NOW YOU HAVE A SANDBAG. HERE'S WHAT TO DO WITH IT!

Out of the endless sandbag exercise possibilities, there are three exercises that are crucial for developing your grip strength, mid-line stability as well as providing you with a massive ROI. The sandbag clean, Zercher squat and get-up are those BIG 3.

Once you've read through each of the brief descriptions of these sandbag exercises, check out the video at the bottom to really drive each movement home. We recommend you start putting in to your programming as soon as possible. And, as always, have fun with these exercises! Feel free show us how you performed your sandbag exercises or drop us a line with any questions you may have.

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THE BIG 3

1. SB Clean
This exercise teaches the lifter to generate power. It starts just like a Deadlift. Back flat, midline tight, and arms locked out. By quickly extending your hips and driving your feet through the ground, pop the sandbag up and drop into a receiving position to catch the bag.

2. Zercher Squat
This exercise is great for midline control, building leg strength and requires that you maintain proper posture while squatting, which will keep you safe and efficient. Support the sandbag with your arms forming a "basket" in front of you with palms facing up. The sandbag should be placed in the crooks of your elbows as you engage your lats in order to keep the bag close to your body as you perform your reps.

3. Get Up
This exercise can be performed any number of ways, but we encourage that as you start out, that you take it slow, hit each progression with intention and find good positions throughout the entire range of motion. When done in this fashion, the sandbag get-up recruits nearly all major muscle groups with the completion of just one rep. To say that there's a big return on investment with this movement would be an understatement.

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HOW TO BUILD A SANDBAG

If you are someone that trains out of your garage, you probably have a limited area for a ton of more traditional equipment. Not to mention, the cost of buying all of that stuff is enough to deter even the most hardcore worker-outers. But don't stress. The answer is very simple and very inexpensive: build a sandbag.

Sandbags have become more mainstream recently due to the growing popularity of strongman, but there are many of you out there that are still missing the boat. Implementing sandbags into your training program has a multitude of advantages, but two big ones are:

1. They are inexpensive and easy to make. Major ROI.

2. They more accurately represent the types of object manipulation we face day-to-day. Let's just simplify this by saying that sandbags provide a more real-life experience than a barbell. Evenly distributed weight on a convenient barbell doesn't really happen in nature....just a thought.

Now, contrary to the name, you don't want to literally fill a bag full of sand and go crush a workout. Trust me, that's a bad idea. You'll find that to be a major pain in the ass to use and clean up after. Just picture coming out of the ocean and rolling around on the beach - that pretty accurately depicts the outcome. 

Instead, watch the video below. Chapa and I walk you through the process of building a solid general purpose sandbag. The video is a long one at 6 minutes, but I think that if you are serious about your training and creating a well-rounded program, it will totally be worth it to you to watch. Then, after you build your bag, we will be sharing another blog covering the 3 sandbag exercises you NEED to be doing to get strong. These exercises provide major bang for your buck - especially when performed with the sandbag, so you'll want to stay tuned for that one. 

Until then, get that bag built!

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3 COMMON FAULTS TO AVOID WHEN DOING RDLs

The Romanian Deadlift, commonly known as the RDL, is one exercise you definitely need to incorporate into your training if you're looking to increase posterior chain strength. But like all movements, doing it properly will provide the most bang for your buck and keep you healthy for the long-game.

The  most common faults that occur while performing RDLs are:

1. Rounding the low back
   This usually occurs because the athlete does not have control of their mid-line position or the athlete is attempting to go lower than there hamstring mobility will allow.
2. Bar drifts away from body
   This fault can be seen when the athlete is not properly engaging their lats to pull the bar back against the legs in an active position.
3. Too much knee flexion
   Again, this often occurs when the athlete attempts to go further than their mobility allows. But it can also be related to a poor understanding of pushing the hips back to stretch the hamstrings. 

An overarching concept that you'll find to be helpful is to only go as far down as your body will allow while maintaining proper positioning and activity. Everyone's range of motion and body mechanics are different, so don't get caught up forcing ranges of motion that aren't there yet. This will only lead to injury. Give it time and some solid effort to move as perfectly as possible and the benefits will soon follow.  not there to keep from possible injury.

Be sure to check out the video below. Joey Chapa, TCS's newest intern, breaks down the RDL and the concepts we've talked about above with some of the very best demonstrations ever performed by some dude with a great beard. HA!
 

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LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO YOUR MID-LINE.

As a coach, one of the most valuable things we can teach our athletes is how to control their mid-line. All too often, athletes and general fitness enthusiasts are exposed to physically demanding movements and positions without first establishing proper control over the musculature that is responsible for keeping their pelvis, low back and rib cage in safe, solid and efficient positions. Obviously we want this safety and efficiency present when moving our body through space, as well as when we move external objects through various ranges. As you can imagine, not having this control is a recipe for poor, potentially harmful, movement patterns to develop, which will eventually lead to injury. It's just a matter of time.

The good news is that we have ways to turn this trend around and build beneficial movement patterns and habits. It's not too late.

The video below is designed to help you introduce the Dead Bug Extension in a way that will be extremely valuable to both your newbs and seasoned athletes. This is one of those things that will only make you better - as long as you and your athletes pay attention to the details and move with intention. 

Check it out.

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WOMEN'S WEIGHTLIFTING CREW

Starting in February (2/3/17) TCS will host the Women's Weightlifting Crew on the first Friday of every month. This is open to any female in the area who loves to pick shit up and put it down. Strongman, powerlifting, olympic lifting, "gymnastical" shit....everything is up for discussion. Myself and Coach Mary D from the Strictly Strength side of the gym will be leading these workouts. 

If you are familiar with TCS, Travis hosts "Lumberjacked" for the dudes once a month. This is the same - but better for obvious reasons.

WWC is open to any fitness level. You could be starting out day 1 - or be competing in the Olympics. We don't care, and neither should you. This is about getting together with other strong women and doing what we love: Lifting heavy shit in any way possible. 

Sign ups are HERE. Look on the class calendar each month for the announced Friday night for the WWC. 

INTENTION & THE SWING

The Russian Kettlebell Swing is a seemingly simple movement - much like an air squat or pushup. But, these movements are key to the foundation of any person's ability to perform quality work in the gym and out.

The trouble begins when people think that because it's a basic movement that they can afford to simply go through the motions rather than making each and every rep as effective as possible. I know I'm guilty of this at times, but it's important that, as coaches, we convey a message of intention to our athletes. On the other side of that coin, the responsibility to carry that task out on a consistent basis - each and every rep - lies in the hands of the athlete.

So this video is for everyone. Coaches and athletes, take a few moments to watch the video and then apply these concepts and movement patterns into your reps. You'll find that intention tends to change everything! 

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WEEKEND NUTRITION SURVIVAL GUIDE

By: Jen Shaw

The weekend...A.K.A. killer of all diets, is more often than not where people break. What is it about "the weekend" that makes people jump off shit pier and ruin everything? Even if you are absolutely perfect Monday through Friday you will completely blow your goals if you food orgy pizza and beer for two days, or even one full day. 

So, in an effort to help you battle the weekend slip-ups, I want to share the rules that I abide by. They might seem dumb or maybe even minuscule....but you they're the keys to coming out of the weekend on top and in control.

RULES OF THE WEEKEND

1. There are no "cheat days" so stop. 

First, stop using the word "cheat." It's super negative and means you are doing something wrong which you are not, you are living. However, going on a sugar bender all day will absolutely ruin you. Yes, you can recover from it and move on for sure. However if you are involved in anything like "GET RIPPED" that only lasts six weeks you are really stunting your progress. 

2. NEVER ever treat yourself on Sunday night.

Sunday night is usually the night before you are back at the gym and lifting heavy. Treating yourself on Sunday night will sabotage your workout and possibly how you feel when you wake up Monday morning. Only good things Sunday night. 

3. If you MUST have a bad meal, do it at lunch - not dinner. 

It's much harder to recover from a treat if you have it at dinner. Eating bad and then going to sleep leaves you feeling like crap in the morning. So after your treat at lunch drink water, nap, eat a good dinner and have all the good things before you sleep. 

4. NEVER EVER drink after you eat your last meal of the day. 

I cannot stress this enough. Have you ever woken up anywhere between 2-4am sweating and your heart racing and beating out of your chest? That's drinking, and sugar. I suggest you have your cocktails before dinner, then eat, then water. Wine after meals, the worst. All of that sugar just sitting there waiting to crush your sleep at 2am. 

Try it and let me know how it works! 

3 TIPS TO MAKE YOUR TIME ON THE AIRBIKE A LITTLE LESS SHITTY

We all know that any time spent on an airbike(airdyne, assault bike, xebex, airfit, etc.) is probably going to be miserable and end horribly - It's the nature of the beast, but that's why we do it. There's not much out there that can create that type of suck. That being said, there's no reason to make it worse than it has to be!

In the video below, I share a couple quick tips on how to properly set up your bike so that your time in the saddle is a little less shitty. 

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LUMBERJACKED 2017

LUMBERJACKED is a 4 week nutrition program for men designed to be a straightforward way to kick-start some big results through simple guided nutrition and additional workouts.

The New Year is when everyone gets super jazzed about all the changes they're going to make this year that screwed up their lives last year, but as most of us know, that usually doesn't yield the results we were hoping for. Why?

Excuses.
Poor Planning.
Lack of Accountability.

The beauty of the LUMBERJACKED program is that those obstacles are recognized and addressed in ways that make the process of change as simple as possible. That does NOT mean it's easy. It will require dedication, integrity and a willingness to work for what you want. IF you can get your mind wrapped around that, you can surely make some serious change occur!

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THE BREAKDOWN

Program Duration: 4 weeks
Start Date: 1/6/2017 @ 6pm
Finale Date: 2/3/2017 @ 6pm (Food to follow)

Program Details:

• "Before/After" pictures and measurements
• Food list of approved foods
• Individualized guidelines
• Weekly nutrition accountability
• 4 FREE Friday night workouts with other LJ participants

REGISTER NOW

MAKING INTRODUCTIONS

ATLAS STONE TECHNIQUE: Keep Those Biceps Happy & Healthy

The cool thing about strongman movements is that whatever gets the job done is a viable option and should be considered. Of course there are some considerations that need to be made like safety and efficiency, but there isn't really anything that says you MUST lift a stone a specific way.

To follow this up, the type of workout you are performing also dictates how one would optimally move a stone. For example, some workouts are short and are designed to be completed as fast as possible. In this case, a movement with fewer stops and starts/phases would be ideal. On the flip-side, there are other work sessions that are longer in duration and will require more efficiency for the purpose of longevity. You see, performing a large number of reps using a "one-timer" technique or simply just using your biceps more will typically result in some inefficiency later in the workout and possibly even some minor to serious irritation at the elbow. 

In the video below, I breakdown how to tweak your technique so as to save those biceps and utilize the larger muscles of the posterior chain to more efficiently move that stone. Before we get to that video, it should be noted again that this technique is not the ONLY technique. There are situations where some variations of this movement are more desirable than others. Play with what works best for you. This is simply information for you to digest and use at your discretion.

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He's Baaaaaack!

In this strength and conditioning business you develop relationships.  As a coach, you watch your clients put everything they've got in to the task you give them.  You watch them struggle, fight, sweat, bleed, cry.  You also have the privilege of watching them overcome, succeed, celebrate, focus, achieve, and re-focus on the next dragon to be slayed.  It should go without saying, but with all of this emotion and these powerful experiences, strong bonds are made between coach and athlete. 

This is especially the case for my relationship with my long-time personal training client, Mike.  Mike was my very first personal training client when I first moved to Austin and during that time we've made some massive changes in health, strength, mental toughness, etc.  It's truly been an absolute joy to train Mike over the last several years.

Mike would put everything he had in to our hour-long sessions.  He busted is ass as hard as any one in the gym and was positive - even when he was near his breaking point.  In fact, the only thing that halted our steady progression was a shoulder injury - the cause of which is still unknown.  

In any case, Mike took a step back from our training and began physical therapy for what they were calling a "misalignment of the shoulder".  With the PT taking priority, we decided to take some time off and get back to when we had the OK from the docs.  

Well, we all know that when you start sliding it can be hard to stop, right?  That's kind of what happened in Mike's case.  He had stepped out of our training routine and started slipping.  That is, until I touched base with him two weeks ago....

It's amazing what a simple "check in" can yield!  Mike received my text and responded back that just that week he had stopped by my old stomping grounds in an effort to find me so that we could start up again!  Needless to say, I was PUMPED!

So that's that.  We started back up again on Wednesday after a year hiatus!  Our first session was awesome.  It seemed as though we hadn't missed a day!  And just as I expected, Mike worked his ass off from start to finish.

 gotta say....It's good to have him back! 

On a final note - this should be more than just a story for you to read.  This should be a call to action to get back to doing the things that were producing results in your life....regardless of whether they were hard or not.  Do those things that required great things of you so as to challenge yourself and exceed expectations.