Bill DeSimone - High Intensity Training Interview of the Month
This month’s interview is definitely one of the most unique, refreshing-and controversial-that I have done so far. Our special guest this month is the author of the new training book Congruent Exercise, Bill DeSimone.
Bill is an experienced personal trainer, having started in 1983, and
now owns his own studio-Optimal Exercise in Cranbury, New Jersey.
His
own training-induced injuries led to his unique approach to exercise,
where he applies textbook biomechanics to conventional free-weight and
machine strength training. He was also a VERY popular speaker at last
year’s HIT Resurgence Conference (I believe he will be at this year’s conference also, which you should definitely plan on attending).
As Bill says in Congruent Exercise: “You can get all the benefits of
weight training, without the risk and frustration, by applying the
appropriate joint movements, postures, moment arms, i.e. biomechanics,
to your exercises. And you’ll be able to apply this anywhere, whether
you are surrounded by the most current, high tech, selectorized
machines, or sewer plates on a rusty bar, or doing chin-ups on a tree,
because the one constant is your body and biomechanics.”
This is no run-of-the-mill training stuff Bill is talking about
here. I have noticed for a very long time that many people who I
considered experts in exercise and/or High Intensity Training were very
weak when it came to utilizing orthopedically friendly, biomechanically
sound techniques and positions.
Bill has spent a lot of time and effort studying this issue, and as a
result he has come up with some fresh and fascinating ideas and
techniques.
Listen now to this thought-provoking interview as Bill challenges strength training dogma and reveals:
This month’s interview is definitely one of the most unique, refreshing-and controversial-that I have done so far. Our special guest this month is the author of the new training book Congruent Exercise, Bill DeSimone.
Bill is an experienced personal trainer, having started in 1983, and
now owns his own studio-Optimal Exercise in Cranbury, New Jersey.
Hisown training-induced injuries led to his unique approach to exercise,
where he applies textbook biomechanics to conventional free-weight and
machine strength training. He was also a VERY popular speaker at last
year’s HIT Resurgence Conference (I believe he will be at this year’s conference also, which you should definitely plan on attending).
As Bill says in Congruent Exercise: “You can get all the benefits of
weight training, without the risk and frustration, by applying the
appropriate joint movements, postures, moment arms, i.e. biomechanics,
to your exercises. And you’ll be able to apply this anywhere, whether
you are surrounded by the most current, high tech, selectorized
machines, or sewer plates on a rusty bar, or doing chin-ups on a tree,
because the one constant is your body and biomechanics.”
This is no run-of-the-mill training stuff Bill is talking about
here. I have noticed for a very long time that many people who I
considered experts in exercise and/or High Intensity Training were very
weak when it came to utilizing orthopedically friendly, biomechanically
sound techniques and positions.
Bill has spent a lot of time and effort studying this issue, and as a
result he has come up with some fresh and fascinating ideas and
techniques.
Listen now to this thought-provoking interview as Bill challenges strength training dogma and reveals:
- How a skating accident shaped his training philosophy
- His perspective on the teachings of Mike Mentzer, from 1976 through 2001 (wow-did he really just say that?)
- Examples of what “congruent exercise” means, and how it can help you
- His take on rep speed and full range of motion
- The relationship between joint function and torque as it applies to exercise (super interesting)
- His “Anti-Inflammation Theme” nutritional philosophy
- What he means by “functional fairy dust” (hilarious)
- And much, much more!
