Alwyn Cosgrove, so called worlds leading fat loss expert and program design coach absolutely blew my mind when I heard him speak at the

FitcomXpo the worlds largest online fitness xpo for professional trainers.

Coach Cosgrove just tells it so straight. His presentation on 21st Century Program Design was fantastic to listen to.

Here’s one of the key things he said:

“Research has shown that the intensity required by a sedentary person who is trying to improve their cardiovascular fitness, might create an excessive muscular overload (jogging?)

Jones et al, noted that in the initial 6 weeks of training there was a 50-90% injury rate. This occurred in training programs specifically designed to minimize risk of injury

BOTTOM LINE : the musculoskeletal system is very easily OVERTRAINED when it is de-conditioned”

I also had the pleasure of being asked to be one of the expert presenters and did a presentation on utilizing biomechanics for maximum fitness results which I teach to my staff members and those professionals who come and serve an internship with me, but there were all sorts of online lectures from fat loss results to gaining muscle.

I have compiled 55 of my top exercises and turned them into video clips you can download to your PC or as iPod videos.

I talk you through every aspect of performing the correct technique.

** Click Here to buy them now**

Here’s a list of every exercise you get:

1 Step up Knee up

2 Step up with weight

3 Step up with knee up and weight

4 Hamstring Theory

5 Swiss Ball Hamstring Curl

6 Swiss Ball Single Leg Hamstring Curl

7 Single Leg Bridge – Floor

8 Single Leg Bridge – Bench

9 Romanian Deadlift Principles

10 Romanian Deadlift (RDL)

11 Single leg RDL

12 Single leg RDL – bench support

13 Single leg RDL – no support

14 Stiff Leg Deadlift

15 Dead Lift

16 Single Leg Hack Squat – smith mach

17 Swiss Ball Single leg hack squat

18 Bent over Row

19 Single Arm Row

20 Lat Pulldown

21 Seated Mid row

22 Single arm Single leg cable Row

23 Single arm Single leg low cable Row

24 Full bodyweight chins

25 Modified chin

26 Modified chin – adv

27 Assisted chins

28 Assisted dips

29 Bench Press

30 Press ups

31 Shoulder Press

32 Biceps Curl

33 Triceps press down

34 Calf Wall Stretch

35 Glute Figure 4 stretch

36 Hip Flexor Quad Stretch

37 Backward Lunge

38 Forward Lunge

39 Stationary Lateral Lunge

40 Dynamic Lateral Lunge

41 Bulgarian Split squat

42 Bulgarian Split squat – extended

43 Squat

44 Over head Squat

45 Leg Press on 45 deg

46 Straight Leg Calf Raise

47 Bent leg calf raise

48 Plank

49 Single Leg Plank Pose

50 Side Plank

51 Swiss Ball Half Jack Knife

52 Swiss Ball Single Leg Half Jack Knife

53 Single Arm Press up Bridge – beginners

54 Single Arm Press up Bridge – intermediate

55 Single Arm Press up Bridge – adv

** Click Here to buy them now**

This all started for me when I was working with a client 18 months ago. I was coaching Kevin through some squats and deadlifts and wanted him to see what I was seeing. So I filmed him using the video on my phone. He loved the feedback and could really see the difference between reps that he got right (and felt the most when doing them) and the ones he did incorrectly.

Later I was playing with my phone (trying to avoid writing some programmes probably) and found I could put them on my iPod. One thing lead to another and Kevin ended up with them on his video iPod. The improvements he made whilst using the video clips were massive, he even got his friends to video him at alter date so he could compare and see if he was doing right.

I actually first had a basic idea for a website that could teach people remotely about 8 years ago (I only now remember this as I type it) when I was only a couple of years into the industry. It’s not until technology has become available that this happened to stumbled into my life again.

When the optimal and correct weight training technique is used the most amount of work has to be done and therefore the big target muscles have to contribute more.

If you want to gain strength, bulk up or shed fat then you need to maximally adapt the nervous system and muscles. That happens by putting the muscle fibres and the nerves, which make them work, under specific strain. If you are using an incorrect technique you will probably be doing less work than is possible and optimal in order to get results.

Remember, the quality of the technique will determine the results you get regardless of the program.

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This is a question I get asked from time to time and one of my regular readers asked me just last week.

Here’s the basic low down on breathing technique whilst you are training with weights.

Breathe in on the negative (eccentric) movement.

For example: On the way down for squats, on the way up for lat pulldown.

Breathe out on the positive (concentric) movement.

For example: On the way up for bench press, on the way in for seated row.

The general rule of thumb is to breathe out on the hardest part of the movement (the positive or concentric part).

There is a way you can breathe employing what’s called the Valsal technique. I do not reccomend this as it is only really for the super advanced and competitive athletes/powerlifters.

For that reason I won’t go into the explanation of it.

The bottom line is you want to have the most stability thoroughout the concentric phase of any lift and breathing out provides greater stability to the core of the body.

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I am often asked about the correct technique for Olympic lifting.

I don’t have the correct equipment or access to the best lifters to video this type of technique coaching.

Recently I have found a website that answers so many of my readers questions.

If you want to know how to do the Olympic lifts, (clean & jerk and snatch) then you must visit this site and make it one of your favourites.

Iron Maven

Everything you find on that site is of the highest quality and I highly reccomend it.

Until next time, train hard, train smart, make every rep count.
Alex

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This is a debate that has raged among fitness professionals and keen gym goers for many years.

Now a number of people will tell you that if you don’t go below parallel then you’re not squatting correctly.

Here’s where I have a problem with that advice.

1. They never quantify what they mean by parallel is it the top or bottom of the thigh?
2. They do so with out looking at the individual and what that individual can do.

This is the more important of the two and the part which I am going to discuss further.

I mean if someone cannot squat down to parallel is it because they are not strong enough or because they lack flexibility in certain areas?

In fact both cases can be true.

Increasing the strength levels will allow the body to recruit more nerves and more muscle fibres which will indeed allow for greater depth to be reached.

The more important one to look at though is the flexibility needed to perform a deep squat and where and why people find it hard to do.

In order to complete a deep squat you need to have a number of areas of the body with good flexibility.

If any one point in the body is unable to give enough flexibility to the movement then the movement should be compromised in depth and range.

For instance if the muscles in the calf that cross the ankle are tight then the correct amount of movement around the foot and shin will not be possible and the body will have to compensate by rounding the lower back in order to still complete the specified movement range.

To my mind this is ridiculous, the last thing you want to be doing with a big heavy load on your back is rounding out the lower back.

What happens here is the discs of the spine are put under an enormous amount of stretch and pressure (not in a good way) that generally leads to injury.

At best you may well just tweak the ligaments in the worst cases you may well damage the disc so badly that you are unable to perform daily tasks such as walking, sitting, standing and climbing stairs.

I remember watching a programme on the BBC about the UK wheelchair basketball team’s training in readiness for the Athens Olympics.

One of the featured players was in fact almost a professional basketball player for real.

Unfortunately he explained in the show that he was squatting in the gym one day and had an accident whilst squatting with a heavy weight and going into a ‘deep’ squat.

The resultant spinal injury left him unable to pursue his career as an able bodied basketball star and meant he had to convert to wheelchair basketball as he could not run or jump any longer.

I have put together a YouTube video showing you how to complete the squat with the ideal alignment for the knees, low back and many other key points.

You’ll find it here:

Squat Video

I have had quite a few emails commending me and others telling me I don’t know jack about squatting as the video shows a far from perfect and in fact ‘shallow’ squat.

The video depicts a friend of mine who has had reconstructive surgery on both knees (twice on the left) and has a plate in his ankle from a fracture dislocation (which basically means his foot was facing the wrong way – pointing backwards).

He is a professional rugby player and someone who is incredibly strong and powerful for his size. He is unable to go the ‘full’ depth because of the above mentioned reconstructive surgery.

The problem as I mentioned at the start is the inexperience or misunderstanding of many trainers and gym goers that unless you are squatting fully you aren’t squatting at all.

If he was to squat to a deep position he would actually lose his low back position putting him at a greater risk of injury. At least this way he gets to squat and still play sport at a professional level, unlike the poor basketball player.

The take home message is this.

You should only squat to a depth where you can maintain ideal alignment. Any deeper will lead to stresses being placed upon the weakest and potentially most injurious of places. This may lower your level of sport performance or curtail it completely.

Finally, ignore anyone who tells you are not squatting correctly if they can’t help you pin point where your weakness or lack of flexibility is coming from.

Remember train hard, train smart, make every rep count.

Alex

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One of the most common mistakes I see people making is with this key exercise.

In most cases the person doesn’t actually dead lift (combined knee and hip extension) but does a combination movement that is mainly made up of knee extension and lumbar spine extension.

One particular professional rugby player sticks in my mind. This gentleman had a history of hamstring tears and low back pain. After he finished his treatment, with one of my physiotherapists, I sat down and took a look at his programme design.

No real problems there.

So I had a look at what sort of weights he was lifting.

That’s when I saw it. He was dead lifting 185kg (c. 405lbs) for reps of about 4 to 6.

Now before you start shouting at your computer screen ‘That’s not all that much’ this guy was only about 13 stone (182lbs) and looking at his physique there was no way he could be lifting that sort of weight with ‘good’ technique.

So I got him to demonstrate it for me. That’s when I saw the mistake. He was doing it just as I described above – knee extension and lumbar spine extension.

When I quizzed him about his technique he told me that they had a great strength coach at the club, “He’s an ex commonwealth power lifter” he told me.

Ah ha! That’s the problem.

Now, again, before any power lifters out there start cursing and abusing me, I am in absolute awe of what these guys can do. The problem is that all a power lifter is really worried about is ‘how much’ weight he can move from point A to point B.

Yes they have great technique and excellent power generation (actually it’s more like force generation as peak power outputs usually occur at 30-50% 1RM) but they have probably had the advantage of years of conditioning for that one movement.

This is not the goal of dead lifting for an athlete who plays a running based game. These guys need ultra stable hips and pelvis in order to fully generate maximal speed and changes of direction, for their sport.

No wonder he kept on tearing his hamstrings, he never had strong enough glutes. This meant his hamstrings were doing the glutes job as well as their own. He was basically overloading them.

We dropped him right back to 85kg and worked on his technique – hey presto no more hamstring tears (well after a hell of a lot of work).

The problem was brought about because the exercise was taught as a ‘heavier weights are better’ goal based movement rather than for the actual movement and needs of the player concerned.

The key is, ‘form and function’ should always be the most important concern of a particular lift or training programme. Unless you compete in strong man or power lifting events make sure you are working the body in the way it is designed to move and control motion.

Concentrate on form and function and aesthetics will follow.

See more videos at the Weight Training Technique site

Remember, make every rep count.
Alex

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I’m often asked by readers, what I do in my training sessions to keep fit and healthy.

Many know that I work some long hours and have to fit my sessions in to intense short workouts of no more than 45 minutes.

Well my secret is this:

At the moment I’m using Turbulence Training, for maximum time efficiency and fat loss.

I don’t write my own programmes!

No, I follow the advice and programming of experts in the field that I trust. I like most other people out there need some level of accountability. My experience of over 10 years of writing my own programmes is this.

It is far easier to be directed by someone else than have to programme your own sessions.

Check out this video for some great lessons.

Criag Ballantyne’s Manual helps me keep on track. Sometimes I can get just as good a workout done (without using weights and machines) by just using bodweight exercises. Of course the structure has to be right and that’s why I look to other experts that I trust.

Remember train hard, train smart.
Make every rep count.
Alex

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aka: Backward or Reverse Lunge

Here’s one of my videos that shows you the importance of doing the lunge correctly so that it maximally works the hip and thigh area.

If you want good looking, powerful and fully functioning glutes then this exercise is a must for you.

It burns up tons of fat and is one of the best exercises as it can be done anywhere, on the road, at home, in a hotel, at a park etc etc.

It doesn’t matter if you are male or female, this exercise is for all.

It is available absolutely free by visiting this site

http://weighttrainingtechnique.com/12days.html

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