Send us a text Principles 1. Acquire attributes in this order: a. Muscle Mass b. Strength + Power c. Conditioning Resistance training (RT) does not negatively impact endurance adaptations but endurance training appears to negatively impact RT adaptations . If you focus too early on becoming conditioned then it’s very tough to build the structure you need, and gain the strength you need. This “ concurrent training effect ” or CTE (formerly known as the “interference effect” and revealed in the 19...
Dec 19, 2023•28 min
Send us a text Common problems 1. Rotator cuff strength – most common 2. Limited rotation 3. Limited flexion Usually people have all 3 Progression Rotator cuff strength 1. Banded side pulls with rotation 2. Crossover Symmetry 3. Seated DB External Rotation Limited rotation 1. Passive stretch – front rack = external, behind back = internal 2. PNF stretching 3. Loaded rotation Limited flexion 1. Passive stretch – bar hang 2. Standing shoulder flexion PAILs/RAILs 3. Prone shoulder flexion PAILs/RAI...
Dec 14, 2023•16 min
Send us a text Two factors: Range of Motion – how much knee flexion you allow Tension – how much tension you are putting through the quad, connective tissue of the knee Progression Progress ROM first, then tension 0 – no ROM, no tension Zone 1-2 Biking Daily 1 – some ROM, micro tension Reverse sled drag / backwards walking Daily 2 – full ROM, mini tension Heel sits Daily 3 – full ROM, low tension Front foot elevated, knees over toes split squat Banded cyclist squats Banded sissy squats 2-3x per ...
Dec 12, 2023•9 min
Send us a text Here is the weight class for competitive CrossFit: Males - 185-225 lbs at 6-12% body fat Females - 130-160 lbs at 12-18% body fat If you want to compete in CrossFit, then you need to be within striking distance of the weight class. For those below it, if you gain less than .5-1 lb of bodyweight per month, then consider doing more hypertrophy and less conditioning. Bodyweight aside, hypertrophy training is the foundation for the higher tension, faster contractions that happen in Cr...
Dec 07, 2023•12 min
Send us a text Fitness sport churns a lot of athletes. Most people last 2-5 years in serious training. Two things make athletes quit: 1. Tissue integrity 2. Stress-response fatigue Here's how to keep these at bay so you can realize your potential. Two principles: Get training designed for you (individualized) and training with seasons (periodized) What to do today: 1. More easy training Less dynamic eccentrics (any sport-specific movement) More cyclical work (machines) Less competing (2-4 times ...
Dec 05, 2023•22 min
Send us a text #1 Long before short Learn pacing Oxygen uptake Respiratory capacity Lower blood lactate Higher mitochondrial and capillary density Improved enzyme activity #2 Cyclical before mixed Concentric vs. eccentric Low skill vs. high skill Very fast twitch vs. fast twitch #3 Paces before races Practice your paces with intervals before racing at that pace to exhaustion. This lowers your perception of how that pace feels. Gives you belief that you can sustain it. Where to start? Is your bas...
Nov 30, 2023•17 min
Send us a text I used to have no priorities. It was like trying to sprint a marathon. It’s like saying, look at Kipchoge, he runs 4:30 miles for a marathon. I can’t run a 4:30 mile, so I should just run as fast as I can for as long as I can. This only leads to frustration, confusion and exhaustion. That’s not how YOU run YOUR fastest marathon. Yet this is what we’re doing with multidisciplinary athletes. We’re saying, Rich does thrusters and chest to bar at 30 reps a minute for 10 minutes. I can...
Nov 28, 2023•11 min
Send us a text You’re probably compensating . You’re doing something other than the most efficient pattern of contractions. Here’s what to do about it >>> Daily movement prep. Practice the positions you struggle with. Every day . This usually involves 3 sets of alternating passive stretching and contracting at end ranges of motion in the positions you struggle with. Here’s a common example >>> In the snatch, your shoulder is maximally rotated for stability - either internal or ...
Nov 23, 2023•21 min
Send us a text Especially in CrossFit. Here’s how >>> CrossFit is a strength sport masquerading as a test of everything. CrossFitters are advanced in strength, intermediate in endurance, and novice level in gymnastics. Even the tests that seem like conditioning often involve lifting some weight. If you can’t lift the weight in the first place, there’s nothing to endure . Scaling workouts in an attempt to get the same dose-response as an elite athlete gets is a recipe for staying where y...
Nov 21, 2023•11 min
Send us a text When you’re multidisciplinary, you’re asking more of your body than anyone else. This makes how you spend your time outside the gym even more important. Your rhythm, fuel, sleep and lifestyle make up the four pillars of how you spend your time outside of training. In this episode, we cover lifestyle: Sunlight Non-exercise activity Hydration Hygiene Stress...
Nov 16, 2023•12 min
Send us a text Two approaches I see athletes take all the time (and did a ton myself) that inevitably lead to injury, fatigue and lost potential. 1. Combining training programs from different sources: Common problems: -undereating -non-complementary choices -peaking programs – often time-bound programs are designed for peaking, not long term development 2. Making it up on your own: Common problems: -weaknesses get overcooked or undercooked -long term load management not present -no peak, going H...
Nov 14, 2023•14 min
Send us a text Sensing that you’re beat up all the time, or not progressing at the rate you think you should for all the work you’re putting in? Yes, it is possible to train too much. Even with perfect support, perfect rhythm, perfect sleep, perfect nutrition, perfect lifestyle – there is a finite amount of stress that the body can positively adapt to. If you’re military – you know what I mean. Those become the first thing you need to check – check them all. 1. Check performance. Even at an adva...
Nov 09, 2023•15 min
Send us a text Few things can be more frustrating than pain that keeps you from training. I’ve been there – we all have. 1. Accept that injuries will happen They are not a deviation from the path – they are the path 2. Be slow to give meaning to sensations You are not as good at assessing your structure as you think Pain vs. Injury 3. Dial in your psycho-social-environmental factors Sensitization vs. Injury 4. If you are building - stay below your tolerance and progress This is the path for almo...
Nov 07, 2023•15 min
Send us a text 1. Food = fuel 2. Low drag 3. Increase tolerance over time 4. Keep within striking distance of fighting weight Most individuals are going to consume: P = LBM – BW F = .3-.5x BW C = 1.5-3x BW Exceptions – I like to increase fat slightly if carbs are going very, very high When fat drops too low as a percentage of total calories (below 40%) this has a detrimental effect on testosterone The geared exception. The competition exception – we don’t care about hormone health in that case...
Nov 02, 2023•21 min
Send us a text For lots of athletes, the ideal day isn't possible because of vocation. This is where these other principles come into play. When you're deciding whether to train before or after work, or both, and when to train what. 1. Train your top priorities first This will allow you to apply the most intensity to your highest priorities. 2. Train fed Training fed will allow you to perform better than if you were fasted. 3. Train fresh Multiple, shorter training sessions are better than one m...
Oct 31, 2023•14 min
Send us a text You can outwork a beginner. You can outwork an intermediate. Once you become advanced, working hard is the bare minimum. The hard work gospel, hustle culture, go one more, pay the man message is for getting people off the couch. If you're an advanced athlete, time to start ignoring it. After working with hundreds of advanced athletes I've seen where the real margins are. They're in your rhythm, fuel, sleep and lifestyle. And then measuring progress in those with subjective and obj...
Oct 26, 2023•11 min
Send us a text Sleep is one of the pillars of support that allows an athlete to take on more stress. In this episode, I cover: -sleep hygiene -circadian biology -auditing your sleep -sleeping positions -products and supplements
Oct 25, 2023•29 min
Send us a text Tactical is its own discipline. The best tactical program isn't going all in on CrossFit, or powerlifting, or triathlon, or bodybuilding. The best tactical program supports the primary skills of the operator's function and will have a combination of these disciplines for maximal expression over a careerspan.
Oct 19, 2023•22 min
Send us a text Mindfulness is the practice of controlling your attention. When you practice paying attention to your sensory experience, you start to notice how transient it is as a source of information. An example is paying attention to your breath. It is here for a moment and then it's gone. How does this help the athlete? We're focused on physical performances that often involve enduring discomfort, full of very potent and acute sensory experience. When you practice controlling your attentio...
Oct 17, 2023•16 min
Send us a text I was in the army CrossFit was like everywhere. You deploy to Afghanistan and there are bumper plates. I could literally walk to the CrossFit gym over lunch. It was 10 years, seven years of really competitive and hard. Honestly was arrogant. I felt like I had kind of figured it out with rock climbing. I was training all the time. Like all of my free time was spent training. I have Saturdays I'd spend, you know, three, four or five, six hours in the gym. I just wanted to be in the ...
Oct 10, 2023•11 min
Send us a text What you shouldn't expect is inspiration. I am not an inspiring figure, I am not a fitness influencer, you won't see any shirtless pics, you won't be sold any supplements, you won't see any dudes on gear flexing, you're just not going to get that from me, I care too much about learning for that. If you're looking for inspiration, you will be disappointed by my podcast. If you're looking for entertainment, which is kind of in the same vein, then you'll be disappointed by my podcast...
Oct 10, 2023•6 min
Send us a text As an athlete, time is one of your most important resources. You can do two things with your time. You can work or you can rest. Your biology will only experience a beneficial response to a properly dosed amount of work, followed by adequate rest. So going one more or working harder is not always the answer. There is a maximum dose that then requires a certain amount of rest. And you have 24 hours in a day, you have 365 days a year, and you've got to apply work and rest appropriat...
Oct 04, 2023•12 min
Send us a text The main difference between intermediate and advanced trainees is: Time invested per week I’ve met so many intermediate trainees investing 5 hours a week in the gym. Advanced trainees are doing 8-15+ It’s a function of how important it is to you. If you’re that person - this is your main curiosity in life. How far can I go in this thing? You need a plan. Send me a DM @paulbweber...
Sep 26, 2023•7 min
Send us a text There are 2 camps in health and fitness: -Naturopaths, holistic practitioners and clinicians. This is art. It is common sense, holistic, naturalist, born of personal experience and experience helping real people. -Medical doctors and researchers. This is science. It is data-driven, research-backed, facts > feelings, outcomes > mechanisms. Born of a lab. It is very similar to the yin/yang, feminine/masculine duality of Taoism In Myers Briggs it is Intuiting vs. Sensing Each c...
Sep 21, 2023•10 min
Send us a text As of 2019, 0. 9 to 2. 9% of men in the United States are on TRT. As of 2017, testosterone prescriptions had increased 500% since 1993. Approximately 25% of men who receive TRT are not tested prior to treatment. Approximately 30% of men who get on it have no indication. They either are asymptomatic or they do not meet the clinical level of biomarker recommended by the American Urological Association (under 300 nanograms per deciliter). Of those treated, about half don't have their...
Aug 16, 2023•18 min
Send us a text Circadian biology is the main mechanism by which fasting helps humans. We ain’t supposed to eat at night! Circadian rhythm is a 24 hour oscillation pattern in metabolic, physiological and behavioral functions of almost all species. It is an adaptation to the rotation of the Earth. Fasting protocols that disrupt this rhythm are unhelpful. Behaviors that keep people from eating at night and on this rhythm are helpful....
Aug 08, 2023•12 min
Send us a text Saunas have become uber popular for fitness and therapeutic uses. In this episode, we answer the question, "What actually happens when you get in the sauna?" "Who is sauna really good for?" And provide context to the research findings that have made sauna so popular.
Aug 02, 2023•14 min
Send us a text To perform at your absolute best in a physical endeavor (powerlifting, strongman, crossfit, running, swimming, cycling) it takes two things, competitiveness and curiosity. Who is going to take their biological organism to the absolute limit? If you don't do it, then one of your competitors will, it takes being competitive. But it also helps to have curiosity because that's part of what drives you to that limit. Competitors are curious about things like, "What does that limit reall...
Aug 02, 2023•8 min
Send us a text Functional movement may not be what you think. A few criteria: What can be done with no equipment? What makes sense from an evolutionary biology perspective? Can a two year old do it?
Aug 02, 2023•16 min
Send us a text A fad diet is one that advocates for the elimination of entire real food sources, whether that's dairy, grains, nightshades, legumes, vegetables, meat, whatever it is. The burden of proof is not on why you should eat from a real food source, the burden of proof is on why you shouldn't eat from a real food source. When authorities defend these fads, there's often an identification of a biochemical. And the authority then vilifies that particular biochemical. Because they're using t...
Aug 02, 2023•16 min
