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Random Thoughts

By June 10, 2013March 25th, 2015Random Thoughts

Hi fitness peeps! I have some random things I’d like to share with you today:

1. Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Sorinex Summer Strong 6 Conference

I’ll be speaking at this event along with Nick Tumminello, Zach Even Esh, and other notable speakers. Date is June 22, location is South Carolina, cost is $70 for general public, $50 for NSCA members, and $30 for students – with all proceeds going to charity. Free lunch and t-shirt provided, and there are competitions too. Hope to see you there!

NSCA National Convention

On July 10 I’ll be presenting with my supervisor John Cronin on sprint biomechanics. We’re offering a pre-conference workshop that will cover some important topics in sprinting. Hope to see you there as well!

2. Emails Reporting Incredible Results

Now that Get Glutes is in its 6th month and Strong Curves has been out for a couple of months, I’m starting to get flooded with emails. Women from all over the world are now sending me pictures of their glutes, and the results are astounding.

I have to laugh, these ladies will always say something like, “I’ve never sent a picture of my butt to anyone before but I just have to show it off to you!” I received three of these last Sunday night alone. Some have put 2-3″ on their glutes in just 6 weeks, which is insane to me.

I’ve trained several hundred women over the past decade, and there are a certain percentage whose glutes respond like crazy to the methods. I’ve trained women who experienced mediocre changes and women who experienced mesmerizing changes, all from the same type of programming, and there’s really no way to tell ahead of time how they’ll respond. If you haven’t given these methods a try – aren’t you curious if they’ll work this well for you?

hip thrusts

3. Test-Drive Get Glutes

Are you on the fence about Get Glutes? Do you wish you could try it out before subscribing? If so, we’re offering a free sample workout in order to show you what we’re all about. Click HERE and give it a try!

strong booty

4. EMG Experiments

In the past several months, I’ve done extensive testing on myself, my girlfriend Diana, Kellie Hart Davis, Marianne Kane, Joy Victoria, and Charles Staley. In the process, I’ve learned several things about biomechanics that are not seen in any research papers or textbooks. When I’ve accumulated testing on ten advanced subjects, I’ll write up my findings. So I have four more subjects to go after today. Very exciting!

5. Badass New Gym in Tempe, Arizona: Revolution Training! 

Yesterday I visited Revolution Training in Tempe, a brand new gym that just opened up two weeks ago. Holy shit! Without a doubt the greatest gym I’ve ever been to in the metropolitan Phoenix area. We had a gym named Strengthworks several years back, also in Tempe, that catered to powerlifters and strongmen. But Revolution is markedly better. I was like a kid in a candy shop there – trying out all sorts of goodies – it’s a meathead’s playground. I talked shop with strongmen and powerlifters, performed yoke walks for the first time (worked my way up to 500 lbs), along with plateau busters for the first time (like a one arm deadlift – worked my way up to 235 lbs).

If you’re a lifter from out of town and want an amazing workout, train here for only $10/day. If you live in AZ and are looking for a gym, they’ll let you train there for free for a day to check it out. They also have classes available, along with personal training. See their equipment HERE. Tons of freaky strong lifters already train there – see vids HERE. I’ve often thought of opening up a gym like this myself but I never do because it’s tough to make a gym like this work profit-wise. I’m very happy that the owners took the challenge and opened up the gym, therefore I’m happy to try to help them get the word out.

6.  Soccer System Pro with Jurdan Mendiguchia

My buddy Jurdan has recently released a system that tracks important data relevant to medical management personnel in soccer (American futbol).

Click HERE to check it out – if you’re a soccer professional, this is a highly valuable resource.

7. Muscle College with Dr. Layne Norton and Dr. Jacob Wilson

I always try to support my fellow peeps who are both evidence- and practical- based. Two brosephs who pull this off brilliantly are Layne Norton and Jake Wilson. If you’re not listening to their Muscle College Radio, you should be!

I’m always nodding my head in agreement when I listen to these guys speak.

Layne Norton

Layne Norton

8. Rack Hip Thrusts with Ben Bruno

My friend Ben Bruno wrote a good article about performing hip thrusts in the power rack HERE. Check it out!

9. Triphasic Training with Cal Dietz and Ben Peterson

Recently I’ve been reading Triphasic Training by University of Minnesota strength coach Cal Dietz and exercise physiologist Ben Peterson. Rarely do experienced and successful strength & conditioning coaches find the time to write books on the methods, thought-processes, creativity, and science behind their programming. Any time they do, if you’re an S&C coach, you’d be a fool not to buy the book and read it. This book has me nodding my head in agreement on many occasions, and on other occasions has ignited my brain to consider alternate training methods.

Learning other coaches’ methods makes you better at what you do. HERE is a free sample for those interested.

Triphasictraining-2

10. Joseph Lightfoot – UK Training Facility

For my UK readers, my friend Joseph Lightfoot and his partner Chris Wainer just opened up a small personal training facility in Manchester (Sale Moor), and they’re currently seeking clients. Joseph is incredibly smart and well-versed in S&C. He even traveled to the US to learn from coaches over here. I’ve heard that there is a scarcity of high-quality trainers in the UK, so check it out if you live nearby and desire personal training. HERE is a link to his website.

11. Soccer Research Updates with Michael Rumpf

My friend Michael Rumpf will keep you updated on the soccer (futbol) research HERE.

12. The Absence of Evidence Does Not Imply Evidence of Absence

Jon Fass likes to say this on our Strength of Evidence Podcast episodes. HERE is a hilarious research paper on parachutes. Here’s their conclusion:

Conclusions As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticised the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observational data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organised and participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute.

Check out the notes before the references too – academia humor at its best. Thanks to Alan Aragon for the find!

Parachute

15 Comments

  • Jake Ramsey says:

    Hello Bret,
    I’m interested in strengthening my glutes because after 10 weeks of physical therapy, I still have nagging low back pain. I just bought your glute ebook, and I have a question about something that I couldn’t seem to find in the ebook. I’ve been starting to isometrically contract my glutes throughout the day, however I’m unsure about foot placement when I do so. My feet tend to want to point to 3 and 9 o’clock when I squeeze my glutes as hard as possible. Is this correct form or should I try to keep them straight and parallel to each other.

    • Bret says:

      Yep; turn the feet out a bit, get a wide stance, and squeeze the glutes as hard as possible from a standing position for 5 seconds or so.

  • ggs says:

    Hope you had a great vacation….now back to the business of generating gluteal greatness… who was the lucky person to win a free month of Get Glutes with their amazon post…I am sure they are enjoying it…

  • Mimmi says:

    Would love to see some before/afters from Get Glutes!

  • Betty says:

    Is this where we’re suppose to post questions? I left one regarding the Strong Curves book I just purchased under the testimonials…just wasn’t sure where to do that.

  • Taylor says:

    Hi Bret, I recently purchased your Strong Curves book and have started out with the program. However, each time I’ve done the glute bridges I always feel pain in my lower back when doing it and not sure I feel it in my glutes too much. I’ve watched videos and I am doing them correctly yet I can’t figure out how to get rid of that lower back pain. Any advice? Thank you so much.

    • Bret says:

      Hi Taylor, can you post a link to a video of your form? It’s very difficult to guess. Are you sure you’re not hyperextending your spine and anteriorly tilting your pelvis? If you’re using proper form, you may want to just do single leg as it could be related to your individual anatomy. Not everyone is built to squat, deadlift, or even hip thrust.

  • Matt says:

    Bret, I’m not sure where you got your information about the scarcity of quality trainers in the UK. Ever see the medal table from the past few Olympics?? We have a population of about 70 million. Seeing as we’re the size of Nebraska and we were the no.3 most successful nation of the world after the US (320 million) and CHINA (1.35 BILLION.), I’d say our coaches are doing okay 🙂

    • Bret says:

      Matt, I definitely didn’t mean it that way. What I’ve heard is that there is a lack of high-quality personal trainer studios and coaching in common neighborhoods. In the U.S., you’ll see studios all over town in major cities, practically in every major shopping center. I could be wrong, but I don’t believe that it’s this mainstream in the UK. I’m well aware of the high level strength coaches in the UK, trust me.

      • Matt says:

        Haha not a problem, Bret. If you’re talking about trainers for the general population, then yes, you’re most definitely right 🙂

  • ggs says:

    I wanted to ask about the Sorinex Summer Strong..First of all let me say I am absolutely delighted to have a chance to see you in person..I am on the Sorinex mailing so as soon as I saw your name I signed up….Here is the question I asked them which I needed to sign up for since I am neither coach nor student. They told me General admission. I made sure to tell them that I was mostly interested in hearing you speak…So my general admission was only 25.00 listed at the top of the page yours is 70 dollars…so what is the difference….do you know? I don’t want to go all the way there and not be able to attend your seminar…Thanks

  • Smurf says:

    Hey Brett,

    I finished reading your PDF on axial loading vs anteroposterior loading exercises and i must say it is one of the most informative articles of athletic development i have ever read in my living existence on this place called earth! Good job! with that being said my gym doesn’t have a GHR machine, reverse hyper machine or back extension machine. Other than glute bridges and Hip thrusts do you have any ideas of loading my anteroposterior chain without these machines! I’ve been doing heavy Good mornings/ stiff legged deadlifts along with heavy hipthrusts and glute bridges to stimulate my hamstrings im not sure if that is sufficient!

  • Adam says:

    I’d like to see and article on triphasic training…there are some good ideas in there, but something like training submaximal slow eccentrics (6 seconds) seems like BS to me.

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