Welcome to The Cyber Gym!

The newest place on the web for Innovations in Fitness, www.thecybergym.com presents basic boxing fundamentals. See the Launch video above and log on to the website to download or get a DVD of the instructional video and for future fitness presentations.

Hand wrapping-

It is vitally important to protect your hands when training in boxing. The bones of the hand are some of the smallest and most fragile. Boxing handwraps are inexpensive and will save you a lot of potential injuries. Wrapping methods vary, however it is important to pay attention to three things. Cushion the knuckles, support the wrist, and do not inhibit your ability to make a tight fist.

Jump Rope Warm Up-

If you have never jumped rope, prepare to be challenged a little. It involves rythm, timing, coordination, and is one of the best exercises for developing cardiovascular endurance. Practice 10 minutes a day and watch other jump roper's techniques. You should have a light sweat on before ever striking any bag or mitt. Scroll below for a preview video.

Currently in pre-production, an abdominal core strength training video and a video for solo work on the heavy bag.

A word about nutrition from Kelly Grant RD, Friend of The Cyber Gym.

True or False: With nutrition ALONE you can actually achieve a greater fitness level?

True!

As a Registered Dietitian, the most common thing I see with people is dehydration. Most people go through day about 2% dehydrated.

According to the SCAN Symposium, 2007:

1% Dehydration: Increased Cardiovascular Strain

2% Dehydration: Reduced Aerobic Endurance

3% Dehydration: Reduced Muscle Endurance

If you are as little as 2 percent dehydrated your performance can suffer as much as 7%!

While a 3-4% dehydration can reduce performance by up to 20%.

By the time the athlete feels thirsty- it is too late.

Benefits of Hydration:

• Increased running speeds

• Faster recovery—physically and mentally

• Improved performance

• Greater blood flow to working muscles and skin (temperature control)

• Lower perceived exertion

Amount of fluid you need depends on:

• Type, intensity and duration of exercise
• Body composition goals

An easy way to determine if you are getting enough fluids is to take:

Body Weight LBS / 2 = Fluid needs per day (oz)

Remember more fluid is required with exercise, but be careful not to over hydrate. Here is a trick: weigh yourself before AND after workouts to make sure that you have maintained your weight—if you have lost weight—you need to drink more. If you have gained weight—drink less.

Work up to your hydration goal slowly. Your body will adjust and you will achieve more energy and better workouts!

For more information on sports performance nutrition make an appointment with Kelly Grant, RD at Sports Club LA in San Francisco by phone 415-633-3926 or by email: kellygrant@mp-sportsclub.com.

Kelly Grant, RD Registered Dietitian

Weight Management Certified

The Sports Club LA San Francisco

P: 415-633-3926

Email: kellygrant@mp-sportsclub.com

The Strength Primer
by
Ron Callo, CSCS, Friend of The Cyber Gym

All strength programs are designed with one goal: To get you stronger. A stronger body can do more work, can lift more weight, can produce more force, and is more resistant to injury. Programs for increasing strength has been in existence for decades. Different coaches have come up with their own ideas, techniques, and protocols. Some are similar to each other. Some are drastically different than each other. But for the most part, all of them work. In this article, I will review the most popular strength programs out there. Keep in mind, however, these are general strength programs--they are not specific to a particular type of athlete or activity. First of all we have to define strength. What is strength? It is the ability to apply force. A strong body can do more, can lift more, can move faster--and therefore can perform at any given task better. A good strength program gets the athlete stronger in a general sense. In other words, good strength programs are not sport-specific; you should be able to use the program for many different types of athletes--from boxers to football players to your everyday fitness enthusiast.
One more thing: I believe there is no "wrong" way to train. There is only optimal and suboptimal. If it's not hurting you, it's better than doing nothing. With that said, all of these programs work.


1. Bill Starr's 5x5 program

Bill Starr originally came out with this program in 1970s when he wrote his book The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for Football(1976). The program consists of only three exercises: the bench press, the squat, and the power clean. Why only three? Starr claims these three movements work most of the muscle groups.
The workout itself uses a 3-day split: Heavy Day (100% of 5RM), light day (80%) and medium day (90%). You do all three movements in every workout and do 5 sets of 5 reps. The fifth set should be the most intense; hence the first four sets gradually build up the intensity for the final set. The movements are organized into a circuit routine. You increase the weight only when you can complete 5 sets of 5 reps.
For example a typical 5x5 workout would look like this:

Power Clean 5 reps
Bench Press 5 reps
Squat 5 reps
Repeat 5 times
Sound boring? Bill Starr fortunately allows substitutions for exercises. For bench press, you can substitute with overhead presses or incline presses. For the squat, front squats are an acceptable substitute. And for power cleans, high pulls or speed deadlifts are allowed.
The advantage of this program lies in its simplicity. You don't have to think or plan too much when it comes to program design. Even the progressions are foolproof (you increase weight when you can complete 5 sets of 5 reps). Additionally, the program will allow a beginner trainee to master these basic but very important movements. On the other hand, many might find the program very redundant--which it is. The variety of movements is very limited, which can potentially lead to strength imbalances or overuse injuries. Also, the workouts from day to day are pretty much the same--except for the amount of weight lifted.
Despite its shortcomings, I will say this: Bill Starr's 5x5 was the exact program my football coach put me on and with it I was able to squat 440lbs, bench 275lbs for reps, and power clean 205lbs for reps. How would I improve the program? I'd probably periodize it with even lighter, higher rep days and add some rowing movements, deadlift movements, and one legged variations.


2. Westside Barbell Program

The Westside Barbell strength program is a very popular & well known program developed by powerlifting coach Louie Simmons and borrows heavily from Russian training methods and philosophies. The program has evolved over the years and has many variations. Joe DeFranco, the strength coach who trains many NFL players as well as NFL hopefuls for the combine, uses a very effective version of the Westside program to train his athletes with great success.
Because the program is highly individualized to the athlete, it is difficult to give examples of a typical Westside workout. However there are basic tenets to it. The program generally, but not always, consists of 3 types of workouts: max effort day, dynamic effort day, and repetition day. A max effort workout usually consists of 3 lifts at or above 90% of maximum. This means 1-3 repetitions. A dynamic effort day usually uses only 55% of maximum, but the focus is to move the weight concentrically as fast as possible. When the lift takes more than 3 seconds to complete, the weight is too heavy. Max effort days and dynamic effort days should be 72 hours apart to allow for central nervous system recovery. On these two days, typical set/rep schemes are 10 sets for 1-3 reps. Yes, I said 10 sets for 1-3 reps. The repetition day is the workout most of you would recognize. In that one you use non-maximal weight (75%) for reps to near-failure: the typical 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps. Squats, deadlifts, presses, and their variations are the main movements.
The Westside Barbell program is responsible for popularizing the use of bands and chains with barbells to change the strength curve or give more attention to either the concentric or eccentric portions of the movement. Bands are used for dynamic effort days and chains are used during the max effort days. The program also advocates the use of box squats--primarily to enforce squat depth, but also to separate eccentric from concentric movements with a pause at the bottom, which makes it that much more difficult to lift the weight.
Suffice it to say, WS is geared towards the more advanced athlete--usually one who has already reached plateaus in strength and speed using conventional methods. Because the programming of the workout relies heavily on the strengths or weaknesses of the athlete, one would have to train under an experienced strength coach to realize the full benefit of the program.


3. Crossfit (Starting Strength)

Crossfit describes itself as a fitness program rather than a true dedicated strength program. Greg Glassman, the founder, defines "fitness" as being competent in ten different categories: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. Out of these ten competencies, strength is of major focus. So although Crossfit is not a dedicated strength program, strength is a constant focus in their philosophy, and so I will include it here in our discussion.
To generally get stronger, Crossfit recommends athletes use Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program. Rippetoe wrote Starting Strength(2005) as a guide for coaches and trainers on how to teach and program the major lifts. It is already considered a classic in strength and conditioning circles due to Rippetoe's technically detailed information--everything from bar placement to foot placement to optimal spinal alignment to progressions for every movement. I believe it should be required reading for all strength coaches.
The workout itself is organized into 5 lifts: the squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, and power clean. He splits the workout into two days: Day 1 is squat, bench press, and deadlift. Day 2 is squat, overhead press, and power clean. Workout days are alternated every other day throughout the week. Yes, you squat on every workout! Reps and sets vary according to the athlete's goals--generally 1-5 reps for strength gains, ~10 reps for hypertrophy, and 20+ reps for endurance and pain tolerance. Number of sets is dictated by reps and volume. The program also advocates the use of "back off sets", which are lighter sets that are performed after your work sets in order to increase work volume--pretty much burn out sets to smoke you when you are already fatigued.
This is a straight forward program stripped of any bells and whistles. It is geared more towards the novice athlete but it excels in making the athlete proficient in the major lifts and generally stronger all around. It does a good job in preparing the trainee to excel at the Crossfit workouts--which seeks to further develop the athlete in the other nine competencies.



4. High Intensity Training (H.I.T.)

HIT, or High Intensity Training, was developed in the 1970s by Arthur Jones, the inventor of the Nautilus selectorized exercise machines. Exercise scientist Ellington Darden, a disciple of Jones, is largely responsible for promoting and popularizing HIT among the fitness world. HIT claims it can achieve gains in size and strength in minimal time. HIT advocates short, single sets taken to failure. Each repetition is performed slowly without the help of speed, power, or momentum. Professional bodybuilders Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates, and Casey Viator were three high profile advocates of HIT.
HIT principles are as follows (according HIT Coach Matt Brzycki):

• Train with a high level of intensity: this usually means to take each set to failure
• Attempt to increase weight or reps every workout
• Perform only 1-3 sets of each movement
• Reach muscular failure within the prescribed number of reps: if you are doing 10 reps of an exercise, it is important to reach failure on the tenth rep.
• Perform every rep with proper form
• Strength train no more than one hour per day
• Emphasize the major muscles
• Work muscles from largest to smallest
• Train 2-3 times/week on non-consecutive days
• Keep detailed records

HIT has generated much controversy over the years, mainly due to its principles flying in the face of conventional exercise theory and the fanaticism of its followers. Perhaps the biggest point of controversy is the principle of training to failure. HIT advocates claim achieving muscular failure guarantees muscular adaptation. Scientific research however, does not support this claim. And what is considered failure? HIT principles state that every rep should be performed with proper form--so is breakdown in form, a.k.a. "techinical failure", an acceptable form of failure? Technical failure is not muscular failure--so if we terminate the set at technical failure rather than muscular failure will we fail to achieve a muscular adaption?
This is why HIT originally called for lots of machine work--which is generally frowned upon by strength coaches due to fixed paths of movement and lack of stabilization and functionality. Modern HIT advocates, however, have steered away from this philosophy.
For all its criticisms, there are many examples of athletes succeeding with this program. As mentioned earlier, pro bodybuilders Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates, and Casey Viator have successfully used HIT. Many NFL strength coaches have used HIT successfully in training football players. And with HIT, you can complete an entire workout in less then 30 minutes provided you apply the correct intensity--which points to a very efficient training method. Remember, all programs work. To what point and to what degree depends on the individual.
Would I recommend it? Of course, but in a periodized manner as a change or to avoid adaptation. You can't go hard all the time. HIT can be a valuable tool for coaches as long as it is applied intelligently.

Conclusion
If any of the above programs have anything in common, its that the major movement patterns involved in each are all pretty much the same--squat, deadlift, cleans, and presses. Its also no coincidence that these movements recruit high amounts of muscle simultaneously. They all require high amounts of spinal stability, force, coordination, and motor unit recruitment.
Furthermore, repetition ranges for strength gain are the same across the board: 1-5 reps. This basically means you have to train heavy to get stronger. This rep range is primarily neural in nature, showing that nervous system efficiency--not muscle size--is a bigger factor when it comes to being strong. The Olympic Games are full of examples of 160 lb athletes performing feats of superhuman strength.
No matter which program you choose to use--or if you choose to employ your own hybrid version or your own invention--remember that basic compound movements and heavy weights are necessary to get stronger.


Ron Callo CSCS is a bay area based strength coach and has trained college athletes, Olympic gold medalists, and professional athletes. He can be reached at roncallo@gmail.com