Ian King

Thank you for helping me get back in to exercise pain free and keeping me there  

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I recently received this email:

“Hi Ian, 7 years ago I bought your Get Buffed books and did the programs in get buffed 1 and 2. When I did these programs I was in the best shape of my life. After that I made a program of my own when I bought the book ‘How to Write Strength Training Programs, yet still in great shape and getting stronger.

Then some where along the way I decided to look in to power lifting and xxx and using exercise technique from the book xxxx. I started to get minor injuries and weakness with certian muscle groups. After a year of incorrect lifting and programing with little core work (because the progarms said don’t worry about it. and I listened?!?!!?!) I herniated my disc.

I look back today at my lifting career and thank you for all your knowledge and for writing the get buffed books. Those books single handedly are the best books on training I have. I thank you for sharing you training ideas, and exercise techniques.

After my injuries I still use Get Buffed 1 and how to write strength training programs all the time to stay pain free today.

Thanks for everything you do in strength and condidtion, I will always reference your work because it is the gold standard, your methods are unrivaled.

Thank you for helping me get back in to exercise pain free and keeping me there.” –Andrew

To which i responded with:

Andrew – thanks for your email, and great to hear that 7 years ago you got your hands on some of the best training advice available. And great to hear that this resulted in the best shape of your life. This is no surprise because the Get Buffed!™ content and programs are based on decades of application and refinement with large sample sizes of athletes in long-term programs, and including multiple sports.

The programs and content in GB and my other books and educational content are not selected because they are trendy – in actual fact, when I first release my ideas, they are anything but trendy! Take my suggestion to stop doing walking lunges – I am receiving the typical stones being thrown at me when I challenge the habits of the masses driven by the misguided recommendations of ‘experts’. What they do ultimately become is the new trend, as evidenced by the popularity of my bodyweight an other unilateral movements in the GB program, the universal application of my speed of movement (using digits to communicate lifting speed), control drills to activate prior to strength training, and my lines of movement concepts – quad dominant, hip dominant, horizontal and vertical pulling, to name a few.

The programs and content in GB and my other books and educational content are not selected because they support the beliefs of my peers – in fact, quite the opposite. Take my suggestion in the late 1990s that the chin up was not adequate to balance the work of the bench press, and that a horizontal pulling movement (my lines of movement concept) was in fact the true opposing movement, yet was totally absent in the popular programs and guru advice of the time. In fact, that stirred such a hornets nest that things got really ugly in the US, with people being threatened not to attend my seminars. The programs and content in GB and my other books and educational content are not selected because I wanted to be sensationalist – I don’t mess with the careers and potential of Olympic and other high level athletes – there is no room for error at this level. So rest assured ideas such as do abs first, the concept of loading is over-rated, lower volume training, reverse periodization – these we all created in response to long term application with no tolerance for error.

In fact after the stone-throwing slowed down, it was ‘interesting’ to watch (in some cases the most vocal critics!) publish these very same concepts. Books, programs, courses.

You decision to leave the path of my concepts is not totally surprising. I believe that most training decisions (by end users and ‘professionals’ – and I use that latter word lightly!) is more influenced by marketing, scarcity and conformity than by the objective reasoning promoted in science. I have no hesitation in acknowledging my weakness in marketing, and in many ways I don’t want to compete. I have seen completely incompetent people with no experience, to whom the market has spoken because they couldn’t get work training athletes – position themselves as ‘experts’ through marketing in this information era, and I refer specifically to the post 2000 era. How do they do this? Deceit turbocharged by powerful marketing techniques I suggest, and I dedicated my 2010 book ‘Barbells & Bullshit’ to educating about. (see below – I have given you a complimentary copy of the e-book version)

Quite simply, and to use a saying (of which I am prone to doing!) often the empty vessel makes the most noise.

So you got drawn away as do the masses to the new shiny object that ‘everyone’ else is doing, and surprise, surprise, the long term implications were less than what you were hoping for.

To read your words, which I do receive regularly, is encouraging.

“I look back today at my lifting career and thank you for all your knowledge and for writing the get buffed books. Those books single handedly are the best books on training I have. I thank you for sharing you training ideas, and exercise techniques.”

Because I have shared so openly (at least until recently) and honestly. I understand many don’t want to look under the hood of their own industry, with implications for even the end user as you have found out, however for me it has been painful watching my material being plagiarized by those whose sole intent was personal gain. I believe the world it worse off for the actions of these charlatans, some of whom are still feted in professional circles, at least for now.

For me the material in the Get Buffed! series is a by-product of my experience training athletes. As you know it’s a very powerful by-product, so you can imagine how powerful the original intent athlete preparation methods are.

One of the major goals I set my self a few decades ago was to ensure no athlete in my care is injured, and if they are, that I rectify their condition immediately.

So the injury prevention focus in all my training programs is strong, supported by a long list of innovations in injury prevention and rehab (I dedicate a few chapters in the KSI Level 1 ‘Legacy’ Course to this subject alone).

You are an example of a person who has benefitted from this, evidenced when you write:

“After my injuries I still use Get Buffed 1 and How to Write Strength Training Programs all the time to stay pain free today.”

For this I am very happy for you, and I know this material will serve you for life, serve your kids and their kids.

What I am concerned about is the dilution of my works by those who have plagriazed them, as they have lost their power to serve. We are in a world where I believe injuries from training are reaching epidemic levels, and much of what I set out to do has been dissolved by certain individuals who put their needs ahead of the world.

So I am very happy for you that you have returned to the integrity of my works. I am also appreciative of any person who carries on my mission and vision through appropriate sharing the accuracy of my training information backed up ethical referencing. For example the publishing house I worked with recently, only the second publishing house in the world who during the last decade plus have sought my permission to reproduce my concepts, and sought my guidance and approval for how to reference and credit them. When you consider how many books have been published by people who knew or should have known better diluted the intent of my work and amnestically omitting to reference, you may appreciate how low the integrity of the world in which you live in is.

Many will say ‘Ian, shut up and live with it’. I say you are drinking from this well, you are eating from this table. You are paying the price with your bodies, your health. It is not just about me. It is about my children, it is about you, and your children. Do you really want to live in a world, and raise your kids in a world, where the dominant value is deceit, where you will get injured from the training you do because no-one had the courage to stand up and say ‘that’s not right’?

I believe your actions is acknowledging the below go further than you relationship with your maker, I believe you enhance the conditions for all humans when you write the below, and I thank you for this:

“Thanks for everything you do in strength and condition, I will always reference your work because it is the gold standard, your methods are unrivalled.”

And in your final statement, when you say:

“Thank you for helping me get back in to exercise pain free and keeping me there.”

It reinforces that this is my goal, this is my mission and vision, that you enjoy the fruits of your training in an injury-free way. Thank you. To say thank you with more than words, I have just invited you to complimentary access viewing of my seminar ‘What you wish you were told before you got started’, which is for the end user market pursing getting bigger, stronger and leaner, of course with my inseparable focus on injury prevention for life! This is from our growing collection of e-videos: http://subscriptions.viddler.com/kingsports Enjoy!

Ian King

Ian King

Buying success – does it work?

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I spent the morning watching a sporting team that contained I estimated about 50% imports. At least half the team members were not there the year before, and my understanding is that their arrival was through the usual channels – a financial incentive.

In sport many choose the path of attempting to buy success through purchasing players from out side their usual feeder programs.

My first professional sporting team that hired me in the 1980s produced their own athletic stock, drawing from their geographical area. It was extremely successful, rated the best program in the world as measured by the scoreboard and the trophy cabinet.

My first personal professional experience of this was in the late 1980s with a team in the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia. There was a two import limit, which made for a reasonably even playing field. And the numbers being lower meant the impact on what I believe is the most important criteria for success – culture – was relatively contained.

My next exposure was with a new start up franchise in the Australia Football League (AFL) national competition. As the team was new it was made up of 100% imports. This was a massive learning experience and the record books show it was not successful for the first five years on the scoreboard, which is the usual outcome in similar situations.

I have watched many professional teams seek to ‘buy’ championships. Has it worked? I suggest the odds are low. My conclusion after 30+ years of studying what it takes to succeed in sport is that you don’t buy success.

In the wise words of the late great American business philosopher Jim Rohn, ‘for things to change, you must change.’ And I don’t see the purchase of talented players synonymous with the change Jim Rohn was referring to.

The team I was watching this morning came from a recent historical culture of about 27% win loss success ratio. Will this statistic suddenly and significantly change with the importing of players? Most likely. Has anything else changed in the culture? I doubt it has. Will any long term lessons be taken away? I doubt it.

I suggest the main impact long term will be a negative one on the culture, as the values of all shift towards the true values of the decision to import – that money is the highest value in the team culture. That you don’t have to change or work or become something – you just buy it. That there is little value in working in and with the system towards self-improvement because when better is wanted, it will be bought.

Do I believe it is wise or desirable to buy success through recruiting? No. The fundamental messages are I believe inappropriate. The young up and coming athletes in the feeder program loose faith in their future in that environment, and lack of commitment and lack of loyalty to the program are fed. The athletes in the program conclude that all they need to do if they are in a hole is to pay their way out of it.

Do you remember the first pro team I worked with during the 1980s which was one of the best in the world in its space? Well I watched that team try to buy success through importing, as they slid to the ranking of the worst team in their southern hemisphere competition. The impact went far beyond the scoreboard on the day. The drain of disillusioned young athletes from their feeder program to other programs became the major source of complaint and reason provided for lack of success by this very team during the ensuing years. Ironic, because they created that problem.

I do however endorse a culture that builds over time to greatness, nurturing and taking responsibility for those in their feeder systems. Where athletes trust the system to support and nurture them, where they know all have the same vested interest in their success. Where they are taught by their role models that greatest can be achieved if you are committed to developing yourself.

And to add a further element, the average age in this sporting team I referred to in the above example was 13 yrs of age…..At this rate we can expect professional importing to dominant in primary school sport within the next decade.

I overheard one of the young athletes enthuse to the coach “Wow, no wonder they are in the A team” referring to the superior performance of his new team mate had pushed him to the sidelines. To which the coach replied “Well you can get there too if you work hard.” To which I mentally replied “Well actually no – there is no evidence at this stage that these imports possess their domiant traits due to hard work. There is the element of genetics, foreign culture upbringing, early maturation etc etc.”

Ian King

Stop doing walking lunges! (Especially in the warm up!)  

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Why I tell the world to stop doing walking lunge (especially doing the warm up)

Following my post where I pleaded for the world to stop hurting themselves with walking lunges, especially in the warm-up, I was asked by the readers to explain why I said this. I treated their questions with the respect that a genuine desire to learn deserves, and took the time to share the following thoughts.

I want to clarify that no exercise is ‘bad’ – however the way we implement or combine or include them can make the extremely inappropriate for the majority – like the walking lunge!

…from my observations, most physical preparation programs do more harm than good. They may give short term results or confidence to the athlete, but result in significant performance restrictions and or injuries long term.

The more an athlete participates in physical preparation, including the younger they start in physical preparation, the greater the incidence and severity of injury. Unfortunately these injuries are being blamed away by many involved in sport as being a function of the increased demands and impact forces in ‘modern day’ sport. This to me is little more than an excuse, an exercise in putting one’s head in the proverbial sand. Quite simply, the majority of training programs are flawed from a physical preparation perspective and are causing the increased injuries. –King, I., 2005, The way of the physical preparation coach, p. 66-67

Here’s seven reasons why I tell the world to stop walking lunge. I know what many will say – as I mentioned in my post, the world is making great grounds in life departments such as ‘clear living’. However, when it comes to exercise, we are back some 30 years ago….

1. HISTORY – WHERE DID IT COME FROM? Thirty years ago, the walking lunge was almost the exclusive domain of the college basketball player in US strength and conditioning program. I am sure there were some other pockets of use history including for example certain martial art disciples, however there was little other reference or application. The lunge existed n bodybuilding, but the walking lunge as we know see it – conducted by all ages, both genders, all strength levels, at any stage of the workout but most commonly in the warm up – that is a post 2000 phenomenon.

So where did it come from? I suggest that the walking lunge is a trend driven by ‘authors’ who lack the experience and wisdom to understand what they are recommending. With the promotion of the ‘functional training’ movement (advanced by one company in particular with strong commercial interests in the sale ‘functional’ equipment) combined with continued desire to suppress effective and appropriate stretching in the warm up – the walking lunge found its way into books about exercises that should be done, including in the warm up. These trend spread from sport to sport, and then down the ages, like a disease creeping around the world with no geographic boundaries. You cannot go out into the world of sport on any given day and not witness its application, in particular in the warm ups.

When I see groups of athletes and individuals being guided to perform this movement, in particular young athletes in their warm ups, I immediately conclude that their coach is a trend-following non-thinker who has not done many of the exercises they recommend. If they did they would tell you what most young athletes would tell you if their voices were not suppressed – walking lunges hurt their knees!! Coaches do them because they choose to blindly follow the dominant trend and actively seek to appear to like all their peers. And it is a dominant trend globally – one that will during the next 10-40 years see an expansion of the knee and hip replacements at a rate that will please the joint replacement industries, doctors and physical therapist. At a cost to both society and the individual that will rival the strain on the economies that poor nutritional and lifestyle choices make.

2. INAPPROPRIATE WARM UP EXERCISE. The lunge is a loaded strength exercise. If it was being conducted in an adult strength program it would come with some sub-maximal repetitions. At what stage of a warm up protocol is it appropriate to apply what is more most people a maximal if not supra-maximal loading in the warm up? The wear and tear on the patella-femoral joint (under the knee cap) is significant and serious and little time passes before you have eroded the cartilage or bone surface, and experiencing conscious knee pain. If the lunge or walking lunge would be done for valid reasons by an advanced athlete, ideally it would be conducted after appropriate warm up activities and sub-maximal sets.

Put simply – there are very few people on the planet that could safely execute a bodyweight walking lunge in their warm up routine and successfully avoid any short or long term knee damage or pain from doing so.

3. THE LUNGE DOES NOT IMPROVE FLEXIBILITY AND IS NOT A STRETCHING EXERCISES. The walking lunge is not an flexibility exercise and does not contribute to increased length. At best it might maintain range, however the subsequent muscle soreness and associated tightness in the quadriceps and hip flexors ultimately means you will lose range. It lacks the element of relaxation which is key to creating changes in connective tissue length, and is followed by and associated with increased tension and shortening of the connective tissue, as any demanding strength exercise does.

It is a strength exercise. I know of no-one who should be doing in their warm up, where the warm up is less than 30 mins, and that includes the elite male strength athlete. It has no place whatsoever in the warm up routine of a young or developing athlete. Yes where will you most likely see it being done – in the warm up routine young or developing athletes.

4. MUSCLE BALANCE AROUND THE HIP AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS IMBALANCE. When I released the ‘Lines of Movement’ concept in 1998, something I had been developing for the prior decade, it was a result of my awareness of the need to balance the muscles around the hip – especially the quad/hip flexor group and the posterior chain group – hamstrings and gluteals. I was concerned that the plagiarists who hijacked this concept and published it unreferenced would lack the understanding and passion for the intent of this concept such that their frequent publishing would advance this understanding. In hindsight my concerns were founded. In fact, these same plagiarists, even after moving to someone else’s concept because they need to be seen to be new and ‘cutting edge’ – demonstrate their lack of understanding of my concept and its intent with the exercises programs and equipment they promote in their more recent ‘writings’.

What I am saying is that the cause I set out to help – the health of the hip and knee and all connective tissue of the lower extremities – has not been served by the shallowness and lip service that my Lines of Movement concept set out to solve.

Balance : all things being equal, and independent of any specificity demands, the selection of exercises should show balance throughout the body. For example for every upper body exercise there would be a lower body exercise. For every upper body pushing movement, there would be an upper body pulling movement. For every vertical pushing movement there would be a vertical pulling movement. For every hip dominant exercise there would be a quad dominant exercise. And so on. – King, I., 1998, How to Write (book)

[NB. The above quote should not be confused with the verbatim and paraphrased copies that have appeared in many unreferenced sources since.]

What we have in the lunge and walking lunge is an exercise that is at the extreme end of the continuum of quad dominant exercises, which the is not balanced by sequence, volume or load potential by another exercise. Quite simply – athletes exposed to this misguide trend of the walking lunge develop imbalances between their quads dominant and hip dominant muscles (the terms I provided in my ‘Lines of Movement’ concept. As such they experience a higher frequency and greater severity of lower extremity injuries – both soft tissue and bone. Groin, abdominal, hamstring, quad, and calf strains. Shin splints. Knee pain.

5. EXCESSIVE LOADING AND RANGE FOR STRENGTH LEVELS. If a coach had any ability or awareness to assess each individual athlete for their ability to safely and effectively execute a lunge, let alone a walking lunge, they would realize that the vast (more accurately overwhelmingly) majority of athletes being asked to perform these exercises lack the ability to tolerate the strength of their own body weight through the full range or in most cases, any range at all. Therefore even if a coach sought to justify inclusion of this exercise on the basis that the athlete needed strength in this range, there is no basis for justification on the grounds the athletes lack the strength to tolerate the movement. In essence, not only do we have the injury creation realities of excessive loading and inadequate warm up, we also face the transfer of poorly executed loaded movement to sport.

In other words, not only are we injuring the athlete, which in itself is a solid performance decrease, there is also massive potential for the adaptation to these inappropriate movement patterns to further cause performance deterioration.

6. INAPPROPRIATE LOADING WITHOUT SUFFICIENT WARM UP. If for whatever reason you believed this exercise were appropriate for you, there are a number of strategies I would strongly recommend you implement. You will note these are not implement by the hordes of young athletes around the world being led to execute these movements in their warm ups. You can learn more about these in my education especially my Level 1 KSI Coaching Course, but here’s some tips to get you going:

a. Joint mobilizations: I teach another unique concept where I apply passive joint preparation drills in the warm up process, particularly relevant for knees. I developed these for personal use whilst rehabilitating my knees post surgery, so I have a very personal connection to the role and benefit of these drills.

b. Control drills prior: another unique concept I introduced to strength training was the concept of performing certain drills to switch on the muscles, especially the stabilizers that control the movement – prior to loading.

c. Warm up sets. How do you do a warm up set of a walking lunge at less than or at 50% of your work set load when your bodyweight is your work set load? That is the challenge for you – because you need to precede these movements with a warm up.

7. LOST OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOMETHING MORE APPROPRIATE. Now I am talking about lost opportunity. I believe (nothing new about this!) that time is your only truly limited resource, so use is wisely. I know a lot of things that would be far more effective use of your time than the walking lunge, especially in the warm up. Take for example stretching – real stretching. I know, we are in an era in the worlds history where you have been conditioned (during the Decade of Deceit, 2000-2010) that stretching is bad, will make you weak, will cause you to injured, should only be done at the end of the workout, blah blah blah. I don’t ever want to be following what the masses do – how can I give athletes the performance advantage if I am doing what everyone else is doing?

Look at it this way. If you do it the way everyone else is doing it – all things being equal, how are you going to be better than everyone else? Realistically changes do occur (albeit slowly) in sport training – because someone dared to do it differently. These people gain the advantage, are at the cutting edge. The sheep follow. Which do you want to be?
— King, I., 1997, Winning and Losing (book) And I also aim a genuine desire to have an injury free career and life for the athlete.

Conclusion So what does the future hold for you and the walking lunge? I have no doubt that sometime in the next 10-30 years there will be a mass shift away from this exercise, driven by a belated awareness of the damage is had caused. I have placed more concepts and theories in the market that I can remember that were unpopular at the time, yet some years later became mass accepted. Typically, at the tipping point of acceptance, a ‘trend spotting author’ that relies on publishing to maintain market credibility and income, will with great fanfare ‘bring these concepts to the market’, with no reference to the pioneers. The mass acceptance of what I teach you now about the walking lunge will be great for the individuals whose training lives begin after this shift.

But what about the ones who have been doing this movement for years now, or will be doing this movement for the time between now and when the market perception shifts? They will pay the price.

Take advantage of what I have shared with you. It is just one of the many training theories and concepts I have formed and shared during the last 30+ years. However, one idea that will give you longer and better quality life will be better than none!

So, what will it take for you to benefit? However, for you to benefit from this wisdom you will need to possess a human trait that perhaps only 5% or less of the population do – you will need to be comfortable breaking the mold, going against the grain, declining these movements when others blindly follow. This will most likely determine whether you will benefit as of now from this wisdom I have shared. What will others think?

I know personally the stones that paradigm shifters get thrown. The irony is that those who mock you today will one day be doing what you are doing. One example of that is burned into my memory is one particular coach who was extremely scathing about my concepts – and then published them for the ensuing 10 years without a single reference. It wasn’t much fun to watch or be part of, but it was a great example of what those who get left behind are willing to do to appear as if they were at the forefront of ‘new ideas’ all along.

Resist the temptation in program design to conform to mainstream paradigms simply for the sake of conforming, no matter how dogmatically they are presented, or how much you may be ridiculed or ostracized for trusting your intuition over conformity. Make our own minds up based on a combination of respect for your intuition, the athlete/client’s intuition, the results, and in respect of the body of knowledge available.
— King, I., 2005, The Way of the Physical Preparation Coach

I share the above for the same reason I train athletes –because I want to give them the best that I can to help them be the best they can be. As you can see I lack the motive of appeasing, impressing or endearing myself to my peers. I understand that my approach to training will always antagonize the emotionally immature, whose ego attachments are threatened by ideas or actions they do not do. In our coach education we attract those who seek to fulfill their potential, as opposed to those who seek to protect their ego. And as for the athletes – they are very happy to receive the best training guidance available in the world, giving them an injury free career and life, and placing them on the podium more often than otherwise!

And now with the internet, if you are a non-athlete training, and have succeed to battle you way through the static on the ‘net and found these teaching that for the last few decades have been exclusively for a small elite and very fortunate group of elite athletes – that’s to your credit! Enjoy the rewards!

Ian King

Let the children play!  

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Directional concerns with the training of the young athlete

During a recent visit to Fiji, I took the opportunity to study the conditions in which athletes are developed. Having been there before, and having been raised in a similar environment, I had certain expectations. The question was had things changed, had the influences of western world habits and trends risen and changed things.

My interest in training of the young athlete is personal and professional. As a parent it’s pertinent. As a coach, I spent the first two decades focusing on the peak years of sports performance, generally speaking 16 to 36 years of age. During the last decade and a half, I have sought to gain extensive experience in the practical application of training the young athlete, with the view to develop real world contributions to the multi-year periodization models I had developed during the prior decades. Additionally, I now also have a responsibility for the athletes who I trained during the 1980s and 1990s who now face the challenges of both aging and damage from sport at the elite level during their younger adult years. To add to this, they also bring their children to me, so my recent (last 15 years) focus on young athlete training is serving all well.

I have a number of concerns about the direction of young training, and some key ones below:

  1. The over structuring of young sports training in general.
  2. The application of ‘strength and conditioning’ to the young athlete
  3. The perceived correlation between equipment and development of the young athlete
  4. The Western lifestyle impact on athletic development

For the purposes of this discuss I refer to the ages of 0-16 yrs as ‘young athlete’. I was able to apply my theories in relation to these concerns in my review of contemporary training habits in the island of Fiji.

To further explain my concerns, I expand in the following:

1. The over structuring of young sports training in general

I’m not the first to raise this concern, and I won’t be the last – unless things change globally, which I am not optimistic about. Essentially, in a world where children ‘play’ time is potentially reduced on prior generations, where their play time is less play and more electronic interaction, I believe what little play time available should be used to develop the general athletic skills needed to optimize long term athlete potential. Nothing new about this, I appreciate, and most would agree. Where the paths diverge is how the sports training is conducted. Where adult coaches speak a lot, where adult concepts and emotions dominate, where winning is the most important things, where a lot of whistles are blown, where kids are taught structure (tactics) before technique, where ‘fitness’ training equals (or in some cases dominates) technical training – this is the world of young sports training I see dominate.

My solution? Less structure, less adult involvement, more skill and fun based activity. Again, this is nothing new. Books have been written on this subject, such as the excellent book ‘Just Let the Children Play’ by Bob Bigelow. For whatever reason, it’s for the most part lip service around the world. The children are not being allowed to play.

Except in the places like islands in the Pacific Ocean. I am happy to report the children do still play. They play more than they do in the more developed western world. And this is good!

In my opinion it explains why the first thing you see when you arrive in the terminal at Nadi – in a poster over the bag carousel, and the last thing you see at departure at the International terminal in Nadi – in a billboard in the parking lot – is this boast – more rugby champions per capita are developed in Fiji than in any other country.

And I believe that is for the most part due to the way the kids play!\

2. The application of ‘strength and conditioning’ to the young athlete

Based on my observations, since about 1980 there has been a progressive downward movement in age as to who has formal ‘strength and conditioning’ programs provided. As of now, it is not uncommon for children as young as 10 years of age to be exposed to formal ‘‘strength and conditioning programs. I see two main challenges with this.The first one is the imbalance of time and effort dedicated to the athletic qualities – which, based on Tudor Bump’s influence, I identify as technical, tactical, physical and psychological. In essence, I see too many young athletes being exposed to non-specific physical development programs and training who are seriously lacking in technical and tactical development. What we are creating, in my opinion, is a generation of athletes who cannot pass, kick or catch a ball very well, but are really ‘strong and conditioned’. To be more accurate they look like they are. This early imbalance, again in my opinion, will lead to inability for the athlete to fulfill their potential in the long term.

The second concern I have is with the application of training programs that have significant flaws in them. This simply means the young athletes have more years on inappropriate physical training programs, and as a result develop injuries and undergo surgery earlier than their predecessors. I am confident this would be statistically supported in any appropriate survey or research. One day, there will be a greater awareness and acceptance of the flaws that have existed in these training programs, and ideally the damaging content will be reduced, if not eliminated. However, this optimism may take many years if not decades to be realized, at best.

3. The perceived correlation between equipment and development of the young athlete

There is a perception in our marketing driven western world sporting environment that you need not only equipment, but you need the latest equipment. For those exposed to it, his paradigm leaves those without a lot of equipment or not the latest equipment with a sense of inadequacy, and those with both a false sense of confidence. However, for those not exposed to it, it has no relevance or impact.

Essentially kids need very little if any equipment to create play. I have seen many young athletes playing on the street with a crushed soft drink can, or in a park or in a village with an old volleyball, soccer ball or rugby ball.

In Fiji equipment is scarce. In most Pacific island equipment is scarce. Yet Fiji still have reason to claim they produce more rugby stars per capita than any other country. And the Pacific Island continue to be a rich provider of athlete talent for many sports who recruit them from the islands.

I visited the classrooms of a primary school in Fiji recently, with a group doing volunteer work, and noted the humble resources they had available. I was keen to learn the correlation between this ‘disadvantages’ as we would perceive it in our developed countries, with their educational development. Without proclaiming to be an educational expert, I informally took the pulse of these kids in the basics of readying, writing and arithmetic (see the video below – note it’s rough and its sideways – unbeknown to me the kids were filming it!) I started out by giving them my Phone to play with and it was obvious the overwhelming majority didn’t know what it was. I was very happy with what I heard and saw. I don’t believe they were ‘disadvantaged’ as much as we may have believed because of our skewed reliance on resources and equipment.

4. The Western lifestyle impact on athletic development

In countries devoid of TV and other electronic devices, kids are forced to play. In countries devoid of heavy western eating influences, the kids eat more the traditional diets. Although not as traditional as the generations before them, anything is better than a diet of fast foods that kids in Western countries get exposed to.

During the last few decades, the kids in the Pacific islands have been devoid of TV and other electronic devices, and most had not seen or heard of McDonalds. Inevitably this will change, and the pool of talent will dry up. There will come a time when we need to take this optimal lifestyle more seriously to ensure we optimally develop the young athlete.

Conclusion

Just as the American dentist Weston-Price concluded in his early 1900’s study of traditional nutrition, where he concluded that shifting to westernized nutrition was a step backwards as relates to health, I believe that as we shift from more traditional play based lifestyles for our young athletes, the future athletic potential is also diminished. Whilst it may not be possible or even appropriate to completely turn back the clock, I believe any parents and or coaches interested in optimizing the long term athletic ability of the young athlete can and should take some lessons from the experiences shared by the children in more traditional less-westernized cultures, such as the Pacific Islands.

Ian King

Terrorism in Boston

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Watching the vision of today’s bomb explosions near the finish line at the Boston marathon brought back memories of my own experiences of terrorism (1) in Boston. Now I don’t suggest it was in the same league as the victims around today’s blast, however it was still, in my opinion – terrorism. Act intended to cause fear. It was, in my opinion, intended to give me a clear message – don’t come back to Boston. It didn’t work. I have been back to Boston nearly every year since. It did work on others though. Let me tell you my story.

It was 1999 and before I left for a seminar tour of the US I received an email from a person who I had never heard of before, despite my 19 years in coaching at that time and the 10 prior years travelling to, studying, and meeting with as many leading US strength coaches as I could. He seemed very excited about my impending visit, and even invited me to visit his facility when I was in Boston. My tight travel schedule prevented me from taking up this offer; however this ‘coach’ did introduce himself to me at the start of the seminar in his home town of Boston.

All seemed normal. Up until about one third of the way through the day, when I spotted a gathering of people in the middle of the presentation room (actually a squash court) during a break. All bar one of the people in this highly visible impromptu yet serious meeting did not return the seminar, constituting my first and only mass walk-out during a seminar.

I’m not sure if the ‘sole survivor’ of this group was an independent thinker, or left to report on the remainder of the day!

Now I was to learn that later that apparently the leader of this group, my new found want-to-be Boston buddy, has called the meeting and due to his desire to ‘protect’ his people form my terrible content and terrible delivery, had ushered them to safety!

That would be their prerogative, yet the subsequent events may tell a different story as to the motive of this mass walk-out.

Shortly after the event my host received a written communication that left her in tears, full of fear. The communication made it very clear how terrible the seminar was, the worst ever experienced by this ‘strength coach’. The content was really bad and the presenter equally bad.

What was I presenting? I was presenting the content of my releases from 1998, a collection of many of the concepts I had developed and refined in the prior 19 years of real world intense and high volume physical preparation coaching. Things like:

• Speed of movement and my three digit timing system
• Lines of movement
• Balancing the body based on my lines of movement concept
• Chin ups don’t balance out the bench press
• Loading is over-rated
• My unique unilateral bodyweight exercises
• That the aerobic base was a myth
• Static stretching before training
• Control drills conducted in the start of the strength workout to activate selected muscles
• And much more

Now I know this content was radical at that time, and I can bet you this ‘strength coach’ was doing none of this at that time, and thus stood to loose face with his local followers because this ‘visiting coach’ (myself) was teaching it totally different to what he was doing. I get that.

(I challenge my Boston friend to produce his 1999 and pre-years workouts – now that would be interesting stuff….)

But what I don’t get was what happened next. The communication then went on to outline all the retribution that would occur if my host dared to bring me back to Boston ever again. And that’s where it really became terrorism.

Now the story didn’t end here, and the following sheds further light on the motives of my

Boston ‘friend’. During the subsequent decade, from 1999 to 2009, he published extensively on some new trends in training, including:

• Speed of movement and my three digit timing system
• Lines of movement
• Balancing the body based on my lines of movement concept
• Chin ups don’t balance out the bench press
• Loading is over-rated
• My unique unilateral bodyweight exercises
• That the aerobic base was a myth
• Static stretching before training
• Control drills conducted in the start of the strength workout to activate selected muscles
• And much more

And not once did my name get mentioned in the way you would expect an ethical and creditable person would when publishing and teaching another persons original concepts.

So how did it all end up? Well, the person I call a terrorist got known as a leader in the methods I taught on that infamous day in Boston in 1999 due to his prolific publishing on these subjects, my host never worked with me again (in fact they quickly stopped communicating with me at all…). And me? I go back to Boston every year and do seminars…..Just like the Boston marathon will go on every year moving forward. Because we can’t control the actions of others, but we can control our response. Its okay to experience fear, but it’s not good enough to allow fear to change how you life your life. And despite my ‘Boston friend’ benefiting commercially and professionally from my original works after the damage he sought to cause myself and those who supported me that year, he has to live with his acts of terrorism….

(1) “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion “ – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism (2)

(2) Yes, that’s inverted commas indicating a direct quote and after that is the reference – I know this has been discouraged by the US fitness industry ‘its okay to steal’. Brothers, but bear with my old-fashioned values…..

Ian King

Lines of movement – the origin and intent of the concept  

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In 1998 I released a wide range of original, innovate training concepts developed during the prior 18 years of coaching, based on extensive personal professional experiences training large numbers of elite athletes. Many of these methods have gone on to shape how the world trains.

I have summarized many of these in the on-line course ‘KSI Level 1 – Legacy’, which was released for the first time about two years ago.

For example, I began my first public extensive teaching of the concept of lines of movement in 1998 with the following statement:

….To balance the athlete I work on a ratio of 1 to 1 of hip and quad dominant – in general. And I can assure you – most programs you’ll see are 2 to 1 – quad and hip.

That’s a concept I’m sure you’ll have never heard before because this is the first time I have spoken about it. (1)

The following shows a breakdown of the body into major muscle groups/lines of movement, and then into examples of exercises. It is what I call ‘the family trees of exercise’. Use this to assess balance in your exercise selection…. (2)

Now I am going to show you how I break the muscle groups up:(3)

Lower body:
Quad dominant
Hip dominant

Upper body:
Horizontal plane push
Horizontal plane pull
Vertical plane push
Vertical plane pull

These concepts are now used throughout the world. Ethical and well read authors and presenters reference and credit the origin.

Initially these concepts were referenced and credited accurately. For example, this was said about one concept, a concept I called ‘lines of movement’:

Before Ian popped up from Down Under, most coaches said to train all the muscles of the legs in one session and use the most efficient exercises. That means squatting and deadlifting on the same day. Problem — As effective as these big mass builders are, they’re also very fatiguing and really sap your energy levels. If you start your workout with squats, your deadlifts will suffer and vice versa.…

To help you understand how to divide and balance out your training, Ian came up with a list of major muscle groups that reflects their function:

Horizontal pulling (row)
Horizontal pushing (bench press)
Vertical pulling (chin-up)
Vertical pushing (shoulder press)
Hip dominant (deadlifts)
Quad dominant (squats)….

Ian has a few other categories for abs, lower back, calves, and arms, but the ones above are main muscle groups you need to worry about. Based on this list, you need to be doing vertical as well as horizontal pushing and you need to be doing the same number of sets for each and keep the rep ranges equal where appropriate.

Let me give you an example of how this list can help you. Before Ian provided this simple list, I did almost nothing but chin-up variations for back training. Sure, I did rows occasionally, but not very often as compared to chins. This was an imbalance. Now I do just as many sets of horizontal pulling as I do vertical pulling and it’s really helped my back development….(4)

To reinforce this point, here’s a program published in a popular men’s magazine in the US in 1997, about six months prior to the 1998 release of many of my concepts including lines of movement.

Stage 1: Wks 1-4 – The ‘bodybuilding’ phase (5)

A (Day 1)             B (Day 2)      (Day 3)        C (Day 4)           D (Day 5)        (Day 6)    (Day 7)

Incline Bar Press  Squat Off      Off               Bench Press       Hack Squats      Cardio      Rest day
DB Press              Leg Press                           Dips                   Lunge
Pull-down            Romanian Deadlift             Seated C/Row   Leg Extension
Bent-over Row    Glut/Ham Raise                 Upright Row      Lying Leg Curl
DB Sh Press         Standing Calf Raise           O/head Tri Ext  Seated Calf Raise
Barbell Curl
Hanging Leg Raise                                         Hanging Leg Raise
Crunch Abs (if not done on day 3)                Crunch Abs (if not done on day 3)
Oblique Crunch                                              Oblique Crunch

You will note the absence of many concepts that I released in 1998 in this program. e.g. lines of movement, uni-lateral bodwyweight exercises, abs first, control drills, pre-training stretching etc etc.

However in 2005 two ‘books’ were ‘published’ by two different and ‘effective’(6)  marketers, both of which ‘publications’ contained a wide range of my original ideas in the absence of referencing or credits (7).For example, both of these publications taught and used the concept of lines of movement without any referencing or credits (8). Both ‘authors’ were in seminars where I taught this concept in or around 1999 and or ordered my books and videos where I taught these as original concepts (9). So I conclude they knew the origin and simply choose to ignore it.

2005 formed a watershed year for my concepts, and since then I have seen a number of additional publications where the authors and or publishers have made no attempt to provide accurate credits or referencing, or at best a diluted one.

I believe that well-researched writers and teachers with integrity will apply acceptable professional guidelines when using the original works of others. Those who lack these two qualities don’t.
I watched this direction with interest. I raised these matters with a number of private organizations, professional bodies and publishers. Over time it appeared that values other than honest writings, ethical referencing and legally compliant copyright respect were not high on the priorities of these entities.

To the one particular staunch defender of this plagiarism – I share my belief that the willingness of these organizations to continue to associate with and endorse these individuals is not a reflection of the right of these individuals to carte blanche use of my intellectual property in the absence of professionally accepted standards of referencing and crediting – rather is it a reflection of the values of these entities, the implications of which will be judged by history.

I understand there is a market segment who belief that it doesn’t matter where the information comes from, as long as they get it. I respect their right to form any opinion they choose. However let me share mine position – those who lack the trait of honesty and long term application that would result in developing their own experiences to teach and sell do not understand the concepts, do no teach them accurately, have not used them long term in true practical application, and when either a new trend comes along or they feel it’s time to dump these concepts, will do so. Their motive to create short term personal and commercial gain by being the one to bring ‘new concepts’ to the market – I suggest this serves only themselves.

I also recognize that there may be some pain involved in me putting my hand up to correct this information. Those who entered to industry post 2000 and were first exposed to the un-referenced diluted versions may struggle with the idea that their source failed to teach the full picture. Some of the pain may even be deflected back to us.

None of this will change what the direction we are taking – to accurately and honestly teach my original concepts. To regain the legacy.

Despite the widespread teaching of my concepts by ‘authors’ such as this, or perhaps because of, the true intent and power of my concepts has not been put to use. The world is no better off. Sure a handful of new entrants to our industry have been given an impressive collection of information – but nothing really has changed. The reasons I created these concepts – to produce superior performances and reduced injuries – has not occurred.

This is disappointing but not totally surprising. I believe you will not serve humanity in the absence of a true deserve to serve. When the motive is to gain credit for new idea and short term cash flow, neither of these motives form what I call true intent, and therefore the original intent of the concepts falls short of their potential.

To address these issues, a few years ago I decided to collate my concepts and provide a summary of them in a way that included the history of why and how I developed them, and the most extensive explanation available as to how to use them. I called this the ‘KSI Level 1 – Legacy Course’. This is the first step in balancing the misinformation for self-serving purposes that has denied the world the opportunity to fully benefit from my original, innovative training concepts – concepts shaped, tested and proven by decades of practical application.

For the last two years this course has been available and undergone a long testing period. It began with a trial group that were virtually given the course, and even now, towards the end of the testing period, the price of the Legacy Course is only twice what many paid in the mid-2000’s for a document that was in essence a very poor copy of my How to Write / Get Buffed! TM and How to Teach books.

Perhaps over time, as more people gain access to the original content rather than the diluted plagiarized and/or unreferenced versions, the power of these concepts will come closer to fulfilling their potential in serving the world in optimizing performance and reducing injury.

Recently I was giving a lecture at a university in the US on the subject of ‘lines of movement’. I was given three hours to teach this concept. As I taught, it struck me that the content I was sharing would be so powerful for the world to gain an insight into where concepts such as this came from, why they were created, and their original and true intent in how to apply them.

To this effect, I have decided to make this three part seminar – Lines of Movement – available for order. You can order and watch this electronically delivered video by clicking on this link.

http://www.kingsports.net/products-ksi-evid-Linesofmovement.htm

If you value honesty, if you value learning from the source, and if you value learning the true intent of one of the many concepts I have created that have changed the way the world trains – I believe you will enjoy this video program!

(1) King, I., 1998, Strength Specialization Series (DVD), Disc 3, approx 1hr 06m 00sec in
(2) King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs, p. 38
(3) King, I., 1998, Strength Specialization Series (DVD), Disc 3, approx 1hr 03m 00sec in
(4) Shugart, Chris, 2001, The Ian King Cheat Sheets, Part 1 – A quick and dirty look at all the cool stuff Ian King has taught us so far, Fri, Aug 24, 2001, T-mag.com
(5) Reference available upon request.
(6) If you can call deceit ‘effective’
(7) One even made the effort to use his own words
(8) Interestingly both ‘authors’ claimed to have ‘read everything there is to read in physical preparation’
(9) Although one did claim the content of my seminar was so bad he needed to walk out and take as many of the audience with him!

Ian King

The only coaching program that can and does teach the art of coaching by doing

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Every day my coaches and I train athletes, and every day provides new experiences. Today one of my coaches and I were working on a few elite athletes from another country. One of them asked later how I learnt what I did. I said:

“By training athletes”.

Another asked how my coach learnt his skills, and this got me thinking. My answer was:

“By working beside me in many different individual athlete and coach situations in many different sports at all levels in many different countries over many years.” 

As I reflected on how competent the top KSI coaches are, I was reminded of how special our program is. I believe no one offers a teaching experience like this. Yet I am continually amazed at how many are drawn to the bright lights and seductive marketing of certain programs, only to feel short-changed. I can understand how easy it is to be tricked into believing these ‘teachers’ will improve your coaching.

I know one personal trainer who we gave a work experience opportunity to about a decade ago. This personal trainer was simply giving a guided experience in how to write a generic program (and he choose to take the program and publish it and sell it in more than one publication for personal gain) This personal trainer never met the players, coaches or administrators. Never even laid eyes on them, let alone coached them. This personal trainer never saw any interaction between myself and athletes, in this program or any other. And yet ever this personal trainers marketing has claimed  they have worked with elite players in this code, which we have good reason to believe this ‘personal trainer’ refers to the one generic program with no athlete contact.

You learn little by exchange of information compared to what you learn when you are actively involved, observing or assisting, in high level coaches executing their competencies. If you want to learn how to physically train athletes, I suggest you take more than most in reviewing your choices in teaching before investing your time and money.

It’s really nice that you are making charitable contributions however I suggest more worthy causes for this charity than the ones you have been donating to! I also feel you may actually want to learn how to coach one day (just maybe) and get value for your time and money.

Real athletes. Real coaches. Real learning. The KSI Coaching Program. The only program than can or does teach the art of coaching by doing.  http://bit.ly/10pXQu3

Ian King

Wow! There is some integrity left!  

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WOW! Fortunately I was sitting down! I just received an email from an American publishing company seeking permission to reprint some of my works!!!!! And they were going to reference it!!! Wow!!! I am almost in a state of shock. Just when I thought integrity in publishing had left the US!

And further it was just for one relatively small piece of information, a concept I had expressed in a table format in 1992!

After watching now a decade of publishing of my works by individuals and publishing houses with no reference to the source – including page after page of verbatim copying, covering in excess of 20 different publications – I had come to the conclusion that the ‘new rules’ of publishing were not only dominant, they were the new rules!

Lying, cheating and stealing has, from my perspective, dominated the US based strength and fitness scene since 2003. I’m not the first person to raise this concern, nor do I expect to be the last. However what I exposed what so staggeringly expansive it was a shock to me. Even though there are many who believe that stealing is okay as long as they benefit individually …

Well first off, I don’t care if someone plagiarized health info. As long as that info is correct.

….I still maintain a dim view of society where this behaviour is tolerated, let alone endorsed. Oh, and by the way – when someone cuts and pastes others works, and when they apply their paraphrasing creativity (like reversing words, mixing up the paragraph, substituting examples…) – it is never going to be a correct reflection of the original intent of the author.

And endorsed it has been. From national professional organizations to publishing houses, my direct communication to them has at least forced them to confirm their official position – that they endorse plagiarism and plagiarists.

Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised to see a publishing house taking the time to seek permission and reference other peoples works!!!!

And more than this – this book they were putting together is based on the authors personal experiences (amazing difference that!) over twenty years of developing the concept. I know this because I was working closely with the author back then. So this is very unusual in the modern world of bullshit publishing – someone taking the time, applying long term determination, delayed gratification – to develop an artifact that will have meaning decades from now, and where works other than the authors is used, appropriate professional referencing applied.

Wow! That is going to be one book I recommend on any ethical professionals library!

And the name of the publisher – Human Kinetics….I have just gained a lot of respect for this company if this example is an accurate reflection of how they fact check and do business. I know a number of other publishers that could take a lesson here.

Ian King

Looking for the messages from the Lance events  

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Watching the Lance Armstrong drug allegations situation I feel this event may be more significant that it appears on the surface. It certainly raised a lot of questions for me – including how far into cycling will the expose go and will it jump to other sports. However the biggest question I have yet to answer is why such a big name American athlete has been ‘taken down’. If you read between the lines there has arguably been a degree of protection offered to high profile US athletes in relation to positive or potentially positive drug tests, so why Lance?

I can only think of two possibilities. Firstly he really upset someone. However the collateral damage to the sport of cycling is too big for this. Which leaves me with my second possible answer – it’s a genuine desire to play it straight, a rare example in a sporting landscape that has all the rules but so few ever get caught up on the wrong side of the rules.

If this is the case, what is driving this position of greater integrity? Is this a sign of the promise of 2012 and the ushering in of a higher social values with the Age of Aquarius?

This will be interesting to watch, to see if this is just that or an aberration before things return to the way they were.

Nike’s decision to cut ties with Lance was either a case of their corporate ethics genuinely being violated, or they were concerned about the impact on their bottom line. Either way, it was a significant move.
One thing I can say with certainty is that I have not seen any promise of this greater integrity in corporate or organizational ethics in physical preparation. I am familiar with certain US companies that see fit to continue to retain and endorse certain individuals who values and actions include publishing other peoples works unreferenced, uncredited and in many cases verbatim, and on a number of occasions claiming or inferring it as their own. In essence, what I believe has been the greatest intellectual property heist in modern physical preparation. Yet these companies still endorse and engage these individuals.

Will the corporate integrity shown in cycling and Nike spread to physical preparation? I hope so, for everyone’s sake.

Ian King

Our people are growing while the rest of the world is shrinking  

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At the end of each quarter (every 3 months) I go over the KSI students business and financial reports for that quarter. This applies to Level 5 and above. I did 2 today – one from a Level 5, the second from a Level 6.

The first one was up 28% from last quarter, and 700% up on six months ago. Okay, so this student was in the first year at this level, so maybe that explains it.

So the next case was in their 4th year – and they were up 62% on last month!!! And this coach increased their client base by 31% over last quarter and achieved a record profit in last quarter!

We are not talking year on year, which is a review and comparison to the same quarter 12 months prior – we are talking 3 months!

Want year on year? The second coaches income was up 32% on the same quarter last year, and his expenses down by 48%!

Okay, maybe this is just recent success. What about since joining the KSI Coaching Program 4 years ago? Quarterly income up by 225%.

Now we offer a holistic approach and this is only one of their income streams, albeit their oldest, being their physical preparation service income. We also mentor them in other income streams.

Not bad for a time when most of the world is imploding and shrinking economically, where most people have had their client list and asset base shrunken substantially by the forces of the economy.

We are committed to guiding our students to growth even during the most challenging economic times in this 80 years cycle. Isn’t that great!

After all we believe that for all those shrinking financially, .there is a vacuum to be filled by someone growing and expanding. That’s what we do. Help people by staying with them daily, weekly and yearly, guiding them to fulfil their potential. As opposed to doing a 2 day seminar in which we convince them of our greatness and they go home to their own devices. That’s much easier. It’s much more demanding standing in the front line of the battle field with them. Our success in many areas is only achieved when our students success. Which means we are more than committed to this outcome – we are determined about it.