Another ingenious product from Bill Hartman! - JP Fitness Forums

Jean-Paul · 02-15-2006, 04:25 PM

Yet another incredible product has erupted from the mind of our own Bill Hartman. I have yet to watch one of Bill’s DVDs or read one of his posts that hasn’t changed the way I think about fitness. I can confidently say that since Bill joined this forum nearly three years ago, my level of training (both on my clients and on myself) has made a quantum leap above my competition. For those of you know met him in person at my summit a couple of years ago, you know exactly what I mean. Just a day of listening to him and I feel like I know Kung Fu! Somehow I think that I was just scraping the surface of what he knows. We have our very own best kept secret.

Well, Bill hooked up with a couple of other notable fitness figures, Tony Reynolds and Lee Taft, and together they produced a DVD that is greater than the sum of their respective parts (which is kinda scary!). The following is a must-watch DVD for the fitness professional/aspiring athlete/knowledgeable trainee. I don’t support things like this lightly, as you all well know.

Here is an article written by Tony Reynolds that touches on some of what is discussed on the DVD.

Quote:

Horizontal Loading-The Missing Link.
By: Tony Reynolds, MS, CSCS, YCS II (Pending)

One thing my Biomechanics professor repeatedly beat into my head was to assess, dissect, and comprehend (ADC). Never move forward until you execute these three steps to lay your foundational groundwork. In retrospect, I think this may have been the most valuable bit of wisdom bestowed upon me throughout my complete higher learning endeavor.

Unfortunately, following this little ADC principle forces one to lead a life of hesitation, skepticism, and uncertainty. I first experienced this dilemma as a lowly volunteer at my university S&C program.

After watching the first workout, I had nothing but questions…Why do you do that? What is your reason for this? Is that for everybody? How does that relate to what the athlete does on the field? At that time, I was asking simply because it was all new and exciting to me and I wanted to learn. After hearing some of the answers, I walked away thinking, okay, I am more confused than before I asked.

A few years later I found myself in Florida working at a very respectful elite athletic training facility. Once again, I found that my hand was going up every 5 seconds to ask questions. However, I found that the answers always pacified the issue at hand.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out what had happened before. I had gotten confused because the information being passed on to me just didn’t make sense. In other words, it was just simply wrong. That coach had never taken the time to assess what his athletes truly did in their sports.

He had never dissected the athletes’ environment to evaluate the type of forces that were actually expressed and absorbed by the athletes. He simply did what the guy who taught him did. Without question, he implemented rep for rep and set for set the exact same programs his mentor used. To me that opens the door for a lot of problems.

My challenge to you is to look past what others in the industry are doing and practice a little ADC. You may be very surprised at what you discover. Things are rarely what they first appear or what we assume them to be.

Unfortunately it is typical human behavior to “look” but not “see.” For instance, what was your wife/husband, boyfriend/girlfriend wearing yesterday? I bet very few of you can answer this question. I can honestly say that I have no clue what my wife wore yesterday, and we were together all day. You probably looked right at them a hundred times, but didn’t really “see” them.

Now, off of the top of your head, tell me exactly what your athletes do in their sport? I don’t mean tell me their position. I mean WHAT DO THEY REALLY DO as they play their sport? Don’t be general, be very descriptive and assess and dissect their environments.

Now go watch your athlete play their sport and tell me what you “see.” Once again, be descriptive and assess and dissect their environments. What forces do your athletes apply when they accelerate? What about when they decelerate? How about cutting? Swing a bat? Tackling another athlete? Throwing a ball? Kicking a ball? How does momentum play a role? Etc. If you could draw lines to represent these force vectors what would you see? Where would these lines point?

What you would discover is that pure vertical loading rarely exists in sport (Prove to me that I am wrong, I dare you!). Sans the tip off at the beginning of a basketball game, I cannot think of any sport where the majority of force application/absorption isn’t heavily influenced by horizontal forces.

Time in and time out we see the expression and absorption of horizontal forces in sport. Why is this important? Well, let me answer that with two more questions-Will the same muscles be used in the same way to deal with horizontal versus vertical loading? How will rotational loading change things?

Here is a very remedial example: Hold your arm straight out in front of your body and have a friend press down on it. What muscles are going to activate to deal with the load? Hold your arm in the exact same starting place. Have your friend push your hand out to the side (away from your midline). What muscles are going to activate to deal with this load?

Did you notice a difference in the recruitment of your shoulder and chest musculature? Did you notice a difference in your abdomen and low back? How about in your hips and legs? What it boils down to in the end is that the joint angle does not provide the definitive decision on which muscles are going to be activated. Rather, the characteristics of the force make the final decision.

Let’s take this a step further. Assume a push up position and concentrate on your core area (hips, abdomen, and lower back). Assess and dissect what your muscles are doing. Think about the force vectors and imagine the lines.

Now pick one hand up without shifting your hips and shoulders. Maintain that level plank position through your body. Now, tell me what you feel through your core. Assess and dissect what your muscles are doing. Think about the force vectors and imagine the lines. Did you notice that when force is experienced unilaterally, it creates a torque through the body? Think about how many times we apply unilateral force during sport.

Now, lets answer the “why is this important” question by examining what is happening in the weight rooms through North America. There is fairly standard set of exercises you see in almost all programs:

· Squats-Vertical loading
· Bench press-Vertical loading
· Lunge-Primarily Vertical
· Pull Up-Vertical loading
· Leg Press-Truly vertical if you analyze what is happening.
· Olympic Lifts-Vertical loading

The list goes on!!!

I don’t want you to misinterpret the point I am trying make. I am not discrediting the value of these exercises. Other than the leg press, these exercises and their various forms are very prominent in my training programs. I view these exercises as important and extremely necessary for almost all my athletes.

However, I also recognize that on their own, they may not produce the MOST optimal carry over to sport. They will produce good carry over, no doubt, but the results will not be the MOST optimal given that a very big component of the athlete’s true environment is neglected- horizontal loading.

Rotational/horizontal strength exercises, in my opinion, are the icing on the cake. They are the glue that helps tie everything together. They are not the total picture, rather a very important (and often times neglected) piece of the puzzle.

My next article is going to showcase many of the rotational horizontal exercises I use when training my athletes. Bill Hartman, Lee Taft and myself go in depth discussing everything from assessments, to speed mechanics, to horizontal and rotational training in our brand new information packed 4 DVD series.

This already has my wheels a-turning. It actually meshes really well with some things that I recently learned on a trip to Arizona, which I want to discuss at length in another thread. It also seems to go well in line with Lou and Alwyn's new book, which basically contents that we should train the body in 6 basic movement patterns, one of which is ROTATION... An element I notice that is missing from many-a-trainer's arsenal of exercises to use on their over-paying clients.

It also reminds me of a funny experience I had in Memphis at a convention where an exhibitor was doing something called “body mapping”, basically taking a picture of my doing an overhead squat and then having a program spit out a “specific program” to address the issues observed in my assessment. The trainer manning the booth gave me a list of exercises that I need to perform. When I looked at the list of exercises, I had to strain not to laugh out loud.

My question was something like this, “what the hell is the connection between what you observed at doing squats leaning against a stability ball against a wall?”

He looked at me intensely, as if trying to crunch astrophysics in his mind, then came out with this: “Well, that’s why you have to buy the program… It explains all of this to you.”

“Uh, okay… But pretend I’m a client and you’re the expert and explain the logical connection to me.” He gave me a really blank look, and then went back into the same explanation, which when translated meant that he didn’t have the slightest idea. He really need some of that ADC that Reynolds spoke of in his article!

Before this turns into a novel I am just going to post it and hope to stimulate some good discussion on the topic.

PS: If you decide to purchase the DVD, please do so using the above link, as it will help to financially support this forum. Thanks!

Kaiser · 02-15-2006, 05:42 PM

JP. thanks for bringing this to our attention. Very cool, although I am not sure I have the level of knowledge to be able to appreciate the information these guys provide in the DVD. Still.... I am saving up my dimes for that now.

Thanks again.

BjsAust · 02-15-2006, 06:00 PM

I just spent a bunch of cash on fitness type material. I'll need to wait a bit to justify this, but it looks good.

I've also been giving some thought to program design issues. Almost all the ones you look at work only in one or two plains. Very little unilateral work (hope thats the right term, meaning 1 side), very little uneven work (lunges/etc both sided working but differently) and as you say very little rotation work. I've been giving thought to adding stuff like 1 arm dumbell snatches/etc to offset all the very controlled single plane movement stuff with some variation.

diamondpete · 02-15-2006, 07:09 PM

Interesting. Here is the link:

http://www.pssathletics.com/St ore/AppliedStrengthandConditio ningMethods.htm

Jean-Paul · 02-15-2006, 07:13 PM

On the contrary, Kaiser. People like you are particularly who I was referring to as the "knowlegdeable trainees." I assure you that your knowledge on training far exceeds that of what generally passes as a "fitness pro" these days. Seriously. Don't believe me? Go pick out any trainer from your gym and start chatting about flexibility with him. Talk about various training concepts and see if they can keep up at all. It is a sad state of affairs out there. I have said on many occasions (and been proven right again and again) that my average participating member in here knows more about training that 99% of the trainers I have interviewed as potential hirees at my gym over the years, and it is not an exaggeration.

Steve-O-68 · 02-16-2006, 09:12 AM

Good stuff there JP! I believe I'll be guying that in the near future. NCSA testing is in Decemer, so hopefully it'll help with that.

Adam H. · 02-16-2006, 02:39 PM

Maybe this is a bit simplistic, but aren't the majority of exercises vertically loaded because gravity pulls vertically, and we are moving mass against gravity?

Would a standing cable chest press be an example of horizontal loading?

JP- I actually saw a "trainer" at my gym playing a Playstation Portable while a client struggled through an exercise with terrible form... how "professional" is that?

Adam

Jean-Paul · 02-16-2006, 02:42 PM

Whether it will help you prepare for the test or not, I do not know. Most importantly though, will it prepare you to be more effective as a trainer/coach? Absolutely. For the most practical aspect of why we even enter this field, it is essential viewing. For those of us who struggle through something like the ancient tome, Supertraining, it is much easier we hear people discussing and demonstrating advanced concepts.

Steve-O-68 · 02-16-2006, 03:14 PM

[ QUOTE ]
For those of us who struggle through something like the ancient tome, Supertraining, it is much easier we hear people discussing and demonstrating advanced concepts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Couldn't agree with you more!

Bill Hartman · 02-17-2006, 05:03 PM

First, let me express my appreciation for JP in posting this on his site. We're already seeing the sales come in since Wednesday, so those of you who have purchased the DVD's (there's 4 of them in the set by the way). Thank you.

Now, while I appreciate the title of this thread, the DVD set is actually the brain-child of all three of us (Me, Tony, and Lee).

The idea came from our experience at Ryan Lee's bootcamp in Stamford, CT in September. Get this sitting at one table in the bar after the seminar was Ryan Lee, Alwyn Cosgrove, Valerie Waters (trainer to Jennifer Garner...I know how she gets in Elektra shape!), Tony, Lee, Spida Hunter (yes, that's his name...he's from Australia), myself and a small assortment of other trainers that filtered their way in and out of the conversation.

More information was passed in the several hours we talked than many books I've read. Jokingly someone said that we should video our casual roundtable discussion.

Realizing that Tony, Lee and I live about an 90 minute drive from each other we decided to do just that.

I was thrilled just to get to talk shop with these guys. I think we talked for about 6 hours or so (Tony got in trouble for not being home on time ). Some really great stuff didn't even get on the video because we ran out of tapes.

I can't say enought great things about Tony and Lee. Both have incredible backrounds working at all levels of development and theses DVD's are really just scratching the surface of their knowledge and experience. I threw in a couple of good things as well.

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

Thanks again to JP!

Bill

Jean-Paul · 02-18-2006, 08:18 PM

Well, I do have a question. Have you heard of "body mapping" which is commonly practiced by NASM? Seems like a good idea handled very badly (no offense to any NASM certified trainers in here).

Do you guys cover assessments and subsequent program design pretty well in the DVD?

Bill Hartman · 02-19-2006, 08:32 AM

I'm certainly aware of body mapping, but I think that's their marketing term for their version of the functional movement screen. Just their version of an assessment. Makes it seem more scientific and it may help train your eyes. The population of trainers that they certify may not have any prior skills coming in so such a formal assessment may be beneficial. I don't use their specific teachings, so take my comments with a grain of salt. If you can learn some functional anatomy, I don't think that squatting in front of a grid will make much difference, but from the client's perspective, it let's them see how messed up they are so it can have a sales aspect to it as well.

Look your so out of alignment, you need to sign up for our big training package. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

We do cover assessment and program design but not in a structured manner. Remember that this done in an easy to understand conversational manner rather than a lecture style. In the actual demo section, such as when teaching a lunge we talk about how when an athlete favors a certain movement pattern what does it mean and how do you correct it. A lot of coaches and trainers just don't know what to look for when teaching the basics of squatting, lunging, starting and stopping. Lee has some real gems in regard to what position will increase first step speed/acceleration.

I actually did do an assessment on Tony's shoulder girdle, did some ART on him, and then reassessed him to the show the before and after which was rather significant, but it didn't make it to the DVD's because we ran out of tapes. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Bill

Buk · 02-19-2006, 09:22 AM

I am doing my part to "financially support this forum." I am a hard person to impress with this kind of product, but I am expecting great things in it from these authors. I ordered only a few minutes ago, and am already impatient about receiving it. I wonder if it will show up before my elite rings? The guy curling on the side of the box scares me a little [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Jean-Paul · 02-19-2006, 12:59 PM

Buk,
I think that guy is doing a deadlift.

I'm still waiting on my elite rings too. Was supposed to get them over two weeks ago. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Buk · 02-19-2006, 01:01 PM

JP, the guy on the side, not the front. Otherwise, if that is a deadlift, I have a lot to learn. I did see guys deadlifting kinda like that at the gym the other day. It was really scarry, not to be able to tell if they were deadlifting, rowing or curling, all in one exercise.

I hope to get those rings soon. Wonder what the delivery time is for this product?

Jean-Paul · 02-19-2006, 01:05 PM

Oh... Didn't notice that guy.

At least he wasn't in a squat rack! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Buk · 02-24-2006, 09:34 AM

Must have come yesterday, but I missed it on the doorsteep. My wife saw it on her way out to work this morning(I was late leaving trying to update my food log). I almost skipped work today, but now I am excited for tonight and this weekend. I just fear that I will skip going to the gym tonight to get started on this thing.