Mark Bell's Power Project - Revolutionize Your Strength And Flexibility With These ATG Principles

Episode Date: April 6, 2023

In this Power Project Supercut, Ben Patrick, Mr. Infinity, Ben Clarfield, Jimmy House, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about Revolutionize Your Strength And Flexibility With These ATG Principals.   Check out the full episodes:   https://youtu.be/-s3z1VucXIs   https://youtu.be/1AmmYM2qUQ0   https://youtu.be/CjiIV2DMfGY   https://youtu.be/__H3TZhouZ0   Revolutionize Your Strength And Flexibility With These ATG Principals   New Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the new Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below! ➢Better Fed Beef: https://betterfedbeef.com/pages/powerproject   ➢https://hostagetape.com/powerproject Free shipping and free bedside tin!   ➢https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!   ➢Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained: https://youtu.be/qPG9JXjlhpM   ➢https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject to save 15% off Vivo Barefoot shoes!   ➢https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off site wide including Within You supplements!   ➢https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT for 20% off!   ➢https://bubsnaturals.com Use code POWERPROJECT for 20% of your next order!   ➢https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori!   ➢https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep!   ➢https://marekhealth.com Use code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off ALL LABS at Marek Health! Also check out the Power Project Panel: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off!   ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150   Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://www.PowerProject.live ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject   FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell   Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en    Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz   #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

I'm usually shooting how-to videos in my yard or my garage, so I remember the first moment I walked into the Mark Bell Power Project to this day was the most nervous I've been in my career, but it was that good kind of nervous. It was a moment I'll never forget. I've been overwhelmed by all the breakthroughs people have had, and I'm super honored that Mark and Seema and Andrew have put together this compilation. Thank you. And so most people have a lot of potential to really get new stimulation for the tendons and gradually build up stronger ligaments by working sort of the end ranges.

Can you explain that a little bit? Because we've had people where we've mentioned that and we've talked about that, but people don't understand why, like why is it not just working the muscle? Why is it working the tendons and the ligaments and strengthening those over time? Because many people don't think that you can really strengthen those. They think that after they start to degrade, they're just going to get worse as you get older.

Yeah. So if we think about the Achilles is the biggest tendon in our body. And when we get into calf work where the knee is more bent now and the load is now like on the Achilles, well, you now also end up with more load on that soleus muscle, that lower, deeper calf muscle. And I mean, there's a brilliant study from 2019. Well, I don't know if brilliant is the right word, but it makes it really clear that people weaker at extending that foot have more Achilles tendonitis and stuff. the weaker at extending that foot have more Achilles tendonitis and stuff. So, and not just at extending the foot,

but then within weakness extending the foot, weakness extending the foot in like a bent knee rather than a straight legged position. So like, when you now start to load that knee over toe and load the calf, now that weight is like going into the Achilles, meaning there is load on our muscles, tendons, ligaments, when we're doing just about anything.

And if you now go into like a much deeper position or something like that, you're now gonna put, it's like, if someone who had like tendonitis, they would feel the pain in those areas, you know? You reach, it's like someone with tendonitis, they reach the knee over toe, they're gonna feel pain in that area. Now if they sit back into like a with tendonitis, they reach the knee over toe, they're going to feel pain in that area. Now, if they sit back into like a 90 degree position, not letting the over toe, they might be able to keep the pressure more on the muscles. So there

does simply have to be like when you go into these more quote unquote, extreme sort of ranges, there's then more, your muscle can only go so far. And so there's more pull on the tendons and the ligaments. So it's just sort of a stimulus thing. You still feel the muscle, but you're now stimulating more into the tendons and the ligaments. But then we need to be strong in those areas to be protected. So someone could probably take someone who, you know, has really deeply studied muscles, tendons, ligaments, could probably do some fantastic stuff to see, you know has really deeply studied muscles tendons ligaments could

probably do some fantastic stuff to see you know which exercises work which things but yeah if you just sit back you know on a squat you are going to be winding up using more muscle than if you just reach your knees forward and like oh my knee hurts there right so so scaling those qualities because in sport and life we wind up in those positions so we can build those up and then the very tendon can develop and grow and there's been some stuff they didn't even have a name for it but there's even like pictures in the study of people doing reverse step ups like exactly like we were coaching today they didn't even have a name for it it was just like step down off the box this way. You know what I mean? And now there's been like the Peterson step up and the Poliquin step up and now they, yeah. And well,

my name happens to be Patrick. It kind of works out. It kind of works out. You got three. But the point is that they found that, that, that like the patellar tendon would actually regenerate and grow and strengthen. So it's, it's almost like if you said, like here's probably a simple way to think about what would put pressure on your tendons or ligaments. Think about your body, like what movements would hurt? You know what I mean? Because when someone says, oh my knee hurts,

they're not talking about their quad muscles hurting, you know what I mean? They're usually talking about their quad tendon, their patellar tendon, or they had, oh I had my MCL or my ACL Or this or that so yeah, it's almost like you're thinking What shit hurts your body and then how do we scale that back to a level that doesn't hurt your body? And then we get stronger at that

I mean that's really if you just scratched everything I Rambled about for the last five minutes and took that statement that would almost be a simple way of thinking about it You know I mean yes, like what would hurt your joints? What would hurt your shoulder, your elbow, your this, your that? And then how do we scale that down to a level that doesn't hurt and then train it? And that's actually, a lot of physical therapists really understand that concept.

So actually quite a few of the people here today who were so appreciative of this stuff are physical therapists because they duplicate this data and they're using it, they're using ATG with amazing results with their patients because they understand how to apply it. So ATG doesn't work or not work. Everything we do out there can work or could not work depending on how it's applied.

And that's probably the simplest way to explain it. It's like we're taking the things that hurt and then finding the level that doesn't I want to know if you could explain the the ideas of short short range and long range Yeah, because you talk about that a lot But I don't think some people knows that means that was perfect that mark brought up like the band tricep extension So this is something like we could all go experience right now and do like do a hundred, you know band tripe I sent it so If you look at the band and you look at your

moving hand where does it get tougher at that end when the tricep is is in a shortened position now it's just like i like doing deep doing dips nice and deep that shit is quote unquote fixed my elbow shoulder pains is actually where I can do dips like ass to grass dips where my where my bicep like closes my forearm but like I put a public video of that on YouTube two weeks ago and I took it down quickly because so many people because I realized holy it's a whole new education process so many people were slamming for how's that fixing my knee well they were saying they were saying that's gonna destroy elbows that going to destroy shoulders even though that's even though

that got rid of my shoulder and elbow pain but that's the long range and now if you think i don't know if you ever did like like ring push-ups or something now if you walk out further my mom is 67 and she loves her ring push-ups because she's walking, I mean, she's quite literally about what we're looking at right here. I've trained so many old ladies in person. And so it was upsetting, but I realized I had to communicate it better, that I'm doing the same thing, now taking the elbow through a long range.

That is huge for bulletproofing and getting over chronic pains. But for the short term, to get the blood plump and get the process started something like that band So if you think a band tricep extension, where's the hardest in that short range? But now a dip it when the people see me a real deep That's now getting into a longer range It doesn't mean the exercise is an absolute like meaning you might still have tension at different parts

But the point is that okay a super deep push-up or a super deep dip or something like that would be considered a long-range exercise, whereas then the band tricep extension would be a short-range. And so really it's about understanding both of those and then understanding that those long-range, like imagine if someone on a push-up could only go a few inches. They couldn't go all the way down. How protected do you think their shoulder and elbow is gonna be right so so for bulletproofing that is part of is how do we get to be able to handle those long ranges pain-free but the short range can really help us get into it the backward sled the band tricep extension those are short range exercises the super deep push-up or or ass to grass split squat those are long range exercises that tend to scare people,

but yet those ones actually is what really gets a deeper level of synovial fluid all the way into the joint itself. But the short range can pump it up and get that process started, get the tendon healing so that we can even handle the long range without pain. But just a half rep pushup, that mid range,

that's where we're like most overtrained, in that mid-range. That's where the muscle is going to be most engaged. So if someone with elbow pain, this would be a general one, but someone with elbow pain did a lot of half rep pushups, half rep on dumbbell, all of it's right here. So tension's not really at the top, not really at the bottom. If they were to open up and regress pushups, and really open up

and then regress, you know, like band, tricep extensions, or, you know, even there's like you're working on this row thing where you're really engaging, you know, at that end position. You're now just filling in the weak links. So at the end of the day, you just won't. Most people in pain have some serious, like the weak links. So at the end of the day, most people in pain have some serious weak links there. So again, I think that's why it doesn't take fancy terminology to explain that stuff. Is that, you know, if you're in pain in these different areas and you have weak links that you can't get into,

like that's how you're going to get out of the pain. That's how you're going to improve. And I think the short range, long range helps kind of simplify that rather than having to get too fancy on like what's occurring in the tendon names and the ligament names and all this stuff. Most of us spend most of our time in the mid range and less time in the short range and the long range. I've mentioned the seated good morning that you talk about. And a lot of people see those movements like the Jefferson curl. Scary shit. It scares the hell out of them Yeah

Can like can you talk about why those movements can actually be safe on the lower back because people feel that if you move into That range it automatically is unsafe for your lower back. Why is that actually helping the lower back in the long run? I think the lower back needs a podcast in itself because I think the lower back is like one of the most Misunderstood areas that people are kind of like knock on wood I had a certain adjustment or I tried some this or I tried some that so It does follow some of the other principles but Other areas are easier like our wrist is like our ankle Right wrist ankle they like they do similar function.

Elbows and knees, really similar. Hips now get into like these rotations and shoulders. So I feel like hips and shoulders actually get like even more confused. And now your spine's in between and people are just like knocking on wood. You know what I mean? Like that they haven't hurt their back. But a lot of people are also suffering with really bad chronic pain for the back they can't sleep so we had a guy come here today and so he thought that

because of all the stuff we're doing the joints he thought I'm gonna go to Ben and see if he has some advice for my back he's getting in he's getting an MRI on his back tomorrow I mean like he's in that much pain he was dead lifting like six months ago. Probably, you know, bad form. You know, the same old stories. But crap, it's still a better idea to be strong than to go through life with no muscle tissue. You know what I mean?

But the point is, you know, probably went too far with bad form on a deadlift. And since that point, it's just gotten really bad for him. Okay. And all I want to say about that is that I said Okay, and I took him right over to do an exercise and he was able to do it with no pain and we got on a back extension machine and I let him have his back relax all the way and that's in the family of Jefferson curl

Jefferson curl would go towards more elite levels of that. We also use very light weights. I can actually do heavy weights in it now, but I got there on the capacity. And I only did the heavy weight, because it gets a ton of views. But you haven't seen me do it recently. I'm trying to just help people.

So what I put on social media is just calculated whether I have to reach some people. But have you seen me do a heavy Jefferson curl in forever? But I've done it, I just haven't posted it. Some of my most, my social media growth has actually slowed down since I stopped posting freaky shit that I can do. But you guys saw me today, I can still do the freaky shit.

So the point is that a Jefferson curl looks scary, but so bending down to pick up a pencil we start people on the jefferson girl with absolutely no weight and they hold like you know five pounds or this or that we only try to get to 25 of their body weight and we don't even make them go past that because if you can't bend down to get something a quarter of your weight like certain objects you can't pick up like with the square back like just based on the nature of it look at strongmen like having to pick up like like a ball or something they're going like knees over toes and rounded back, but The farther we go into these extreme ranges. Yes, there is more risk

So something like a Jefferson curl someone shouldn't go like mess with but with the back extension It's a pretty light amount of tension You know and it's pretty cool that they're in like old gyms and that it holds your form in for you. Go down and relax. Jefferson curl takes a lot of form and tension in this net. So with the back extension, you go down and relax at the bottom

and it takes no effort, no form coaching. You know what I mean? Just relax. And then gradually go up until that back is straight. And what keeps it really simple is if you can squeeze your glutes together, there's tension on the back. What's that position there? That's the short range.

When we go down and relax, what's that? That's the long range. And then we go up, and then we gradually take a foot out. Now all the load is on one side. And then you do a rep, you relax down, you come back up, and then you slowly put the other foot in, take the foot out, then do a rep on the other side. So now we're working the back in the long range in the short range

We're able to get some balance between sides our hamstring our glute all connects We're able to you know people are often it's almost like if you took all the different ideas Oh, I get the back you got to get this you get we're getting a lot in one movement now That's in like every gym is these simple 45 degree back senses, but when i see people doing back extensions in gyms they're just bouncing around so so it's how you do it i've never gone into a gym and seen someone doing the back extension the way that i'm talking about and so here's a guy who's having an mri on his back tomorrow it's so bad and can't sleep through the night and this and that and he's able to get into what i think is the number one back exercise on day one that's pretty cool with the first time and he's able to get into what I think is the number one back exercise on day one. That's pretty cool with the first time.

And he's able to get a great burn in the muscles. But with that, what's so cool about that equipment is we're able to get the long range and the short range and balance sides in a single movement. So I would put that into that family of like heavy forward, you know, heavy ass sled drives of like, you know, if it's done right, it's pretty dang simple. The risk is very low. The reward is super high. So I think, I think that correctly,

and maybe correct isn't even the right word, but maybe, um, um, learning how to patiently dominate a back extension and, and patiently dominate getting that, that foot and knee over toe with the HASD. Those are two things that I have to push and popularize a lot more. Power Project family, your normal shoes are making you weak. This is why I partner with Vivo Barefoot Shoes because they have a wide toe box, they're flat, and they're flexible. So with every single step you're taking, if you're taking a 10-minute walk outside

or when you're working out in the gym, your feet are able to do what they're supposed to do in this shoe. They have tons of options for hiking, running, training in the gym, chilling and relaxing, casual shoes. If you're out on a date, you need to check them out. And Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, that's over at vivo barefoot.com slash power project. And you guys will receive 15% off your order automatically. Again, vivo barefoot.com slash powerproject, and you guys will receive 15% off your order automatically. Again, vivobarefoot.com slash powerproject. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. We wanted to break down longevity.

Derek and I have seven steps, which you can say almost in a phrase, and that's why I got fired up about these. The seven steps for training for longevity. Does he still pull up clips on here? Yeah, I can. Absolutely. Just tell me what you need. We made this. Derek and I made this. The seven steps for training for longevity and does he still pull up clips on air? Yeah, I can absolutely yeah Just what you need. We made this Derek and I made this as my last Instagram post to keep it really simple so you can just see the seven steps and

The idea is if you start training from your feet and ankles Really gets that circulation going the right way and that's what a sled does and if you apply pressure rather than avoiding if you apply pressure at a pain-free level and this sled allows us to do that and At least as much backward as forward Yeah, so this was me asking Derek. Oh, yes, how do I how do I want to be like you when I'm 43? right and so a lot of my ideas Mark Bell knows Louie Simmons Charles Poliquin all these ideas the brilliance is there but seeing Derek in action and seeing the deviations he made specifically to how he wanted to train not just the idea being

there but for example that we sled every day and we do it at least as much backward as forward so that's our one two three out of the seven point list start from the toes and feet apply pressure from the ground up at your pain-free level at least as much backward as forward and then we use these regressions to restore full range of motion so you've got to have your joint to get the nutrients in there and we like to strengthen through a full range of motion where you get a stretch as well. So there's the full bend on the joint, but there's also like a full stretch. Mark sent me one of his favorite hamstring exercises,

that dumbbell, that thing is golden, that sort of dumbbell RDL where the intention is not necessarily the weight, but the length. That quality, when you can strengthen through length, through the stretch, it appears to be exponential for reducing injuries. Not just like stretch plus strength, not just 2x reduction, like 4x reduction.

And then, if you leave no weak links. So that's something, we get Derek's low ab strap, might as well call it the reverse squat strap. Yeah. I was way too fired up about that. as well call it the reverse squat strap. Yeah. I was way too fired up about that. Uh-huh. You know, the reverse squat. You didn't bring that in?

Oh, we're going to make videos. Don't worry. We're going to make great videos. Yeah. But I was so fired up about that because it allows you to train a weak link. And that exercise in general, we like to leave no weak links. But the seventh one is finishing with the hand and fingers. And at our original gym before COVID, we had all kinds of grip stuff and you can weave this into a workout you can finish i leave a crush gripper and a finger expander in my car so when i finish sessions i finish with the

hand and finger and derek's done a lot of research on that on longevity so then using this where it has this thick my grip right now is tired out From using these on the sled and when you and because this is elastic. Yeah, I've never seen anything like that And these are affordable. You're never gonna see me fired up about some super expensive product I like stuff anyone can get their hands on and I'm trying to rip it apart So, you know how weak most people are between our shoulder blades. And I work, it's the nature of it. I spend so much time on the computer. So the fact that I can train from the ground up

and be working that step seven of longevity, finish with the hands and fingers. So I'm strengthening my grip, fixing weak links at the same time. So by doing a backwards thud with that, we're essentially getting, and if you consider, yeah, so we're getting five out of our seven steps for longevity with one exercise so that's why i would

rank using these gripping them putting enough weight on the sled that it's challenging not just your legs but your grip trying to expand it as you're doing it you're getting your backwards sled i would rate that the number one longevity exercise so i got super fired up i already sent to my staff and to all 600 plus atg coaches around the world i already instantly sent video this morning of like okay on the tuesday and friday sessions where i suggest getting straps thick grip you know that use whatever you can these are affordable and the elastic component allows you to work between the shoulder blades where we're like all weak so it is what it is it's the best product for the job but use what you have get something with the thickest grip you can and now

you're working all that stuff from the ground up your backward sled and getting your grip at the same time so that was kind of a segue from the subjects we were talking about and being appreciative and so i'm like yeah we need to get a million of these out there so my my mind thinks in terms of big goals but i also was telling him man i'd be grateful if all i could do was drag a sled backward and working my grip and my upper back at the same time it'd solve my body would last a long time so it's those those two lists for me big goals appreciation and yeah that one video shows the seven we're talking about and we'll break down some cool videos too yeah what do you guys think for both of you the uh the bigger demon

i'll say um trying to discover or figure out why people's like or how to correct people's knee pain or getting them getting them to believe that they can reverse their knee pain. Oh, I mean, showing it, you know, and showing simple things they can go try and see if it actually works for them.

I think, I don't think it has to be a leap of faith. Yeah. I think people, I think that's why, that's why people, so many people are responding to, to being knees over toe guys, why he has

a million followers, because he's leading from the front. And like I was telling Nsema, you got so many people in this space that are just trying to sell their products, trying to sell their program, talking, not hate, not so many hate, but Ben leads and he shows you so automatically that's

inspiring and giving people belief, like, oh man, this guy. And he shows you where he came from. I was 19. I had a 19 vertical to a 42 inch vertical. And I had these three or four knee surgeries. So automatically everybody's just drawn to that, you know. And the same with me, man.

Like people see me at 43 and they're like, man, I'm 30. And my knees hurt or my back hurts. And that automatically, I can imagine if I was 30 and saw a 43-year-old, I'd be like, that would immediately give me a belief like, man, if he can do it, I can do it. And I think that's what people. That's what motivates me. And that's why I started seeing his approach to the ATG system

and things that he would identify and want to do more. And then so the same process of being sold on something and then trying it, I've lived that in reverse by watching him at 43. We're Sunday, we're trying to do dunks, but what's the best thing Derek can do to get someone to want to do sled training? Dunk when he's 50. Live it. Like, like prove, you know, go live it and prove it.

But right. There's nothing he can, there's literally nothing he could say that will get more people to try doing sled training, which Paul Quinn wrote a book about it. Louie Simmons is probably, yeah, Paul Quinn has a book just on sled where he goes, yeah, where he goes of all kinds of gems too with the sled. Right?

That didn't get sexy enough. You know what I mean? That's what we're out here living and bleeding and trying to prove it But there's there's nothing that he could say that would work better than seeing him Like if he can be as quick as he is now in the court at 50 It'll look like one of those videos where the guy dresses up, you know, yeah, it's real life But like seriously like if he can play basketball like he is now when he's 50, that'll get more people to try a sled than anything he could say.

I just want to say like one of the things that makes the sled so effective for people that maybe have doubts about it, they're not quite sure, is it's primarily all concentric training. There's not an eccentric component to it. It's also not going to load your spine. So you're not taking weights and putting them on your back like you might with a squat. Not that that's necessarily inherently unhealthy. No, it's good in dosages.

Yeah, it's good in dosages for sure. And you mentioned that earlier with the longevity study of just having like pressure. Definitely makes a lot of sense. Basically, it's a message to your body like, hey, we're still doing shit. You better still, you better still be awake down there. So it is helpful, but you can do a lot of exercises with the sled. It's primarily concentric work. That doesn't mean you're not going to get sore at all. It doesn't mean that there's no eccentric work to it, but it's primarily all concentric stuff. And so people that are looking to rehab just about anything, your shoulder, your knee, you can get on there and figure out with different straps and handles.

You can do all kinds of exercises on there. Yeah. Yeah. So true. Does it bum you out? Unfortunately. Does it bum you out when you see people getting knee surgery? I mean, I've been through it, so I know they'll come out of it, you know?

Sick. So I don't even have, go ahead and get the knee surgery, honestly. A lot of times when you see individuals who are quite muscle bound, when they do something like that, a curl or any of these movements, when they're walking around, like they have this limited range of motion where you can tell that's not too comfortable. You though, like you can tell when you're walking around, like you, you can move well with all of that muscle where most people think like people who are muscle bound, especially in jujitsu, they think that they can't move.

So I'm curious about this. Like you said, well, your wrestling has definitely helped you out as far as movement's concerned, but you started powerlifting at 18, got out of it at 20. You're still doing a lot of the heavy lifts. What do you do if you do anything outside of jujitsu and outside of lifting or maybe in the gym that helps you move so fluidly and move so well? Do you have, and do you do any mobility work? What do you do? So the first answer would be, I think it stems from like my childhood, like always moving and never leaving that except for that short two-year stint. So it's an easier skill to pick back up. As far as currently, my powerlifting coach, Dawson Windham,

he's really well-known. He works with a lot of the top powerlifters like Shane Hunt and stuff like that. Sick. He's a big proponent of knees over toes guy. And when I started working with him about a year and a half ago, he started throwing in a lot of those movements. I was like, which ones, like which movements specifically the ones I started with was like the split squat and the sissy squats and everything like that. And then that's progressed into pretty much almost everything that he does. In fact, I even take some things that

knees over toes guy doesn't just throw it in the program just because I enjoy it. And whether it's shoulders, knees, elbows, or whatever. I'm so happy to hear that. Yeah. No, I'm such a, I'm such a huge proponent of it. I even run like workshops at TNT where I train and do jujitsu for our jujitsu students, like shoulder, knee workshops and whatnot. And I find it to be super beneficial specifically for grappling. I feel like if you're not having the knees over toe, like KOT type movements in your training, you're missing out a lot because of the fact that you're building strength and unpredictable ranges of motion and deep, super deep range of motions too. Yeah. And so the reverse Nordic, uh, would be similar to you guys taking someone's back sometimes, right? Like people blow out their knees that way often. Right. And generally like in,

in jujitsu, like a general rule is don't pull somebody back over their knees, you know, because most people can't support that but if it happens and You train it that way then obviously you're more like more or less likely to get injured from it So and especially with shoulders and stuff now, I'm huge proponent the PVC circles I started doing them weighted now the rotator cuff that I saw yet. I'm up. How do you do PVC circles? So I'll take a PVC pipe and then stick some weights on it I would put like a like a weight in the middle of it Okay, and then it some weights on it. I would put like a, like a weight in the middle of it. Okay.

And then it's on my story right now. There might be a video of it, but I'll just put weights in the middle of it and then do it like that. You know, sets of 10 to 12 and progress like maybe two and a half pounds every couple of weeks. Yeah. And I think that combined with that external rotation that he was showing you guys on the dumbbell on the bench with cables.

Yeah. Those two, as well as what my coach Dawson, he refers to as like full range of motion face pulls where effectively you're protracting at the top of the movement and then you're pulling your elbows as far back as you can to where the metal part of the rope actually touches your neck. Yeah. Those are the three that, that one. Yeah.

Wow. I want to try that one before getting to the gym. Yeah. And it's, it's, uh, with the way that you be getting to the gym and it's it's uh with the way that you're describing the face pull it's very difficult to use if somebody's not used to it to use hardly any weight on that yeah meanwhile people try to like load up a bunch of weight on a face pull and they do some like half-assed version yeah and then they don't really get activation of their

shoulders when they're doing that a lot with their their biceps and like it's not definitely not happening to definitely not tapping into the rotator shoulders when they're doing that. They're pulling a lot with their biceps. It's not a baseball anymore. Definitely not tapping into the rotator cuff at all. Nope. Power Project family, if you're trying to increase your muscle mass, if you're trying to lose body fat, if you're trying to stick to a nutrition plan, if you're trying to get fit, pretty much if there's anything you're trying to do for your health, we know that sleep is the biggest determining factor to help you get from point A to point B. That's why we've been sleeping on

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all the benefits of 8 Sleep. But if you also need to replace your old nasty mattress, you can get the Pod Pro cover and the 8 Sleep mattress. Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, you guys need to replace your old nasty mattress, you can get the Pod Pro Cover and the Eight Sleep mattress. Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, you guys got to head over to eightsleep.com slash powerproject, and you guys will automatically receive $150 off of your order. Again, eightsleep.com slash powerproject. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. You said there's an eight-step fundamental to what you guys do. Can you take us through what those fundamentals are? Absolutely. You know, understanding the fundamentals, I think that people can hear

those things, but then take that and add in other things that may fall in line with what you guys believe is the way to do things. I absolutely, it'd be my pleasure. I think it's really great. Ben and I sat through this and Keegan and like, you know, if people don't know, Keegan Smith is fantastic. He's, he's really great. Yeah. Keegan's amazing. Can you just pause and back up for just a second and kind of explain a little bit of what you do with Ben, if you don't mind. Absolutely. So I own a performance facility in Toronto. I've owned it for over a decade. Um, um, all of my coaches are Poliquin or ATG or, and we help people one-on-one. That's what my business is and that's what we do. And I got connected. I have to be grateful to you guys. Cause, um, you know, the last few years have been really hard. Uh,

we got, we got, uh, it was, it was tough in Toronto and Canada. It was COVID too? Yep. With COVID, it was really hard from a business point of view. I'm grateful that we survived. I have to be grateful to my amazing team of coaches. They're amazing. Like Greg, Jacqueline, Joe, Daniel, and Dave, they're just great people. And my wife for being very smart from a business point of view that we survived and we're growing, which is great. We're opening a new facility. So I have to be grateful. And you guys, it was the first live thing I did in a couple of years. And when Ben was here and the energy was amazing. you know, knees over toes guy, Ben Patrick, he connected, we connected, uh, uh, in person here, but we were texting for quite a while before. And, uh, and, uh, and Ben is a, you know, a Charles guy and he got phenomenal results with his body and, uh, and his athletes with, with Paula Quinn's methods and his own interpretation thereof. And, uh, so we connected and, uh, what, what Ben saw

for me as a role with ATG is that now that the world's opening up again, there's room for in-person events because he's figured out the online method. I think Ben's cracked the code for online. The online world, his content is phenomenal. He's positive and he puts out great things. So my role, I think, in the whole group is to really unify the in-person stuff and help coaches be better coaches. Because I think the desire is there and because everyone's been locked up and hasn't traveled as much, I think it's really growing and that's, that's what we're going to do. So we're doing, we're doing in-person level twos and coaching coaches of the ATG method, which I can go

through the eight points again, and this is a recipe and there's other recipes, but Ben and I and Keegan and all the ATG family, it's very heavily Poliquin. But it's, you know, how do we make it more accessible to a lot of people? And the magic of it is understanding that there's no high-performance athlete and broken person. Everyone's human. And there's just a spectrum of how hard you make it. So, you know, sledding is sledding. So the principle number one is, are you sledding? And how do you, can you make it. So, you know, sledding is sledding. So the principle number one is, are you sledding? And, and how do you, can you make it heavier? Can you go slower?

Can you go faster? You, you can, the great thing about sledding is it's great for everyone. And, uh, yeah, there we go. Like that was a phenomenal event. It was really great just to be down there and show everyone. That's the second live event, right?

It was great. It was phenomenal. Yeah. So there we go. ATG basic number one of eight sled. Are you sledding? So there's different ways to do it. You know, I think a backwards sledding is phenomenal. I think the two things is that for, uh, older people or broken people, it's very easy, very easy entry point, but also the truth of the matter is it's phenomenal for big NFL players who actually

often their knees are blasted and they can't do a step up. So the entry point is actually to do backward sledding, which is pretty much a step up. So you're getting phenomenal movement in the knees and warming it and blood flow and actually connective tissue and the foot and all kinds of magical things without having to be overly technical. So that's number one. So we sled, you know, one, two, three, four times a week very passive movement my son referred to it as advanced walking which i thought was really smart but you know like uh a lot of other movements that you go to do in the gym they really uh accumulate and they don't always accumulate in such a great way if you have a banged up knee and you go and do a bunch of leg extensions leg presses

you might have kind of caused more harm right good, but we have this mindset of like, I got to tough it out, it's legs day and I got to go do this. Meanwhile, if you pull the sled, you can hurt yourself doing anything, I should say that. But meanwhile, if you pull the sled, it might be more restorative,

especially if you do it kind of calmly, if you're in a state where your knee is banged up. Exactly. I mean, I've had my knee in tremendous amounts of pain and there was points where I couldn't drag the sled backwards. My knee was so jacked up, but I could pull it forward, and I can get some sort of work, get some blood flow in that area. Absolutely.

I think it's incredible, and it allows you to get in a lot of reps, and it allows you to get in a lot of great work without any damage. Yeah, and that's the magic of it, and it's why it's number one. And we talked about this. If it's even the only thing you do, magic, win. You know, I think what was so great of seeing you coach Oscar is you gave him a win.

And I think all, I think training has to be about that more than it has to be about bleeding the athlete. He was hyped up. And I talked to him about deadlifting maybe in the next session. And then he picked up the trap bar for a second

and was like, oh yeah, I could do this next time. And he certainly had a lot more energy. But I think that's the way somewhere along the line we got screwed up and we made the workout just totally and completely annihilate you. You leave it all in the gym and the gym, in my opinion, is supposed to most of the time make you feel a lot better rather than make you feel a lot worse. Absolutely. I think, I think it's a, I think a great lesson that I learned from a bunch of great coaches is, you know, success leaves clues. If multiple people say it, it's great.

It's minimum necessary dose. Minimum necessary dose is key. And I think sometimes people think maximal dose. And it's a nuclear bomb and they try to annihilate people. But minimum necessary dose means you can come back and fight another day. And I think that's a magical thing. So sled's a magical thing with that. And you can then up it and you can go faster and you can put more weight on it.

You can really work. You don't have to start there. So that's a magical thing with that. And you can then up it and you can go faster and you can put more weight on it. You can really work. You don't have to start there. So that's number one. Number two, I think it's one of those things that's the Ben Patrick special, but Charles also taught me this and, you know, I've done it for years. I have a tear and I had a tear in my right knee and I have a tear in my left knee, but split squats are magical. So are you working towards perfecting the split squat? Why are they so magical? the split squat.

Why are they so magical? I think, you know, the video we put out, it could very well be the greatest stretch, strengthen exercise there is for your lower body. So it helps the ankle, the knee, there it is. Like in some fantastic, that's Michelle, she has it. And Marcel and Isaac, they have phenomenal

split squats. You're hitting three different joints at a time, but per leg. So you're hitting six joints because let's not forget about that back knee. Anyone that has a wonky knee may have noticed that when they try like a lunge, sometimes the back knee is the one that actually hurts. And if you look at the positioning of the knees over toes, your knee is way over your toe in ATG split squat with the back leg, even more so than the front leg. Have you guys started selling those buddies by the way yet?

They're coming out. I actually brought my pair here so we can mess with them. They're phenomenal. It's one of those brilliant, brilliant things that he's really, Ben's brilliant. And that solution for people's heels, for traveling, for squatting, for step-ups, for split squats, I love it. And I think that's the thing is like, as you work on better dorsiflexion, that ability to wedge that in, it's a phenomenal tool. It's great. And I think that's the thing is like, as you work on better dorsiflexion, that ability to wedge that in, it's, it's a phenomenal tool. It's great. They're going to see, yeah, it'll sell out and

yeah, but it's, it's a great tool. Yeah. I love them. Can you talk a little bit more about, can you talk a little bit more about like that, why you think it's such a good stretch? Cause I think there's a lot of utility. Absolutely.

That knee being real open like that, right? Yeah. So, you know, what's great about it is that you're driving the front knee forward and you're getting more dorsiflexion in the ankle. So there's a lot of data about how the better you dorsiflex in any sport, the better you can

dorsiflex, which is, you know, your toe, your calf's flexibility, the more, the lower your chances of lower body injury. But are you getting a good dorsiflexion? Oh yes, absolutely. Even with the heel? Yes. Even with the thing doing some of the work for you?

Yes. Well, it's just that you're stable on it. It really doesn't move. Okay. So again, like it's not to say that a flat foot split squat isn't the best, but it's that you can do that in that. And Ben's idea of that was to say actually like he got really good and his split squat is absolutely perfect. It's fucking perfect. Yeah. So he got there with a weightlifting

shoe. So he thought about, he's like, wait a minute, not everyone has a weightlifting shoe, which already has an elevation. So why not have this wedge to have it for people who don't have it? And you can also squat on it and elevate it. And there's nothing wrong with that. So I think the thing is, I would say you can get that magical benefit of driving the knee as far forward as you can without the ankle inhibiting that progress as you work towards getting better dorsiflexion. Dorsiflexion takes so much time. There's so many, you know, and, you know,

there's so much in the, you know, you have the barefoot sprinter who's awesome, like Graham. You know, there's so much stuff going on in the feet. There's four layers of muscle in the foot. There's so many, the Achilles tendon is really tight. Some people are really genetically tight. There's all kinds of stuff. So as you work towards better dorsiflexion, why not get the benefit of a heel elevation, both in your squat and your split squat. And it's, it's, I think that's a great solution. So that's, you know, you open up the

hip, the knee, the ankle, there's it's, it's, it's great. You know, your glutes work, your hamstrings are working in the bottom position. It's really a fantastic exercise. So, and the thing is, I would say, you know, Mark and I were talking about this is that a lot of times people see, you know, and because Ben has blown up so much, I guess in some ways my job is to, uh, is to articulate the nuance of it, which is there's the split squat and people see it and say, ah, body weight only. No, use load when appropriate. And I think we were talking about the philosophical divide of a lot of people. And you can just say, agree to disagree is we're in the school of thought of things, range of motion before strength. And

other people think the other way around and that's totally fine. It's, you know, back to theory. If it sticks, use that one. If it doesn't stick, use a different one. Maybe put a priority on whatever's not addressed. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah. No, absolutely. Yeah, exactly. Like we're talking about for some people that are like mobile, we'll make them stronger in certain positions.

Like it's, it's great. Um, so, so we believe in loading it. And I think it's, and I think we were talking about this earlier, Mark, is relatively in different, more compromised positions. Spinally, for example, we're talking about, uh, you know, rounded back good mornings or deadlifts. You were doing it with 500 pounds and someone can say, that's astronomical, that's too heavy.

But too heavy for who? You're squatting a thousand, you're rounded back to deadlift. It's like 500 is nothing. You do that for reps for cardio. So it's all relative. So when someone says, okay, well, what's the number?

Okay, well, am I putting 450 pounds on someone's back for a split squat? No. But if they can split squat 450, if they can back squat 450 perfectly, then maybe a 200 pound split squat is actually totally fine. So there's some numbers that we're talking about, 75% of body weight we're playing with. That's something that I think people get really good results from an elasticity and a mobility and a strength point of view where it's the combo of them all but you're not we're not putting 500 pounds on and i would say i probably wouldn't do less than five reps on the split squat so it's not something that it's like yay one rep you know there's the joke it's like the guy doing a one rep max rotator cuff it's like no

you don't you don't need that yeah yeah that's not it's you know what i do find interesting though is one of the things that poloquin did that was quite different than a lot of other coaches is he would take rotator cuff movements and he would train them heavy. Yeah. And they weren't for one rep maxes. No. And I think you're seeing Ben do some of that as well. And you were mentioning that he has guys that are squatting 400 or 500 pounds with chains on the bar and they're putting their butt on the ground. He just doesn't show all that stuff all the time.

Yeah. It's an interesting thing. Like, I talk to him a lot. And now, again, I think it's an interesting thing that with fame, people interpret things that he doesn't say. So I got an old Poliquin guy who's a good friend of mine who's, you know, I posted him squatting,

and he's like, oh, Ben Patrick squats? I'm like, yeah, he squats a ton, and he's got other guys that, so he had his D1 high school athletes, and he showed me videos of them. He's like, I just don't put that out because the narrative now is knees over toes guy, and it's like, people message him and say like, well, do you know anything about the shoulder? Of course he knows things about the shoulder, but now they think he's just knees over

toes guy. So in some ways that that's where I, where I come in and I'm like, yeah, I can do a whole shoulder. Like I've rehabbed so many shoulders, but you know, the ATG system or the Ben Patrick system is known as the knees over toe. Yeah. But there's a ton of shoulder work. Exactly. So speaking of, we'll probably do some more rotator cuff after so this is actually a great charles story which is um you know what a cuban press is i believe i know what one is yes i probably do it incorrectly but again but a cuban press uh charles the story is charles actually invented it um which this is the story so far as I know, is that he had a guy that was like squat big, bench, big, uh, lift, big remedial work. I'm not doing rotator cuff. I'm not doing calf work.

I'm not doing any remedial work. Just give me the big lifts. Let's go. And he, he was trying to get the guy to do remedial work. And he was like, oh, there's something that the Cuban weightlifting team is doing. You know, you're always, you're always selling. He's like, there's like, oh, the Cuban weightlifting team is doing. Yeah.

It's a secret exercise. Let know, you're always, you're always selling. He's like, there's like, oh, the Cuban weightlifting team's doing? Yeah, it's a secret exercise. Let me teach you. So a Cuban press. So a Cuban press, if you see it or whatever, it's pretty much a muscle snatch just without the legs. So a muscle snatch. So, so the, from my understanding, the

rotator cuff is actually a fast twitch muscle, but most people don't even, so why are we doing four second lower and higher rep rotator? Most people don't even have a rotator cuff. So you first have to hypertrophy the thing, build up before you can go there we go that's a dumbbell cuban press pretty much kind of that's a cuban rotation more whatever but if he's going to go all the way right row into it's an upright two into rotation so that's kind of a cuban press

into like an l yeah so so it's more flowy but that's pretty that's a pretty good rendition it also looks a little bit similar to like dumbbell cleans yeah exactly so it's so the idea is that it's fundamentally a muscle snatch which is really you're not dropping into it or catching into it so really like the fastest movement a rotator cuff is a snatch that's that's but most people don't have the ability so that's the pinnacle of rotator cuff work but but we regress it. And that's the other genius I think of Charles Poliquin and ATG and Ben Patrick is like the magic of regression. So, so everyone can do rotator cuff work, but you know, you get a weightlifter in that the

rotator is pretty good. We can muscle snatch or do a whole bunch of other stuff. So, you know, baseball player, they go so fast forward. So you can only go so you can only go as fast as you can slow down. So the rotator cuff is the opposite, the antagonist to internal rotation of the humerus. So if you, if you really increase your rotator cuff strength, everything internal humerus, so that's bench pressing and any throwing motion and any punching motion actually gets better. So that's, that's a magical, and we'll get to that. That's actually a later point, but I think the genius of Ben Charles and the way I interpret it is actually, I think the movement is first.

And so make sure that the technique and the form comes first. And it's, it's the trick is how do you sell it such that the client or athlete doesn't get bored. So there's, you can vary the rep, you can vary the sets, you can vary the tempo, you can vary the implement.

So you can do split squats with a barbell on your back, or you can do split squats with a barbell on your front, or you can do dumbbells or low pulley or pauses or one and a quarter. And these are all methods that have different purposes, but at the same time, it's how do you get someone to continue to do split squats or can you do squats? And you can box squat sometimes and you can do different squats. Like you can do partials, like the world won't end if you do that. But I think you should continue to squat and make it better. Like, so that's the third principle, but I think that's,

that's the, it's a hard thing to sell that to say, it's going to take a long time. Like I can tell the story, like Ben had a great story when I was talking about a split squat, people like, well, I'm special. They messaged in and you know, he says, I wasn't trying to be mean, but the person had done 60 split squats on our program. And I said, his response, this is what he said. My response was like, have you done 10,000 split squats yet? I was like, what? No, I've got a special condition. And he's like, response, this is what he said. My response was like, have you done 10,000 split squats yet? He was like, what? No, I've got a special condition. And he's like, well, you don't.

Or that might very well be, but you're asking us for the recipe. That's the solution to your problem. This is what we think. Have you done the 10,000 yet? You know, and we can play the 10,000 hour idea. But the point is like, have you done enough reps for it to get good? Well, keep doing it and it'll get better. But like 10,000 straight split squats is pretty boring

so you got to change it you do dumbbells once and you do bar the point is how do you keep doing the thing to get good at the thing you know so that so that you can enjoy the process and i think there's part of that because you will feel better but there's no miracle cure so that's that's that one so three um four number four is are they getting stronger hamstrings at least twice a week? And that's knee flexion. There we go. The magical Ben Patrick.

That's an anatomy lesson right there. So knee flexion and hip extension. And there's different ways of doing that. So I'm a big fan of leg curls. Charles was a big fan of leg curls. Ben is too. Like lying leg curls. Lying leg curls, kneeling leg curls.

Charles had eight different leg curl machines in his facility. I only have two. Well, and the Nordic, so three. But that's for knee flexion. But hip extension, there's all kinds of different. There are RDLs, seated good mornings. Ben's seated good morning is perfect.

Like it's, you know, it's great all the way. By the way, what would you say is the best Nordic implement? Because like there's a lot out there. I personally like the Atlantis one the best. Atlantis? Yeah, that's what I out there i i personally like the atlantis one the best atlantis yeah i that's what i have and i've done the rogue one and the other ones like atlantis is really really i have to say and it's it's great i think it's i like it because it's shorter and i like your solution with the belt but i i think that's macgyver i prefer a bench yeah the rogue ones i think a bit the rogue one's really nice too it's just too i i don't like it as long

um and it's just they're a little bigger. So like moving them around the gym is a little harder, but again, they're good. Yeah. I think they're great. And I think more people are going to come out with Nordic benches and are great. Yeah.

Yeah. So I think, you know, again, like hip extension's great also for back health. Like it's not just, you know, for the hamstrings, but yeah. Number five, this is the one that we were talking about. Have they hit not just, you know, for the hamstrings, but yeah. Number five, this is the one that we were talking about. Have they hit the external rotator criteria, which is dumbbell, elbow on knee for 10% of body weight minimum. Okay. So we have the eight principles, but we

also have the freak list, which is what our level two coaches do. So I coach them up and show them that there's the basics, which everyone can do forever. But then there's freak lists, which the goal was to get Ben and I were talking about getting you to do the freak list type stuff. But anyway, but the point is that it doesn't guarantee you to be a freak, but it allows your abilities to expand in ways that are structurally balanced such that there's not really weak links. So that's the, that's the idea of the whole thing.