FIRST- WEAK BACK

  When I am having a conversation with a long time 'gym rat', the first real topic of concern is the back pain. They all have it. Not so much the power lifter community. More so, the body building community or casual gym goer. Of course, nobody likes to be called a casual gym goer. But, if you can miss 2-3 months of training (because your life got busy and pulled you from the gym) and then return  and hit your previous level of conditioning within a few short weeks...well, your not one of those people that gains quickly. No Sir. The reality is you were never very strong or conditioned. Not that you didn't have success, it was just on a 'gym machine' scale. Conventional wisdom states- when your back hurts, go light with the back work out. Better yet, go to a 'back' machine and use light weights. That is the conventional wisdom. Problem is it will keep you in a cycle of discomfort. As you age the normal age related degenerative changes kick in and your pain and discomfort continues to increase. Why is this? Why isn't the high-rep back machine training fixing the problem? The reality is your routine is aggravating your condition. Your wearing out your parts at a pace faster than normal due to this high rep training. STOP! STOPPITY STOP, STOP, STOP!! Enter "Slow Strength". Pavel writes of it in his book 'Enter the Kettlebell' (ETK Chapter 3). I will highlight the principle here. Slow strength is the guts to grind it through. The grind of strength training. It builds real strength. Slow strength is the ability to exert the greatest force regardless to the time it takes. The grind (...as a matter of fact, I do love that word. Thanks for asking.) 'Strength  endurance' is the opposite side of the same coin. Most people over train strength endurance and under play slow strength. Power is strength times speed. But before you can endure strength, you must develop it. Quick, explosive, high rep lifts are the corner stone of endurance strength training. This is your conditioning. But do you have strength to condition? Where is your lean, powerful slow strength muscle? If the muscle isn't there your breaking down what little muscle is there. Now you better hope your body can repair itself before you attack it again. Otherwise you are in a cycle of deconditioning. Chew on this as we do todays training.

  For those who made it (about 11-12 of us) we had a fun night of trash talk at Psycho Suzi's. I appreciate everyone coming out for a little  summer capper. I look forward to doing it again. See you tonight!