The Death of Squats clip is probably approaching 100,000 views. When I made those statements in  Functional Strength Coach Vol 3.0 I never intended to start a fire storm of controversy. Of course I knew I would get the standard meathead hate mail ( which I have) but to be honest the positive emails have far outnumbered the negatives. The best part about the negative emails that I received was the general level of ignorance of the writers. The people who wrote negative emails did not listen to the clip or read my t-nation article ( Build Bigger Legs One at a Time). The least you could do if you are going to _ _ it on me is to take the time to study the material. It is amazing how people dislike change. One of my members and readers Vince Brunelle sent me a great quote. “You don’t have to believe, just suspend your disbelief”.

I’m more motivated than ever when I get quotes from great strength coaches thanking me for pushing the envelope and encouraging thought and debate. I truly believe that StrengthCoach.com is going to change the world of strength and conditioning. The growth has been off the charts and, I want to thank all those who write and read.

Rachel Cosgrove’s new book The Female Body Breakthrough comes out today. If you are a frequent reader here you will know that I review books frequently. I started Rachel’s book yesterday and already know that I am going to order it for the female trainers who work for me. The Female Body Breakthrough is like a research study in how to physically and mentally work with female clients. If you train even one female this book will be worth the price.

Rachel takes years of experience with hundreds of women and puts it into words. I haven’t gotten to the programs yet but the initial portion of the book dealing with psychology and mindset makes the book worth it. Take a look at

www.orderthefemalebodybreakthroughtoday.com

The attached clip illustrates the many ways we use our MVP Shuttle. I really think that the MVP Shuttle is one of the few pieces of equipment I couldn’t do without.  See how we use the Shuttle MVP in working with the: 1) Personal Training client; 2) Injured Athletes; and 3) Large Clients /Athletes. Because of its unique features, the MVP allows you to assist the personal training client in regaining explosive power, re-introduce the injured athlete to velocity specific work, and assist the large client/athlete to develop eccentric strength while reducing their risk of injury.Take a second and watch the clip.

This week ends up being shoulder week. We have a couple of great articles on shoulder training as well as a video on shoulder training. First up this week is Overhead Strength Training for the Shoulder: Guidelines for Injury Prevention and Performance Training Success

by Robert Panariello. Rob owns and operates Professional Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy in New York City as well as the Professional Athletic Performance Center in Garden City, New York. Rob has recently become a contributor to the site and is quickly becoming one of the must-reads on the forum. This a follow up to Robs first piece called Strength Training for the Shoulder- Should Athletes Lift Weights Overhead.

Next up is Training for Pitchers from John Pallof. Many of you are already familiar with John, who is also a site member, a PT, and a forum contributor.

Last up is an article from Shelby Turcotte called 12 Things that Are BassAckwards. Shelby does a great job putting what a lot of us think into words.

Video of the Week

Coaching and Cueing Scapula Position from Jon Rimmer. This is a great tip.

Don’t forget to check out the StrengthCoach Podcast  at www.strengthcoachpodcast.com. Also, make sure you check www.strengthcoachblog.com. I’m trying to post the blog posts as links on the site so you don’t miss out.

Also make sure you check out www.strengthandconditioningwebinars.com

As a reminder, the articles and videos go up over the course of the week. Generally one each day. Also, you credit card statement will show a change from RylanLee.com, not StrengthCoach.com.  I received three emails this past week from new members that were confused. Hope you enjoy the week.

The stability ball has been in the news lately and it hasn’t been good. An NBA star recently broke an arm on the ball. Don’t get me wrong, we still use stability balls. However, we never allow athletes to use them in conjunction with weights. We may occasionally mix a ball and a weight vest but, never dumbbells. Years ago we did but, as the first anecdotal evidence began to come out about balls bursting, we stopped lifting on them. Word to the wise. A stability ball with a nick in it will behave less like a burst resistant ball. Always check your stability balls and replace them if they show signs of wear.

Another thing you haven’t read about yet is stability balls and treadmills. I should have written this up when it happened but, our “incident” was in the pre-blog days. Gyms now often have both stability balls and treadmills in the same space. Do not let your stability balls anywhere near your treadmills. 3-4 years ago one of my players inadvertently kicked a stability ball in the direction of a treadmill that was on. If you had asked me to guess what would happen next, I would have said the treadmill would tear the ball into pieces. Lucky for us the treadmill was running with no one on it. The ball went under the treadmill and tilted the treadmill up on a 30 degree angle. However, the treadmill kept running and the ball did not burst. Scary stuff. I hate to think what would have happened had someone been on the treadmill.

Word to the wise stability balls don’t mix well with weights or treadmills.

Today is my 50th birthday. Where did the time go? On a day like today I can’t help but think that my Dad died at 62. Although it seemed so unfair then, it is really scary now. Don’t want to get all corny on you but, all the cliches about living life to the fullest are absolutely true.

On this special day I’ll get to do all the things I love. I’ll train some clients this morning and see my great staff in action. I’ll sit with my beautiful wife and watch my daughter play soccer and hockey while I watch my son play in the grass. After that I’ll take to take a nap. Then I’ll go and get my BU guys ready to hopefully sweep UMass Lowell.

I’ll finish my evening with a few beers with good friends in a house filled with kids. Life is good.

Depending who you talk to this week I am a genius or just an idiot. In case you have been under a rock Pat Beith, my partner in Functional Strength Coach 3.0, posted a video clip he called The Death of Squatting. The clip is the talk of the internet forums.  I just want to take a moment to clarify. As I said last week, I did not make this decision on a whim. I have been thinking about this concept for years. Look at the definition of the word transducer below:

Transducer- An element or device which receives information in the form of one quantity and converts it to information in the form of the same or another quantity

The conclusion I arrived at is that the back is a poor transducer. The back actually prevents the legs from being fully worked in the vast majority of the population. The act of squatting terminates when the lumbar spine can no longer effectively bear or transfer load. I have watched thousands ( maybe millions) of squats and rarely have I seen the legs fail. It is always the back. As a result, single leg work just makes sense. Take a minute and read the article if you haven’t already done so.

PS- We haven’t stopped doing bilateral exercises or, lifting heavy weights. We still Trap Bar Deadlift and Olympic lift. I also think that bilateral exercise is crucial for beginners. However, if you have experienced athletes and you want to keep them healthy and get them strong consider the Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat.

Flu shot or no flu shot? I have to admit I love the website www.mercola.com.  Is Dr. Mercola maybe a little out there? Does he push a lot of product? I’d have to say yes to both. However, my research also leads me to believe that much of what is posted on the site is accurate and well intended.

Dr. Mercola is clearly anti-flu shot. So am I. I have never had one and neither have my children. Take a minute and read the post on Dr. Mercola’s site. Do it before you get a shot. I think industries like the large food conglomerates and the big pharmacy groups may not always have our best interest at heart. Evidence still continues to prove this out.

If you doubt it, go back and look at this post about the actions of the food industry. I really believe that we now have to consider the motives whenever we deal with large public corporations.

This was a big week for me and a big week for strengthcoach.com. We released Functional Strength Coach 3.0 which was a big success. I also inadvertently created an internet sensation when we released a clip that Pat Beith ( he was in charge in marketing Functional Strength Coach 3.0) called The Death of Squatting. That clip will actually be Video of the Week on the site this week in case you were under a rock last week. The funny thing is that I have mentioned for years that I have teetered on the brink of taking conventional squats out of the program. Pat simply took one of the more controversial/ provocative clips out of the seminar to generate more interest. As always, it generated the same responses from the same internet hate mongers.

Like me or hate me, strengthcoach.com marches on. We are still the number one site on the internet for people with enough brains to question the status quo and there are more every month.

Our first article this week comes from site member and frequent forum contributor Tim Yuhas. Tim is the owner of Yuhas Sports Performance in Connecticut. Tim’s article is titled So You Want To Open A Sports Performance Facility- A Coaches Guide to Making Choices. I actually requested that Tim and a few other coaches write a series of articles as this is a frequent forum topic.

Next up is another article from Carson Boddicker called Alleviating Ailing Ankles. This one has lots of videos to help with clarity. I think you’ll like it.

Last up is an article from first time author Chris Kelly called Four Things a Personal Trainer Should Do (But Probably Doesn’t). This is another great “from the field” view. I really enjoy these type of real world articles.

Video of the Week

Video of the week as I mentioned is the now famous Death of Squatting clip.

Don’t forget to check out the StrengthCoach Podcast  at www.strengthcoachpodcast.com..

Also make sure you check out www.strengthandconditioningwebinars.com. Last week Anthony added a webinar with Alwyn Cosgrove. The site just gets better and better.

As a reminder, the articles and videos go up over the course of the week. Generally one each day. Also, you credit card statement will show a change from RylanLee.com, not StrengthCoach.com.  I received three emails this past week from new members that were confused. Hope you enjoy the week.