Belt it!

by Neil Anderson

Can I borrow your weight belt for this workout?  Seriously.  They work and there really is no reason not to use one -occasionally. 

The reason you have heard NOT to use them is because just a few years ago folks were OVER-USING them.  Somehow weight belts went from being a useful piece of gym equipment to standard gym attire - think 8 inch Dr. Marten's and Hammer pants.  This was not only bad looking...it was just plain bad.  The thing to know here is that your body already has mechanisms in place that support the spine (purpose of a belt).  By using a weight belt daily, your body will begin to rely on the support of the belt over the natural supporting musculature.  Over time, you will become weaker right where you need strength the most.  Your core.  And that is exactly what happened.  Just a few short years ago, you'd see guys wearing belts while doing movements that were already fully supported by machines.  They literally never took their belts off at ANY point of ANY workout.  Once, I literally watched 3 men taking turns doing wrist curls.  They had one belt between them and were trading off wearing it.  At best, this sort of thing leads to poor performance and a lack of fitness and health.  At worst, catastrophic injury. 

These days the fitterati (popular experts) frown heavily upon using weight belts UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.  Unfortunately, this has more to do with popular rhetoric that more closely resembles religious dogma than it does helpful, practical advice. 

The thing is, using a weight belt can be extremely useful.  When used correctly (occasionally, only on days you are lifting very heavy loads where you might need extra back support i.e. weighted squats, deadlifts, etc.), it can enhance performance and prevent injuries.  Just because a bunch of gym rats in the late 90's lost sight of this; and just because a bunch of pseudo-expert bandwagoners reject it as anti-gospel doesn't mean you and I have to be deprived of the benefits of belting up albeit, occasionally.

Using the RPE Scale

by Neil Anderson

It is not reasonable to imagine that your body can perform workouts at high intensity indefinitely.  There are times when it is beneficial to slow down a little.  Remember, you only increase health and fitness AFTER you have recovered from your workouts.  With many of the workouts we do it may take days to recover fully.  If we stack a couple of those intense workouts on top of one another it will take even more time.  It seems like the only way recover, then is to take a couple days off.  The thing is, a day or two off may not be completely necessary.  Sometimes just throttling back a little during your next workout is enough of a break for your body to catch up.  This provides the added benefits of both; a small break for your body AND and extra workout.  Cool.

When throttling back, we suggest using the RPE scale (pictured) as a gauge of your effort.  We find it superior to using heart rate as HR may not always apply (as in heavy lifting days).  We also find it comparable (but much less work) to calculating 70% of weight, rounds, reps and etc.  To do these calculations you would need a good starting point.  This means performing several mock sets of exercise to determine where your predicted max's are for the prescribed workloads, then doing calculations.  Not efficient.  Using the RPE scale is superior in terms of effort and, at least, equal in terms of benefit.

"How Much Weight Should I Lift?"

by Neil Anderson

Q: "It says AHAP.  How much weight should I do?" 

N:  Only ONE of us would know how much weight you are capable of safely lifting with good form.  And it ain't me.  In fact, this may be the worst question you could ever ask someone else.  

To answer this question I'd need to know an awful lot about you.  Probably more than you'd be comfortable with me knowing.  Some of the things I'd need to know about you would include:

1.  How are you feeling today?
2.  How much sleep did you get last night? 
3.  How hydrated are you? 
4.  How much stress are you under? 
5.  How is your nutrition? 
6.  How fit are you?  
7.  How much do you know about this particular lift?
8.  How much experience do you have with this lift? 
9.  When was the last time you performed this lift? 
10.  What weight did you use last time?

There are many more...

Can you imagine how freaked out you'd be if I were able to answer all of these questions about you off the top of my head?  Hey, it would be no treat for me to know that much about you either. 

How much you can lift on any given day for any given movement will change constantly.  The ONLY way to know how much you are going to safely lift today (before actually doing it) is to be totally in-tune with yourself at all times.  Little hint here:  NOBODY is that in tune with himself. 

Because of this, we suggest performing a few (2-5) warm-up sets before you attempt ANY lift.  Start with a ridiculously low weight and add a few pounds each set until you know exactly where you are that day.  Then, start your workout.  It is the only way.  Well, only way outside of me being charged with stalking.