The Intro Episode of my Podcast.
This is simply the intro to the Podcast. I expect to add a weekly episode discussing Adaptive/Wheelchair Fitness, wheelchair life, things going on in regular day life as well as what we are watching now be it movies or on Netflix.
As a 20+ year Parapalegic and CPPS Certified Trainer, Justin Malaise shares his thoughts on wheelchair/adaptive training focusing on building strength and muscle through free weight barbell, bodyweight and crossfit exercises. He will also share any recent or past wheelchair life experiences such as wheelchair travel or accessibility headaches he dealt with.
One of the most common problems the average trainee runs into is training boredom. This relates to my post regarding why 3 sets of 10 stalls that you can see in the summary list at the bottom. There are so many variables available which should allow for infinite improvement but many trainees are unaware of the options. This results in progress stalling. Which quickly turns into boredom. Which unfortanetely results into trainees going to the gym less. Which finally results into a lot of trainees quitting until the New Year comes and they have another resolution to Get Fit This Year!
Below is a list of variables ranging from very basic, training 101 stuff to more advanced variables that can keep things fresh and progress moving forward. These variables primarly focus on strength and muscle building programming which do not include crossfit WODs and metabolic conditioning. MetCon type workouts can add in an entire layer of options to keep things fresh.
This is the most common and obvious variable that everyone is aware of and utilizes. They do a certain exercise for X sets at Y weight. Then the next time they workout they will bump up the weight and continue doing this for weeks. This is a fine approach, until it isn’t. At a certain point a trainee will no longer be able to hit their Y number of reps. And far too often they will just stay at a stagnant weight and do the exact same amount of work. 3 sets of 100 pounds for 10 reps per set. This goes on and on for weeks and does absolutely nothing.
This becomes the second most common variable that everyone is somewhat aware of, but might not utilize fully. People will bump up the weight and might not be able to hit their previous rep count. This is fine, and expected. Work your way up to your goal of reps, then next time increase the weight and start all over.
Double Progression is really the combo of the above two items, and already described within increasing reps. The concept is incredibly simple. Always improve something on every workout. Whether that is increasing the weight from your previous workout, or doing more reps at that same weight. Always be bumping the weight, the number of sets, or the total number of reps. Very small improvements over time equate to consistent gains.
Now we get into some moderately advanced techniques. Increasing the time under tension can be achieved through a ton of variables. This can be done by slowing down the lowering of the weight, then going much faster on the way up. Time under tension can also be achieved through static holds. Time under tension can also be ramped up by doing a ton of reps in a given set, especially useful in bodyweight type exercises. At its core, you are increasing the total work time per set.
Now we get into some tricks that I find REALLY effective for more advanced trainees and both relate to improving through density training. One type of workout would be to identify a weight you want to perform 100 reps of, set the clock and record your time. The number of reps can be whatever you choose. Although I would avoid doing this with heavy weights, this is better geared towards weights you can do 8-20+ reps of in a single set. So setting benchmarks of 50-100 reps is a great starting point.
You setup the bench at 135, and do as many sets that it takes to get to 100 reps, and it takes you 5 minutes to complete. Your goal the next time is to beat that 5 minutes. And again, and again. At some point, likely after 4-5 workouts you will have cut down your rest as much as you can and you start over by adding 10 pounds. This is another form of double progression where you can keep things fresh forever.
This is related to the one above, but in this case instead of fixing the reps performed at a certain weight, we fix the time. This is used in Escalating Density Training and As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP) workouts. And works in the same manner as above. You start with 135 pounds on the bench press and set the clock for 8 minutes. At the 8 minute mark you record your rep count. The goal of the next workout is to beat that rep count. Similar to above, after 4-5 workouts at that weight it will be time to bump up the weight. Again, this kind of double progression can go on forever.
Now we get into highly advanced variables such as lifting a weight as fast as you possibly can. Or using Chains or Bands. These variables are meant to increase velocity, which will help your overall power. Assuming you have also been building a baseline of strength.
Included in this post: Exercises you can do from home with NO Equipment. And where I would start if looking to begin getting equipment for the home.
So we are pretty much all on house arrest at this point. If you are NOT staying home for the large majority of your day, I sure hope you are a worker in one of the designated necessity businesses. If not, please stay home as much as possible. Moving onto training, what can you do at home with little to no equipment? And if you were to begin adding equipment, where to start?
While we are stuck at home, and cannot go anywhere much beyond picking up groceries, we are not deterred from being outside. Get out and wheel around. Wheeling outside is an amazing exercise physically and mentally. If you have any hills near where you live, thats a huge bonus as hill climbs are an incredible workout for us wheelers.
As most can tell from any of my videos I have a very robust garage gym, complete with an EliteFTS full power rack, adjustable bench, multiple barbells, dip bars, rings, 500lbs of plates, dumbells and kettlebells. But what if you don’t have this kind of setup? I do not expect anyone to go out and spend 1-3k on building out a garage gym. If you do have the money, and the space, and enjoy working out as much as I do I would recommend seriously considering the investment at some point. The convenience is priceless to me. And the gym memberships savings alone will get recouped over time.
A good gym membership runs around $100 per month. In many cities it can be much higher than that. I have been training at home, with NO gym membership for over 3 years now. That equates to a financial savings of $4000.
From a time standpoint, nearly every gym I have been a part of was around 15-20 minutes from my home. I was typically going to the gym 4 times a week, minimum. Using conservative estimates this equates to 40 months, 4 weeks a month, 4 trips a week. 640 trips to the gym. Times that by the 30 to 40 minutes of time the round trip to and from the gym would take 19200 to 25600 minutes. Just using the low end of that estimate, 20000 minutes, and I have saved 333 hours, or 14 days of my life NOT having to travel to the gym.
I can safely say building out my garage gym was one of the best decisions I have EVER made in my life! Certainly a top 5 decision over the last handful of years.
But forget all that, what can you do with nothing, and where would I start if I were to buy some equipment now?
If you have absolutley NO equipment and you want to get more exercise in than just going for walks or climbing hills, you still have options.
This would be strength exercise number 1 for any wheeler with no equipment. I prefer to do these with my legs up on a bed to about the knees, while my body is on the floor. This results in a variation of Incline Bench Presses and there are limitless variations on how you can do set or rep schemes. Try to do 100 pushups in as little time as possible. Or set a clock to X minutes, and try to do as many pushups in that time. Then in the next workout try to beat either of these.
You can also do pushup variations with your hands close together, forming a diamond, for a variation of close grip bench presses. Either of these variations are simply amazing.
Search the internet for this one might be the easiest. It is a Joe Defranco staple exercise for someone with limited or no equipment. While the Pushup is amazing for a pushing exercise, someone with no equipment will struggle to find adequate back exercises. This exercise involves laying face down on a flat surface and lifting your arms off the ground in a Y formation, then a W, then a T and holding for several seconds in each pose. This will work over your entire upper back and is much tougher than it sounds.
There are numerous things can you do from the floor, out of your chair as well. Just getting in and out of your chair is a great overall exercise and something all wheelers should be practicing more often. I am included in that. Going from the floor to your chair without any assistance from another person or another object to push off of is a great total upper body exercise.
Laying on the floor and pushing yourself up to be on your hands and knees is also a great exercise for stability. And another thing I need as well. Doing russain twists while seated on the floor, without any weight, can be beneficial.
Take two regular chairs (dining room or folding), lay a broom across it. Then position yourself on the ground between the chair and under the broom on your back. Now you can do inverted rows by grabbing the broom and pulling yourself to the broom.
The options with NO equipment really depends on your creativity, if you have no idea whatsoever what to do I would be happy to help, just direct message me at @wheelchairfit on instagram.
Other miscellaneous exercises:
Chair Holds: Raise your self up in the chair and hold for 30, 60, 90, etc seconds.
Floor crawls: Crazy good exercise, better to have carpet.
Loaded Backpack: Load a backpack with books for weight, to do a bunch of weighted exercises.
If you are interested in purchasing some equipment, but don’t know where to start. And you want the most bang for your buck with taking up as little space as possible my answer is very simple. Kettlebells.
Kettlebells can provide a full body workout that can be done anywhere. Whether it is strength or conditioning Kettlebells are the answer. Plus they look cool!
The list of exercises for wheelers is vast:
Rows
Cleans
Shoulder Press
Floor Press
Curl Variations
Tricep Extensions
Swings
Pull Overs
KB Situps
Clean and Press
Swing and Press
Deadlifts
Power Snatch
The most flexible at home strength and conditioning option available is kettlebells. Great for Strength workouts, Conditioning, WODs, etc. They come in various sizes/weights and if you are looking to build out a home gym, this would be among the first low cost options to start with.
Onnit Primal Kettlebells
Onnit Kettlebell Sets
Some basic tips on training with the Corona Virus putting large chunks of the world on shutdown.
It might be more important than ever to still find a way to train, assuming you are healthy. Your mind needs the break. The break from non-stop bad news. News that you can do very little about other than stay in your home as much as possible while avoiding as much human contact as possible.
Your body also could use the endorphins from exercise for the exact same reasons. Training also helps build your body into a machine. A machine with a resilient immune system. Keep this engine running.
Something that is ALWAYS relevant in your training is to train smart. Especially on how far you push yourself. I am always one to push myself to the edge of my capacity. And I will continue doing this. What you do NOT want to do is completely empty the tank. Way too many people do this and it destroys their Central Nervous System. While you still want to go hard, you must leave a little bit in the tank.
A simple test to find this limit is if at the end of your workout, you are wiped out to the point where if you had to, you couldn’t really do another set. Or jump on the treadmill on an incline and keep a decent pace.
There is a longstanding gym theory that with your training you want to Stimulate the muscles and body, but not Annihilate the body. When you completely destroy yourself you leave yourself very susceptible the getting sick or getting injured. Keep the furnace firing to the point where you could do another workout later in the day if you wanted.
A simple rule to stick with is NEVER train over an hour in one session, esp with the virus threat. If you take the warmup out of the equation, I would recommend NO MORE than 50 minutes of working set exercises.
Again, keep the fire going, don’t let it burn out.
It is actually fairly difficult to completely burn out your CNS with bodyweight exercises unless you are doing a very intense AMRAP or EDT type workout with Pull Ups/Dips/Pushups/Burpees/etc. Don’t do these type of workouts now. Work in defined rest. Adequate rest. And nothing where you are doing 8-10 minutes of AMRAP pull ups with extremely limited rest. 10 straight minutes of pullups where the first set you can bang out 15-20 reps, but by the end you are struggling to bang out 1 or 2 reps is NOT the programming you want at this time. While I love these types of workouts, they have their time and place. And now is not it.
For the time being, when in doubt, tack on 15-20 extra seconds in between sets to be safe.
Again, keep the fire burning, do not burn it out.
Good Luck, stay safe!
Nearly every person who has ever lifted starts out by lifting for 3 sets of 10 reps on an exercise. From a brand new lifter who has never been in a gym before, or seasoned lifters when adding a new exercise. There is no shame whatsoever in this approach, but as you become accustomed to lifting weights you need to move off this basic range. For at least some of your workout, and most often, for the majority of your workout.
I see programs on the internet ALL THE TIME that are geared towards intermediate to advanced lifters and call for numerous exercises with 3 sets of 10 reps. These programs are shit and whomever is writing them probably doesn’t know what the hell they are talking about. And if that person is VERY fit, it is very unlikely they follow the program they posted.
1-5 reps. This really becomes the base you must build if you ever want to get serious about performance and appearance. Everything starts with strength, and increasing your Maximal strength must be a priority. Now this doesn’t mean trying to set a personal best of the 1 rep max every workout. That is what the 1-5 rep range is for. Dedicate 1 exercise per workout to the 3-5 rep range and you are golden. Or at least do this 1 time per week unless you are on a periodized program that has specific strength phases. In that case you will have multiple workouts per week that include a 1-5 rep range exercise, for multiple weeks. Followed by weeks where you may not have any strength rep ranges.
Whatever bucket you may fall into is fine, just do not fall into the bucket where you are never doing 1-5 rep ranges.
6-8 reps. If the 1-5 range is the Meat, 6-8 reps is the Potatoes. This range is really a blend of Strength and Hypertrophy and is something you can literally have included every single time you goto the gym for a lifting session. At this rep range the weight will be challenging enough to build strength, but have enough reps and time under tension to build muscle as well. It will not build strength quite as well on its own as the 1-5 range, and its not a pure muscle building range due to the below range having more time under tension, but it really is a 2 birds, 1 stone rep range.
A person could go to the gym and do 3 working set exercises, (exercises that count, and you measure progress against) and only do sets of 6-8 reps forever. They would continue to progress if only doing this rep range more than any other.
9-12 Reps. Hypertrophy means muscle gain, so I assume that is among the biggest reasons we see so many programs that have X sets for 10 reps. Which is fine at the beginning of your weight training journey. Or also fine as exercises after strength exercises. The problem becomes this, when you ONLY do workouts in this rep range, you will not get stronger. Meaning you will end up lifting the same exact weight, for the same number of reps. There is no progression. Progress will absolutely stall. Peformance will decrease. You will become disatisfied. You will quit working out.
This rep range is not a fail on its own. It is a fail when it is the only rep range used by the trainee. When blended in with a 1-5 rep range exercise, and a 6-8 rep range exercise, adding in one or two Hypertrophy exercises beomes MUCH more effective.
If you do only this rep range you will get bored, and quit training altogether. If you have been doing ony this rep range for a while, I would completely remove it for a period of time. Branch out and use the other three rep ranges and come back to this after a while. And even then add it in sparingly if it was the only range you have ever used.
13-20 Reps. I much prefer this rep range to the 9-12 reps. This will also build hypertrophy, but also builds muscle endurance which has a ton of applications. Most of my workouts call for an exercise in the first two rep ranges, meaning I am using fairly heavy weights. So for a hypertrophy exercise I prefer weights where I can get to 20 reps fully rested. I also find this rep range has more athletic applications than 9-12 reps as you are training your muscles to work for longer stretches at a time, especially when you get near 20 reps.
Based on these 4 buckets you can build an extremely effective program. Four exercises of working sets can be difficult to fit into an hour, so the most realistic approach would be to select 3 of the four buckets and go from there.
Example 1: Strength Focused
3 sets of Strength (1-5 reps per set)
3 sets of Strength/Hypertrophy (6-8 reps per set)
3 sets of Hypertrophy or Hypertrophy/Muscle Endurance (9-12 reps, or 13-20 reps)
Example 2: Hypertrophy Focused
3 sets of Strength/Hypertrophy (6-8 reps per set)
3 sets of Hypertrophy (9-12 reps)
3 sets Hypertrophy/Muscle Endurance (13-20 reps)
The first example is a damn good program design and something you can do all the time, forever. Just mix up the exercises you do, especially for Strength, and you will attain progress forever.
Bad Example: This is the crap you will typically see online
3 sets of Hypertrophy (9-12 reps)
3 sets of Hypertrophy (9-12 reps)
3 sets of Hypertrophy (9-12 reps)
3 sets Hypertrophy/Muscle Endurance (13-20 reps)
I could go on and on and on about how much I hate this type of workout. If you are working through an injury, or any other kind of health risk, then it’s fine. But if you are healthy, and looking to improve, this program will stall out before you even start.
Everybody wants bigger arms. And while many spend a ton of time trying to build their biceps, to have big arms, the amount of time you spend on your triceps should DOUBLE your triceps time.
I love love love Pull Ups and Dips as primary upper body movements. But one barbell movement for the triceps that is the absolute best for strength progression is the Close Grip Bench Press. This exercise allows you to load up the bar and progess on absolute strength. It’s also a great exercise to do high rep volume.
Keep your hands at just inside shoulder width apart. Do NOT go too narrow as you will kill your wrists.
Here is a quick video of me doing Close Grip Bench Presses today. I am going for a heavier load here with sets at 225lbs.
Life happens, you will miss workouts. Work emergencies, kid functions, getting sick, etc. These things are unavoidable and out of your control. Just pick up where you left off on the next day.
But for most weeks life is normal. Or at least normal for each invidual. My normal may be very different from your normal!
WHile I do not love ultra strict training programs because they can easily get derailed, which in turn frustrates the trainee to the point of quitting. I do plan out my week. I have an idea of how many days I will strength train, how many days I will do an intense Cardio or HIIT workout. Based on what my week looks like I plan on re-arranging these workouts to fit my week.
In general, it’s good to have a plan of attack. For a normal week it can simply be setting strength training on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. With cardio workouts Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Take into account the various known obstacles of Weather, Work and Guests and plan around these areas ahead of time.
Check the weather for the week. Will there be days you KNOW you will not be able to do any cardio outside? Make that a gym day instead. Or if you are typically a night runner, but that day calls for PM rain, take your run in the morning. If it looks like it will be a beautiful weekend try to plan for as much outside cardio as you can for that weekend. Plan around the weather. Be congnizant of it. Yes the weather reports can be incorrect, but when the weather calls for 3-4 straight days of rain, the reports are often more accurate. Plan around this.
Do you have a day, or mutliple days with long meetings ahead? Days that can typically get away from you and your typical 5pm ending time will run much later? Plan to work around this problem. Set these particular days as a rest day. Or simply do the workout you had planned that day in the morning.
If you know you will be having guests arriving at your house, plan ahead for this. If your guests are coming for a Friday-Sunday, stack your workouts Monday-Thursday.
This post is a few weeks late as the 1st of January always brings a herd of new gym goers, but the content fits none-the-less. I hate crowded gyms. Its among the worst experiences in fitness. If you goto the gym to socialize and prefer this crowded time, you can ignore this post. If you are a normal person that is fine with some organic gym chit-chat, but are primarily there to get shit done, keep on reading.
If you want to avoid peak crowds, your first strategy is to avoid peak times at all costs. If your job allows flexibility, go in the afternoon. The gym is a ghost-town around 2pm. It is just awesome! But this isn’t feasible for nearly everyone.
Go at night. Before I built out my Garage gym, I would typically go as late as I could factoring in how late the gym was open. How much time I would have to get a 50 minute workout in while having enough time to eat another meal after the workout. AND be able to wind down enough to get decent sleep. This is the biggest problem with the late night approach, winding down and getting solid sleep. I would go the second the gym would begin to wind down from the after work crowd. For most gyms this starts around 6:30 pm. But in bigger cities, the slow down time might never come, or not until closer to 8pm.
This is the inverse of night time gym attendance. You need to time it out so you have enough time to get decent sleep, get to and from the gym, and still get ready for work. Even if your gym is fairly busy in the morning, don’t worry about it. Most AM gym goers are there for Cardio or a Class. The weights section will be pretty much all yours outside of a handful of people.
This can be an underrated approach and you can only learn this over time for your specific gym. Some gyms have extremely popular classes where it will look like the gym is CRAZY busy from its parking lot, or from the flow of people in and out, but it could be all due to extremely popular classes going on. For some gyms this can even be during or on the fringes of peak hours.
4:30-6:00pm. I have never seen a decent gym slow at these times. For obvious reasons. People get off work, and goto the gym before heading home.
7:30-9am. The morning rush is very dependent on your area. And some busy morning gyms are a bit later or earlier depending on the crowd. Attempting to guage the morning crowd will take some trial and error.
This relates to both the night time and morning time approach but with a small twist. If your life simply won’t allow for you completely avoid peak times, attempt to be smart about when you go during peak. For instance, in the mornings if you get there before the morning peak, you should be able to use the most popular equipment early in your workout, and when the gym gets busy you can use equipment that is almost alwasy available, like the Cable machines. Same things goes for at night but in reverse. Time out your trip to get there towards the end of the peak. Then start your workout with the less popular equipment while every bench or squat rack is used up, and while the people begin to file out you can use the in demand equipment.
Try Mid Afternoon
Night Time
Morning
Time it with Classes
Hit Peak Hour Fringes
As I stated above, you need to time it as much as possible so you can get on your preferred equipment. If you absolutely cannot avoid peak hours, start with my Fringe Hours approach. Try to have your time at the gym overlap at the beginning or end of peak hours, and adjust your workouts accordingly.
Another approach is how you plan to setup your week’s worth of exercises in an intelligent manner. The most obvious change here is to NEVER bench on Mondays. Monday is called national bench day for a reason. Nearly everybody who benches, benches on Monday. It’s extremely difficult to get a bench on Mondays. Another strategy related to benching is to use the Incline Bench. It’s often empty, which is a shame because Incline Benching is better for you anyways.
You would be surprised how easy it is for you to get a bench on Thursday instead of Monday. And if it is possible to fit into your lifestyle, avoid the gym on Mondays altogether. Sneak in a day on the weekend instead. This breaks one of the commandments of Never Miss A Monday, but that is a stupid rule. You get 7 days in a week. If you plan on going to the gym 4 days a week, there is nothing that is going to happen to you, or affect your gains if you go Tuesday, WEdnesday, Friday and Saturday. Also the gym is almost always empty on the weekends, it’s awesome. For years I use to goto the gym on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Years…
In general, be smart about it. For wheelers, there is a lot of equipment that is essentially useless for us at the gym. This puts more popular equipment higher up our priority list. Understand your gym dynamics. Mix up the order of your workout. Mix up the order of your workouts for the week. Go early. Go late. Time your gym time with the fringes of peak hours. Or during an ultra popular class.
Be smart about when you go, what you can do when you get there and in what order you can do things for the week that works best for your gym and lifestyle.
Pullups are the best upper body bang for your buck exercise you can do. And there are limitless variations you can perform by adjusting grip type, Pronated, Supinated, Neutral. Or grip width from wide, medium and narrow. And then you can add weight via weight vests and plates.
In this short video I am doing dymanic chest to bar pullups. These are NOT meant to be done for high reps. I have to strap my legs into my chair so that pulls me back down a bit as I reach the top but the idea is to pull yourself up as high as you can. You want to bang your chest on the bar, whereas normal pullups you might do for reps you get your chin up to the bar and go back down. These should feel like an explosion where you are trying to pop your head up through the ceiling. I do sets of 2-3 reps at most, rest for 30 seconds, then go again.
My advice it to just start with singles. The pulling motion is so violent your legs will come off your footplate and even if your chair is locked, its likely to move around. I even have weight plates blocking the front tires, with my brakes on, and the chair still moves all over the place.
This will help increase your power output and acceleration. Which will help add more weight for weighted pull ups.
I just received my Concept 2 SkiErg this week. And after only a couple days I am addicted. Today was my second attempt at 5000 meters. Today’s time was an improvement of 1 minute and 2seconds. Continuous improvement from workout to workout is vital for long term fitness. Keep getting better, even if the margin is small. Small improvements over time accrue into large improvements!
Check out SkiErgs search Ski Erg
Today’s 5000m SkiErg Workout
