Recap of Get Healthy Get STRONGER Seminar

This past saturday morning, Coach Joe Meglio (megliofitness.com) and I hosted our first ever Get Healthy Get STRONGER Seminar at the Underground Strength Gym. It was a blast! I was very impressed with how attentive and excited all of the attendees were to learn things that aren't exactly glamorous. I was also humbled by how grateful everyone was and by their willingness to learn and really try to grasp all of the concepts we were throwing at them. Topics we covered include foam/lax ball rolling, mobility exercises, activation exercises, band traction, and static stretching. Like I said, these topics are not considered glamorous and are not the first thing any hardcore lifter thinks of, but that does not mean they are not crucial in any lifter's longterm success. Injuries are a bitch and nobody wants to take time off from doing things they love, like squatting, benching, or deadlifting. With a little bit of proactivity, anyone can fend off injuries while continuing to make progress towards their strength goals.

But what if you're not looking for more strength? Well my answer is another question: What are you looking for? Bodybuilders require injury prevention just as much as powerlifters or Olympic lifters, perhaps even more since muscle tears can really alter physique. Athletes MUST be healthy to perform at the top of their game. If you're just training to "stay in shape," my advice is to stop kidding yourself and go find another hobby. Takehome point: do the little things required to keep your muscles, tendons, and ligaments healthy. You'll be in the iron game much longer and with far fewer set-backs.

After the seminar I had to get my squat workout in. The crew I'm in squats at 11am every Saturday morning, but obviously I couldn't be in two places at once (even though they're right across a parking lot). Here's how my workout broke down:

*Safety Bar Dead Squats(from 12in box)  
 worked up in singles to a hard (but not max) 285x1

*Romanian Deadlift
135x8reps, 225x5x3sets (was pretty wiped out so kept it super light)

*Wide Neutral Assisted Pullups  
 -60x8, -40x8x3sets

*Hypers w/band
mini band x 10x4sets

*The past 3 or 4 weeks I've been doing a deadlift movement as a secondary exercise on squat day. Nothing heavy, just getting some volume in. For the past 2-3 months I've been doing lat work on both squat and deadlift day(Wednesday). That is on top of the upper back(row) work I do on both of my upper body days(Monday and Thursday). I really like the higher frequency for lat/upper back work.