Chasing Strength

Aspiring To Greatness

by GEOFFN on March 7, 2010

It’s 1:22am EST. What are you doing?

I’m still up. I went upstairs to my room at 11:30pm.

I can’t sleep.

I spent the weekend at a conference.

That’s right – I go to conferences on subjects that I want to learn more about – things that make me better at what I do.

So I go and hang out with people who are smarter than me and have already done and are currently doing what I want to do and are where I want to be.

And I meet other people who are like-minded. They want to do and be the same.

And it’s cool.

What do you want to do?

What do you want to be?

Strength comes in many forms. Become great at what you do. That’s the path to strength.

Go find out what you love to do and do more of it. Become stronger.

Aspire for more. Be stronger.

Become great. Be strong.

Then give back.

That’s real strength.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

- Winston Churchill

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The “Law” of Training Results, Part 3

by GEOFFN on March 3, 2010

Everyone wants it now.

Scratch that – we all want it yesterday.

But that’s just not how things work.

That’s just not the way nature is set up.

When a farmer plants his seeds to grow a new crop, he doesn’t cover them over and expect that overnight, or instantly, that new crop will appear. That’s just foolishness!

But that’s the way many of us approach training. We expect instant results instantly. That’s why the weight loss industry is a multi-billion dollar industry – people want that “magic pill” or “easy” button like in that Staples commercial.

And that brings us to the Third Law of Training Results – the Law of Delayed Gratification.

The harvest is in a different season from the planting.

No matter how you shake it, cook it or sell it, in this world of low-cost, long-term financing, you must work for you training results. And here’s the worst part – you have to wait to reap their benefits.

In the sport of weightlifting, there are several periods of training that lead up to competition. Each training phase is built on the other, all with the intent to hit a new PR at the big meet. But, the training has to be done to ensure, or at least stand a chance of hitting a PR. In fact, elite weightlifters often wait, train, and prepare for 4 years – a long training cycle based around winning an Olympic Gold.

But it doesn’t matter what you do, if you do something, you will see results, just not immediately. This is called adaptation or the training process. Your body works to do better what you ask it to do. Please note that it is a process.

Your training should be set up to facilitate your long term results.

This requires what is known as “backwards planning.” This is the idea of starting with the end in mind and figuring out the steps required to get from where you want to go to where you want to be. (For more on how to successfully implement backwards planning check this out – it’s free.)

For example, a farmer plants a crop and expects a certain result – wheat for example. (Hey, I grew up on a farm, so we’ll go with what I know, ok?) There is a set time period – a maturation process before he can harvest the wheat. He has to rely on nature – rain, sun, etc. – to do its part, and if it doesn’t he must step in with irrigation methods and so on.

In the same way, you must ensure that the methods you use, reps, sets, speeds, loads, implements, etc., line up to produce a certain outcome – the outcome you want.

And what’s the best way to do that?

Model it.

That’s right – find someone who’s gone before you and been successful at what you want to accomplish and follow their path. Or get a coach who’s helped people do what you want to do.

(About this time you might expect me to offer to coach you – I won’t – sorry just too busy right now…)

But remember, you need a starting point in your process and that point is where you are now. You need to identify that point in time and take some down some data. Have you planted the right seed? Have you plowed deep enough? Have you been mindful with the training process to date? Are your expectations in line with reality?

For example, if you want to pack on some muscle using Return of the Kettlebell, have you first completed Enter the Kettlebell? There’s a reason Pavel recommends doing so – ETK shows you the basics for RTK.

In the same way, if you want to Snatch the Beast for sets of 10, have you done the necessary prep work? Is your Swing strong and crisp? Can you lock your arm out over your head with your elbow straight and your shoulder packed? If not, remember the Second Law – The Law of Increasing Returns. You will reap more than you sow – both good and bad.

So where does all this leave us?

Mindfulness.

Be mindful about your training.

Have a direction.

Have a plan.

Follow the plan – and hopefully it’s modeled off of a successful one. There are plenty out there but just model the right one.

For example, want to get really strong? Model a strength athlete.

Want to get ripped and see your six-pack? Model a program by a guy or girl with a six-pack who has helped others to get the same.

Want to use the kettlebell cause it’s time-efficient and you can train at home? Follow a program like that.

You get the point.

Whatever you choose, make sure you follow it all the way – because you will reap what you sow and more than you sow, both good and bad, and the reaping is in a different season from the sowing.

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Sometimes The Goofy Stuff Works

by GEOFFN on February 28, 2010

I’ve been very “non-Party” in my strength training methods lately.

I’ve been using reps in the 10-20 range for non-ballistic exercises.

In fact, I must confess, I even like them.

There, I said it.

But really, it’s not the exercise or the rep range – it’s the outcome, or the result.

I’ve struggled to keep myself together over the last year or so – literally, not figuratively. I’ve felt like I was coming apart all over – the middle, my hips, my shoulders. And I’ve been implementing some very old school stuff I used to use with my athletes at Rutgers 10+ years ago.

I’ve given back in to the idea, wait, the necessity of core stability and core strength. And it’s very immediate and necessary effects on your ability to lift heavy stuff from the floor to over your head. And how your body will shut down, shut off, shut up – I’ve heard this all before - if you try to force the weight to go up, down or wherever.

So, although it may appear goofy, I’m doing things that I haven’t done in 10+ years.

“Lower” ab raises – old-school bodybuilder style
Calf raises, ballet-style
Higher reps strength work

And I know this stuff is working. Yesterday, I tossed around the 24kg for sets of 10 on the snatch.

It felt like a 12kg.

And I think these concepts are worth investigating for all of us – challenging our belief systems, which sometimes limit us. They limit our progress, our opportunities, our vision, our hope, and of course our results.

What goofy stuff are you willing to try to break your limitations?

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The “Law” of Training Results, Part 2

by GEOFFN on February 25, 2010

In my last post, I shared the first part of the Law of Training Results, which is really the Law of Compensation. The first part, the Law of Sowing and Reaping, was simply that whatever you plant (sow), you harvest (reap).

Part two is similar, but much more powerful. It should, when fully understood, make us pay much more attention to Part 1.

It is the Law of Increasing Returns.

It states that not only will you reap what you sow, but you will reap more than you sow. And this is a very important point. This is the essence, I believe, of training. You don’t just train to train, you train for a purpose. And usually that purpose is much greater than any current training session or workout. Your goal is to always have more, yield more than you currently have.

Here’s a great example.

Last night I set a PR on the Kalos Sthenos Get Up. (For those of you who don’t know about the Kalos Sthenos Get Up, it is a method of evaluating your body and increasing it’s performance -it’s output – by making the Get Up harder. This in turn makes everything else easier. If you don’t have, get it – now – here - one of the best investments in yourself you can ever make.) By PR, I it was how the GU was performed, and what it felt like in my body at the time.

The reason I was able to yield such a high quality result – and arguably it was the best Get Up I have ever performed – was because of the amount of time and effort I put into this exercise and all it’s components. The time I spent working on these parts of the whole, yielded a much bigger and better “whole” than I imagined it would at this point in time.

Similarly, when training for a weightlifting meet, it’s all the pieces invested into the process that yields the result, which, if sown correctly, yields a PR.

Let’s take a closer look though at what you sow and what you reap.

You must be congruent, or in alignment, with what you hope to reap in the future, otherwise what you harvest will be “more” but not necessarily more of what you want.

For example, there is a popular fitness subculture right now that popularized the Workout of the Day. This subculture is good in theory, and they have some good training tools. The way they organize training yields some pretty good positive results. But, and it’s a BIG but, this system yields something else and it’s highly undesirable – Injuries. And lots of them. The reason is simple – they weren’t methodical and intentional enough in their planting.

2. You must be discriminant in what you sow.

If you want to be good at some sport, you must practice that sport. You must seek to incorporate or add only those things to your sporting practice which will make you better at that sport. It seems like common sense. But, unfortunately, it’s not. Too many times we get distracted by the bright shiny object. And before we know it, we’re off our chosen path. That’s not the bad part though. The bad part is that we fail to recognize that our distraction will not only show up in the future as not reaching our goals, but as much more than not reaching our goals.

So whatever it is you are training for, know exactly why it is your doing what you are doing and what you hope to accomplish by doing what you are doing. Sometimes, not doing something may actually be the best choice to make on any given day.

For example, I was snatching the other day wearing my weightlifting shoes. Even though my speed was up, my left knee was popping on several reps. This is the telltale sign that my left hip has started to shut down. I could’ve pushed it and adjusted my body positioning to get my knee not to pop, (which I did several times), or shut it down for the day and move on to something else. So I did. I moved on to the exercise I use to open my hip back up. In fact, as it turned out, both my hips had shut down. So, even though I wanted to snatch and could’ve willed myself to keep going, I stopped because I didn’t want to reap something negative in the future. (Been there, done that. No fun.)

Remember, not only is it important to map out your training, like we discussed last time, but it is also important to know why you are doing what you are doing. You must always keep in mind that what you plant in today’s training program will show up in one way or another in abundance in the future.

Next time, we’ll look at the third and final law of training.

Let me know what your experiences have been with the Law of Increasing Returns.

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The “Law” of Training Results, Part 1

by GEOFFN on February 23, 2010

There’s a lot of talk lately about training results. And that’s a great thing. It’s getting people excited about training again.

But really, there is nothing magical or mystical about getting results from your training.

To get results from your training, you must simply follow the Law of Compensation, which is comprised of three parts.

The first part is the the Law of Sowing and Reaping. (Yeah, sounds like I’m a farmer, but in a way, we all are…)

This law simply states that whatever you sow or plant, you will reap in like manner.

For example, if you want to get strong, you must actually exercise against a form of resistance to get stronger.

But let’s take a closer look…

Sowing. This is the idea of planting, or investing, time, energy, or money, or some combination of the three. Sowing is not done haphazardly. When a farmer plants a crop for future harvest, he must first know what crop he wants to harvest. He must then know where he wants to plant it. He must prepare the land for the sowing. Usually the preparation time takes longer than the actual planting. I remember as a kid, growing up in England on a farm, watching the tractors repeatedly till the fields with bigger and bigger tills, creating massive furrows, to plant sugar beet. The way they prepped the fields for barley or wheat were different. They used different plows and different tractors. (Usually smaller in each case.) The preparation was specific to the desired outcome. Sure, on the surface, it looked very similar, but the details varied.

The same is true with your training program. You must prepare your body for the desired outcome. Which of course means that you must have a desired and specific outcome in mind.

For example, I still have the dream that I’ve been chasing for the last 10 years of competing in the Weightlifting National Championships. (I qualified in 2000, but failed to go.) I am prepping my body to be able to withstand the rigors of weightlifting training. I am using both kettlebells and barbells to do so. And I am using a series of checks to not only guide my progress, but make sure I stay on track and keep moving forward.

Let’s say your goal is to press half your bodyweight in one hand, which is a measure of strength we use in the RKC to achieve your RKC2 standard. You need to make sure your body is able to press. You must have a standard of measuring it’s ability. And then once you can press, you must make sure your pressing in the most efficient manner possible, which is what we teach you how to do in the RKC and through Pavel’s various texts.

Then you must have a method of overload that will get you stronger. But, that is the least important part of the whole equation. You must first prepare your body for effective force transfer to the arm that will be doing the pressing. Mastering, or at least being able to “own” the Get Up is a great place to start.

Reaping. This is the actual harvesting. In most cases, what you harvest or reap, is the manifestation of what you planted. For example, if you want to grow an apple orchard, you have to plant apple seeds, so that they can grow into the actual apple trees. You wouldn’t expect to yield orange trees if you planted apple seeds. To do so would mean you are out of touch with reality.

The same thing holds true with your training program. In order to achieve a desired result, you must first have planted the “seeds” for that result. That includes not only the actual planting of the seed, remember, but also the preparation of the “ground” for that seed to grow in. Let’s use me as an example again, since I don’t know what it is that you want to accomplish. I want to compete again in Weightlifting. I must have a very strong core, healthy mobile, but stabile shoulders, and I must have mobile hips. To say that I should just start squatting, cleaning, snatching, and jerking without ensuring these things are in place, would be to reap not just heavier squats, cleans, jerks, and snatches, but also some injuries too. (Ask me how I know that… )

So in order to reap exactly what we want, we must be very deliberate in the preparation of the sowing process.

In order to start seeing progress, or results in your training again, make sure you are very deliberate and precise in mapping out your training goals and how you plan on achieving those goals.

Next time, I’ll talk about a process that will help you do just that.

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It’s That Time of Year Again…

by GEOFFN on February 17, 2010

I can’t believe it’s been almost five years. Time flies, whether you’re having fun or not. For the most part, it’s been fun.

I made my decision on pretty much two things:

Out of sheer frustration
And a chance to make new friends of like mind and be a part of a bigger community

Out of Sheer Frustration.

I just couldn’t figure it out. I just couldn’t do it. I mean, I could do the other exercises – the single hand lifts – the 1 H Swing, the Snatch, the Clean and Press, but I just couldn’t do that frickin’ 2 H Swing.

I mean, c’mon, really? Really?!

I could Clean and Jerk 160kg and Snatch 130kg, but I couldn’t Swing that frickin’ 32kg kettlebell with two hands without my lower back hurting??!! And that skinny former Commie could? You’ve got to be kidding me…

Well of course by now, you’ve probably figured out that I’m talking about the RKC – The Russian Kettlebell Challenge Instructor Certification. It was life-changing for me. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be writing this blog post today, or any of these other ones, if I hadn’t ponied up the cash and gone to the RKC in June of 2005.

Another frustration was that I had abdicated my reason and submitted my intellect and intuition to someone who had some letters behind his name, but had no real experience at the weight pile. (I have got to quit doing that!) I had gotten involved in the NASM and the whole thing had devolved into a corrective exercise mess. The really interesting thing about Pavel, was that he wasn’t interested in neuromuscular stabilization training, or whatever level 2 in the OPT model was called. He could get Grandma swinging a kettlebell safely in roughly 5 minutes. And I was jealous. Yup, I said, it – jealous. I was bound to the freakin’ model.

And then there were the bruises. We just thought they were the stripes you earned from using kettlebells. They were badges of honor. But it turns out we were just doing our Cleans and Snatches wrong. Bruises on the wrists and shoulders may be “cool” for guys, but quite frankly, many women didn’t appreciate having them. (One or two did…)

Man, I just had to figure these things out, but couldn’t do it on my own. It’s like Bugs Bunny said – “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

A Chance To Make New Friends And Be A Part of A Bigger Community

This was very intriguing to me. I have pretty much always been a lone wolf – do it on my own. But for some reason, I was literally drawn to the RKC. I guess it was because of the fact it was a bunch of people who were into lifting heavy stuff, but not in your traditional way. There were a bunch of people who were, well, hard – as the Brits would say. It was comprised of powerlifters, fighters, martial artists, and soldiers and the occasional athlete.

Plus, I just had to see what this darn Commie knew – it wasn’t all just marketing, was it? It just couldn’t be – although I was interested in the “tree-swinging traps.”

No, it definitely wasn’t all marketing. It was just downright hard. It was three days of sweating – or not sweating in my case – all black in a 98 degree Minnesota heat wave – lifting, heaving, and learning – lots of learning.

Back in those days, we used double bells for everything. I mean everything. And I absolutely loved it. It reminded me of wrestling practice, only easier.

Brett Jones was my Team Leader (back then we just had Seniors) and he put us through this brutal – absolutely brutal – workout with burpees, side-stepping swings, cleans and presses (Remember that Brett, you bast*rd, if you’re reading this?) and it was with double bells. And I was dumb enough to use double 32s. Stupid. I had to stop cause I almost had heat exhaustion – you know, you’re out in the sun and you feel that tingly creeping heat up the back of your neck? Ahh, good times!

And I made some really good friends because of that weekend – like Brett Jones, Dave Whitley, and Jeff O’Connor. And of course, I’m now part of a great community. Somehow, I fooled them all and now I get to teach at these weekends. I literally get to travel around the world and show people how transformative kettlebells, and more particular, the RKC School of Strength are. Last summer I got to go to Hungary, this summer I get to go to Denmark. How cool is that? (And I even have a book coming out on training with kettlebells!)

This has been some ride, I must say.

And now it’s your turn dear reader.

It’s your turn to transform your life.

It’s time for you to create lasting and wonderful memories.

It’s time for you to find out what you’re made of physically and mentally.

It’s time for you to literally become a better man or woman.

It’s that time of year, between February and October, when hundreds of men and women all over the world decide they want to become an RKC.

It’s time for you to join us, to join me, in our community – are you up for it?

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The Most Underrated Exercise?

by GEOFFN on February 16, 2010

At a certain point, I’ve got to wonder when, if ever, I will get tired of “discovering” new (old?) tricks, tips, and methodologies for my programming.

Lately, I’ve been focusing on Get Up based exercises/movements and anything that helps that particular movement. I came up with a series of exercises last month that were literally because I was too weak, and too locked down in my hips to be able to do what I was supposed to. I have a feeling there are many other people out there in the same boat.

This particular exercise actually makes many of the other exercises in our arsenal that much better.

It makes the half-windmill portion of the Get Up easier by “opening” the posterior hip capsule
It makes the lunge in the Get Up easier for the same reason as above
It allows you to pack the shoulders on the Get Up and the Press easier
It promotes reflexive core stability – the ability of your body to fire your core to protect your spine under load without you having to resort to artificial strategies
It strengthens all the muscles of the leg, from the plantar flexors in the foot and its intrinsics, all the way to the hip, including the deep hip rotators and the gluteus medius
It teaches you how to “link” your shoulders to your hips, via the Lat(s), which is important for spinal stability and increasing pressing strength
It allows you to fully load the hips and hamstrings in exercises such as the Deadlift and Swing

What is it?

The Single Leg Deadlift – with contralateral loading.

Here’s a pretty good picture (Sorry Brett Jones fans, couldn’t find a pretty one of him).

And here’s how to perform it:

Pretty Good Contralaterally Loaded Single Leg Deadlift

Don’t wear shoes of any kind – barefoot only
Initiate the movement by hinging into the hip
“Push” the elevated leg toward the wall
Keep the chest up and out, with your chin like the guy in the pic
Keep the elevated leg from externally rotating and pull the toes toward the hip (active dorsiflexion)
Keep the non-working leg close to midline of the body
Make sure the Lat is connected to the hip – should feel it contracting the whole time
Push foot into the floor the whole time
Don’t activate the abs – they should activate reflexively
You’ve hit end range when you can no longer keep the lower back flat
Reverse the motion and squeeze off the glut to stand up, pushing the foot into the floor the whole time.

When To Use the SLDL?

Yeah, that’s a great question. I think it’s a great exercise to use if you have been screened with the FMS/CK-FMS to increase shoulder flexibility, to improve rotational stability, and to improve your Active Straight Leg Raise. Maybe. It also could be used just for a warm-up. It fires up the ol’ CNS pretty quickly. I am currently using it for reflexive core stability and hip mobility, and pattern work.

Tonight I did a whopping 12kg for a set of 13 each leg and a set of 15 each leg. (Hey, leave me alone with the high reps thing – it’s a corrective exercise…). I was actually able to work up to 24kg for 5,5 on Friday, but it didn’t feel nearly as good as tonight. But that’s ok, I believe it set the “tone” for tonight’s work. So did all the modified SLDL work that I’ve been doing over the past 4 weeks.

I haven’t used them, or really been able to them well, for the last 10 years. I did a variation of them pretty routinely from ‘98 to ‘01-ish, but not the more effective way that’s shown in this picture. I honestly don’t think I ever got into the hip capsule the way I am now.

So add these in your training program once or twice a week either before or after your main work (Not after a heavy ballistics or metabolic conditioning session.). Start with some low reps and add reps when you’re able to get the movement down. See if it makes a difference. You should feel more “put together.” You will also notice a difference in some other exercises too.

Drop a response and let me know what you notice. I look forward to hearing how you get on with these.

{ 19 comments }

The Solution To Functional Muscle Mass

by GEOFFN on February 15, 2010

One of the best programs I’ve ever used for packing on muscle was back in 2004/2005. And for muscle, I mean “go” not “show.” It was stuff you could really use.

At that point I was using a “Westside Template” – two “speed” days and two “strength” days. There were 2 snatch dominant days and 2 C+J dominant days each week. On the strength days, I worked up to a training max -5RM, 3RM, or 2RM and then I applied a twist to an idea that the OTC used to use with their lifters about 15 or so years ago when Dragomir Ciroslan was the Head Coach of the US Team. They would hit a training max for the day, and then back down to 80% and get as many sets as they could. At least that was the way I remembered it.

So, my weightlifting partner and I would pick a lift, like Snatch Grip Deadlift from the Knee, hit a 5RM with it, and then back down and do as many sets of 5 with it as we could with somewhere between 60-90s rest. We’d do this three times per week – once with a snatch assistance exercise, once with a clean assistance exercise, and once with a jerk assistance exercise.

Several things happened.

We got really strong. If I remember correctly, I pulled 594 for a 3RM on a SnDL from just below the knee.
We got really muscular. I packed on close to 15lbs of muscle in my back, shoulders, and posterior chain in about 3 months.
Our lifts went up significantly. After this specific cycle, I Power Cleaned 140kg for 16 singles in 15 minutes. That was a PR.

I honestly don’t know why I ever stopped using this method. It is one of my top two or three methods for gaining strength and size.

The cool thing is that you can pack in the volume, work your groove, and obey the necessary laws to make progress:

As often as possible
As heavy as possible
As fresh as possbile

Now, arguably, this looks very, very similar to Pavel’s, Power to the People Bear variation. It is. Except there is no deload to 90%. And it’s based on a training max, not the whatever weight you used that particular day (70%, etc.).

How could you apply this to kettlebell training?

Exactly the same way. Work up to a max, and back down. If you don’t have enough bells, work on getting as many back down sets as you can. Then compress the rest periods and work to getting the same number of sets.

If you’re looking to put on a few usable pounds, give this template a whirl.

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Framing The Question

by GEOFFN on February 14, 2010

In the marketing world, it’s said the answer your customer gives you is based on how you frame the question.

There’s A LOT of buzz right now about Gym Movement and Adam T. Glass. Adam, for those of you who don’t know him, is VERY strong – a professional performing strongman. He has been setting PRs using biofeedback with his exercise programming. I am very excited for him and his progress. I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was using some of his training suggestions for my own training. And I have set several PRs. But let me qualify that statement.

I have been setting PRs in movements that are new to my body. I have not set any absolute PRs in old movements.

This gets back to “Framing the Question.”

Before Z-Health, I was VERY strong. Even while broken. But I had my issues, my compensations, my underlying gross movement pattern deficiencies.

I haven’t barbell snatched for a couple of weeks now – and pay attention class because this might be important – because even though it tested well – the best on that particular day – I couldn’t lift very much at all. It was as if an invisible force was stopping me and the weight from going up.

The next time the barbell snatch tested the best, the amount of weight and reps actually decreased from the previous training session, even though it tested the best out of all movements that day.

What was going on?

Well, quite simply, even though the snatch tested “well,” my body is still not capable of performing that lift to my mind’s expectations.

Why not?

Because I have still to fully fix/strengthen those formerly compensated movement patterns.

This is where having a plan of action, or a framework of reference, within which to test your biofeedback is a must.

The CK-FMS/FMS is a great place to start. Why? Because, and catch this, it screens your movement patterns.

So why couldn’t I move my snatch numbers up on these particular days? Because my underlying gross deficiency – reflexive core stability – is still generally weak – too weak to lift heavy weights overhead safely.

Now, I can hear you saying, “Why didn’t you test specific reflexive cores stability work that day.” I dunno. Probably because I had just done some of that work the day before, and it had tested the best that particular day. The point of the biofeedback is what tests the best in your arsenal on any given day. This of course assumes you have a broad arsenal.

So what can you do with the biofeedback information?

Here’s what I’d do:

Discover your limitations and weaknesses and make note of them using a screen like the FMS/CK-FMS or even just the Get Up.
Add the necessary correctives and their derivations for the screen results.
Test them using your biofeedback.
Pick the top 2 or 3 and train them that day.
Repeat for 2 weeks and then re-screen. If you’re clear, then start adding in the stuff you’re good at and like to do and add the biofeedback.

Now why should you listen to a word I’m saying?

Because I’m busy re-training stuff – stuff that used to be easy to do (circa 1998). I’m doing this stuff because I ignored what made me strong and tried to take shortcuts. Then I found my limits. Can I say I’m moving better now than back then? I don’t know – I moved pretty damn well back then. Especially for a bigger guy (230lbs).

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last 20 years of lifting heavy stuff, there are no shortcuts. They usually lead to cliff edges. If you skimp out, you’ll pay the price. Even if your biofeedback says you won’t.

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Does FMS Methodology REALLY Work?

by GEOFFN on February 11, 2010

Ok, I’ve been off the grid primarily for two reasons – updating websites and I’ve been exploring a lot of FMS (Functional Movement Systems) / CK-FMS methodologies.

Now that’s probably a pretty strange statement considering I started this blog 4 years ago to write about my Z-Health experience.

There is A LOT of controversy within the fitness community, especially the RKC, as to which is the better system – Z or FMS.

“Now hold it right there – they aren’t competition!” I can hear some of my colleagues say. To which I say, “Don’t kid yourself.” They’re both chasing after primarily the same market share. And if they weren’t competitors, they’d join forces and conquer the world together. But that’s neither here nor there.

What you should be asking is how come a guy like me who was so outspoken about the benefits of Z now messing around with another system?

The answer I think should be obvious. I want to learn more. There’s a lot of “Z-Snobbery” going on even still and I admit, I fell prey to it. The idea is that Z-Health is far superior to anything in the fitness world, even the world of medicine, for eliminating pain, correcting movement dysfunction, and improving performance. A lot of us involved in Z projected or still project this attitude. I for one did and I was wrong to do so. (Thankfully for me, I have a lot of good friends who tolerated me at the time.) It blinded me to opportunity and stunted my personal and professional growth.

A couple of months ago, I flew to Pittsburgh to visit my good friend, Brett Jones to have him evaluate my hip, since it was bothering me and it pretty much shut down (again). Honestly, I was tired of trying to find the right Z drill to fix the damn thing. Brett has a great handle on FMS and a good handle on Z (Level 3 trainer). I wanted to see what I was missing.

The answer turned out to be stability. Yup, that stuff that isn’t supposed to exist in many people’s worlds now. I thought the same until my weekend with Brett. Well, it turns out that I had done so much mobility work I had literally stripped away my compensations (which were my strengths) and was left with my weaknesses exposed. So, I had a choice – strengthen my weaknesses and get really strong again, or, well, ok, I guess I really didn’t have a choice. What was I supposed to do?

So I started playing around – nope – that’s not the right terminology – how about viciously applying the FMS drills that Brett gave me. I called up Jeff O’Connor and he sent me some of his “redneck ninja” magical stuff to work on, and I created my own drills based on some of Brett’s work. (By the way, if you ever have a chance to go to a Jeff O’Connor or Brett Jones workshop – run don’t walk to it! Their in depth knowledge about how your body works is truly astounding!)

The results have been spectacular.

I can honestly say I am completely pain free and feel, for lack of a better phrase – “Put together.” I am starting to feel really strong again. And I have finally, finally, fixed my right knee after 20 years of dysfunctional movement. That puppy is actually working again 99% of the time.

So, after being one of those guys who said the FMS stuff didn’t work nearly as well as Z, this blog post is my public recantation. FMS works very well. You have to understand a few things first:

Basic biomechanics (yes, and some neurology too…)
How the FMS system works.
How to interpret the FMS based on your knowledge of #1. Obviously the more you’ve studied the body the easier this will be for you.

So where does Z-Health fit in to this?

I’m going to leave that for a future post.

Let’s just say both serve their purpose and can be used together, but not how many people probably think they should be used together. I think it’s safe to say that Gray Cook, the developer of the FMS, has WAY too much clinical experience to be ignored, so if you haven’t already, you owe yourself to look into his work. It has over 13 years of documented positive proof.

So, do I have all the answers? Nope. Still working on ‘em. But I’ll keep you posted on what I discover. But I can tell you this for sure: If you need to identify and correct a weakness, I think the FMS / CK-FMS is a darn good way to go. It’s been working for me great so far. Am I willing to put my money where my mouth is? You bet. Both my wife and I are going to the CK-FMS in October and I’m sending her to the FMS/SFMA in April.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Sorry I didn’t get it to you sooner. And I promise, there’s more on this topic to come…

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