Your brain is hard wired to keep you safe, to keep you alive. It doesn't necessarily care if you are alive and thriving. You know what I'm talking about... ahem survival mode. Your nervous system is so hard wired for survival that your brain will do everything it can to keep you comfortable and using as little energy as possible. Think about it, how many times have you skipped a workout because the house was warm and cozy, it was dark and dreary outside, your slippers were already on for goodness sakes. However, you had this feeling crawling under your skin that some movement would feel really good.

I can almost guarantee that you can relate to this, because we are all human. However, we don't have to fall prey to our human nature. We always have a choice. So how can you make the choice to override your brain and get your body up and moving? I've got a simple and actionable system all ready and waiting for you. Tune in and get things moving in the right direction.

It's easy to fall under the logic of complicated = better/more valuable. When in reality keeping things simple and focusing on consistency and patience tend to be the best recipe for long term success. At some level we all know this, and we play against our human nature as the long game is the most challenging one to play.

Keri and I both own our own online fitness businesses and share the perspective of keeping things simple and mastering the basic controllables... Hone in on your current status and identify the behaviors that are not serving you. Take baby steps everyday and do the little things that add up over time to massive positive changes.

Keri has mastered working with women and loves educating on the areas of nutrition and movement. If you are woman looking for a woman trainer who understands your past and your current mental hold-ups, she is a great resource to take advantage of and learn from. Find more about Keri and how to work with her on Instagram @_coachker

First, let's set the expectation. If you reduce the rest interval between sets of a given workout, your capacity noticably decreases over the course of your working sets. What does get taxed, however, is your aerobic energy system. When rest intervals are lengthened, your ability to produce the desired reps over the course of many working sets is spared which results in a higher training volume. Moral of the story, shorter rest intervals improve your aerobic energy system, longer rest intervals improve overall strength and muscle size.

But! Is there a difference in ideal rest intervals for single-joint versus multi-joint exercises? Do you require less rest for single-joint exercises and more rest for multi-joint exercises (or vise-versa) when the desired outcome is less fatigue by the end of the last 2 working sets? Remember, a greater capacity through the entire string of working sets = more volume, which in turn results in greater improvements in muscle size and strength. 

By the end of this 30-minute episode, you'll walk away with specific rest intervals for single-joint and multi-joint lower body exercises that give you the best opportunity for improvement without wasting a single minute of your workout time.

Article used for this week's breakdown:

Rosa, A. et. al. Repetition performance, rating of perceived discomfort, and blood lactate response to different rest interval lengths in single-joint and multijoint lower-body exercise. Journal of Strength & Condition Research. 37(7)/1350-1357.

A dad with 4 kids under 8 years old shares some tangible and actionable advice about life and fitness. Things definitely change after having kids, and shifting expectations, the way things look, and having gratitude for all of it may change the way you approach exercise and movement in your daily life. "This is who we are now" is a simple but powerful statement that Zak shared and how that has been a game changer for not only him, but his entire household.

You can let time and kids be your biggest barriers to your health and fitness, or you can make them your strongest allies in becoming the best & strongest version of yourself.

Thanks again to Zak for sharing his time and wisdom for this episode. To see more of Zak's content, be sure to check him out on Instagram @beardedbirdfitnessnutrition

Athletes & everyday functioning people have a time, whether it's in season or on vacation/travel, where training time is decreased compared to the typical routine. And with that less training time we start to worry at what point will I start to see decrements in my abilities, things like strength and muscle size? This investigation dives into comparing two groups of training, one using high intensity with low volume training, compared to moderate intensity and higher volume training. The kicker is, what if each group only trained for 1 session per week over 6-weeks in time. Is that going to be enough to maintain strength or maybe even improve some attributes? Be sure to tune in for the full episode, very interesting findings!

Manuscript used for this week's breakdown:

McQuilliam, SJ et. al. Effect of high-intensity vs. moderate-intensity resistance training on strength, power, and muscle soreness in male academy soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 37(6), 1250-1258.

You've been in the gym where the person next to you is completing half reps of a bicep curl or squat and you wonder, is that helping or hurting? First and fore-most I typically recommend working through a full and available range of motion for every movement. Personally I want to be strong through the entire range, regardless of how little or large of that range I'm using. However, when it comes to hypertrophy, or increase in muscle size, is there an optimal range of motion for each muscle group that favors enhancing muscle size? For example, will squatting past parallel produce a more favorable environment  for muscle growth compared to squatting to 90 degrees? As we break down this article, we will see what the research has to say about specific muscle groups working through specific ranges of motion and how that may produce more or less enhancement in muscle size. Very interesting data to interpret with my final take on what to focus on as far as working through specific ranges of motion with your training.

Article used for this week's breakdown:
Ottinger, CR., et al. Muscle hypertrophy response to range of motion in strength training: A novel approach to understanding the findings. Strength and Conditioning Journal, Vol 45, number 2, pages 162-176.

Another round with my fitness consigliere, Chad Trudo. We had all the intentions of breaking down a newly published research article on the topic of countermovement jump performance. However, many tangental conversations occurred, that in my mind were much more usable and fundamental in the world of exercise and strength & conditioning. Chad and I dove into banter on the topic of neuromuscular fatigue with tools to assess and understand the data and how to apply the information to your advantage. Yes, the countermovement jump was a topic covered in the discussion, but the use of force plate and force plate data was specific to the research paper... not so usable to the everyday person. Ultimately, the underlying theme of our discussion revolved around the need for mastery of the basics and building a physical foundation that creates a bullet-proof body ready for anything. Tune into the full episode to get all of Chad's wisdom.

You can find more information on Chad at the University of Aurora Athletic's website.

A big thank you to Dr. Hannah Brandt for being a guest on the show. Hannah and I share a similar career story, as we were both previously institutionalized professionals turned entrepreneurs. Hannah's background is in physical therapy where practicing in the current "one size fits all" model never settled well with her values and style of practice. Which lead to her own flourishing practice of online health coaching and personal training. Dr. Hannah has an impactful backstory with her own personal journey of feeling uncomfortable in her skin, to losing 60+ pounds, to coaching hundreds of women do the same with their lives. Stick around for the full episode as Hannah shares some high impact tools for the person wanting to make positive changes and to the coach who will be right along side the person that was once in her shoes.

You can find Hannah on Instagram and TikTok @Havingandeatingcake or on Facebook and Linked-in at Dr. Hannah Brandt.

There have been countless research studies done on understanding training outcomes based on working at differing percentages of your 1-rep max. It's tried and true. But it may be leaving out a very important detail. It does not take into account your level of preparedness the day of training. We all have had days where (for example) 100 pounds feels light and effortless on the bench press. Then next week comes along and the same 100 pounds feels like 200 pounds. If you were to use a percentage of your 1-rep max you may be over-prescribing load based on your capacity for that specific day.
However, using RPE (rating of perceived exertion) may take time and practice to understand and apply correctly, but allows you in real time to assess your level of preparedness and apply the correct amount of stress on your body to progress and train daily.
In this episode I give a simple and tangible picture of the nervous system and how that relates to using these two methods of assigning intensity/workload into your training sessions. Enjoy!