Quick Tip: It's Getting Hot in Here...at least it should be!

Have any idea what this post might be about? No? I'll give you a hint, its not about the Hip Hop anthem by Nelly or taking your clothes off at the club! Still nothing? Well, here it comes: this little post is all about Warming-Up for your sport or training session! Now I'll admit, a 'quick tip' post will only scratch the most superficial surface of the 'warm-up' debate, so I'll be posting a more in-depth article this Friday July 8th; be sure to check back!

First things first, I hope you have a warm-up. Secondly, I hope your warm up is NOT SOLELY completing the main lift of your session at a lighter weight. But before we dive into the nitty-gritty on HOW one should warm-up, I think it's important to understand WHY we do so!

WHY AM I DOING THIS?

A warm-up serves several key purposes, and if you've ever had one of those perfect training sessions (the ones where you find the groove and all the weights feel light and you leave the gym feeling like a boss), you know that the benefits of properly preparing your body for sport or training are undeniable. So here are a few key reasons why you should warm-up before you play or train:

1. Get Your Mind Right

If you're a regular gal like myself, chances are you have a job or school (or both), maybe a family to take care of, and likely some sort of life stress on your mind on most days. Training may be your escape from all that, but entering the gym doesn't mean you automatically drop all that stuff at the door. Even if you're a varsity or professional athlete, pre-competition jitters may follow you into the arena or onto the field. Progressing through a pre-designed, specific warm-up can be as much of a mental transition as it is physical. A time to invest yourself in your physical practice and prepare your mind and body for what is about to happen. I've talked about 'mindless/meathead' training and risk of injury before, so use your warm-up as a time to become mindful of your movement, breath and practice. 

2. Oil up the Joints

Do you want to end up like the Tin Man? No? Then take it from me, you need to show your joints some love. It is well established that movement helps bring synovial fluid into the joints, circulating it and allowing it to nourish our cartilage. But joints are more than just bones and cartilage; they're also surrounded by soft tissues like ligaments and tendons. Gradually taking your joints through movement progressing from lower intensity towards your working intensity will gradually load these tissues as well as get all our "joint sensors" firing providing increased feedback to our central nervous system. We know that in athletic or training situations, strains and sprains often result from a single, excessive force that supersedes the tolerance of our tissues (ligaments and tendons); warming up will help to gradually 'wake these tissues up' so you're not suddenly exposing them to an unexpected high force situation.

3. Fire-Up the Ol' Ticker

As healthy and beneficial as physical activity and training are, we also know that 'exercise' is a physiological stress. It increases the demands placed on our cardiorespiratory and neuromusculoskeletal system. For individuals at high risk of adverse cardiovascular events (who may or may not be aware of their risk level), a proper warm-up can help to decrease the chance of one of these events occurring. In a healthy, low risk population gradually progressing up to your work intensity through a structured warm-up can help you avoid hitting a metabolic wall! We've all been that person at one time -- when we start our run, MetCon, or training session with a little too much 'enthusiasm' and end up bent over at the waist gasping for air or fighting a 'stitch'... At least part of this phenomenon may be due to overloading our system so suddenly that our buffer and energy systems can compensate effectively. So warm-up, don't throw up!

4. Get Groovy

Movement and motor patterns are a thing; in the weightlifting world, performing a rep in the perfect sequence and path making it as efficient as possible is often described as 'finding the groove'. Performing lower threshold iterations of the prime movement(s) of your training session will allow you to find and prime that groove/movement pattern. It will also enable you to start recruiting motor units progressively from smaller to larger units... and we know amazing things are possible when we get the big guns firing! 

5. Avoid Injury

Put all of these points together and what do you get: a lower risk of injury! You've prepared yourself to be mindful of your breath and movement, you've prepared your circulatory system to feed your muscles, and your joints and soft tissues to take load. Your nervous system knows exactly what sequence and timing to use for your prime movements and your muscles are primed, pliable, and ready to accomplish great things! What you end up with is a state of physical readiness and mental focus that will be more beneficial to your training than you can consciously realize!

SO TELL ME HOW:

Unfortunately, this is one of those "IT DEPENDS" type situations. I think you've probably gathered from those post thus far, that the specifics of your warm-up depend on exactly what you plan to do at the gym or on the field. While I cannot give you a detailed warm-up that you can use for every workout, I can give 3 common characteristics of a good warm-up protocol!

Specific

A good warm-up will be designed to prep your mind, muscles, joints, and nervous system for your exact training session! This means your warm-up should be mindful, it should include tissue-prep techniques such as Self-myofascial release (SMR), band work and/or dynamic stretching and lower-threshold movements that mimic the prime movement pattern(s) of your session. Your warm-up should also prime the energy system you'll be using. For example if you're going to be sprinting, it would be an awesome idea to include lower-intensity sprints of a similar distance towards the end of your warm-up. Running 10 km to warm-up for a set of 100-metre sprints would be less ideal as you would be using a completely different energy system, 

Progressive

There are a number of ways to interpret progression when it comes to a warm-up (I'll dive deeper into this on Friday), but at its most basic level, this means your warm-up should move from less-intense, lower threshold stuff, to more intense and specific stuff. As an example, for a Barbell Back Squat Session, you might start with some foam rolling, and then progress from band work to dynamic stretching, to monster walks, and finally light reps of back squat to set you up for your work sets. 

Efficient

Warming up is not your day job; if it takes you an hour to warm-up for an hour lifting session, something has likely gone awry. If you honour the first 2 characteristics, focusing your warm-up around exactly what you plan to do and progressing for example, from floor work to kneeling work, to standing work, then chances are this won't be an issue for you. Having said that, if you are so stiff/sore/stuck that you need to do 30 minutes of SMR before you can start moving, it might be time to get some professional advice on your training program, daily habits, and/or biomechanics. I'm not saying that maintenance work is not important; I am saying that we should be doing bits of it every day to keep the workload and time-requirement reasonable (but thats a whole other article). Making the effort to properly warm-up, cool-off and do maintenance work each day will truly pay off in the end! 

JUST DO IT

I think I've made a pretty convincing argument for including a specific and thorough warm-up in your training routine (not that I'm biased or anything...); whether you believe me or not, try incorporating a proper warm-up in your sessions this week and see how it affects your training! I promise you won't be disappointed!

Happy Training Friends!

J

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Quick Tip: Stand Up Straight!

I hate to be the one to have to tell you this... but your mother was right. All of those times that she told you to stand up straight as a teenager, she was on to something big! Posture is unbelievably important and can have an impact on a variety of aspects of your life, ranging from your emotional state to breathing mechanics and even injury risk (think repetitive strain)! 

Want to do a quick screen? Go grab your cell phone, its selfie time! Ideally, you want to place your phone/ipad/tech device on a flat surface where you can get a profile shot that includes everything from your feet, all the way up to the crown of your head! Set your timer, stand as you usually would (DON'T TRY TO FIX ANYTHING) and wait for the flash...

If one angle is good, two is better!

Your next selfie will be head-on, again including everything from your feet all the way to the crown of your head. Just stand as you naturally would without trying to optimize your posture to 'look good' on screen. 

WHY AM I DOING THIS....

.....you ask? There are some common postural patterns (often adopted by individuals that sit at a desk for work) that can predispose you to headaches, shoulder impingements, back pain and a variety of other issues. What I'm talking about here is commonly referred to as an 'Upper Crossed' Posture and/or Anterior Head Carriage.

The main features of this posture that you're screening for in your profile selfie are:

An overall 'slumped forward' appearance with some or all of the following features:

• Chin jutted forward 'ahead' of your torso
• Shoulders rounded forward
• Excessive rounding through the upper back
• Bum 'tucked under' your torso. 

In your Frontal/Head On Selfie take a look at your hands. If you can clearly see your third knuckle, chances are that your shoulders are rolled forward and your arms are internally rotated (thank Charlie Weingroff for that tip); this is often due to tight chest musculature. 

So How Do I Fix It?

Well, the first step is admitting you have a problem. All joking aside, many of us become so use to our 'habitual' way of standing/sitting that we don't even notice that our posture has become flawed. Habits and unconscious patterns are at the root of this problem, so here are a few tips on how you can increase your postural awareness and straighten your stance:

• Get Up 
  • If your work day involves sitting at a desk or driving it can become very easy to get stuck seated for hours on end. The longer we spend in this position, the great the wear and tear on our joints and bones and creep in our tissues. We also tend to zone out, focus solely on the screen and plugging away at what we're trying to accomplish....
  • ....so GET UP! Set an alarm on your iPhone for the top of each hour and stand for 5 to 10 minutes. This is long enough to provide a mental and physical reset! 
• Set Up
  • Make sure your desk or work environment is set up in a way that is conducive to maintaining good posture! Is your chair back upright, is your screen close enough that you can see it, or do you have to stick your head forward to read your last sentence. Can you reach the floor while seated? 
  • Move everything in your work environment within reach so you can maintain good posture!
• Check-In
  • Every time you walk by a window or mirror, take a quick and honest look at your posture. If you automatically correct yourself every time you walk by a mirror, you won't discover your true postural patterns so look before you fix. If you don't often walk by reflective surfaces, you can also set an alarm on your phone and do a mental and physical check-in on how you're sitting/standing and how you feel!
• Stand like a superhero
  • Get tall! Almost like a puppet on a string, think about reaching the crown of your head towards the sky, stacking your spine, and rolling your shoulders back and down such that your proudly displaying your chest (like Superman!....draw a emblem if that helps). Also, superheroes don't lean (except maybe Iron Man...that guy's crazy) so support your own weight! 
• Use your muscles
  • Many of us check out during the day and rely solely on our bony skeleton to support our weight. Next time you're standing on the subway, waiting for a bus, taking the elevator, look down and check whether you have locked your knees....if you have, unlock them and turn on your quads and Hammies! Actually... Are your abdominals engaged? Your glutes? Turning these key muscles on can dramatically affect your alignment (and feelings of self-confidence!)
• Get Help
  • Do you have faulty posture? Is it interfering with your work, quality of life, sleep or recreational activities? The good news is that many of these postural flaws can be corrected with some simple exercises and stretching work. Working with a trainer, physiotherapist or chiropractor could be very beneficial! If you do decide to do so, make sure you learn WHY you're doing certain exercises and stretches so you know how to maintain your body in the future! Seeing a professional for a 'tune-up' every once in a while can be a great way to break out of those little postural quirks that may have a greater impact on your health and wellbeing than you realize!

Thats all for this week's quick tip folks! Keep your mind on your posture and your posture on your mind!

J

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Quick Tip: Get A Grip

Good morning Small But Mighties! Today represents the start of a brand new training week, so I thought I would share a quick tip you can work into your training this week: Grip Training!

Why is grip training important? Well, at the most basic level: If you can't hang on to something, you can't lift it! In a more practical application, I know of a lot of women who are working their tails off to get their first pull-up and (lack of) grip strength is often a limiting factor when it comes to pull-ups, deadlifts and rope climbs!

One other interesting reason why having a strong grip can have a major impact on your lifts revolves around the Central Nervous System and Motor Unit Recruitment and is summed up in the Principle of Hyper-Radiation. A few weeks ago I wrote about Post-Activation Potentiation and Heinemann's Size Principle: Motor units are recruited from smallest (least powerful) to largest (most powerful) based on the demands we place on muscles. You can take advantage of this principle by gripping the S@*t of the bar when doing deadlifts, olympic lifts, Pendlay rows, or pull ups or any type of dumbbell exercise -- gripping the bar tighter (placing higher demand on the intrinsic muscles of your hands, and forearm muscles) in fact leads to greater activation of the arm and shoulder muscles, allowing you to create even greater total body tension, and thus move more weight. 

So does this mean you have to start carrying Captain of Crush grip trainers in your purse? Certainly not, and I wouldn't recommend them because as you know, I'm all about efficiency, safety, and functional training. My suggestion is simple: train your grip by using it! Here are a few exercises you might consider:

• Hang Out
  • Hanging from a bar or rings is a great exercise for training your grip! You'll want to make sure when you first start out that you're not too high off of the ground, and also that you begin gradually (try supporting some of your body weight with a resistance band and slowly work towards holding your entire weight). To advance this exercise, you can work towards scapular pull-ups, full pull-ups, tempo pull-ups, or even pulling up (SAFELY & WITHIN REASON) on 'weird' objects like beams and ledges. 
• Carry Stuff!
  • Farmer's Carries, Suitcase Carries, Trap Bar Carries... you name the carry, and its probably good for your grip and wrist strength (including carrying your groceries!). You can even train your grip by carrying heavy plates with a pinch grip if you don't have access to heavy bells! Remember, the carries should be HEAVY; if you can pick up the dumbbell or kettle bell with one hand and swing it around, its not heavy enough! Focus on creating total body tension and gripping whatever you happen to be carrying as tight as you can.
• Fat Grip Handles
  • Many companies now make fat-grip dumbbells; you can also use fat grip foam sleeves, or even more simply: wrap a small towel around the handle of the dumbbell you're carrying to make it thicker and harder to grasp, whether its during lunges, step ups, or dumbbell rows (or a variety other exercises). When it comes to barbell exercises, you can switch up to using a men's bar (45 lbs) as they have a greater diameter; this would be a great strategy for deadlifts, especially if you're planning on competing in the future.

The Fine Print

Although this article specifically addresses grip strength, as you probably deduced from the principle of hyper-gradation, our 'grip' muscles don't work in isolation. A great degree of our grip strength is dependent on our forearm muscles, particularly our forearm extensors as our wrists naturally deviate into slight extension when gripping. The wrist extensor muscles found in our forearms actually insert as a group via a common extensor tendon into the lateral aspect of our elbow and can lead to a variety of overuse issues if not properly trained and cared for. This means that if you're constantly working on your grip, you need to sure to give your forearm muscles some TLC: self-myofascial release, stretching and mobilizing are crucial to keeping these muscles functioning fully and efficiently, and to avoiding tennis elbow! 

You also want to be sure that when you train your grip, you're actually training your grip! This sounds like common sense, I know, but its actually quite common for people to resort to over-recruiting their upper traps and many of the muscles in their neck (in addition to holding their breath) when trying to lift or carry heavy objects. When you're training your grip, be sure to maintain proper positioning of your shoulders (relaxed away from your ears) and your shoulder blades (drawn back and down towards your pelvis). 

So... 

If you're working on getting your first pull-up (or even increasing your reps), deadlifts or are just interested in getting stronger, work some of these exercises into your training this week! Be sure to prep your wrists before you train, and to show them some TLC afterwards!

Happy Training Friends! 

J

p.s Don't forget to check out the Small But Mighty Build and Burn Program starting July 4 in Toronto! We still have space and would love to have you join us! 

The (F)Empower Project Presents: Katie H!

Hi there! My name is Katie Hudson. During the day I work at Shopify as an offline marketer, and by night I run with Nike as one of their Pacers for NRC (Nike Run Club) here in Toronto. I also lead a fitness group every Thursday morning at Casa Loma called the Castle Runners. It’s an endurance training workout where we combine running with sprinting and body weight exercises. Needless to say, I keep pretty busy either running or working out.  When I’m not running or working out, I’m eating. Seriously, I love food and I love to eat. Life is too short to not eat good food. If it isn’t obvious by now, food and fitness are two huge passions of mine, and I combine them into my creative outlet otherwise known as whyirun.co (check it out!). 

---

I use to think that being fit meant being skinny. As an individual who grew up overweight most of my life, this is what I longed for, and strived to be. Luckily, during my early to mid twenties I realized that it was so much better (and healthier) to focus on being strong, and that being skinny was overrated and not necessarily healthy. 

My Idea of optimal level of fitness & wellness is a combination of work-life balance, strength & endurance training, and clean eating - with some indulgences every once and a while. I’m a big believer in the 80/20 rule. Living clean and healthy 80% of the time, and giving yourself that other 20% for whatever makes your stomach smile (for me this usually consists of chocolate and/or wine). 

I’m always striving to be a better version of myself, whether that is to be stronger, faster, or just eat cleaner.

This involves challenging myself constantly - because if you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done before. This means continuously pushing myself at the gym to lift heavier weights, training to run faster and father, and make adjustments in my diet as my body changes to give it everything it needs to support my active lifestyle. 

I made a serious life/heath change about three years ago. At the time I had been slaving away at the gym and seeing zero results. It was frustrating, and I had had enough. I ended up getting a personal trainer, took a long hard look at my eating habits, and decided to start doing something I thought was once impossible: running. I quickly realized that my old workout routines were incredibly inefficient, and not surprisingly I was over eating (and not eating the right things). Once I shifted my training strategies, and challenged my body in new ways, I started to see some major improvements and changes. I was thrilled. 

Once I had built up my endurance and cardio a bit, and finally gained some confidence - in March of 2013 I decided to join the Nike Run Club in Toronto and start running outside with others. At the time, it was one of the scariest things I had done, but I am so glad I did but that is when I fell in love with running, and in love with the running community here in the city. I started running once a week with Nike, but then quickly began running other days on my own. One of the things I am most proud of in terms of my fitness achievements was what happened in August of 2014: I was approached by Nike to become one of their Run Club Pacers. I was floored. They wanted me? The once non-runner to help lead and inspire others to run? I was honoured, and couldn’t wait to start. 

At the moment I run at least twice a week with Nike for NRC (Nike Run Club), sometimes more if we have special events throughout the week. At NRC we cover distances between 4km - 25km per run, depending on the programming session. Then, every Thursday at 6:30am, I lead the Castle Runners, a free 30 minute workout group at Casa Loma. It combines endurance training through stair sprints, with body weight exercises at the top in the park. My other days of the week are spent at the gym lifting weights - usually 2 - 3 times a week. Or doing the occasional spin or yoga class. 

I try to have a variety of exercise in my life, because I don’t want to just be constantly running.

If I only ran, I would wear down my muscles, and I would have a greater chance of injury. Being injured is never fun, so I try to avoid it as much as possible, which means strengthening my body in addition to all the wear and tear I put on it (ie. keeping a variety of exercise in my life - weights, yoga, pilates, spinning etc). This also includes rest days - which I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t do nearly often as I should, but I am starting to really emphasize it in my workout routines. 

Right now I’m focused on getting back into weight training. I was really good about it before training for my marathon, and then running Chicago took over my life, literally. I was running 5 to 6 days of the week, and when I had the energy/time I would try and do some kind of strength or cross training to balance out my running. It was tough. After I ran my marathon, it actually took me a long time to get back into wanting to run or even train again, my body needed a serious break. 

I’m getting back into weight training again because I want to increase my muscle mass and decrease my body fat percentage. When I first started in my fitness journey, my main focus was to lose weight. Now, I’m not as concerned about the number on the scale anymore, but rather what’s behind it.

Setting goals is the number 1 thing that keeps me motivated. Without goals I find I’m either not as motivated to train, or I just feel a little lost.

With goals, I have something to work towards. I’m one of those really nerdy people who love to make lists and goals, and get way too much satisfaction when I cross something off or achieve something. It’s like ok, that’s done, what’s next? It’s always about working towards something. 

Currently I’m working on achieving a specific body fat percentage, as well as working towards unassisted pull ups and strengthening my upper body. 

Exercising and taking my fitness/health seriously has not only given me more confidence and better self esteem, but it made me appreciate the body I have (even if it isn’t perfect in terms of our modern “societal standards"). You only get one, you must treat it well! 

When I’m active, I feel so incredibly energized, and most importantly happy. ("Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy!" - Elle Woods). Exercise is my time for me. It’s my time where I can zone out, or work on my self, blast my favourite tunes and just do something I love. It’s an important part of my life and when I don’t exercise I can definitely feel the difference. I feel like fitness keeps me sane, and in positive mental health. If I’m having a bad day, feeling sad, angry or frustrated, working out always makes me feel better. It helps me focus and clear my head.

I think there use to be a big stereotype that girls should only do “light” exercise, whether that was sticking to cardio machines or aerobic classes, or doing Pilates/yoga. That was it, those were our choices to stay fit and healthy, because god forbid doing anything else would cause us to “get bulky” (read with sarcasm). Now luckily, we live in a society and a culture where it’s totally acceptable for women to be seen and accepted in a weight room. I love feeling empowered when I walk into a weight room, and the respect or sometimes look of awe from guys when they see I’m going to squat actual weight! or deadlift, or build my strength. 

In my opinion, I think being strong and healthy is so attractive, and much better than being able to fit into a pair of skinny jeans. You are not defined by a number on a scale, nor the clothes you may or may not fit into!

We unfortunately live in a society where “image is everything” so women are constantly being exposed to unrealistic bodies that are sadly photoshopped. This leads to unhealthy habits, self esteem issues and poor expectations around what bodies “should” look like. Causing ripple effects for future generations.

Just because you don’t have the “right body type” does not disqualify you from certain activities, sports or fitness routines! I’m not your average runner, I don’t have the classic lean body type, and when I first started to run I wasoverweight. This played into my confidence and self esteem as I hated the way I looked when I first started to run, especially outside. It took me about a year and a half before I finally ran in my first pair of shorts because I was so self conscious about my legs. 

I know there are lots of girls and young ladies out there who feel hindered or scared to start a sport, or fitness activity because of how they think they look. It’s so sad, and I just hope that they are able to eventually love their bodies, gain the confidence they need to just start, and grow from there. 

One of the greatest parts of my job as a Pacer for NRC and Leader for Castle Runners is motivating others, and giving them the confidence to run. I know they can do it, they just need someone to believe in them. Because once you do, they will believe in themselves, and you see this spark, this change. That’s where they start to really dive deep into what is possible with their body. And that right there, is incredibly powerful.

 

Fitness is a fantastic way for young girls and women to build their confidence, self esteem, image, and leadership skills. It’s a way to build and interact with your community, make friends, and challenge yourself. 

For me, running and outdoor workouts has made me into a strong leader and advocate for other people’s health. I help to inspire and motivate others to run. Whether that’s in person or over social media. I’ve had people reach out to me from Canada and abroad saying how I provide them motivation to get outside and get active. THAT is incredible, and still blows me away to this day. It makes me want to keep going, to keep pushing, and to keep challenging myself to be better.

To conclude, I’ll leave you with one of my favourite quotes about running. For those who run, they get it. But often, those that don’t, just don't understand why we run, what it provides runners, and what it means to us. Here’s a little insight: 

“That’s what running does to lives. It’s not just exercise. It’s not just achievement. It’s a daily discipline that has nothing to do with speed, weight, social status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, where you live, what car you drive, or whether anyone anywhere loves you. It’s about the slow and painful process of being the best you can be. That’s why the first step out of the door is always so hard. That’s when we choose between settling for average and being a superhero version of ourselves.” 

- Martin Dugard, To Be A Runner. 

Get More Bang for Your Barbell Buck!

There is no doubt about it.... if you want to  get bigger and stronger, if you want to move heavy weight and make gains, it absolutely requires hard work, consistency, and perseverance. But, this doesn't mean that there is not a place for SMART training strategies, and one really great one is drop sets.

Drop sets, down sets, bro sets, whatever you want to call them they do more than just boost your ego. To prove my point however, requires a little explanation of exercise and neuromusculoskeletal physiology. 

Breaking Down Muscle

The Contractile Unit

Watching someone squat heavy weight, and seeing the muscles in their legs firing like gangbusters, it's hard to imagine what is happening at the level of each individual fibre, but believe it or not, this is really important to overall function. After all, the summation of work of each of these muscle cells (fibres) is what creates that large, powerful muscular contraction. Each muscle fibre is made up of several contractile units called sarcomeres, and basically serves at the pleasure of our nervous system. To put it bluntly, each muscle fibre is connected to command central (our brain) by a motor nerve. Sometimes a single motor nerve innervates one or very few muscle fibres, and sometimes a a motor neuron innervates many many muscle fibres. In either case, the motor neuron and all of the muscle fibres it innervates are collectively referred to as a Motor Unit. Smaller motor units are easier to recruit, and tend to be found in higher concentration in muscles that control fine or discrete movements, such as those of the fingers. Larger motor units are found in higher concentration in our bigger, workhorse muscles such as our quadriceps or gluteals and while they require a greater stimulus to be recruited, they are able to generate quite a lot of power!

Fibre Type and Order of Recruitment 

In addition to our muscle fibres varying in their innervation, they also differ in fibre type. There are three different types of muscle fibres, Slow Twitch (oxidative), Fast Twitch (Glycolytic) and Fast Twitch (Oxidative). On top of recruiting smaller motor units first, our nervous systems also tend to recruit slow twitch fibres first; as intensity and demand increase, we progressively recruit bigger and faster twitch muscles. As mentioned above, these bigger motor units, especially those with fast twitch fibres are very powerful; these are the guys that allow us hit 1-RMs and generate huge power outputs. And the great news is once these big guys get going, they tend to keep working. And that brings us back to...

Drop Sets 

I'm hoping you haven't tried this...but theoretically, if you walked into a gym, threw your 1-RM weight on the bar and tried to squat it, you would fail (unless you're superman). In addition to the order of muscle recruitment, our body has other built in safety mechanisms like tendon and stretch reflexes which stop us from ripping our muscles in half, or off our bones by generating too much force or too much of a stretch too quickly. This is why we cannot access those large, powerful motor units right from the get go or squat our max weight without warming up: we risk injury when we use them, especially if we don't prepare our bodies properly. However, if you take advantage of the order of muscle fibre recruitment and gradually work up to your 1-RM weight  you'll find you can move quite a lot of weight. 

One other thing you'll likely notice is that some of the later warm-up sets that were challenging on the way up to your working weight feel much easier when done as drop sets. Some of this may be psychological (knowing that you moved heavier weight in your work sets) however, a great deal is due to the fact that the big guns are still firing! Those high capacity, powerful fibres are working on the way down, allowing you to generate more force and enabling your body to more strongly groove that motor pattern and engage in a greater deal of neuromuscular learning. In fact, this whole phenomenon has a name: Post-Activation Potentiation(PAP). Explained simply, PAP refers to a muscle's performance  being influenced by its previous contractions. Brett Contreras, a blogger and researcher with a Ph.D in Sport Science unpacked this ideas really well in a recent article(1):

PAP is a phenomena by which muscular performance characteristics are acutely enhanced as a result of their contractile history. The underlying principle surrounding PAP is that heavy loading prior to explosive activity induces a high degree of CNS stimulation which results in greater motor unit recruitment lasting anywhere from five to thirty minutes.

You'll notice from Dr. Contreras' explanation that this phenomenon applies not only to (explosive) drop sets, but also to explosive movements that are biomechanically similar to the prime movement: for example, doing squat jumps after barbell squats.

So What Do I Do Now?

If you're looking to change things up, there are many different ways to integrate drop sets or the PAP principle into your program. In fact, despite widespread agreement that PAP is a thing, theres no real consensus on exactly how to use it. I personally try to take advantage of this phenomenon in two different ways in my own training, and in the programs I write for my clients:

Explosive Movements Before the Main Lift  

When I really want to get those big motor units prepared and firing for a heavy lifting session, I place an explosive movement similar to the primary lift immediately before the strength/power portion of the training session. For example, I might use medium to high box jumps (step down, no eccentric) before a heavy squat session, or heavy kettle bell swings before a heavy deadlift session. 

There are 3 really important things I consider when using this strategy. The first and most important is a proper warm-up to ensure the athlete does not get injured. As I mentioned, use of bigger, faster-twitch motor units can more easily result in injury (likely because we do not access them as frequently, and tend to be fatigued by the time we get there, meaning form may not be 100% on point). Thus, these explosive movements such as box jumps should be placed AFTER a dynamic warm-up that takes the athlete through progressively higher threshold iterations of the movement. All of this is to say, don't just walk into the gym and do a 36' box jump without doing some tissue prep, joint mobility and dynamic movement. 

The next two important things revolve around fatigue. Because I'm using these explosive movements to prep for a heavy lift, I want to make sure the athlete has enough fuel in the tank when they get to the main strength portion of their training session. As such, I keep the reps of these explosive movements low (3 sets of 2-5 reps max), and program plenty of rest between them (45s-120s) such that the athlete has time to 'refill' their PCr system. 

So here is an example of how to take advantage of PAP via explosive movements before a main lift:

1. Box jumps: 3x3@ 24' (step down) 1,0,1,0/60-90 sec rest 
2. Barbell Back Squat 5x5@85% 1,0,1,0

Drop Sets

The second way I take advantage of PAP in my programs is, (you guessed it) drop sets. Again, there is no tried and true way to utilize drop sets, and some people suggest different methods based on your genetic muscular make up. Here is what I do: Take 10-15%  of the weight off the bar, and do a few more reps per set than the prime lift, in an explosive (but controlled!!!) manner. 

For example:

1. Back Squat Work Sets: 5x3@185 1,0,1,0/2 min rest
2. Back Squat Drop Sets: 3x5@165 1,0,1,0/60-90s rest 

This is a great way to keep things simple and easy, and also allows the athlete some wiggle room based on the numbers they hit in that session. Having said this, you can really nerd out with this principle and fine tune it to your body type and strength levels. Charles Poliquin offered a number of pretty in-depth strategies in an article he released in 2014, based on muscle fibre type etc. You can access it 

So if you're looking to gain size and strength, try these two simple ways of incorporating PAP into your program. Make sure you have a sufficient warm-up, and continue to focus on form and positioning!

Happy lifting friends

J

(1) https://bretcontreras.com/post-activation-potentiation-theory-and-application/