Build a Foundation

The internet age is wonderful because it provides us with a wide variety of information at the click of a mouse that in the past would have taken hours or days to research.  The downside to this wealth of information is our brains do not know how to process and filter it.  This is true for medical studies, politics, and even strength and conditioning.  For example, look up your favorite athlete in Google or on YouTube and you can probably find one of their workouts for a given period.  The problem with this is the information is taken out of context.  In order to develop a well-rounded athlete or even just be fit and healthy, the first step should be to develop a base of strength, body awareness, balance, flexibility, mobility, aerobic and anaerobic capacity before lifting heavy weights, sprint training, advanced plyometrics, or any kind of specialized training.

When you see a professional athlete, you are seeing a finished product, not the process that created it.  Often times, these athletes have been working out since they were young developing work capacity.  They also played a variety of different sports until the college level.  For example, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson played basketball, track, and football at his high school.  When you see interviews with athletes about how they conditioned themselves early on, many of them did things like push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, run, and jump rope.

Specialized training has its place and that place is well after a foundation has been laid.  If you try to teach a student algebra or statistics who does not understand multiplication, division, or exponents, you will not get very far.  That student may understand order of operations, but they will not be able to actually apply what they have learned to real life.  The same is true of strength and conditioning.  If I have a trainee who cannot complete 10 good pushups, but I teach them to bench press, will they get better at the bench press?  Sure. But what good does that actually do them?  They have not developed the tendon strength or the surrounding musculature to guard against injuries or even progress past a certain point on the bench press.

Body-weight training is beneficial for several reasons:

1. The majority of body-weight exercises are closed chain meaning the entire body has to be engaged in order to provide stability in the movement.  For example:  In the push up, the triceps, deltoids, and pectorals are the prime movers, but contractions of the lats, trapezius, abdominals, spinae erectors, glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings stabilize to make that movement possible.  This not only helps the trainee get stronger, but also to learn body awareness.
2. Body-weight training relies on moving the body against gravity which is precisely what we do in everyday life and for the most part what is done in sports.  What good is being able to move external weight if you have difficulty moving your body through space effectively?
3. The body is smart.  If you are preforming a push up repeatedly and more muscle is needed in your triceps, your body will build more muscle in the triceps.  On the same note, if you are carrying around unneeded weight, the body will get rid of it to make the pushups easier.
4. This type of training is cheap and can be done anywhere.

Now, do not let the above make you think I am anti-weights.  I am not.  In fact, I am not even entirely against them for some beginners.  For some trainees it can be difficult to activate certain muscles, like using the back muscles during a pull-up.  For these trainees it is fine to use dumbbells, bands, cables, etc. to help activate the muscles (although it is usually not necessary).  I am simply saying that it is better to gain proficiency in movements, develop baseline strength, and create awareness of how the body moves before you add an external load or start isolating muscles.

Why do I say this?  Well, once you add an external load the focus becomes on moving the load.  This is fine, but if awareness has not been developed,  the desired effect is less likely to be achieved.  In other words, we lift to get stronger and to develop muscles, but where we get stronger and develop muscles is important.  If you squat with weight on your back, you will find a way to lift the weight.  The issue is entire muscle groups might be "asleep".  Developing form and making sure muscles are firing is the first priority. 

An underused philosophy in strength and conditioning is “do as little as possible to achieve the desired result".  This isn't to say do not have difficult workouts, but if there is ground to be gained without adding an external load, then why add an external load?  Ultimately, gains can only be gained so fast.  Why not have something else to try when what you are doing is no longer working?  Too much, too soon will make it difficult to narrow down what works and what does not.

So where do you start? Jumping rope, skipping, hip thrusts, glute bridges, sit-ups, crunches, planks, jumping jacks, lunges, squats, hop scotch, distance running up to 30 minutes, shorter more intense intervals of running 200-800 meters, running up hills, running up stairs, dodge ball, back extensions, supermans, squat jumps, lunges, split squats, running in sand, high knees, body rows, fartlek runs, pull-ups, squat thrusts, pushups, dips, leg lifts, monkey bars, balance beams, slack ropes, burpees, medicine ball throws, ect.  That is an extensive and incomplete list, but it is a good place to start.  After proficiency is achieved, look to increase difficulty a little bit at a time.  The pace of progress will vary by individual and so may the point at which you decide to add weight or otherwise increase difficulty.  One thing is for sure though, if the trainee cannot do the above things listed (specific injuries notwithstanding), then there is no reason for them to be doing advanced speed training, heavy weight lifting, advanced plyometrics, or Olympic style lifts.

What is proficiency?  Other people might disagree with me, but I would say if you could do the strength movements continuously, with good form, for more than 30 seconds then proficiency has been achieved.  After 60 seconds, the trainee should progress in difficulty, unless some kind of specific training effect is desired.  As a trainee advances, this will not be the criteria used to progress, but again this is a starting point.

Never be afraid to resort back to the basics.  When I am injured or burned out on heavy weights and intense training, I revert to calisthenics, lighter weights, and fundamental things.  Although I may lose some maximum strength, it can be gained back easily and I will feel much better.

Getting better at something is a long process.  Dedicate a little time to the basics now and reap the benefits for years to come.