As a performance guy, I absolutely hate the ‘traction control’ button that they put in a number of vehicles today. If you aren’t aware of what this button does, it operates by detuning the engine and, in some cases, the transmission. By retarding the engine timing to reduce its output and slowing the shift patterns, it effectively improves the traction but really no more than if you purposely stepped on the gas pedal a little softer and with better control. With less power, the detuned powertrain has less chance of losing control on an unstable surface and causing you to crash and injure yourself.

Your body has the exact same mechanisms in place. When you lack stability, your body detunes its reaction to prevent you from injuring yourself. This is the primary reason why training with a Bosu ball or squatting in squishy tennis shoes is counterproductive. With a detuned body, you simply can’t work as hard as you want to or fire and engage your muscles properly. It’s also the reason why my coaching cues help people realize immediate improvements in their lifts when implemented properly.

If you don’t have a properly stabilized core with proper intra-abdominal pressurization (IAP), this down-regulation is in place. Your traction control button is on. Another button is proper joint centration. If your positioning or tight muscles are pulling the joint to one side of the socket, it will down-regulate your central nervous system firing as well. In practice, this looks like a movement pattern-based, warm-up drill. I have several examples on my YouTube channel and further examples will be covered in depth in the Duffin Movement Series (DMS).

If you’re training squats, you would do some movements that require transferring power through the hip joint with a stabilized core. You would do these with proper IAP as a warm up. You would focus on ensuring that the prime movers such as the glutes are firing properly, and you would practice the cues to engage properly such as ‘rooting’ to the floor, as discussed in many of my videos. The movement selection or cueing of the movement will help with achieving proper joint centration and connecting the muscles with the properly pressurized core. Some examples are goblet squats, rear leg elevated split squats, single leg deadlifts and hip side shifts performed before squatting, as shown in one of my videos.

This movement-based approach teaches the body to turn on properly and lets the central nervous system know that it doesn’t need to down-regulate—as long as you keep proper positioning and IAP while moving to the core, heavy lift. It also gets you warmed up and ready to begin training. It’s an efficient training approach because it takes 5–10 minutes, and when you’re finished, you’re already in the process of being warmed up physically and mentally.

Read the rest of article on EliteFTS.com

I will be doing a seminar in Hilo HI on Saturday June 20th covering several topics on movement and strength training. Registration will be limited to 25 people. Once the first 25 people sign up registration will close. This will be a combination lecture/presentation and a lots of hands on work. One on One coaching and refining lifting patterns , rehab, and preventative measure techniques. Please bring attire appropriate to train in as well as snacks and beverages for the day. It will be 7-8hr seminar with a lunch break. Lunch will be catered onsite.

10am - 5pm

Registration fees can be financed over 6 months with zero interest via pill pay. Please email [email protected] with any questions or financing link.

We have added an Observation Only seating option. This is an economical approach for those that want to observe but will not included the individual coaching.

Here is a flyer for distribution locally Hawaii.

I have recently decided to exit my career of 18 years advancing from engineering to executive level leadership the last 8 years. This move has been in the works a long time but its taken a lot of work to be prepared for the transition. It is a scary move leaving the comfort of a career I have excelled at and am known for my success. However I’ve reached a point in my life that I need to follow my passion and my dreams full time. I now have the opportunity to spend more time collaborating, learning, distilling, and sharing that knowledge.

My goal is to add value while continuously improving my relationship with the Strength and Conditioning Community by providing proprietary tools and knowledge designed to optimize physical and psychological human potential.

I am excited about that and making this change is worthy of an epic party to celebrate.

Of course my idea of a party is different than what most people would imagine. So before engaging in beer, booze, and food I’m going to push myself to my physical and mental limits while attempting to set records.

I’m going to be doing a 500lb squat for reps challenge. If I hit 19 reps in 60 seconds it will break the Guinness World record for best squat in a minute. If I hit 24 reps it beats an unlisted record form the 80’s when Tom Platz and Fred Hatfield went head to head for reps with 500lbs.

This will be done walked out and with only knee sleeves and belt.

Here is the link and embedded page for the live stream event!!! Please share this post around!

May 6^th @ 3:30 pm PST

https://youtu.be/uONcEvbIwfI

In the interim here is a video to get you pumped up about the event.

Last week I took a trip to visit my friend Mark Bell at his new facility. We had a great time shooting interviews, podcast, and some great instructional pieces I did with some of his athletes. I’m looking forward to these pieces coming available on the public domain for you to see in the coming weeks.

On the last day before catching a flight out of town we decided to do a quick Q&A from the social media following and posted up request to questions just before the final workout of the visit. Unfortunately there were so many questions that came in we were barely able to get to a fraction of them, but hope that you enjoy the ones we were able to get to.

Additionally here is the workout video for last week which covers the time at SuperTraining.

This weekend I had the opportunity to spend a couple full days working with Ed Coan. We had a great deal of success in working through some issues he has and establishing a path forward. During the time we also had a lot of back and forth knowledge sharing.

It was a tremendous honor for me to host Ed for the weekend at EPC in Portland and to have his trust for seeking me out. At the end of the period we filmed an incredible interview covering a number of great topics that I think are worth the watch. Make sure to check out the ShouldeRök™ Ed mentioned and subscribe to our newsletter for weekly insights.

In December of 2012 I tore my right adductor in a meet. I had actually had some minor tearing early in the year and had been managing it to keep training but with a 782 competition squat it let go on me.

After rehabbing the area I determined a need to reduce my injury risk. With squatting wide and pulling sumo it simply puts a lot of strain on this area that is sometimes slow to recover. It is also a faily common injury point with lifters.

One of the ways I have reduced this risk is with ensuring proper recruitment patterns are firing before this heavy eccentric load. This is done with a specific warmup routine and test-retest methodology before jumping under squats. I reviewed this warmup routine on Breaking Muscle.

That write up only covered that specific warmup and also skipped the hip-airplane that I often employ as part of it.

In this video piece I go into depth on the hip-aiprlane that is used before I squat and pull but also passive compression and some targeted volume work. The passive compression can make an instantaneous improvement if you have some issues in this area and also seems to improve recovery as well as reduce injury risk. I employ passive compression in training on pretty much every heavy set for this reason. A hammy band or a compression band work great. In addition to the passive compression it’s great to work in some volume work to stimulate flushing of this low blood flow area. An example of this is provided in the video as well.

This is not the be all and end all of groin health, but just the methods I have employed with success. It has allowed me to successfully move from that failed squat at the beginning to the standing world record 881 squat 2 years later with no aggravation of this injury.

Whiskey & Deadlifts
(aka - Powerlifting: Experimentation and Logic behind Intra-Workout Alcohol Consumption)
by powerlifter Chris Duffin

Are you looking for an excuse to get drunk or abuse alcohol? If yes than go away! This is most definitely not an article for you. Without a doubt the negative long term and short term effects of alcohol are very well documented. Particularly as an athlete, excess and even moderate alcohol use can have a detrimental effect on your powerlifting and strongman performance. From negative hormonal factors such as lowering testosterone, lowering HGH, lowering ADP generation, and increasing cortisol to dietary impacts of reducing protein syntheses, containing 7cal/g of energy, and interfering with absorption of other nutrients - all of these factors make it clear that alcohol is something to avoid as a strength athlete (or consume in very minimal quantities). The short term depressant effect, slowing both cognitive ability as well as coordination, and reducing decision making abilities makes it hard to understand how there would be any value in alcohol at all – particularly when it comes to strength sports.

Unfortunately for us, much of the research we have access to is incomplete. It looks at the short term and long term effects of alcohol on the body. There is plenty of positive research on minimal to moderate long-term alcohol use and the positive effects on cardiovascular health and free radical scavenging properties – This might be something for us to explore at another time.

The exception and interesting thing to note is in the lack of research on the IMMEDIATE effects of low-dose alcohol consumption on the athlete.

The proposed hypothesis is that alcohol used in small and properly timed doses allows for harnessing some of the immediate psychoactive effects that can have a net positive impact on performance. Before reading further I would like to state that the use of alcohol is banned by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), so if you are thinking of using it in tested competitive events – please don’t. Interestingly enough, the very first athlete to be disqualified from the Olympic Games was for alcohol use at 1968 games in Mexico City (Hans-Grunner Liljenwall). This was only one year following the death of Tom Simpson, a Tour de France athlete that died from excessive use of Brandy and Amphetamines during the race. It was this 1967 death that caused the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to kick off its anti-doping efforts. The use of alcohol in athletics has been around for some time. How long exactly is a historical mystery, but it is well documented that the challenging 1904 Olympic Marathon was won by Thom Hicks who was ready to give up at the 16mile mark due to exhaustion. After that point, at every stop his handlers gave him brandy for recovery and he went on to finish and win the race. The ancient Greeks in the original Olympic Games used a number of psychoactive drugs, including wine consumption, to enhance performance. Even today many Russian strength athletes are rumored to enjoy drinking vodka before deadlifting. I believe this is not just because they like vodka but the actual immediate performance enhancing effects.

To explain my logic I invite you to first imagine a scenario that many may be familiar with – an individual in a bar. In that bar you notice someone at another table you find very attractive and want to strike up a conversation with, but most of us in this classic scenario are nervous. You friend suggests you have a shot of “liquid courage”. Yes, we know some of the positive psychoactive effects of alcohol from our own experiences without having to see any hard research. That quick shot of liquid courage does several things – first, it reduces inhibition and fear, then it can also shut down the many thoughts that run through your mind; thoughts of second-guessing yourself and of overthinking the situation. It quiets the mind and calms the nerves – effectively reducing anxiety in the short term. One interesting anecdote is that alcohol is banned in the sport of competitive shooting for exactly these reasons. Alcohol can be a performance enhancer that can reduce tremors, improve balance (yes…immediate but not long term), and thus ultimately improving accuracy. In addition to calming the nerves, reducing inhibition, and reducing fear, it also heightens whatever mood you’re in – including aggression or sociability.

While alcohol is listed as a depressant it is an interesting drug in that that it can also have stimulant-like effects. Part of this effect may or may not be related to the fast acting metabolic action it has as a calorically-dense substance. Alcohol absorbs faster than simple carbohydrates yet has almost the same caloric density as fats while also being absorbed and used by the body with a higher priority than the other macronutrients. This may not be what causes stimulant like effects under some conditions, but it certainly has an impact as an on-demand intra-workout calorie source. Think back to the recovery of that marathon runner. We can anecdotally guess that if he had used alcohol before the race it would have had a negative impact on his performance. But in this specific application it was effective in the immediate, short term as an intra-workout energy source.

Additionally, alcohol has an immediate hypertensive effect on the heart – it effectively causes blood pressure to increase. While this effect is not typically considered beneficial, short-term spikes in blood pressure can make heavy weights feel lighter. Elevated blood pressure, reduced fear, less jitters/tremors, more focus (shutting down the overthinking mind), mood enhancement, reduced pain perception, fast absorbing caloric energy it is easy to now see how this popular psychoactive drug can be used as a specific targeted tool by which athletes can improve performance. As long as the amounts are kept to an absolute minimum - mitigating both the short term and long term negative effects – it is not a far reach at all to consider alcohol as a performance enhancer, particularly for strength athletes.

Due to the negative short term and long-term effects of alcohol its use in training should be very limited; perhaps saved for that heavy Squat or Bench Press PR when you need an extra boost. Think about being at the bar and having walked up and started a conversation with that person. With a shot or two in you, you are likely unaffected, have your wits about you, and can engage this person successfully. However, if you continue to drink, everything is going to go downhill quickly as you become inebriated. In the gym it needs to be the same way - a shot or two before that big lift of the week (or month) is all that is needed. Harness that big PR set and take it a step farther next time.

What you don’t want to do is to negatively affect the rest of your workout, the next days training, or your recovery in any way. As the Russians are rumored to do, it also seems wise to only use alcohol as a performance enhancer for movements you can walk away from – the deadlift being a perfect example. You don’t want to get stuck under a squat or bench because of reduced coordination, even if this isn’t likely with the amounts we’ve discussed. Additionally, if you chose to use this substance for performance enhancement at a (non-tested) powerlifting meet, you wouldn’t want to drink before squats or bench as this would leave you with the negative effects later in the day on the subsequent lifts.

I have only been experimenting with timing and amounts of alcohol in training for the last month or so. As suggested above, I have only done this on deadlift days. Currently I am deadlifting twice a week, and that puts me at 2-4 shots a week. I have found a shot 2-3min before my last pull to be most effective. Sometimes it is before the last two pulls. I have also found that lifting after the shot causes the alcohol to burn out of my system very quickly. I usually feel no negative effects of the alcohol before the set but as I walk away from the bar I can feel it hit rapidly and then it quickly goes away.

Since I deadlift at the beginning of a workout I was worried about the alcohol affecting me negatively while hitting all my volume work after pulling. I have found this not to be the case with how rapidly the alcohol wears off after a set. While my frequency of use has been high in employing this method on a weekly or twice weekly basis, that has been solely due to the fact that this is an experimentation phase. Once I have the effects, amounts, and timing dialed in I will add this to my tool kit for when I need the extra boost. This approach most definitely should not be utilized in every training session or even every week in my opinion.

**Disclaimer You will note that absolutely no documented research was presented for this article as it was written for entertainment purposes and is not meant in any way to be any sort of recommendation. Please take it as such and understand that I only wanted to share my thoughts on a subject for which very little research and written material (even anecdotal or experiential) exists.

Authors Note:

Chris Duffin has hit a PR in every single workout in every instance he tested this method. These sessions were all done while in the middle of a caloric deficit. Unlike the Russians and their Vodka… He’s sticking with an American alternative, Kentucky Whisky. We suggest Knob Creek or Bulleit because it’s good. There are of course many others. Enjoy your pick of the litter!

As always, if you’re looking for a great strength tool to add into your arsenal of daily work to increase you Bench Press, core strength, mobility and reduce the chance of shoulder injury than be sure to check out our ShouldeRok!

Whiskey & Deadlift shirts coming available now!!!