based autoregulation out there may be the avoidance of missed reps, and more appropriate intensities for blue collars days.

The flip side, however, is when the device tells you should have a substantial PR.

In these cases, what do you do?

Considering that this is an advanced training technique and that as lifters advanced, those PR days become rarer and rarer, Jordan tells lifters to go for the PR, with caution.

For example, maybe the Rep One device suggests a 50lb PR. He might tell his lifter to attempt a conservative single first, or go for a 25lb single first.

Part of this is because more factors determine the success of a PR attempt than your performance that day. Also, the lived experience of performing a heavy weight may change. Sounds, sights, sensations may occur that you've never experienced before in your life.

Getting Started with VBT

Who are good candidates for velocity based autoregulation, and how do you as a coach bring it up?

Generally, the lifters need to have trained consistently for a relatively long period of time, so at least have gone through early intermediate.

They need to be able to give full effort to warm up sets. Their technique needs to be consistent.

Beyond that, you can see two groups of athletes that seem opposed but would both be good candidates.

One is the powerlifter or strengthlifter or similar strength-based athlete who really prioritizes lifting and wants to chase PRs. The other is the lifter who trains to support another activity, such as martial arts or a sport. For this second athlete, their performance in the gym may vary widely based on their sport or activity stress, so the VBT can help provide more appropriate stress doses.

Autoregulation & Accessories?

Velocity based autoregulation really doesn't make sense for accessory work.

Now, it can be appropriate for Olympic lifts, though the more important data is peak velocity, not average velocity.

Regarding this, Matt and Jordan talked about some interesting and fun ways to potentially use the devices.

One could, for example, work to identify and train where maximum power or maximum force occur, which would be at relatively heavy weights but definitely below 90%.

Similarly, one could compare AMRAPs to see who did more work. For example, two lifters perform bench press AMRAPs at 225. One lifter performs 10 reps, one performs 6 reps. The lifter who performed 10 reps, however, has shorter arms. Who did more work? You could find out.

One instance where autoregulation does make sense for accessories is AMRAPs. Doing AMRAPs of curls or rolling dumbbell extensions, for instance, especially if only for the last rep, is not that stressful.

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Injury & Recovery, Pain & Progress - Niki's Story - #439 Nov 08, 2022

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Injury and recovery are no fun and not why we train. They're a part of life, and come with training, especially if you push yourself over a long period of time. How do you adjust programming and mindset to keep training and keep improving.

Niki Sims shares her story of an injury that altered her training, identity, and pursuits, which ultimately caused her to not only alter reps and sets and exercise selection, but her approach and mindset regarding training and physical activity.

Tweaks and Tribulations

Niki was trucking along nicely, hitting squat and deadlift PRs, improving in BJJ. Enter pain and injury.

She heard a pop during some deficit deadlifts. Her approach in the past had always been to do what she could, as much as possible, so she continued to pursue PRs. She hit a nice squat PR soon after that.

Performance continued to improve in the gym, and pain increased in intensity and frequency. One morning, she woke up and was in so much pain she couldn't see straight. She deadlifted later that day in a friendly competition.

She started to realize that looking at her lifting shoes was inducing anxiety, and the time that had been fun and solace and a welcome break every day - her gym time - now came with pain and anxiety.

She wasn't ready to stop lifting. Reduced intensity and doing as much as she could only increased pain over time. It wasn't working.

Injury and Recovery: Mindset Matters

Niki had built an identity around performance, competition, and ability. The previous period of relatively stable progress in the gym and on the mat had to give way to an examination of why she was training in the first place, what she wanted to get out of training going forward, and what was best for her - physically and mentally.

She realized she couldn't go down that mental road of comparing what she used to be able to do to what she can do now. She also couldn't second-guess decisions she had made in the past about training or continuing to chase after PRs.

She had to embrace reality and possibility, while digging deeper to understand her deeper reasons for training and exercise in the first place. Deadlift 440 pounds was an important goal for her, but based on current limitations and important whys, keeping this as a goal was counterproductive for her mind and body.

You can't let yourself spiral into mental cycles of associating the gym with pain and failure.

Injury and Recovery: Programming Changes

Reintroducing play into the gym helped. Focusing on having training time be pleasant mattered. The cycle of pain and dread had to end.

Finding exercises that can be pushed a bit more without pain can help - and those might not look anything like the four main lifts. This might and probably will involve exercises that use less muscle mass over a shorter range of motion with less weight.

Niki found that not having programmed squat and deadlift workouts helped, because if these were programmed and she wasn't able to do them or they were performed at extremely low intensities, this created a feeling of failure.

Be able to experiment with what works - what's fun, what doesn't produce pain, what makes you want to go to the gym.

Find metrics that matter more (which also can quantify improvements outside of weight on the bar). Niki found that tracking pain in the morning not only helped inform programming decisions but also helped her see the big picture that pain had decreased and that she could have fewer days with pain, and the pain could be less intense.

The programming changes that you might think would get her back to PRs more quickly only made things worse. Slight reductions in intensity, volume, and exercise selection did not suffice.

If you're a coach or coaching yourself and something similar happens, you might try those smaller MED changes at first, but sometimes the MED change is actually quite big, and requires big adjustments to programming and mindset.

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Autoregulation for Strength Training: An Overview - #438 Nov 01, 2022

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Autoregulation adjusts to the lifter's actual, not expected, performance during a workout. Get an overview of this strength training method. Autoregulation - The Concept

The underlying concept is fairly simple: adjust the work sets to the lifter's performance during the workout.

During novice linear progression, a lifter adds typically 5 pounds each week. The lifter adapts quickly while also lacking the ability to stress himself with a heavy work set like an advanced lifter can.

If the lifter misses a rep or set, a programming change probably needs to occur. If the lifter has a bad workout but hits all the reps, then she learns about just how heavy "heavy" can be. It can be a qualitative experience in RPE 8.5+ sets.

As the lifter advances, weight is often added less frequently, though you often see a linear progression of supplemental and accessory lifts.

Without autoregulation, a lifter performs work sets based on a past one-rep max or similar maximal effort (e.g. 5RM) or her expected performance. Past performance does best predict future performance, but occasionally a lifter experiences workouts on the tails of the bell curve.

A lifter may suddenly fail to hit prescribed reps or have to perform the reps at RPE 9+ effort, whereas the intended difficulty was closer to RPE 7.

The other extreme is the unexpected easy day, when a PR might be available. Especially as a lifter progresses, these days come less and less frequently, so taking the PR may be warranted.

Subjective Autoregulation

The lifter can attempt to make a more-or-less educated guess on his 1RM from his subjective assessment using rate of perceived exertion (RPE) or reps in reserve (RIR).

Work up to a single at RPE 8. This means you assess that you can complete 2 more reps. Then, perform 1x3 @ 93% and 3x5 @ 80%.

If your RPE assessment is fairly accurate, the training stress and intensity that day will be appropriate - sufficient but not too much.

The other primary subjective autoregulation method is the coach's eye. The coach can watch your warm up sets and help pick your work set intensity based on his assessment of your performance that day.

This is an informed input, if you have an experienced coach, but it is still subjective.

Lastly, the two methods can be combined. Whether in-person or online, this method works better. You have two independently-gathered albeit subjective data points that help determine the work sets for the workout.

Online, the coach obviously cannot pick the intensity that day, but the coach can help provide feedback on the lifter's RPE assessments and notice patterns.

For example, a lifter may tend to assess RPEs fairly accurate most of the time, and especially for upper body lifts. On bad days and for squats - this hypothetical lifter's least favorite lift - he tends to rate them higher than they were. This growing awareness can inform the lifter's decisions.

Objective Autoregulation

AMRAPs or working up to a 1RM are objective, as long as the lifter gives her full effort for the set.

The problem, is maximal effort sets, whether for one rep or as many reps as possible, are physically and mentally exhausting, will negatively affect the remaining work sets, and provide an extremely high-intensity training stress that must be accounted for in the training.

Velocity-based training, therefore, offers an objective autoregulation method that doesn't require a maximal set. The lifter has to give her full effort during warm ups, but this does not come with the same difficulty or downsides as a truly maximal work set.

The downside is mainly the cost, though they've become more readily available and more accurate.

If you're an advanced lifter that is serious about chasing PRs for the long haul, you might consider investing in this for your training.

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Velocity Based Training & Autoregulation for Strength - #437 Oct 25, 2022

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Velocity based training & autoregulation for strength sounds complex, but it's really simple - learn the secrets of this training method.

Why Try Velocity Based Training?

We like simplicity - our tagline is simple, hard, effective - so why add a seemingly complicated piece of equipment and method of autoregulation to your coaching or training?

First, this is not for novices. Novices need to add weight simply and linearly, improve technique, and experience the range of difficulties (the many flavors of heavy but doable).

Often, a lifter will finally achieve something that equates to something close to an RPE 7.5 or 8. This means, the lifter can accomplish two, maybe three more reps, and either give up on a rep or express fear that he won't be able to do another rep.

The reality is, this lifter has likely never experienced this level of intensity. If they have, it's been during a one-rep max attempt.

The middle and end of linear progression confront the lifter with hardship, and the lifter must willfully overcome the challenge. Voluntary hardship is not simply a catch phrase.

Second, velocity based autoregulation is not as complicated as it sounds. Intermediate and advanced lifters regularly use, and coaches often prescribe, programs based on percentages of their one-rep max.

The average velocity correlates linearly with percentage of one rep max, so what the lifter is doing is still using a program based on his one-rep maximum.

Third, velocity based training (VBT) is objective without requiring the lifter to complete a maximum effort set (either an AMRAP or 1RM).

Autoregulation - Subjective or Objective

Autoregulation adjust the prescribed workout based on the athlete's daily fluctuation and performance. This idea and approach comes from the reality that your athlete is not the same athlete every day, that his theoretical one-rep max changes, and that this varies and matters more and he advances as an athlete.

Subjective autoregulation methodologies exist and include rate of perceived exertion (RPE), reps in reserve (RIR), and percentage based training (where the one rep maximum is guessed, albeit in an educated way).

Conducting a daily maximum, as many reps as possible, or velocity based training are objective autoregulation approaches.

The first two approaches, however, require physically and mentally exhausting sets to accurately identify the lifter's one rep maximum that day.

Either the lifter must attempt a 1RM or the lifter has to do as many reps as possible. Only after these grueling sets does the lifter execute his prescribed work sets.

Velocity based autoregulation avoids the need for these maximum effort sets.

How Velocity Based Autoregulation Works

Velocity based training allows a lifter to accurately identify his 1RM for that day at sub-maximal (i.e. warm up) sets. How? Let's explore a bit.

Some assumptions come here, that it's important we acknowledge. The lifter's anthropometry need to remain constant, so growing lifters (children or teenagers) lose objectivity if they complete this training.

Form and technique matter, so novices or lifters consistently struggling with technique should not take on this methodology.

One important note is that this data remains the same if the lifter gets stronger. If a lifter improves his 1RM squat from 200 to 400, 50% will move at the same speed.

The device sits on the floor and connects to the bar with a wire. The athlete needs to collect five to ten data points. These lifts need to be performed with 100% effort for this data to be accurate (another reason novices should not use velocity based autoregulation).

The coach or lifter simply conducts linear regression analysis. One this is known, the lifter can come in on another day, conduct warm up lifts with 100% intention, learn his 1RM for that day, and then perform his work sets based on that knowledge.

Improve Your Coaching with VBT

Using velocity based autoregulation for your training and some of your clients provides you good feedback and data that can help you learn more about your athletes as well as your programming and coaching eye.

You can test your coaching eye. For example, what attempts should a lifter take on a 1RM attempt day or during a strengthlifting meet?

As a coach, you can make an educated guess and then, from the velocity device, actually get objective data on that athlete's 1RM for that day. This means, your athlete can take attempts based on more objective information, and you can improve your coaching eye.

You can learn both for individual athletes and your lifters aggregately truly what percentages of their 1RM they can complete 3x5, 5x3, 3x8, etc. This can help refine your percentage based programs.

You can begin to compare different groups of clients and learn if certain types of clients bar speed decays more quickly or more slowly (velocity decay). For example, Jordan has learned that advanced athletes and female athletes bar speed decays more slowly, on average.

Using Velocity Based Training Effectively

These devices provide you a good deal of useful data. You can learn the average velocity of a client's lifts. Average velocity correlates linearly with percentage of one rep max.

You can learn the peak velocity of a lift, which matters more for Olympic lifts.

Learn the slowest velocity a rep can be completed, or the minimum velocity threshold.

If technique breaks down (e.g. a lifter's knees cave in) or that athlete experiences pain at certain intensities, you can learn the quality velocity threshold and pain velocity threshold and program accordingly.

Jordan recommends using the wired, not wireless, devices, as they provide more accurate data. Their durability, affordability, and accuracy have improved since Jordan first began using the Rep One prototype.

Jordan has noticed that this information is less accurate at lower loads, but we're training for strength. This does not matter too much.

This method of training is less helpful for power movements, even the press, especially if done in an Olympic manner or with a hip whip.

This method of training can provide much data, but sometimes more than you or your client want. Jordan recommends sometimes simply getting the 1RM, turning the device off, and completing your work sets.

Jordan has velocity based training for both in-person and online clients, and it has worked in both environments. Online, it obviously provides a much more accurate form of autoregulation than RPE. The lifter simply must perform the warm up sets with 100% effort.

If the client lifts consistently, he should not need to reset the linear progression more than once a year.

Using Velocity Based Training Creatively

Lastly, some creative methods can be used with this. A lifter could perform an AMRAP that stops at the quality velocity threshold or pain velocity threshold (where form deteriorates or pain arises).

Similarly, a lifter could conduct an AMRAP that stops when velocity decays to a certain degree. This would require a coach or training partner to monitor the device and tell the lifter when to stop.

If you prescribe programs using percentages of one rep max you can use this method. If as a lifter your technique is consistent, you can complete warm up sets with full intention, and have completed percentage-based programs, you can use this methodology.

Velocity based training is an objective autoregulation methodology that is simpler than it seems and can improve your training and coaching.

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Stay Sane Coaching Family, Friends, & Co-Workers - #436 Oct 18, 2022

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Stay sane while coaching family, friends, & co-workers. Successfully juggle dual relationships while getting good coaching experience.

Why Coach Family?

Before we talk about how, we must always consider why. Why would you consider coaching family, friends, and colleagues, and is it worth the risk?

For new or aspiring coaches, one major hurdles is acquiring experience and your first clients. New coaches typically get both experience and clients by coaching family, friends, and co-workers for free.

Too many aspiring coaches spend too much time considering coaching or thinking about coaching and maybe even studying the book knowledge for coaching. If you want to coach, you need to coach.

Family, friends, and co-workers can help bridge the gap from beginner coach to professional coach.

Is It Worth the Risk?

Only you can answer this question. You're balancing two relationships and two goals here.

You have the familial or friendly or professional relationship, which you hopefully want to maintain and improve.

On the other hand, you have the aspirational hobby or side hustle or even career of coaching, which requires you to coach people.

If you don't think your relationship can handle the additional risk or stress, then don't coach that person. Find someone else.

Stay Sane Coaching Family

Remember when coaching family, friends, and co-workers, that you're managing two relationships.

Different relationships may require different boundaries.

CJ discussed not talking work with his co-workers when he was in the gym. Rest time can be an indicator that too much talking is occurring.

Keep in mind what you want to get out of the session. If you're coaching for free, set a goal or intention for the session. That might involve requesting something from the lifter.

You might ask for a testimonial or take pictures. More simply, you may seek the coaching experience itself.

Be aware of emotions and work on your relationship skills. This applies for all clients, but you may be extra aware of this with your wife or boyfriend.

Try to avoid bringing life issues into the gym (or creating gym issues that go into the rest of your life).

Finally, remember that you don't have to have all the answers, you don't have to be the expert on everything, and as you would with any other client, be transparent and honest.

Coaching friends and family shouldn't and doesn't have to end with sleeping on the couch or tears.

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Accommodating Resistance: In Depth on Bands & Chains - 435 Oct 11, 2022

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Accommodating resistance means lifting with bands or chains for more resistance near the top of the lift. Learn how & why to use this advanced, fun training method, including practical tips for setting up the bands or chains by lift.

What is Accommodating Resistance?

Accommodating resistance is a training method that uses bands or chains to increase the resistance as the concentric portion of the lift progresses.

How does this happen?

Let's start with chains. The chain begins on the floor or on a similar surface (e.g. a box) and as the lifter presses or deadlifts or squats the bar, more of the chain comes up off the ground, increasing the weight the athlete is lifting.

Bands can be used two ways: either increasing resistance or with decreasing assistance (reverse bands).

Similar to chains, bands provide greater tension and thus more resistance closer to the top of the lift.

Reverse bands do not add resistance but add assistance. Attach the bands near the top of a power rack. The bands come under more tension and are thus providing more assistance in the bottom. This essentially deloads the lift in the bottom.

As the lifter squats or presses or deadlifts the bar, the band loosens, providing less assistance, so the effective load increases as the bar moves up toward lockout.

Why Train with Bands and Chains?

Why might you consider using accommodating resistance as part of your training program?

Let's be honest, bands and chains look cool and scream "advanced lifter." While we love simple, hard, effective training, after a long period of consistent, difficult training, greater complication is needed, and bands or chains are one option here.

So, one is reason is for the fun and novelty of a new method of complexity.

Because the resistance increases toward the top, it also stresses the muscles that extend the joint(s) that are contributing to overcoming gravity more toward the top.

This means on the bench press and press, the triceps and elbow come under greater stress. For the deadlift and squat, the hamstrings and especially the glutes come under greater stress.

This increased resistance near the top of the lift also forces the lifter to finish focused on continuing to provide maximal force near the top of the lift. It can be easy to slow down near the top of the lift without accommodating resistance, as that portion of the lift is easy to complete.

This is one reason why bands and chains are often used for dynamic lifts, where the lifter completes something like 10 sets of 2 or 8 sets of 3 lifts at a light weight but done quickly and with minimal rest time between sets (typically 1 minute).

Comparing Bands & Chains for Lifting

Let us first begin with Matt's general recommendation, that you're looking for the bands or chains to provide about 33% of the resistance (maybe up to 50%) and the barbell and plates providing 67% down to 50%.

Chains continue to provide only the straight down force of gravity (as long as some chains remain on the ground). You want some of the chains to remain on the floor, as swinging chains change the nature of the movement.

Bands, on the other hand, provide forces in directions other than straight down. Because of this, bands encourage the lifter to focus on the bar path more throughout the performance of the lift. Bands also beat up the joints a bit more than chains.

Because of these factors, Matt argues that chains are probably better for raw lifters and bands are better for geared lifters. Because most people lift raw, they should start with chains.

Of course, chains are more expensive and difficult to get. If you train in a public gym that does not have chains, your best option is probably buying a set of chains for the gym that you can use (and leaving them at the gym).

Better options are training in a gym that has chains or purchasing them for your home gym.

Ultimately, either option works.

Buying and Using Chains

Chains are more expensive, especially if you buy them online, as they will need to be shipped to you, and they weight a lot.

A good option is to buy some chains at a hardware store. 5/8" chains are ideal, but they are difficult to find. If you live near a location where boats exist, especially the ocean coast, you can often buy 5/8" chain.

For most of us, however, you'll have to buy 3/8" chain. Smaller chain means, especially for bigger, stronger lifts, that you will likely need multiple pairs of chains, potentially 3 or 4 pairs of chains.

To save money, you should get thinner leader chains for the squat and bench press. This chain loops down. This prevents the heavy, more expensive chains from having to come all the way up to the barbell.

Thus, the heavy chain connect to the leader chains, so that near the bottom of the lift all or most of the heavy chains are touching the ground.

At the top of the lift, you want 1 or 2 chains (at least) still in contact with the ground. You do not want the chains to swing, as this becomes more like a bamboo lift or similar lift where balance is challenged, but the weight on the bar decreases.

Don't use a leader chain for the deadlift. You may put the chains through something like Spud straps, or even put the chains directly over the barbell.

Buying and Using Bands

Watch the below video on setting up bands for your lifts.

Bands are cheaper, especially to buy online. They're less durable and will, over time, be stretched out.

You should probably have 3 bands for any bands you use in accommodating resistance, and keep the pair of bands you use separate from the other band. That way, the accommodating resistance pair gets stretched out evenly whereas the other band can be used for single band exercises, like banded chin-ups or prehab work.

It is best to loop the band onto the collar, not the barbell, as the knurling will chew up and rip the band, so you'll have to replace them sooner.

Start your first warm up with the bands looped on.

Loop bands differently for different lifts.

Bands are typically doubled up for the bench press. For squats, they might be choked. On deadlifts, if you're not using mini-bands, they might be quadrupled up.

Aim to have the bands directly below (or above for reverse bands) the barbell near the top of the lift, where they provide the most resistance (or the decreased assistance for reverse bands provides the least assistance).

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Coaching When You Aren't The Expert - #434 Oct 04, 2022

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How do you approach non-expert coaching? How do you address coaching outside your expertise or comfort zone? Niki & CJ discuss how to handle this hurdle! Non-Expert Coaching: Identifying the Client's Why

How do you approach a client who has a goal or endeavor that lies outside your expertise?

Similar to any change in goals for a client, even if it remains well within your wheelhouse, you should learn, and maybe even help your client identify, why she wants this new goal.

What may have happened, and what CJ discusses, is how a deep, important goal can initially be subsumed into a shorter, more concrete goal of "get stronger."

You talk to your client, and the client agrees to get stronger for a bit. She enjoys it, she likes some of the changes that come with it. Still, the underlying goals haven't changed and haven't been reached.

As CJ & Niki discuss, this might involve referring the client to another coach or professional (e.g. maybe they have underlying mental health issues that require a mental health professional).

Similarly, though within the physical health realm, a client may want to compete in competitive bodybuilding. This comes with many skills that don't involve simply lifting, so it is likely - unless you yourself come from a bodybuilding background - that you might need to refer your client to someone who can better help her achieve her goals.

Non-Expert Coaching: Different Paths Ahead

Once the deeper why(s) have been identified, the path ahead needs to be identified and agreed to.

Another consideration, besides the purpose, is the level of desired skill. Completing a 5k run is different than qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Dabbling in Olympic weightlifting is different than setting the state record.

You might continue to train the client, but have the client take care of that particular physical endeavor herself.

You might recommend a professional coach who can help with her new endeavor, while you continue providing strength training. Or, that coach may take over primary coaching responsibilities.

Lastly, you may decide to help the client with her endeavor.

Regardless of which route you agree upon, ultimately you need to be honest and transparent about your experience and knowledge level. In losing a client, you may still gain future clients, as the entire experience was so positive that she'll recommend you to her friend, family, and colleagues.

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Masculine Style Q&A with Tanner Guzy - #433 Sep 27, 2022

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Tanner Guzy shares his thoughts and answers questions on masculine style and aesthetics. Dress better and become more confident. Seek Beauty in Your Style

Beauty is good.

We know this, because we enjoy the transformations that occur with our body as we train and eat better.

Wearing good-fitting, appropriate clothing presents a better, more beautiful aesthetic. It helps you build confidence and presents a better version of yourself to the world.

Masculine Style - Some Specifics

Style doesn't necessarily mean buying expensive clothing and chasing the newest fashions.

It means dressing appropriately based on your settings, the image you want to present, and what you're doing.

This could mean wearing plain, well-fitted, high-quality t-shirts instead of baggy t-shirts with logos.

This could mean tailoring some of your pants or spending some time finding jeans or chinos that fit and continuing to buy those over and over again.

Style Linear Progression

Like fitness or strength, improving your style is an ongoing process. You don't have to (and really probably cannot effectively) buy a new wardrobe all at once.

You might find one or two items first: a t-shirt or jeans or shorts. Ensure they fit and you like them, then you might need to revise something else in your everyday uniform.

Start with the big ticket items: the shirt and pants or shorts. Then you might move to shoes. From there, maybe you're looking into the socks, belt, and items you wear less frequently.

You also have to realize that you'll learn more as you go, so if you tried to do it at once, you won't understand what you likes, what fits, and what you image you want to convey.

Enjoy the process. You're going to make mistakes. That's okay. Keep getting better.

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Anecdotes with Scott Pt.2 - #432 Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

Matt and Scott continue their discussion from part 1 over a range of topics, including theology, business, softball, and more. This is a wide-ranging podcast that deviates from our normal content.

We hope you enjoy!

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