Update of my adventures

As I prepare to finish up my bachelors degree I got a lot ahead of me. As all of you will be celebrating the new year, I will be making the trek down to Greenville, NC. I recently accepted a position as a strength and conditioning coach intern at East Carolina University. While there, I plan to expand my knowledge in the field of strength and conditioning. Unfortunately, as a result of taking the internship, I will be forced to leave my current employer. I have learned a tremendous amount of information while there for three years.

While down in NC, I plan to establish myself as professional strength and conditioning coach. I should have time to do at least weekly blog posts for all my viewers. I also plan to build my clientele of distance coaching.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Stay healthy,

Doug Spurling, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
dspurling@une.edu

My apologies

To my followers,

I just want to send out a big apology for my lack of posts these past few months. With my football training fully underway, preparing to graduate in a few months, and work, free time for me minimal. As the summer nears, I hope to have a little more time to communicate and share my information with you guys.

Here is a quick little something on one of the most underrated exercises:

I will be honest with you, when I first heard about the kettlebell becoming more and more popular I thought it was bullshit. Although, the kettlebell has been around for hundreds of years, it is now becoming more and more popular. There are thousands of exercises you can do with a kettlebell.

The kettlebell swing is easily one of the most underrated exercises ever. As an athlete it is my goal to develop as much power as possible. Power is equal to strength times speed. The kettlebell swing combines all of those into one explosive movement that cannot be mimicked by doing anything else. The power that is created in the hips and lower body is unlike no other exercise. After adding the kettlebell swing to my program a year or so ago I noticed a huge increase in hip strength, lower body strength, and overall explosiveness.

The problem that people run into with this exercise is that 99% of the people out there perform it wrong. Your arms should not be picking the bell up. Your arms should be relaxed. All of the power from this exercise is created from the hips being driven back slowly and then explosively thrusted forward. You should drive the weight through your heels and fully extend the body, standing tall at the top of the movement.

In my opinion, athlete or not, the kettlebell swing should be an integral part of your exercise program.


If you guys ever have any question on anything please feel free to e-mail me at any time. I am also always open to blog topic ideas.

Best,

Doug Spurling, NSCA-CPT
dspurling@une.edu

Seven tips to help you curve your appetite and improve performance

I found this posted by Jimmy Smith, a strength coach and a writer out of Connecticut. He usually posts a new article on a daily basis. This one I felt you all had to read. Ignore all the six pack abs bullshit and check out these seven tips that will help you out every day.

Click here for the tips


I am headed off to Myrtle Beach for spring break!

Best,

Doug Spurling, NSCA-CPT

Chocolate Milk...what?

First off, I want to apologize for not having a post in well over a month. As most of you know, this past month has been the craziest of my life. After, a lot of hard work and determination, I finally reached my life long goal of playing professional football.

Now onto today's topic: Chocolate milk as a post workout recovery drink.

There have been several studies published in the past few years looking at using chocolate milk as a post workout recovery drink. We all should know that after a vigorous workout, we need to replenish our muscle glycogen sources by in taking carbohydrates. We also need to refuel with some protein to help in in the repair and growth of muscle tissue. This should all be done within 30 minutes of finishing your workout for best results.

Now, many people are ingesting sports drinks to get these sources, loaded with excess sugars that are stored as fat. So, there has been a new look at using chocolate milk. The study posted below reveals that the group who ingested chocolate milk had better recovery and performance compared to the carb-protein mix drink.

So, why chocolate milk. Well, there is certain ratio of the macronutritents(Carbs, Fats, Proteins) that is recommended for post workout refueling. Chocolate milk just happens to have that exact ratio. It has also been studied that the excess sugars in chocolate milk are much easier digested in the gut compared to other drinks.

This is fairly new to me, so for the next month I will be using chocolate milk as a post workout drink. I will check back with you with updates and let you know how things are going. Until then, take a look at this study below and put your own thought on it.

Chocolate Milk Study-Click Here


Best,


Doug Spurling, NSCA-CPT

Skip some rope

I'm always hearing excuses about people not having time to workout, blah, blah, blah. Well, I'm not going to get into the strength training part of it. Since 90% of Americans think cardio is walking on a treadmill, I thought I would save them some time. You can run on a treadmill for 30minutes and burn a decent amount of calories. However, the lifetime of joint aches and knee pains is not worth it. In a third of the time you can do one exercise in burn just as many calories. 10 minutes of jump rope is equal to 30 minutes of jogging 7.0 mph on the treadmill. There is a reason you see athletes jumping rope frequently. Jumping rope helps build agility and foot quickness. One common examples is boxers. They want to be light and quick on their feet, hence the tremendous reps of jump rope they do.

So next time your bored and want something different aside from running on the treadmill, pick up a rope. You'll be surprised just how tough lasting on it is.

Until next time, have a great week!

Best,

Doug Spurling, NSCA-CPT
dspurling@une.du

3 sets of 10 or 3 sets of 12?

Ask someone what they do for a workout. They may do full body, they may to body part splits. However, I can guarantee you that 99% use the same rep scheme. How often do you hear of people always doing 3sets of 10 reps, over and over again.

Now, don't get me wrong, for first time fitness goers and "general" conditioning there is nothing wrong with 3 sets of 10 or any similar rep scheme. However, your body will get use to that volume and you will quickly hit a plateau if you don't change it. The process of changing your volume, load, and rep scheme is known as periodization. A good program is periodized so the rep scheme is always changing, keeping the body guessing.
So, how many reps is good? Well, it depends on your body, your goals, and the exercise completed. Here is a general guideline that is used:

Power: 1-3 reps
Strength: 3-8 reps
Hypertrophy: 8-12reps
Endurance: 13+ reps

So, base that with your goals. If you are a football player looking for power and strength why are you wasting your time squatting 3 sets of 10 reps. Maybe a better load is 5sets of 5 reps. Same goes as someone looking for hypertrophy and definition. Completing reps of 6 will get you strong as hell, but muscle symmetry, unlikely.

This is just a guideline. Everybody is different. Some people may gain tremendous strength with 5 sets of 5 while others it may take something like 4 sets of 8. Those above numbers are just guidelines and overlap + or - a few depending on the person.

The idea here is to take a look at your program. Have you been doing the same rep scheme over and over again? Do you have the same volume for your squat compared to your biceps curl? Each exercise is meant for something different and should have a matching rep scheme. Keep your body growing and periodize your program.

If you would like more information on periodization or would like a program designed for you please contact me.

Best,

Doug Spurling, NSCA-CPT
dspurling@une.edu