powerlifting
Featured Fitness Content: Volume 48
View the last edition of ‘Featured Fitness Content’ here.
Personal Training, Coaching, and Strength & Conditioning
Does Shaving Improve Swimming Performance? By Allan Phillips via Swimming Science
Weight Loss, Nutrition, and General Health
The 12 Most Effective Ways to Spark the Recovery Process By John Rusin
Are Nightshade Vegetables Bad for You? An Evidence-Based Look By Kimberly Yawitz via Diet vs. Disease
How Much Fish Oil Is Too Much? Via Strength Sensei
Carrageenan: Friend or Foe? By Nicole Spear via Strength Sensei
Strength Training, Powerlifting, and Bodybuilding
Breaking Down the Depth Jump By Nancy Newell
7 Exercises Lost to the ’80s By Skip Hill via EliteFTS
Everything Lateral Lunges By Erica Suter
Motivation, Business, and Success
A Quick and Dirty System for Goal Setting: A Done-For-You 60 Minute Workshop To Live An Intentional Life By Michael Keeler via Business for Unicorns
Physical Therapy, Alignment, and Injury Prevention
Posture By Vern Gambetta via HMMR Media
Research
Hyperoxia Improves Swimming Performance By G John Mullen via Swimming Science
Ruthless Performance Coaches’ Content
Ruthless Performance Guide to Mineral Supplementation By Jesse Rodriguez via Ruthless Performance
Internal Program Review: Collegiate Swimmer Off-Season Strength & Conditioning Program – Day 1 By John Matulevich via Ruthless Performance
Lecture Takeaways: Ruthless Performance Methods & Practices for Peak Athletic Function
Its easy to imagine how a lecture scheduled for 30 minutes, on a topic as encompassing as optimizing performance, could end up being an hour and 6-minute open-ended discussion. This is precisely what happened this past week at Bloomsburg University during our guest presentation on how Ruthless Performance trains individuals to achieve high performance.
The content of this lecture ranged from specific exercises to an exploration of the Central Nervous System; similarly, questions ranged from the efficacy of BCAA’s to proper running gait—all of which led to an extremely informative and productive talk, filled with content and subsequent questions.
Below is a summary of some of the most important takeaways from this lecture. Remember, human performance is a broad topic, but the information below meets some objective criteria for significance within the theories and practices we endorse at Ruthless Performance.
First, a Definition of Terms
Because there is not one set definition of ‘high performance’ across sports and fitness endeavors, let’s assume the definition is as follows: high performance is the ability to perform within the top 10% of your own ability within any fitness doctrine.
For a 5K runner, this means being able to run a 5K within a margin of 10% of your best time at your current state of training. Similarly, for a weightlifter, this means being able to Clean & Jerk or Snatch within 10% of your current capacity for a 1RM. This is not to dismiss linear periodization (though Ruthless Performance typically does shy away from this style) nor is this a sleight on tapering for a significant bout or competition.
During a high-mileage segment of a marathon runner’s training regimen, she may be outside of this 10% margin from a previous race or time. The 10% margin of performance as defined here is referring to a precise training state. In the case of the marathon runner, her ability to complete a half-marathon trial within 10% of her previous season’s high-mileage training cycle is what we are referring to. The closer the training variables are, the more applicable this rule becomes.
The Motivational Training Montage is Just the Icing on the Cake
The significance of training to perform is predicated on fundamental health and wellness practices. A 6-hour a day training program would get world-class athletes no where were it not for a broad base of fundamental behaviors.
These behaviors are known universally at some intuitive level, but not always acted upon. What could be viewed as boring and frivolous can make the difference between 6 more weeks of training and 6 weeks of sitting out with the flu while your competition trains because you didn’t get a flu vaccination from your primary care provider.
A similar situation could be ignoring the necessity for injury care work and corrective exercise during the early onset stages of shoulder pain or movement dysfunction as presented in a movement screen. The examples here are limitless, suffice it to say that all of the traditional variables of wellness like sleep quality, nutrition, lifestyle stress, and on, are all predecessors to your ability to train and compete within our newly defined parameters of ‘high performance’.
More to Come…
This just grazes the surface of the lecture but provides valuable insights into some fundamentals of high performance. First, high performance must be defined; when a term is open-ended, its implications are only speculative and unattainable. Second, high performance is the sum of the boring but necessary components of life that makes an athlete healthy enough to train and compete within their specific doctrine.
As we continue to review the Ruthless Performance Methods & Practices for Peak Athletic Function lecture, we’ll cover nutrition for high performance, ‘anti-specificity training’, universally essential exercises, and the role of the central nervous system in high performance.
Have a question on this topic or want to train with Ruthless Performance? Contact us via email at info@RuthlessPerformance.com, RuthlessPerformance.com/contact, and be sure to follow us on social media at @RuthlessPerform on Twitter and Instagram.
Featured Fitness Content: Volume 45
View the last edition of ‘Featured Fitness Content’ here.
Personal Training, Coaching, and Strength & Conditioning
GGS Spotlight: Kim Lloyd via Girls Gone Strong
Often Overlooked Elements to Success in Personal Training By Dean Somerset
What Assessments Work Best? By Dean Somerset via Mike Robertson
Weight Loss, Nutrition, and General Health
If Your Gym Membership Costs More Than Your Mortgage, You Don’t Care About Your Health, and Neither Do They By Lee Boyce
Top 10 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Coconut Oil via Healthline
Glutamine: Benefits, Uses and Side Effects By Grant Tinsley via Healthline
Aging Is B.S. – The Myth Of Missed Opportunities By Amanda Allen via Breaking Muscle
Strength Training, Powerlifting, and Bodybuilding
WHY You MUST Be Able To Figure Things Out On Your OWN By Zach Even Esh
Mass That Works – Build Some Functional Hypertrophy By Charles Poliquin
Push Press Technique – Insights Into Athletic Ability By Zach Long
Motivation, Business, and Success
The four elements of entrepreneurship By Seth Godin
Physical Therapy, Alignment, and Injury Prevention
Movement Variability versus Joint Centration By Charlie Weingroff
3 Things Causing Your Swimming Shoulder Pain By Erin Cameron via COR
How to Stop “Text Neck” from Killing You By Bo Babenko via Halevy Life
Ruthless Performance Coaches’ Content
Flexion vs. Extension Intolerant Back Pain By John Matulevich
Featured Fitness Content: Volume 44
View the last edition of ‘Featured Fitness Content’ here.
Personal Training, Coaching, and Strength & Conditioning
Performance Programming Principles: Installment 2 By Eric Cressey
The 3 Main Goals of an Assessment By Dean Somerset
Step-by-Step Glute Training By Mike Robertson
Weight Loss, Nutrition, and General Health
Why You Might Not Need to Learn More About Nutrition By Mike Roussell
Carbohydrates – My Take on Carbs By Charles Poliquin
The Greatest Public Health Mistake of the 20th Century By Joseph Mercola
Honey Lemon Water: An Effective Remedy or Urban Myth? By Jillian Kubala via Health Line
7 Science-Based Health Benefits of Selenium By Jillian Kubala via Health Line
Strength Training, Powerlifting, and Bodybuilding
Are You Making These Strength Training Mistakes By G John Mullen via COR
Complete Core Questions By Michael Boyle
Get Tough: A Beginner’s Guide To Impact Training By Walter Dorey via Breaking Muscle
Motivation, Business, and Success
The Power of Accepting Personal Responsibility By Jen Comas via Girls Gone Strong
Truth: Half of What We Call ‘Fitness’ Isn’t Fitness at All By Lee Boyce
Before you design a chart or infographic By Seth Godin
Don’t create new content. Repurpose content. By Sol Orwell
Physical Therapy, Alignment, and Injury Prevention
[VIDEO] Recent Training and Evaluation Insights By Charlie Weingroff
Research
Science Is Self-Correcting – The Case Of The Hip Thrust And Its Effects On Speed By Bret Contreras
Top Featured Fitness Content of 2017
10 Essential Questions for Building a Business By Michael Keeler via Business for Unicorns |
Why Runners Need to Lift By Carrie Lane via HMMR Media |
Exercise, Government-Style By Mark Rippetoe via Starting Strength |
Taxes, Fees & Expenses Not Included – Budgeting For Gym Ownership By Pete Dupuis |
6 Hip Mobility Drills Everyone Should Perform By Mike Reinold |
The TV Shows You Watch Are Making You Broke By Tim Denning via Addicted 2 Success |
Must-Follow Guide for Strength Training AFTER Physical Therapy John Mullen via COR |
Getting More Dream Clients By Being More Who You Really Are By Mark Fisher via Business for Unicorns |
What I Learned About Injury Rates from Surveying 1,900 Powerlifters By Andrew Patton via Stronger by Science |