Welcome to the 2024 edition of “Ask Me Anything!” In this installment, we have 10 member questions to answer, some of which are multi part questions. Estimated reading time is 8 minutes. We hope you enjoy it, and as always, feel free to ask us anything on your mind!
- My midsection is getting thicker, despite no gain in body fat. How do I trim my waist?
There’re a couple things at play here. For our readers’ information, the asker of this question is about to turn 60 years old and is a member of our powerlifting program. Powerlifting requires a strong core – that means spinal erectors, abdominals, and obliques. Building these muscles naturally increases waist size. If you look at powerlifters, they tend to be a bit more barrel shaped than bodybuilders, who tend to have a more V-tapered frame.
Bodybuilders use comparatively lighter weights, so they don’t need the same structural support from their midsections (or connective tissues, for that matter), as powerlifters. Furthermore, as we age, we naturally lose collagen in our skin, causing it to wrinkle and sag. This can additionally lead to some distension in the abdomen.
How do you fix it? For non-gym-goers, start going to the gym. For the asker of this question, step 1 is to ensure nutrition is on point and that you’re not gaining weight. If you’re gaining weight and your BF% is the same, you’re putting on both muscle AND fat. If you are, fix nutrition. If you’re not, time to build your lats and glutes more so that you get the aesthetic proportion you want, and congratulations, you’ve gotten bigger! Thanks for the ask.
- What’s happening with the new space? When’s the anticipated move in month?
I’m going to request that everyone refrain from asking me this question. Trying to get my contractor reimbursed for his work is a ridiculous administrative task, and this whole process is one of the biggest stressors in my life #triggerwarning. Demolition is complete, HVAC should be getting started, I need to go through the Town AGAIN for electrical, and until they start digging into the slab for additional plumbing, we won’t know about delays there. My contractor is still estimating 12 weeks of buildout total, whenever it begins. So, we won’t be moving until 2025. I will provide updates as I have them. I don’t have anything concrete, so I haven’t been providing updates.
- When can we get another doggy? [EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS IS FROM MY WIFE]
You already know the answer to this: when Molly Jean is old enough and capable of completely caring for a dog by herself.
- When training for the marathon, I kind of needed to scale back weightlifting intensity to avoid physically burning out. I want to keep running, but do I have to keep compromising lifting gains to make running gains (or always prioritize one over the other)? Or was this more a problem of nutrition or recovery on my part?
We all have a limited amount of energy we can expend on training and still recover. Total training volume is what we need to watch, especially when training for long (1+ hr.) endurance events. Given the amount of time you needed to spend running, that rightfully took your focus. If your goal is to improve running speed, you can cut back on total run volume. This will allow you to focus again on lifting gains. Though, depending on schedule, you may have some days where you’re lifting with legs that feel like junk.
Do you always need to prioritize one over the other? Yes and no. Volume is the key – if run volume is manageable, or slowly ramped, you can also build strength. If you’re doing a 6 month ramp up, you may need to focus on maintenance again. But, given that you’ve already run a marathon, it would again come down to total training volume. And that’s where nutrition and recovery can play a role. The better they are, the more volume you can handle. Great ask!
- For the few of us who compete in sports with weight classes, how do you know when it’s time to move up a weight class?
For weight class sports, having spent years as a wrestler and cutting weight in the most unhealthy ways possible, I’m generally an advocate for staying close to the top of your weight class to minimize strength loss during any cuts you make.
In strength sports that allow you to weigh in the day before, it’s not uncommon to see athletes make water cuts, where they lose an extreme amount of water weight the week of, and then rehydrate and refeed the night before. I’ve seen people gain 20+ lbs in a night using this method. The problem? It’s incredibly unhealthy, it takes a toll on your system, and it still causes immediate strength loss.
As you progress in your strength training career, you will, at some point, need to add muscle mass to continue growing stronger. When it becomes untenable to drop down to your former weight class without severe mental anguish and/or loss of strength, it’s time to move up. If you’re national/pro level, ignore this advice. Thanks for the ask!
- Where was Gondor when the Westfold fell?
I was going to give a history lesson of the Third Age of Middle Earth, including the War of the Rohirrim, the naming of Helm’s Deep, and the eventual Battle of Helm’s Deep, to ensure I covered all possible situations in which it can be argued that the Westfold fell. But, it doesn’t change the answer, which is the same in all instances. Gondor was in Gondor when the Westfold fell ????
- Do glute accessory exercises actually help with engagement during squats? Is lack of engagement due to weakness or other factors?
The answer to this ask requires some nuance to make things as clear as mud. When lifting, muscles are not switches – they’re not on or off, they are all firing to some extent. Position, loading, and neurological proficiency determine HOW MUCH they fire. In each lift, we have the prime movers which actually do the work, and we have the structural and supporting muscles, which either provide a platform/scaffolding from which we lift, contribute to various portions of the lift, or lock us in position so that we can let the contributing muscles do their jobs.
The main function of the glutes is to extend the hips. We experience the biggest stretch in the glutes at the bottom of the squat. If we sit back into a more low bar position, we get more forward lean in the torso. In other words, more hip flexion. This gives the glutes more to do. The more upright we are (e.g. high bar/Olympic squat), the less torso flexion we have. Therefore, the less glute involvement we’re going to have, because the hips are more extended to begin with.
When we focus on depth, as our question asker has been, we tend to be more upright. In a true low bar squat, it is impossible to get ass to grass depth. So, until we’ve built the requisite hip flexibility to break parallel in a low bar squat, we use more of a high bar position, which, as already mentioned, has less of a glute component to begin with.
That covers position. Regarding loading, if we try to lift weights that are too heavy for the muscles we want to be using, we compensate with stronger muscles. For example, when doing upper back training, if our rhomboids aren’t strong enough to lift a given load, we use our traps instead. The same holds true if we’re not neurologically proficient.
This is where targeted exercises can help. Accessory lifts are all about building up lagging muscle groups. Physical therapy exercises can help establish the neurological connection. But, if neither accessory lifts nor physical therapy are progressed over time, they become nothing more than warm-up exercises.
Long story long, are glute exercises beneficial? Yes. But they need to be loaded progressively heavier over time. And while they can contribute to squats, the extent to which they do will depend on the squat variation being performed, individual joint angles, etc. At the end of the day, do heavy glute exercises, if for no other reason than to build your cake so you can properly fill out your pants. Excellent ask!
- Are the progressively thinner jump rope cables really effective or are the majority of the different weights more for specialty training than the average CrossFitter?
Thinner jump rope cables spin faster than thicker ones, and if your jump rope form is on point and you’re not tensing everything, they put less stress on your shoulders. However, they are also more difficult to feel in space, which can throw off your timing.
For MOST people, as they become more proficient with double unders, a thinner cable makes sense. It allows them to perform double unders faster, and it allows them to do bigger sets without as much muscular fatigue. I have encountered the rare case in which switching to a faster rope actually helps someone crack the double under code – with heavier ropes, they can’t perform them, with lighter ropes, they can.
So yes, thinner jump rope cables are effective. Great ask!
- What’s the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
As with the last time I was asked this question, I am tempted to go into assumptions and calculations to provide an actual, numeric answer. But as I’ve already mentioned, I’m stressed heavily, and I’ve droned on a lot in this post already, so just enjoy the video below:
- Why do we always deadlift when we squat?
We don’t. We do often hinge on squat days, and squat on hinge days. Why? We use our quads in the leg drive of the deadlift. We use our posterior chain in the squat. Working both in the same day is great way to ensure balance – these movement patterns complement each other very well. Think of them as lower body pushes and pulls. Similarly, we do rows and pull-ups on pressing days for the same reason.
Furthermore, when we perform lower body speed days, or lower body heavy days, they pair nicely with high threshold metcons from a neurological perspective. High volume KB swings or lighter squat movements (goblet squats, jumping squats, wallballs, etc.), or low volume heavy squat/hinge elicit a high heart rate response, which is the goal. So neurologically and physiologically, these movements pair well together. Training for longevity is all about managing fatigue. Stacking complementary movements together ensures that we’re not constantly beating ourselves into the ground. Solid ask!