South Loop Strength & Conditioning Podcast

I first started coaching in CrossFit back in 2010, and at some point in 2011, I transitioned into the role of writing programming for the gym that I was working at.

In typical information hoarder practice, I began to search out as much as I could find on the principles of program design. I started reading dense training manuals from Yuri Verkhoshansky, Vladimir Zatsiorsky and Louie Simmons.

I remember downloading a PDF of Zatsiorsky's "Science and Practice of Strength Training" and somehow managing to read that thing on my Kindle – which is insane and a testament to an attention span that I think I no longer have.

Throughout this process of research, I started following along with James FitzGerald's "Big Dawgs Blog" and being confused at the contrast between the somewhat silly name and the extremely technical training prescriptions that made no sense to me.

James was well known within the CrossFit community as the champion of the inaugural CrossFit Games as well as the coach to many athletes competing at a high level in the sport.

At that point in time, I wrote my own training, but I would read the Big Dawgs blog and try to understand some of the "whys" behind the complicated prescriptions of tempos and work-to-rest ratios. I remember trying to put together my own lactate power training sessions with airdyne and sled dragging and heavy touch-and-go deadlifts, and just tragically missing the point – but simultaneously feeling like this guy FitzGerald was on to something.

I've taken all of James's OPEX CCP modules through Level 2, and that – coupled with my mentorship with his younger brother Michael – has had more of an impact than anything else on my understanding of not just the Xs and Os of program design, but the big picture questions that need to be asked to progress athletes in sports like CrossFit, soccer, and rugby vs. corporate wellness clients vs. doctors, consultants, and students who are members at my gym.

In this episode, James discusses what he learned from his relationship with strength & conditioning masterminds like Charles Poliquin and Paul Chek, how he integrated those learnings into his own coaching within CrossFit, how he removed himself from his coaching role with CrossFit Games athletes, and how he plans on growing OPEX's remote coaching services as well as his own continuing education modules.

James will be at South Loop Strength & Conditioning on April 23-25th leading the OPEX Program Design Level 1 module – any coaches or athletes interested in an upgraded understanding of the "whys" behind program design should click here for more information

*iTunes

Website: OPEX

I've always been kind of a music freak. My first foray into "non-mainstream music" came in seventh grade. I was in some sort of special math program where I was bumped up a grade into the eighth grade advanced math class. At the time, bands like The Offspring and The Mighty Bosstones were popular on alternative radio, and I loved alternative radio. I begged my mother to allow me to put a Q101 sticker on her car, and she was like "absolutely not."

One of the eighth graders in my math class (Justin K was his name) somehow found out that I was enthralled with the ska and punk bands nudging at mainstream success, and he suggested that I check out Less Than Jake. I went to Beautiful Day, the local record store, and purchased "Losing Streak." I was completely blown away that a band could be so good without being on the radio, and my life changed in that moment.

Justin gave me other recommendations including Operation Ivy and Slapstick, and within months I had ordered pretty much everything from the Asian Man Records catalog.

From this point forward, I became a music freak – obsessively researching bands and genres and getting my ears on anything that I could find. This was in the advent of file-sharing, so I used Napster, Kaazaa, album thank you lists, John Peel playlists, and recommendations for charismatic and borderline cyber-bullying internet forum users.

At some point, as an older, darker, more depressed teen with a taste for heavy metal, I stumbled into the music of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson. This was probably a year or so after Sunn O)))'s "Flight of the Behemoth" came out. I quickly started back-tracking and checking out all of their other slow and bizarre projects, and I had a particular taste for Khanate and Burning Witch. At the time, I was familiar with Black Sabbath and a bunch of technical death metal and metalcore bands, but had pretty much no knowledge of doom metal. The idea of contemporary bands purposefully playing slow and non-technical riffs was insane and mind-blowing to me.

I also came across Thorr's Hammer a few years later while searching for bands influenced by Celtic Frost, and only later learned that the same slow-playing weirdos Greg and Stephen were responsible for that band as well.

Recently, my band Like Rats released an album on Greg's label Southern Lord Records. To have a person who unknowingly shaped your development and opinion of music put his name (and some of his own $) behind your project makes me feel a little bit weird if I actually think about it.

Greg graciously agreed to take some of his time to discuss his own creative process – and how this differs between his bands, how he built a tribe of like-minded people who want to hear whatever he puts out with his label or with his bands, and how he thinks about marketing and growing his business in a subculture that frowns heavily upon any sort of calculated or disingenuous salesy bullshit.

Even though this post and podcast are appearing on a gym's site, I considered myself a musician long before I considered myself a coach, so I think it's valuable to dig into the same mindsets and processes that we look for in elite coaches, athletes and therapists in areas outside of fitness. Just one insight gleaned from another industry or field can be game-changing when applied in an arena like coaching or performance.

*iTunes

As a strength & conditioning coach, I've received some of the best continuing education by playing around in areas that I don't belong in. Courses geared more towards physical therapists like DNS, the SFMA, and Sahrmann's courses on Movement System Impairment Syndromes have profoundly impacted how I look at coaching and movement.

Joe Heiler has spent the last several years interviewing these folks and making these conversations available on his site www.sportsrehabexpert.com.

This time, we turn the tables on Joe and learn how and why he started Sports Rehab Expert, how he accumulated such an all-star line-up of interview guests, and how he integrates all of the different approaches discussed on his site into his own practice – Elite Physical Therapy located in Traverse City Michigan.

I had a great time with this conversation, since I'm a continuing education junky and I'm always curious how people decide which pieces of knowledge to pursue, which pieces to integrate, and which to discard.

Joe has spent countless hours supplementing his own knowledge with these expert conversations while still practicing himself as a physical therapist and integrating all of these pieces into his own work with patients.

This process is applicable not just to physical therapy, but to anything where there's a blend between tacit and explicit knowledge required to execute at a high level.

*iTunes

Website: www.sportsrehabexpert.com & Elite Physical Therapy

Here's a great interview that Joe Heiler did with Gray Cook on how Gray practices in his own facility:

00:39- Introduction of Joe Heiler

I was on Joe Heiler's site Sports Rehab Expert last year for an interview, which was really cool since the site is focused predominantly on the rehabilitation of athletes looking to maximize their sport performance.

Believe it or not, CrossFit has a relatively poor reputation in the rehab community for being a disorganized and dangerous training protocol that puts people in risky situations. Depending on how someone's training is organized, this may be the case. I also see a lot of conflation between best practices and appropriate risk management for someone who wants to compete in CrossFit as a sport vs someone who wants to use CrossFit-style training to improve performance in another sport vs someone who simply wants to look good and feel good.

We dig into some of these issues in this interview, which you can stream right here.

Michael Jordan had Phil Jackson and Tim Grover.

Many of the greatest performers of all time in sports, business and entertainment got where they are not only from talent and work ethic – but also from their training with a coach who was able to guide them on their journey.

As someone who coaches athletes myself, I obviously see the value in coaching, and Michael FitzGerald has been my “coaching” coach.

I originally reached out to Michael a few years ago when he first offered a “program design mentorship” on his blog, and we worked together for almost a year. I would design a program for a theoretical situation (critique Spencer Hendel’s training, write a program for Chris Spealler, etc.), then he would tell me what made sense about my designs and what didn’t.

From there, Michael started coaching me as an athlete, which, on my end, is a continued learning to see how he designs programs, how he targets specific adaptations, how he waves volume and intensity, and other nerdy, meta things.

In this interview, we get into some of the nitty gritty aspects of program design for CrossFit performance as well as some of the psychological barriers that can limit athletes from achieving their top performance.

*iTunes

Website: OPT Calgary

0:30- Introduction

In addition to being a five times CrossFit Games competitor (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) with two top ten finishes, Elisabeth Akinwale is a mother and a former social worker.

Elisabeth is very self-aware and articulate about her experiences competing, coaching (in her new role as head coach at Brick Chicago) and balancing priorities in her life.

She has a lot of insight into the mental edge of competition (it's not just always about pushing harder) as well as the psychology behind motivation, accountability and game day performance.

*iTunes

Website: www.elisabethakinwale.com

00:00- Introduction

Back in 2013, Mike Kesthely effectively closed Dynamic Nutrition down. He had consulted with several CrossFit Games level athletes on their nutrition and had lead nutrition seminars for OPEX (formerly OPT). However, his full-time job as a firefighter and the pending birth of his second child caused him to reevaluate his priorities.

Fast forward a few years, and Dynamic Nutrition has risen from the ashes. By bringing Jason Phillips onboard, Mike has re-energized his company and has expanded into supplementation, seminars, and group coaching in addition to the one-on-one consulting that he has always done.

He's still working with CrossFit Games athletes and he's still obsessively researching best practices in nutrition.

In this interview, learn how Mike runs his company (despite hating the business-side of things), how Mike sifts through the endless stream of information to provide the best coaching he can to his clients, and how he works with the best fitness athletes in the world on both a tactical and a strategic level.

Website: Dynamic Nutrition

*iTunes

00:14- Introduction of Mike Kesthely of Dynamic Nutrition

*Examine Research Digest

Starting a business from nothing is brutal. Getting anyone to pay attention to you in the first place, then to part with cash for some product they've never heard of, then to deliver on that product is crushingly difficult.

Also, getting anyone to believe in you and work for you or invest money into your schemes is equally difficult.

Ben Crookston of Train Heroic has spent the last few years doing all of these things – and doing them successfully.

A few years back, Ben, Josh (one of the co-founders of Train Heroic) and I would travel deep into Southern Illinois on weekends and give continuing education seminars to high school teachers – sort of as a starting point for marketing Train Heroic.

Josh would always sleep on the floor in our hotel because he's a freak.

Now, Train Heroic is probably best known within the CrossFit community for The Barbell WOD. This is where Dave Spitz of Cal Strength shares programming for weightlifting with the intention of getting CrossFit athletes exposure to some true progression in their snatch and clean & jerk.

Train Heroic originally started as a more prescriptive entity – giving pre-packaged programming and coaching to high school and college sports teams that needed it. However, over the course of their development, they realized that they had more power as a platform for coaches to share their programming and philosophy than as an entity prescribing reps and sets from above.

Now, coaches can develop their program in the Train Heroic marketplace, and athletes can receive coaching and programming from some of the top names in the business for a monthly fee.

Website: Train Heroic

*iTunes

*Why did Ben start Train Heroic and what is it? (1:16)

In this episode, Todd & Paul discuss the five "whys" of training.

At SLSC, we see a lot of people with a lot of different goals. Some are motivated primarily by aesthetics – they want to look good with their shirt off. Others are motivated by long-term health – they got some scary blood results back from their doctor or they have kids and want to be healthy long-term as their children grow up. There's also people who want to find their maximum physical potential in sport – whether that's in CrossFit or in something like distance running or rugby. And, to be completely honest, a lot of people have mixed goals or haven't fully investigated what they want. They may say that they want to lift more weight and get better over time, but they really want to look a certain way at the pool.

Each of these goals is equally valid. There's no value judgment on someone's "why" behind training.

However, the best practices for each of these goals is different.

We see a lot of confusion and conflation surrounding the way that people train for competition, the way people train for aesthetics, and the way people train for health.

There's a lot of information and advice floating around, a lot of which is being misapplied to people with different goals. A bodybuilding stage prep diet is a great way to get super lean for a competition, but a horrible way to prepare for a CrossFit competition or to lose weight for long-term health and wellness. A lactate endurance protocol is a great way to peak for a CrossFit competition, but is a horrible way to develop every day fitness for an over-stressed office worker.

Check out the SLSC podcast on a variety of formats:

This is the first interview that we've done for the South Loop Strength & Conditioning podcast, and our guest is Liz Yerly of The Chicago Recovery Room.

Liz has a plethora of letters after her name: MPT (Master of Physical Therapy), ATC (Certified Athletic Trainer), LMT (Licensed Massage Therapist) & CSCS (Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist). While certifications don't necessarily mean much in the grand scheme of things, her devotion to continuing education gives her a unique perspective on both treating injured athletes and helping people maximize their performance.

Liz works as a physical therapist and also has relationships with local CrossFit gyms, the Association of Volleyball Professionals and the Chicago Performing Arts Team.

If you want to get treated by Liz or recover with Liz, head on over to the Chicago Recovery Room website.

If you want to follow CRR and Liz on social media, check them out on Facebook and Instagram.

Check out the SLSC podcast on a variety of formats:

Here are some of the continuing education resources Liz mentioned:

Blogs

Mike Reinold

Books

ICED! The Illusionary Treatment Option: Learn the Fascinating Story, Scientific Breakdown, Alternative, & How To Lead Others Out Of The Ice Age by Gary Reinl