The Spotter

Why Resolutions Fail

2010-12-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

Watching the crowds dwindle in gyms across Lakeland, it doesn't take a personal trainer to tell you the holiday season is here in full swing.

In my experience, even the most dedicated gym goer has trouble summoning the strength to perform squats, burpees and push ups before sunrise without a break now and again. In fact, a pre- January break is exactly what I suggest for the majority of gym goers.

Known as a "deload" in weight lifting circles, this is a period where we back off of our normal routine to allow our body to heal and develop to it's fullest potential (though full should not necessarily involve multiple trips to the buffet). From a psychological standpoint, this time of year should also serve as a period to collect our thoughts and set goals for the new year.

For many of us, these goals will involve weightloss and hitting the gym hard in January. But while you will undoubtedly summon all the motivation and energy necessary to crush these goals during the first several weeks, the question remains whether you can endure for the long haul.

More often than not, the factors which tend to stall progress are the logistics of how to get this done at all. These typically include:

• Penciling in a workout schedule
• Picking out a diet
• Committing yourself to a basic fitness program
• Getting the family on board

Beyond these issues, we also have fitness related issues which are the focus of this article. In my experience, the factors I will describe are the top three reasons why clients with another-wise flawless workout program fail to meet their goals. By considering and addressing these issues now, you are set up for success for months (versus days or weeks) to come. 1.

1. Hormonal/adrenal fatigue

The adrenals are walnut-sized glands located on top of each kidney, where they serve as important manufacturing centers for many of the body’s hormones. Whenever our bodies perceive we are under threat, our adrenals produce a "fight or flight" response by producing the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol.

While these hormones enable us to achieve amazing feats such lifting cars and leaping over buildings (maybe that is just me), problems arise when this stress lasts longer than a few hours. Because many of us spend years in stressful situations and relationships, a constant exposure to these hormones means a breakdown of elements such as the metabolism, immune system, digestion and cognitive function.

If you feel jittery, on edge and chronically tired on a regular basis, chances are this pertains to you. Because this is issue has a detrimental effect on both metabolism and attention span, the first order of business in preparing for weightloss is managing this condition.

Some factors to consider include:
• Enrich your nutrition, reduce refined carbohydrates, and cut back on stimulants- These include white bread, processed coffee and sugar.
• Consider nutritional supplements that support adrenal function. Start with a high-quality multivitamin–mineral complex rich in stress vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids.
• Reduce stress, exercise in moderation, and take more time for yourself. It’s helpful to make a list of your stressors, especially those that are ongoing or self-imposed.

2. Too much cardio

Though we have all heard a thousand times that we need to change up our cardio to achieve results, this statement goes deeper than switching from outside to the treadmill. The reality is that if you are running long distances or only doing intervals (think bootcamp) then you are only feeding the body one stimulus for adaption.

Because we need both aerobic endurance (for better recovery and fat utilization) and anaerobic endurance (to go as hard as possible and help our bodies deal better with carbohydrates), a mixture of both is a necessary evil.

But before wrapping your mind around this equation, I want you to consider the difference between the two:

Aerobic characteristics:
• 60-70% of maximum heart rate
• Ability to talk comfortably during exercise
• 4-6 out of 10 on perceived exertion scale

Anaerobic characteristics:
• 85-100% of maximum heart rate
• Inability to talk comfortably during exercise
• 7-9 out of 10 on perceived exertion scale

With interval training in particular, the goal is truly to go hard as hard as possible. If you find that you are sandbaging or talk to friends during a 30-60 second interval, chances are your workout is primarily aerobic.

While these values are best monitored via a heart rate monitor, I find simply measuring pulse after a good run or circuit helps me to determine whether or not I am "in the zone".

3. Failure to recover

Though I feel all gym goers should perform to fullest potential for the day, we cannot simply hammer ourselves day after day and expect better results. In fact, one of the main reasons exercise junkies fail to achieve better results with more effort is a failure to allow their bodies to truly recover and develop.

While I have touched upon recovery techniques in previous columns, my go to option is staggering my workouts so progress is made on harder days while easier days allow for recovery and development. This strategy pertains to both strength training and cardio and becomes increasingly important as we become more experienced in exercise.

For someone seeking fatloss, my optimal training split would consist of the following:

• Monday (Hard): Strength Training + Longer Run
• Wed (Easy/Medium): Mobility Circuit + Jogging
• Friday (Hard): Strength Training + Interval Circuit • Saturday (Easy/Medium): Mobility Circuit + Jogging

While Monday may consist of a strength training session followed by a longer run, Friday's hard could consist of weights followed by interval circuit to ensure both aerobic and anaerobic energy systems were addresses.

For Wed and Saturday, I typically employ a mobility circuit followed by jogging to help to get the blood flowing.

Weekly Fitness Challenge:

The bottom line is that because we are in this for the long haul we must pace our bodies for gradual success. By tackling the "little things" which seem to trip us up, the path is cleared for our journey to begin.

With that said, the other factor in this equation is work capacity. Because this is crucial to anaerobic training, my challenge for you with our video of the week is to perform the following workout 2-3 times this week and attempt to set a baseline and beat your score with each passing workout.

Post your results below and receive a week of fitness classes with you know who. Are you willing to work as hard as possible to achieve your goal? I hope to find out below.

MommyFit Fitness Program

2010-11-29T11:29:00.000-08:00

MommyFit is a program intended to empower busy Moms to get back in to pre-baby shape without setting foot in a gym.

Through time efficient, full body workouts and crunchless core training, moms are given all the tools to achieve Peak Fitness in 15-20 minutes per day.

How it works:
• Based upon a thorough fitness evaluation, we create a program which can be performed at home in 10-20 minutes per day
• Performed easily in a small space, this workout requires minimal to no equipment and combines cardiovascular and strength training together
• While you work out at home during the week, you will meet with a trainer for a Saturday fitness class and weigh in with fellow moms

Program Features:
• Weekly fitness plan with easy to understand exercise videos and pictures accessible from your computer or phone
• Crunchless Core Training program to tone hard to hit areas of the body
• Full nutrition plan
• Four group workouts per month with personal trainer

Classes begin January 8th 2011. For more info on the program and/or to schedule a free evaluation, contact Chris at (863)682-8281 or chris@peakfitnesslakeland.com

Think you know Diabetes? Think Again

2010-11-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

Interview questions:
Gwen Rogerson,MPH,BSN,RN,CDE

1. First, I found some of the statistics given in your talk on diabetes eye opening to say the least. Could you briefly give a few of the stats on the prevalence of diabetes both nationally and in Polk County specifically?

There are 23.6 million people in the U.S. with diabetes. 5.7 million out of the 23.6 million people with diabetes are unaware they have diabetes. There are an additional 57 million people in the U.S. who have pre-diabetes.

In Polk County alone, there are 55,000 people with diabetes. The lifetime risk of developing diabetes for everyone is now estimated to be 1 in 3.

2. In your work at LRMC, how many diabetics do you see a week and have you seen this grow over the past several years?

On the average we see approximately 60-80 in-patients a week. However approximately 1/3 of the patients on any day in the hospital has diabetes. Due to the large number of diabetics in the hospital, the diabetes educators focus on seeing patients: newly diagnosed with diabetes, new to insulin, wearing insulin pumps, referred by the physician, pregnant with diabetes including gestational diabetes, and admissions with diabetic ketoacidosis.

We have seen a large increase in the number of consults we are receiving for new diabetics as well as patients on insulin pumps. The bedside nurses educate the other diabetics in the hospital. Other than in-patients, we also see out-patients for more intense education on a one-on-one basis as well as group classes.

3. Dealing specifically with children, have you seen the number of new cases increase in younger populations? If so, please speculate on the factors behind this?

Statistics show an increase in the number of children world-wide who have diabetes. The biggest change over the years is the type of diabetes that children are being diagnosed with.

We used to only see children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Now frequently children are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Some of the reasons that have been given for the increased risk of type 2 diabetes in children besides family history are increased weight, nutrition habits, and sedentary lifestyle. 3 major factors of the sedentary lifestyle include limited physical education in school, the amount of television children watch, and the amount of time spent on a computer.

4. Please briefly describe the various types of diabetes and how they are acquired?

The 3 main types of diabetes are type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas quits working and the person is required to take insulin every day in order to live. Type 1 used to be called juvenile diabetes. They really are not sure what causes type 1-some of the theories are that it is an auto-immune disease brought on by a virus.

When a person gets type 1 diabetes, they get very ill very fast and usually end up in the emergency room. Only about 10% of the population has type 1 diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, the onset is very gradual and usually runs in the family. Type 2 diabetes occurs in approximately 90% of people with diabetes.

It can take up to 9 years to develop symptoms of type 2 diabetes. This is why it is so important for people over the age of 30 and with a family history of diabetes to get their blood glucose checked once a year. Often by the time a person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, complications have already occurred.

The other type of diabetes is gestational diabetes. This occurs in pregnant women usually around 24-28 weeks gestation. In gestational diabetes, the blood sugars go back to normal after delivery. Unfortunately, the woman sometimes has undiagnosed type 2 diabetes prior to getting pregnant. In this situation, the diabetes does not go away after the baby is born. Women with gestational diabetes have up to a 60% chance of developing type 2 diabetes 5 to 10 years after delivery.

5. What are some factors which may qualify someone as at risk for diabetes?

The main risk for type 2 is having a family member who has it. Once that risk is present, being overweight and not exercising increases their risk even more. We have a lot of overweight patients and a lot of patients who do not exercise that do not have diabetes.

We also have patients that are the perfect size, exercise every day, and still get diabetes. Diabetes does not discriminate. Family genes seem to play a big part with type 2 diabetes. However if you do have a family history of diabetes, watching what you eat and exercise can often delay and/or prevent diabetes.

6. For those at risk of diabetes, how often do you recommend being checked?

If the person is over the age of 30 and has a family history, at least once a year. And I would recommend being checked if symptoms develop.

7. One stat which stood out to me in your talk were the number of individuals who do not know they have diabetes. What are some of the symptoms associated with this problem?

I cannot emphasize enough not to wait for symptoms to present themselves since it can take up to 9 years to develop symptoms. The symptoms of diabetes are increased thirst, frequent urination, blurred vision, feeling tired all the time, nausea or hunger, wound that will not heal, and with women, frequent yeast infections.

8. How long does it take for "pre" diabetes to become full blown type 2?

This is one of the areas where nutrition and exercise can make a huge impact. Many people develop type 2 within a year. What is really scary is that people with pre-diabetes are at the same risk of complications as people with diabetes.

The guidelines for diagnosing pre-diabetes and diabetes have recently changed. Hopefully people are being diagnosed much earlier now. The earlier a person is diagnosed, the better chance they have of making changes to prevent complications.

9. In your talk, you mentioned that blood sugar is unaffected by food if you are not at risk for diabetes. Could you please elaborate on this idea?

I am often told by people that they were misdiagnosed with diabetes because they had just eaten a huge meal or a large piece of cake or just gotten off vacation. My answer to them is that when you do not have diabetes you can eat whatever you want and your blood glucose is still going to be perfect.

When diabetes is not present, the pancreas makes enough insulin to cover whatever you eat. You could eat a whole chocolate cake by yourself (I do not recommend this!) and your blood glucose would still be perfect if you do not have diabetes.

10. In looking at the way blood sugar is affected in diabetics, talk about the
logic behind counting carbs versus sugars when looking at ones diet?

Advertisements for foods can be very tricky. Carbohydrates raise a person’s blood glucose when they are diabetic. Often labels will read no sugar added but the food has natural sugar that includes carbohydrates. Our nutritionist tells patients to not even look at the sugar part on the label.

A good serving size is going to be approximately 15 grams of carbohydrates. The general recommendation for most people is to eat 45-60 grams of carbohydrates a meal and many men are told as many as 75 grams a meal. A nutritionist, preferably a registered dietitian, can individualize the amount of carbohydrates. Anything that says diet is usually more expensive and the regular food might actually have fewer carbohydrates. We always teach our patients the importance of reading labels.

11. Please describe treatment procedure for someone who has been newly diagnosed with diabetes.

When they are newly diagnosed at the hospital, they are usually seen by a diabetes nurse educator as well as nutritionist. We are more concerned with the basics at that point including how to test their blood sugars, medications they will be on, what to eat, importance of exercise, how to take insulin if needed, and when to call the MD with blood sugars.

Then when they are feeling better, we encourage them to attend out-patient diabetes class for a more in-depth education. Our out-patient classes consist of a 1-hour individualized appointment with the diabetes nurse educator and dietitian, followed by a 9-hour group class. We offer out-patient group classes twice a month. Times vary including three 3-hour sessions in the morning, afternoon or evening, as well as an all day class.

12. Please give some general recommendations for controlling diabetes with fitness/nutrition?

We are thrilled when our patients are already exercising when we see them. We encourage some type of activity for at least 30-45 minutes at least 3-4 times a week. Some of the cardiac groups are encouraging at least an hour 7 days a week.

Our major push at the beginning is just to increase their base-line activity. Exercise has many benefits for our patients with diabetes including: lowered blood glucose for up to 24 hours, reduced stress, increased weight loss and improved cardiac function. As for weight loss, just losing 5-10 pounds improves insulin sensitivity of the body which usually results in less need for medication.

13. For those who may be at risk of diabetes, please provide some information on
the services offered at LRMC and how they may be of benefit to readers?

The out-patient classes previously discussed are recognized by the American Diabetes Association which means we have strict guidelines that we adhere to. Most of our educators are certified diabetes educators. We also offer individualized classes for gestational diabetics, diabetes with pregnancy and Spanish speaking patients.

We offer a Diabetes Support Group in collaboration with Watson Clinic that is held once a month from October through May and alternates between Lakeland Regional Medical Center and Watson Clinic. There are approximately 100 people who attend each support group meeting. More information on diabetes class and support group can be obtained by calling (863) 284-1604.

What I learned this Week V1- Breaking down the foot and ankle:

2010-10-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

Subject #1: Vertical Core Training:

Source: http://www.train4thegame.com/sites/default/files/Vertical%20Core%20Training%20Revisited%20Final_0.pdf

1. Vertical Core Rules
These Joints must have proper motion:
– Foot/Ankle
– Hip
– Thoracic Spine/Scapulae
– Cervical Spine

2. The Foot, Ankle, and Hip- affect pelvic
motion. The Thoracic Spine, Scapulae, and Cervical Spine affect Rib Cage motion.

3. Functional Density- More things accomplished in the same amount of time. Vertical Core training gets more out of the effort put in. Dysfunction is often coupled.

4. Example: Only mobilizing a limited hip that has now influenced foot or thoracic mechanics. Cause and compensation become irrelevant because now they are feeding off each other address limitations simultaneously and prevent the vicious cycle

5. What is locomotion? The ability to go from A to B using a variety of specific movement patterns that will allow you to accomplish the task most efficiently
- Specific to individual limitations (kids, elderly)
- Specific to the environment
- Specific to the task (linear-lateral-multi)
- Subsystem of training system (where does it fit in?)

6. Fundamental Definitions
- Lunge – falling onto one leg and returning to the beginning position
- Step – falling onto one leg and continuing to the other leg on the same vector of movement
- Jump - leaving the ground on two feet and landing on two feet
- Hop – leaving the ground on one foot and landing on the same foot
- Leap – leaving the ground on one foot and landing on the other foot.

7. What are the Fundamental Locomotor Patterns?
- Walk - a step followed by another step (no flight phase)
- Run – a leap followed by another leap (flight phase)
- Shuffle – a step followed by another step, but the feet do not cross each other
- Skip – a hop followed by a step followed by a hop

8. What are the Secondary Locomotor Patterns?
Carioca Series – pattern in which the feet cross once in front and once behind each other
- Walkioca – carioca pattern while walking
- Skipioca – carioca pattern while skipping
- Carioca – carioca pattern while running (flight phase)
- Skuffle – a shuffle pattern while skipping

9. What are the directions?
Sagittal Plane
– Anterior
– Posterior
Frontal Plane
– Right Lateral
– Left Lateral
Transverse Plane
– Right Rotational
– Left Rotational

10. Secondary Directions
S – Sagittal/Transverse
O – Transverse
Z – Frontal/Sagittal/Transverse
8 – Frontal/Transverse
Square
Triangle
T

11. Movement Acquisition
- Examining sport specific patterns
- Breaking down complex movements into locomotor components
- Speed Acquisition - linear, lateral, multidirectional speed acquisition.

12 Benefits of Retro walking - As we get older and without proper training, we lose the ability to move posteriorly.
- Study by Laufer Y.: older population can not increase their speed when walking retro. The reason is they can not increase their stride length.
- Why? Lack of ankle mobility, hip extension, trunk extension, or proprioceptive training (no eyes in the back of our head).
- Since there is less hip rotation and frontal plane motion of the pelvis with retro, the lumbar spine is spared and the thoracic spine is required to move more

13. Analysis of “Retro” walking
- Retro Locomotion loads the anterior core more effectively than forward locomotion.
- Forward Gait: shock absorption through knee flexion, hip flexion, being absorbed by the posterior chain.
- Retro Gait: shock absorption through calf (gastroc, soleus, TP, PL), anterior core.
- Retro Gait forces more T-Spine extension with less comparative lumbosacral stress

14. Locomotion progression
Level 1 - complex moves in to matrixes
- Walk
- Skip
- Shuffle
- Run
Level 2-
- Walkioca
- Skipioca
- Carioca
- Skuffle

15. How to use it
- Always progress walk, run, skip/shuffle, carioca
- But how you progress is to each is up to you
–Directionality
–Bottom-up
–Top down
–Dimension (speed and range)

Subject #2: Breaking Down the Foot

Source: http://www.train4thegame.com/sites/default/files/Foot%20Cliffs%20Notes%20101.pdf

1. Over one quarter of your bones are in your feet. The initial mobility joint of the foot is the ankle or talocrural joint. While the ankle often serves as a catch all term, by definition it constitutes the interaction between the talus bone and the bones of the lower leg.

2. The setup of the ankle allows it to act somewhat like a hinge to give it front and back motion.

3. The subtalar joint is made up of the Talus bone and the heel bone. Unlike the ankle, this joint doesn’t just move front to back but allows the rear-foot to move in three dimensions, which is why it’s so important.

4. See, I consider the subtalar joint to be the trigger of the body. If the trigger is working right, the gun fires and amazing things happen throughout the rest of body. But, if that trigger gets jammed up, bad things happen and the rest of the body can’t do its job. The subtalar joint converts motion of the heel up the chain of the body, allowing other joints to move and muscles to activate.

5. The mid-tarsal joint is interesting, because it’s actually two joints 1. Talonavicular joint (Talus bone + Navicular bone) and 2. Calcanealcuboid joint (Calcaneus bone + Cuboid bone). The subtalar joint gives the rear-foot 3D motion while the mid-tarsal joint gives the forefoot 3D motion.

6. The often overlooked MTP joint or metatarsophalangeal joint (metatarsal bone + Phalange bone) aka… The Big Toe! BigToe??? Can the big toe affect the rest of the body??? You’re damn right it can! If the toe doesn’t flex upward or go through hallux dorsiflexion (as the people smarter than me called it,) when the foot pushes off the ground, that trigger can get jammed up again. A locked up trigger means the rest of the body (hip, knee, back) can’t work right. Back pain from the big toe

7. Gary confirmed my intuition, I remembered him telling me that the foot not only has to function as a “mobile adapter,” to react to gravity, ground reaction and the momentum of the body, but also as a “stable propulsive flipper,” to allow the foot to explode off the ground. They told me to think of the foot as a wave… It flows from, mobile to stable, mobile to stable, mobile to stable... Load then explode, load then explode, load then explode.

Subject #3: The Biomechanics of Barefoot Running:

Source: http://www.facebook.com/Thespotter?v=wall#!/notes/emily-splichal/biomechanics-of-barefoot-running-by-dr-emily-splichal/483892491188

1. The foot plays a very important role in shock absorption and the translation of ground reaction forces through the rest of the body

2. If we look at the foot kinematics during running shod we see initial contact between the foot and the ground in the form of a heel strike. From heel strike there is a shift in body weight to the lateral side of the foot to the forefoot, ending in propulsion off of the great toe joint. A runner’s heel strike is associated with up to 2-3 times our body weight in ground reaction forces.

3. As speed increases, there was a noted decrease in ankle dorsiflexion, and therefore an associated decrease in ground reaction forces during heel strike. Interestingly, this contrasts with barefoot runners who land with a more plantarflexed ankle with initial contact being on the ball of the foot and ending with great toe joint propulsion.

4. A plantarflexed ankle position significantly reduces amount of ground reaction forces during barefoot running.

5. A 2008 study by Divert et al. found a much higher oxygen consumption by shod runners when compared to barefoot runners. This increased oxygen consumption can be associate by both mass of the shoe and the variance in a heel strike in shod runner and forefoot contact in barefoot runners

Personal Training Principles- Why giving a shit gets clients

2010-10-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

As a business owner, I often hear dealing with flakes come with the territory. But while I am used to clients who arrive late (if at all) or show up to the session hungover (in which case they immediately hit the floor for burpees), dealing with bum trainers is another proposition entirely.

Without going in too far in to my experiences with this problem, I will just say that the best thing I have learned from owning my own studio is that professionalism is, by far, the most important element in winning over a client.

I used to ask myself how trainers that employ bodypart splits and bicep curls on stability balls still have clients. Well now I know: they give a shit!

Sure, they may think the Psoas is an amusement park ride, but the very fact that they know the name of their client’s kids and take time to discuss their problems is the greatest selling point of all.

In explaining this situation to new trainers, I always refer back to a great quote I have heard uttered by plenty of coaches and motivators: “Noone cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”

I will spare you to sappy commentary, but I hope you will read the four guiding principals we live by in our gym when training clients:

1. Come passionate or don’t come at all

As someone that hires/fires trainers for a living, I have found the mark of a great professional is someone who can hang up their drama at the door and make each session all about the client.

Regardless of whether you are tired, what bills you have to pay and/or your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend just released incriminating photos of you and a farm animal, you must assume the role of motivator and coach as soon as the session begins. I want my client to feed off of my passion for what I do and this means I coach the hell out of each rep and push them to their limit until their time has expired.

From my perspective, coaching clients reminds me how much I love what I do and takes my mind off of the problems waiting for me at the door.

2. Never be afraid to speak up

One mistake I made early on with clients was not corrective form and cueing even when I observed a clear problem. For me, this came down to uncertainty about the correct cue and fear that my client would become annoyed or put off.

This all changed one day when I finally got up the courage corrected a long standing client’s deadlift and she thanked me and remarked “this is what I pay you to do”. The reality is that our clients hire us as the authority and while we must put things a certain way, they want you to give feedback and correction.

Regardless of who the client is or their station in life, everyone that steps in to our facility is the same. We want them to work as safely and correctly as possible. This means your primary role is coach and motivator. Even if you do not know the exact technical cue, don’t be afraid to adjust on the fly and make a note of what to review.

3. Be on time and organized

A good rule of thumb for a personal trainer is that the session starts seven minutes before the hour or half hour. This amount of time allows you just enough time to set up and cue your client to begin their stretching or pre-workout routine.

The other issue we sometimes must contend with are other trainers or clients working out. Taking the time to coordinate with other trainers and collect your equipment will help to shave several minutes off your session and keep things flowing.

4. Take an interest in each client

While knowing the names of your clients‘ children and where they last vacationed may not seem a requirement for results, the “little things” are what build the bond of trust that keep clients coming back.

Out of the 45 people I currently train, I can tell you something unique about each one of them and you better believe I reference these things as often as exercises to keep them coming back. If we want our clients’ buying in to things such as homework and showing up early to stretch, they need to know how important these things are-- and how much we care that they do them.

With this in mind, take a few minutes after the first session to identify your client’s basic interests and needs and make a note of these things in their workout chart. These will later serve as points of discussion and potential motivation. Some things to consider include:

 Favorite sports
 Occupation
 Kids names and ages
 Favorite (and least favorite foods)
 Vacation destinations

5. Vary your workouts-

A common practice amongst manner trainers I have encountered is to write on workout for the day. While this may work for relatively fit clients, this will only lead to general results.

If you want to make a believer out of your client, it is important to make sure their unique needs are addressed. Following a basic posture and fitness screening, this means certain exercises, stretches and corrective exercises to suit their individual needs.

The trick with not spending hours on this process is figuring out which parts of the program can apply to most clients generally and which must be specific to the individual. In my experience, we can look at the following:

• Pre-workout- Specific stretches based upon issues identified in basic testing.
• Warm up- Specific movement prep for issues identified in screening followed by generalized total body warm up which addresses total body mobility/flexibility.
• Strength Training- Generalized full body workout which excludes lifts identified as a risk in screening process. For example, if the client cannot reach their arms overhead, stay away from overhead pressing.
• Conditioning- Generalized routine excluding exercises contradicted by screening.
• Corrective Exercise- Exercises specific to needs identified in screening.

Commercial fitness versus Strength and Conditioning

2010-09-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

After a great weekend speaking at my first fitness conference for a commercial gym chain, I came away with the impression of how far removed the world of strength and conditioning is from that of commercial fitness.

While lectures were given by myself and Dr. Emily Splical on topics ranging from restoring core function and the Efficacy of HIT (High Intensity Training), the trainers were also treated to an "Abs, Butt, and Back" class and pilates yoga fusion.

While I will hold my tounge for some of the exercises employed in the name of Pilates (imagine a room full of trainers doing Plows for several minutes, here are a few things I took from the seminar:

1. Sit ups and crunches still reign supreme- While I must admit to attend few "abs" classes, it was interesting to watch the way these circuits were executed in comparison to a traditional S & C setting.Performed at an upbeat tempo, I believe I counted 8 crunch variations interpresed with planking and other movements associated with Core training.

My initial impression as a coach is that this type of things done several times per week after hunching over a computer equals mucho repetitive stress, spinal flexion and back pain. On the other hand, everyone was up, moving and having a good time. This leads me to the conclusion that while the S&C world is all about "bang for the buck" in training terms, the perceptual element we encounter with commercial fitness is as much about marketing a "fun" versus effectiveness.

Because we will likely always fight a losing battle to commercial fitness in terms of exposure, it makes me wonder what we, as responsible practitioners, can do to balance perception with reality when training a client fresh from a commercial setting. What comprises in programming (if any) do we allow? I would like to get your take on this.

2. Noone had heard of Gray Cook or Stuart McGill (Aside my good friend Emily and the guy from KBC that is)- One question multiple presenters were asked was what trainers and sources they looked to for information. I found this refreshing because clearly the desire and passion for learning was there, but the "go-to" source for information was lacking.

After turning a few trainers on to Strengthcoach.com, a big takeaway from me with this experience is that sourcing and referencing is a huge part of the educational process. Though we may not know the answer to a question, we should posess a resource that does. For anyone that remembers the first several days of reading everything possible on the site, I feel refferal is an important part of how our profession grows and gives back--given the response from the group, the website should soon have a few new faces.

3. The public fears Kettlebells- Why does everyone call them Kettleballs? Actually, one instructed referenced his fear to being hit in the balls from swinging the bell while others were reluctant to teach the swing for fear of back pain. Going back to the whole reference thing, this reminds me how vital simple things like understanding the hip hinge can be. With this in mind, I refered a few of our friends to Eric's deadlifting video and Franz Snideman's breakdown of the KB swing.

4. What we can stand to learn from group exercise classes- I must admit one of the positive things I took away from my experience with "Abs, Back and Butt" was the "movement section" of the warm up. Here we had a full joint by joint dynamic warm up which took place in multiple planes of motion and was choriographed to music-- all in around 4 minutes! This sequence included Plie Squats (aka Squat to Stand) Instep to elbow insteps, cobras and built up from slow and simple exercises to faster and more complex movement patterns.

Getting back to the above, "choreographing" an extended dynamic warm up to music is an example of a programming modification which can spice up our workout a bit while still remaining in the frame of what we do.

5. Evidenced Based Practice- Aside from the above, I also want to recommend everyone to Emily's new Evidence Based Fitness Academy. I took a lot from her presentation on High Intensity Training (HIT) and her organization's mission statement is presentation based upon science and evidenced based practice. In an industry filled with personal bias, this commitment to citing research and understanding the "why" behind what we do is something we can all stand to learn from.

Talking Points on Interval Training- Chris Kelly

2010-09-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

One of my goals for our talking points articles is to interview coaches from different settings and perspectives. In our last interview, my friend Mark Young talked about the science behind the value of interval training for fatloss.

Today, I would like to take a look at the way commonly utilize this form of training here at Peak Fitness. As a studio specializing in the general population, our applications of this method span far beyond fatloss and I hope this interview (with me) will give you a few ideas in terms of how this method can carry over in to all areas of your training program.

PS: Yes, ladies I am single. Who wants a ticket to this gun show?

Interview:

1. As a coach, talk about the advantages and disadvantages you have found with utilizing interval training in your programming?

First, I must acknowledge there really is little difference between the two in terms of overall results (See Mark Young’s interview for more info on specifics) With that said, I have found the main advantages of interval training to be psychological and efficiency of time.

I have often heard clients make the comment that it is much easier to push hard to complete a task which takes thirty to sixty seconds versus one that lasts ten minutes a time. And I think in terms of overall effort, this has value in itself.

Moreover, as the economy becomes worse a few trends we see more and more (or least in my neck of the woods) are bootcamp and thirty minute personal training sessions. Both of which must be extremely well structured to get in everything necessary to progress.

With interval training, I can give the client a full body metabolic effect in less time or percieved difficulty than it would take to push them through a run on the treadmill or even aerobic timed circuit.

If I only have around 6-8 minutes to give this to my client (via a thirty minute session), a round of 20-30 second intervals or complexes with various pieces of equipment do the job better than typical aerobic training.

2. Talk about the role interval style training plays in your overall programming for both general population and athlete clients?

In terms of time management, it is important to understand the applications of interval training beyond mere cardio. For example in Functional Strength Coach 3, Coach Boyle talks about utilizing intervals for stretching/mobility and strength circuits as a means of efficiency while keeping his players motivated.

If I have only 10 minutes devoted to each area of programming, this allows me to plan specifically how long I spend on each component within the larger program. The fact that we can dictate time with an interval CD creates urgency and allows us to coach the movement more effectively with larger groups of clients (or Type A personalities).

3. Because steady state cardio often means running or jogging-- a very weight bearing activity-- whereas intervals often change exercise, do you feel exercise selection plays a particularly important role in determining the success or failure of this method?

Absolutely, exercise selection is the opportunity to emphasize certain movements we are attempting to coach or get in extra work in particular area. For example, with someone with upper crossed posture, we may program 2-3 pulling and/or dynamic stabilization exercises which still allow for a metabolic effect.

I also find changing movements every 30-60 seconds avoids repetitive loading on the joints and is a better way to distribute overall training stress.

4. In terms of fatloss or general population, does your interval prescription for clients follow a specific progression as clients get in better shape?

We do, depending on the client‘s FMS score and current endurance capability. With deconditioned clients, we often begin with mobility exercises and progress these to more impactful movements as the client gains proficiency in basic movement. An example would be progressing from an assisted squat in month one to an unassisted squat to press or squat to row by month three.

As we go along, we involve more musculature to create a greater metabolic effect.

5. On the mental side of the equation, how do you feel clients react to performing intervals for conditioning versus longer cardio sessions?

Going back to the first question, I think brief periods of intensity challenge a client within the bounds of their comfort level. It has been my experience that they are far more likely to go all out for 30-60 seconds versus a 10-15 minute circuit.

In this way, intervals can actually been seen as the psychological precursor to longer steady state cardio in the form of circuits and/or running, jogging, etc.

Movement Quality versus Quantity- Making the Decision

2010-09-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, a Book called “Athletic Body in Balance” changed my entire world. The way I train, think about and observe movement (or what I formerly only considered “exercise”) is based upon the fundamentals touched upon in this book.

For me, one of the most powerful phrases in the book is the importance of “movement quality over quantity” and helped me decide to train both myself and my clients with this in mind.

While I would eventually gain training tools through the work of pioneers such as Boyle and Cook and evaluative systems such as the FMS the compliment this commitment, I find the principals which go along with this approach to be most important of all.

Here are a few I’ve picked up through Gray’s work in my current reading project “Musculoskeletal Interventions” that Ive added to the collection:

1. The four major stages of motor control are mobility, stability controlled mobility and skill. Activities in our daily lives can be defined as fundamental skill. All skillful movement is built on a base of fundamental movements. This foundation can be described by cornerstones called mobility and stability and central pillars called controlled mobility and dynamic stability

2. This activity is more specifically defined as that activities where the hands and feet are mobile but the the proximal muscles and muscles of the spine remain stable. We will call this general skill because it is the common function of most orthopedic patients

3. Skill is the highest level of motor control and includes the manipulation and exploration of the environment

4. When a movement is dysfunctional, the therapist must break down the movement in to sub-movements. They are simple and more specific to problem identification. They are distinguished because each represents a level of motor control as the normal developmental parameters needed to acquire a skill

5. A functional progression for return to ADL can be achieved by breaking functional skills in to a hierarchy and performing them in sequence necessary to return to function

6. The ability to recognize quality and measure quantitative properties of movement can be seen as a defining factor in physical therapy

7. The greatest loss in flexibility occurs in movements an individual does not habitually perform and inactivity is a major factor contributing to inflexibility

8. Therapeutic exercise should not produce pain. Exercises should improve tissue metabolism or stimulate mechanical efficiency while restoring motor control It is important to choose one path or the other and assess the response and adaptation accordingly

Power up your Plank

2010-09-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

“Plank routines are dull, unsexy, and the audience hates them” is gist of the response I once received from an editor when pitching an article on abdominal training—though this guy may disagree.

After all, when it comes time to train there are few things as boring as holding still for 2-3 minutes at a time when you could be going to war with sit ups and crunches.

With that said, the main gripe most of my clients have is that holding in a plank is easy (try doing it right) and it does not produce the “burn” which is necessary to chisel the stomach.

While this may be true of static planks, throw in movement of the arms and the legs and we suddenly have an exercise which will beat your ass and chisel your abs.

While I will touch on this concept in an upcoming article on the plank matrix, the key is knowing how to progress your circuits. With this in mind, here is a simple tutorial for taking your plank to the moon and beyond!

Where to begin:

To hit all areas of the torso, the frontal plank is immediately followed by a side plank for the left and right sides. As a starter progression, each plank is held in a static position for a period of 30-45 seconds.

The key to success with the plank is to first initiate and maintain an abdominal brace throughout each exercise to fully engage the abs. A brace involves tightening the abs as if to avoid being poked in the stomach.

This drill can be practiced as a warm up by simply placing one hand on the stomach and one hand slightly above the small of the low back.

Apply pressure by pushing in to stomach while tightening your abs to resist. You will feel your back extensor and abdominal muscles simultaneously tighten. Maintain this contraction for 2-3 reps of 15-30 seconds to get a feel for the brace.

Progressing your Plank:

After demonstrating the ability to hold in the basic plank matrix for prescribed time, the next step is to add movement of the arms and legs to each exercise. Some sample movements include crawling forward and with the elbows or hands, marching with the feet and pulsing with the hips are included below.

In terms of progression, each plank is performed back to back for 8-12 reps with the objective of maintaining an abdominal brace and neutral spine for the entire circuit.

Add 2-4 reps per week and subtract rest periods between rounds for progression.

After mastering your planks on the floor, difficulty can be increase through any of the following methods:

1.Base of Support- Much like a push up, the traditional plank involves four points of contact to the ground (two arms and legs). With this in mind, this exercise can be made more difficulty by going to three points of contact by raising one leg or arm off the ground.

2.Elevation- Another means of increasing the difficulty of a plank is by elevating the feet on a bench or step.

3. External load- My personal favorite, this involves donning a weighted vest or placing a plate or other implement on the back (or both!) to increase the overall load placed on the core. What I like about this method is that it forces the user to main proper form or else!

4. Time/density- A timed circuit in which we perform as many rounds as possible in fixed time. While it is difficult to illustrate this with a picture, see our video demonstration below for more information.

Video demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el1mhak6SZQ

Talking Points on Interval Training- Mark Young

2010-09-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

A saying I have adopted latley is that every six months, I realize how stupid I was six months ago. And one of the main reasons for this state is that I have had the good sense to learn from smart people.

One of the main influences about the way I program and think about fitness comes courtsousey of Mike Boyle's Strengthcoach.com forum.

Here, I am given the opportunity to interact and learn from top fitness professionals engaged in real world discussions.

With this in mind, I plan to feature interviews and talking points on current discussions in this arena from some of my favorite coaches and influences.

For this week's interval training topic, I am privledged to feature an interview from Mark Young, a highly intelligent trainer and coach who often serves as Devil's adovocate on issues ranging from the FMS to interval training (today's topic)

What I like most about Mark is his commitment to research and evidence based practice. While many professionals in our industry simply follow trends, Mark is always seeking to better our understanding of why we do what we do and how it can be done better.

In fact, his post on interval training was the inspiration for today's interview on the subject. To clarify some questions I had on this topic, Mark was good enough to answer a few questions to recap our forum discussion.

1.Based upon your study of interval versus steady state training, what are some of the basic myths which revolve around this modality in regard to fat loss?

Perhaps the most widespread myth is that interval training provides greater fat loss than steady state exercise. However, in the three (yes, only three) studies that directly measure fat loss in humans the results are pretty disappointing. I think the greatest difference between the two was 6 pounds of fat and that was over the course of 15 weeks in overweight women. The leaner women in the interval group lost even less fat!

Of course, there are studies that suggest markedly increased fat mobilization or greater EPOC (post exercise calorie burn) with intervals, but it doesn’t really translate into results in studies were actual fat loss is measured.
The other big assumption about intervals is that they’re remarkably time efficient.

While there is certainly some truth to this, even the shortest interval bouts proposed in recent studies involve six 30 second intervals each followed by four minutes of rest. And the whole bout is preceded with 2 minutes of steady state exercise to warm up. From start to finish you’re looking at around 25 minutes.

This is obviously much more efficient compared to the full hour of cardio performed by the steady state group, but it does put a damper on the potential usefulness of super short bouts like Tabatas for fat loss.

2. Playing devil’s advocate, what benefits could you find in relying on interval versus steady state training?

As mentioned above, intervals can be good in terms of being time efficient. However, you still have to be willing to put in at least 25 minutes if you want the results to be in line with what the studies have reported.

In terms of things other than fat loss, intervals are also great for increasing sprint performance, VO2 Max, time trials, and lactate clearance.

3. Because steady state cardio often means running or jogging-- a very weight bearing activity-- whereas intervals often change exercise, do you feel exercise selection plays a particularly important role in determining the success or failure of this method?

I think steady state cardio is only limited to running in those who aren’t creative enough to come up with other options. Cycling, swimming, kayaking, and weight training circuits (which are not technically intervals unless there are rests between sets) are all options for steady state activity.

If all someone does is run then they’re subject to the injuries runners get. The same is true of any other repetitive activity whether they do them in interval form or steady state.

4. In your personal experience either with clients or in your own training, what role does conditioning (Intervals, steady state cardio, complexes, etc) in over all fat loss?

In terms of fat loss, nutrition comes first with my clients. I’m pretty sure that isn’t anything novel, but if a client doesn’t have this down they might as well not waste their energy on any form of cardio with the expectation of getting leaner. (Of course, I’m a big proponent of just being active even if you diet sucks donkey nuts just for the health benefits).

I tend to lean towards more steady state work and straight sets when I start with a client and work towards complexes as they become more advanced. When I do add complexes it is usually a means to introduce more total exercise volume per muscle group or pattern than it is to burn calories. Truthfully speaking, a deconditioned beginner (i.e., most of the people aiming for fat loss) can hardly burn more than 5 calories per minute so I don’t like to rely on exercise to create a deficit. I also don’t think of complexes as intervals.

I use high intensity intervals sparingly with clients who are more conditioned. And I also don’t use them for more than 3 weeks at a time.

5. On the mental side of the equation, how do you feel clients react to performing intervals for conditioning versus longer cardio sessions?

If you’re doing intervals at the intensity that they’re supposed to be done to induce fat loss, beginners react by vomiting all over the place. They get a negative perception of exercise and don’t come back. Many will probably protest this view and they are entitled to their opinions…but they’re all wrong. lol.

I do like the trend of using strength training movements for cardio so long as you’re doing this as an adjunct to regular programming for strength/hypertrophy. I also enjoy kettlebells and other such implements, but each is just one tool of many. And I don’t call any of this interval training.

All in all, I’m not anti-interval. I am just anti-hype and feel a responsibility to lean a little harder in the opposite direction from the masses. Once the pendulum settles closer to the middle I think I’ll be more apologetic towards them.

Corrective Exercises for Bad Attitudes

2010-09-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

As the owner of a studio specializing in training the general population, I never know exactly who (or what) will step through my door. But while we develop specific means of dealing with chronic back pain, muscle stiffness and hyper tonicity, undoubtedly the most challenging issue I have encountered is a chronically bad attitude.

Such individuals have an innate ability to find the cloud in every silver lining and will pick apart even the most well composed trainer-- for anyone who has arrived at 4:50 AM to a 5 AM training session only to be bitched at for not arriving early so the client could stretch and foam roll, I know you feel my pain.

Despite our best efforts to put on a good face, it can be difficult to muster the same motivation to train negative people, but every time I find myself falling in to the trap of writing someone off: I ask myself: Why would a seemingly successful and productive individual become jaded? And from a fitness angle, how does this manifest itself in their posture and workout?

For me, understanding the basic context of disposition has become a vital tool in figuring out postural issues and why the client moves a certain way. Often times, we find many underlying problems such back, neck and shoulder pain and stiffness directly associated with environmental causes which also adversely affects attitude.

Understanding your subject:

With the risk of sounding completely sexist, I will preface this article by saying that the majority of bad attitudes I have encountered in clients have come from our female clients.

The reasoning behind this observation is that if men dont like the situation, they will hit the road by session two (or bolt midway thru session one), while most female clients tend to stick around for at least a few months despite certain misgivings.

Looking at the science behind this observation, a study done by the University of Pennsylvania found that men tend to go “fight or flight” mode when they are undergoing stress from a performance-related task. Women, on the other hand, go into a “tend and befriend” mode.

The scientists who performed the study believe that these differences can be accounted for by evolution. In the past, men were the hunters or warrior, while women tended to their problems by nurturing them in a social setting.

Getting back to our workout, one of the major ways women relieve and handle stress is by establishing relationships and friendships with those around them-- no wonder group exercises classes are becoming so popular. And almost always exhibit greater loyality in terms of sticking with a trainer.

The study also found that men and women use different parts of their brain to respond to stress. When men are more stressed, the researchers found that there is an increased blood flow in the right perfrontal cortex and decreased in the left orbitofrontal cortex. In women, the limbic system, the part of the brain that processes emotions, becomes more active.

In practical terms, this means that stressful situations can lead to a longer term physical and emotional impact for our female clients. And while I may describe a "stressful situation" as a man showing up to workout in spandex, this definition is entirely subjective.

Unfortunately, our interpretation of reality is more important to the brain than what is actually going on in the outside world. For example, the threat that you may be embarrassed by speaking in public is just the kind of threat that gets the limbic system cooking and wanting an immediate decision. The limbic system thinks of the least dangerous option - avoidance seems like the right option.

During these stressful moments your higher, creative brain shuts down except for taking orders from the limbic system - the specialist in danger situation solutions.
In this state we do not use our higher functions to respond because they are unavailable to us at that moment. It is because of downshifting phenomena that stress-filled , overwhelming moments are so difficult to deal with - and it may be the cause of you repeating the same self-defeating behavior.

This downshifting phenomenon is part of the general stress response. The physical experience typically includes stiff neck muscles and tightening in many muscle groups of the body. It can also include holding your breath or shallow breathing. There is a general tightening of the joint surfaces of the body: facial tension, neck tension, jaw tension, shoulder tension, lower back tension, locked knees.

Assess the stress:

When assessing a chronically bad attitude in the gym, we must first look at the client's enviornment for additional stressors:

• Where do they work?
• Are they married or divorced?
• Are they heavily in debt (for our sake, I hope not)
• Are their kids in school (or dropping out)
• Do they have a long term injury which has diminished quality of life
• What other issues could this client be facing?

Though I try to keep things professional in the gym, sitting your client down to discuss these basic questions paints a picture of potential dysfunction. After getting a basic idea of the focal points of stress, we will then perform a breathing test to see whether the client has adopted a stressful breathing pattern.

While both of these elements should be a regular part of your normal evaluations and screening, these are the two things which must change first in order to see improvement in muscle tightness, pain and performance.

Because this is often a psychological issue with secondary physical symptoms, the key to improving this client's behavior and success in the gym is relieving the additional stressors which are causing overload in their daily life.

Corrective exercise case study:

One recent virulent case of bad attitude came to us in the form of a fifty year old administrator who had just moved back to our small town of Lakeland Florida from New York City (depressing in itself)

After the economic downturn, she found herself without a job in the financial services sector and moved home to live with her parents and regroup. At the same time, she took a job at a small non-profit at which she is currently under ever changing deadlines.

While she came to me seeking to strengthen her core and tone up, she also revealed an infrequent history of low back and shoulder pain which seemed to alternate in pattern.

Our testing process identified faulty breathing patterns, poor ankle mobility and trigger points in her hips and gluteus medius. But while appropriate mobility and corrective solutions were prescribed, she continued to experience this same pattern during the first several months of training.

In addition, she would go thru bouts of happiness in which she really seemed to involve our workouts, followed by days in which she would say not a word (except to complain about the positioning of an exercise or scream at me for not showing up 15 minutes early)

When it became clear her screens were not changing, we had sort of a "heart to heart" in which we discussed her situation and some realistic changes she could make to improve quality of life. These included:

• Joining a local dance class to get some out of gym activity
• Partnering her up with another early morning client
• Changing around her hours at work so she could go in an hour later
• Deep breathing practice several times per day

What I learned from this experience:

One saying Ive heard related to adherence is that for every one hour we spend doing well in the gym, we have 23 hours to screw that up. And what I learned from this experience is that we must tackle adherence and trust before anything else can be put in to place.

After several weeks of the above, our client seemed like a new person in terms of both attitude and effort in the gym. She slowly began to adopt more of our corrective routine in to her daily schedule and has experienced very little in the way of pain since this time.

Though it can be easy to write off a bad attitude, it is important to realize these are often the ones that need us most. As much time as we spend devoting ourselves to learning about the way the body functions, take a few minutes to get to know your client and their needs and your results will undoubtedly improve.

What I learned from the Great Ones- Sahrmann diagnosed

2010-08-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 2009, one of my goals as a trainer and coach was to develop a better understanding of why injuries and pain occurs. After attending my first FMS workshop in April of that year, I was mesmerized by the way Gray Cook and Lee Burton had spoken so eloquently of movement and seemed to pick apart complex problems (including my own) in minutes through simple observation.

One quote which seemed to sum up their mantra was the concept of “Thin Slicing” which dictates that expertise (not experience) is defined not so much by high level technical skill as it is by advanced pattern recognition. While novices become distracted by details, experts categorize and recognize individual issues as the sum of collective dysfunction.

This assessment certainly summed up my early utilization of the FMS, as I screened everyone I could, collected spreadsheets of information and spent hours toiling over how to address the many multitudes of issues. While I understood that the Active Straight Leg Raise pattern and Shoulder Mobility were most important, I could not get over the need to fix someone’s squat or ability to lunge—though fixing these two patterns often does just that.

My conclusion was that to successfully integrate such corrections in to my programming, I required a better understanding of how to do so and why. With this in mind, I scoured my go-to resources on the topic of corrective exercises and came away with three epic works which have changed the way I view the body:

1. Kendall’s Muscle Testing + Function- Florence Kendall + CO
2. Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes- Shirley Sahrmann
3. Ultimate Back and Performance (Book + DVD)- Stuart McGill

While I could thousands of words to what I learned from each author, what I will try to do in this series of blogs is sum up the five ah-ha moments from each book which have brought me to my present view of the body. Suffice to say, the one thing I can say about each writer is that great minds think alike.

Cracking the pages of Sahrmann’s Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, I knew this would not be a light read. In fact, I must admit it took me one month to actually get past page one (I had to psych myself in to reading cover to cover) and another month to finish chapter 1-2, but copious amounts of notes and re-reading gave me a thoroughly improved understanding of why movement impairments occur and how to distinguish between mobility and stability issues.

To keep things simple, I have broken down my key learning points and practical applications below:

1. Relative flexibility- Put simply, relative flexibility is the idea that the least stiff segment will move first in a series of joints. Along the lines of Mike Boyle’s joint by joint approach, this means that if the lumbar spine for example is more mobile than the hips, compensatory motion will occur in this area. For me, this principal acts as a roadmap along with the joint by joint theory to determine exercises and progressions for clients with back, neck, shoulder and knee pain.

2. Motor control versus stiffness- When muscle stiffness is a contributing factor to compensatory movement, compensatory movement only occurs when the muscle is passively stretched. By contrast, this motion occurs during active motion, but not passive motion, it is a motor control issue. An example of a motor control issue would be the foot turning outward during an active straight leg raise, but remaining straight when the muscle is passively stretched by a partner. This is a huge distinction when we consider our approach to treatment.

3. Synegistic Dominance- In the presence of injury and/or poor posture, certain muscles become dominant over others and cause compensatory movement in the direction of this dominance. Consider an individual who constantly experiences hamstring strains, yet tests strong in this muscle. Because the hamstring is being forced to extend the hip in place of a weak gluteus maximus (butt), it falls victim to strain and overuse.

4. Why Core Stability?- Possibly the most influential statement for me was as follows: "During most activities, the primary role of the abdominal muscles is to provide isometric support and limit the degree of rotation of the trunk which, as discussed, is limited in the lumbar spine While I have never been a huge advocate of crunches, this statement summarizes why we need core stability and how it is obtained (isometrically). The solution? Groove stability in postures which increasingly challenge posture-- such as quadraped, half kneeling, tall kneeling, bi-lateral standing and single leg stance.

Practical applications:

1. Directional movement assessment- Once again using the lumbar spine is an example, the next question is which motions of the spine are most flexible. If the answer is flexion, the spine will be restricted in extension. In this case, rockbacking back on the heels is a motion which can be utilized as an assessment by taking the client through both extension and flexion. The question is which motion causes the client pain? Which motion is restricted? Do compensatory movements occur during movement (for example, does the pelvis rotate while rocking back)?

2. Passive Muscle testing- As mentioned above, distinguishing between mobility and stability issues comes down to testing the muscles in both passive and active ranges of motion. Check out this fantastic primer on table assessments with Bret Contreas and Keats Snideman

3. Classification Thinking- In Sahrmann’s system, most pain and movement disorders can be classified in to the direction of compensatory movement. The key to diagnosis is to determine the specific movements and sustained daily postures. This can often be traced to patterns of the clients lifestyle (flexing over a computer or rotating during the day to watch television) and assessed via a series of questions on occupation, lifestyle, etc.

4. Floor to standing core progressions- While I had long prescribed planks to improve “stability”, the reality is these movements can often be too stressful for entry level clients. By contrast, Sahrmann’s floor based progressions train the motions of hip extension and shoulder flexion (aka Floor slides) in a supported environment while teaching abdominal engagement and endurance. This concept of transitional posturing seems a reoccurring theme in giants in this field such as Gray Cook and Vladimir Janda. For de-conditioned clients, a floor based phase of activation sequence can be seen as a precursor to integrated such as squatting, stepping, overhead pressing and planking.

Keep in mind, this only skims the surface of this amazing resource and I would be interested to learn what other took from this classic. Feel free to add your thoughts below!

Weekly Reading- Metabolic Conditioning

2010-08-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Subject: Metabolic Conditioning:

Articles:
1. Peak Fitness system explained 2. Hierarchy of fatloss
3. Metabolic Training methods
4. Interval Training defined

Videos:
1. Intro to Interval Training- Dumbbell exercises 2. Intro to Interval Training- Stability Ball exercises 3. Intro to interval training- Band exercises

Questions:
1. Name 3-5 exercises you can utilize with stability balls, bands and dumbbells?
2. What makes a good metabolic exercise?
3. Name three different variations of metabolic training.
4. In terms of heart rate, what makes an exercise aerobic versus aneroebic?
5. How does interval training for athletes differ from clients training for fatloss?
6. Put together a basic interval training program for a new client.

Weekly Reading- Flexibility

2010-08-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

Stretching
1. Types of stretching-
2. Active isolated stretching overview
3. Static stretching
4. Peak warm up stretch routine

Myofascial release:
1. Using a foam roller
2. What is a trigger point?
3. What is myofascial release
4. Peak lower body foam roll routine- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M2IQUlwd8k
5. Peak upper body foam roll routine

Dynamic mobility:
1.Eight Essential Mobility drills
2. Joint by joint approach to training
3. Defining the dynamic warm up
4. Peak Fitness Dynamic warm up

Stiffness solutions

2010-08-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

Tired of being stiff and sore despite regular stretching?

One of the most common misconceptions in fitness is that holding stretches for 30-60 seconds does anything to improve flexibility.

While stretching for this length of time temporarily signals the muscles to stretch, they return to their original position in 2-3 minutes!

With this in mind, check out this week's three part video series on a systematic process to permanently improve flexibility and stiffness

Part #1: The Truth about Static Stretching
Part #2: Permanent Stretching Soultions
Part #3: Improving Stiffness after Stretching

Developing your system!

2010-08-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

One requirement I have for all of my trainers is passion for what we do. And this means forming very definite ideas about the way we train clients.

Sometimes refered to as "functional training", my primary goal for strength training and conditioning with a client is to train movement versus a specific bodypart split. For example, instead of working "biceps and back" on Tuesday, we may train upper body pulling motions (which primarily involve the biceps and triceps)

The idea behind this method is that we are addressing the movment patterns a client encounters in daily life (thus the "functional") in training versus isolating muscles with machines.

This type of training is performed primarily with bodyweight and free weight exercises which work multiple muscles at once (think push ups versus chest flys, pull ups versus lat pull downs, deadlifts versus leg extensions, squats versus leg press, etc)

In short, these movements offer better "bang for the buck" in terms of muscles worked and carry over to real life. If we can help our clients move better with the weight of their own body, we increase their opportunity to enjoy exercise and move without pain.

This information is especially vital when creating fitness programs for your clients. Some other keys to consider include:

1. Workout split- Because most clients only train 2-3 times per week, the majority of our clients are on full body workouts versus bodypart splits. A full body strength workout typically involves a pushing and pulling movement for the upper body and a leg exercise of some type.

Here is an example:

Push- Push up
Pull- One arm row
Legs- Reverse lunge

2. Bodyweight before external resistance- Refering to my last article, we want to ensure the client can move well with a bodyweight lunge, squat, push up, etc before prescribing movements which involve lifting heavy weight.

The advantage of bodyweight exercises over machine based training is that the push up (for example) also trains the nervous system. Because it is not supported like a chest press, we have the opportunity to teach and influence a movement pattern which will carry over directly in to more advanced exercises like bench pressing.

If we simply throw someone on a chest press and then move to the bench press, they may possess the strength in the muscles of the chest, but they may lack the coordinate and control to stabilize the bar without the articial support of a machine.

In general, we will begin most new or de-conditioned clients with one or several bodyweight only phases until exercise patterns are perfected. Here is an example:

Month 1:
Push- Push up on bench
Pull- Inverted or TRX row- Knees bent
Legs- Bodyweight squat to bench

Month 2:
Push- Push up on floor
Pull- Inverted or TRX row- Legs straight
Legs- Goblet squat to low box (client holds med ball or small dumbbell for support)

Month 3:
Push- Floor dumbbell press
Pull- One arm row
Legs- DB front squat to parallell

3. Balancing out your session- While I have touched a great deal upon strength training above, the key to a balanced program is that we train multiple qualities each session.

While I touch upon this further in "Anatomy of a Thirty Minute Session", our typical thirty minute work out consists of:

Warm up (Mobility + Activation work)- 10 minutes
Strength Training (Just like it sounds)- 10 minutes
Conditioning (Intervals or timed circuits)- 5-7 minutes
Stabilizer work (core and corrective exercise) 5 minutes

By breaking each portion of the session up in to time periods, we can ensure a very focused session. The key is to utilize equipment and movements which can be grouped together and stick to your stop watch.

Wrap up:

Now that we have touched on the basic framework of the system, here is some supportive material for our weekly reading:

1. The Joint by Joint approach to Training (this concept changed everything I believe in as a trainer. Read and re-read several times)
- Look over the joint by joint concept and consider what it means for training various parts of the body. Hint: certain parts should be trained not to move while other parts should be trained to remain stable.
- One important statement in this article is that whenever we find back, neck, shoulder or knee pain, we should assess the areas above and below to see if they are moving normally. How might this affect any pain or discomfort you are currently experiencing?
- Consider which joints are mobile and how this affects the way we stretch and strength train

2. Program Design for Dummies (Great article which breaks down the basic framework of strength training programs)-
Consider the current type of workout program. Is this a movement based or body part split?
What are the basic differences in training with machines versus free weights?
Consider the differences between bodypart training versus movement based training. Instead of working “biceps and back”, we categorize movements in to categories of movement such as pulling motions and pushing motions. How many

3. Anatomy of a thirty minute training session Part 1-3 (Aside from because I wrote it, this article explains our model in depth and gives you a basic idea of how to implement your program)-
- Put together a basic, five minute warm up for a client
- Utilizing the info in each article, put together a basic strength program for a client

Do you know Squat?

2010-08-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

After some recent uproar by several of my collegues over an article on why women should avoid squatting, reading their remarks reminded to me that every statement is subjective. While I agree with the points both Tony and Bret make in their defense of squatting, I think we must preface this trainer's statement with a slight revision "You shouldnt be squatting if your trainer doesnt know shit".

In my experience, far too many trainers are guilty of prescribing weighted squat variations-- such as back squats, front squat (or worse of all, machine squats)-- before teaching their client a simple bodyweight squat. The problem here is most of these trainers lack the ability squat properly themselves, let alone effectively coach this movement.

But this issue goes far beyond squatting. Step in to any commercial gym and you will likely witness a side show of dysfunctional benching, overweighted walking lunges and partial pullups aimed at quantity versus quality-- and multiple injuries waiting to happen.

While it is much easier to slap more weight on versus breaking bad habits first, it will be more difficult to coach a client in a wheel chair or back brace-- or at least one that develops knee and/or low back issues.

With this in mind, the golden rule is bodyweight before external resistance-- meaning we teach a push up before bench pressing and bodyweight squats and lunges before hitting the weights.

Simply getting brilliant at coaching basic movements lays the foundation for everything else ahead. And in my book, there are no more fundamental movements than the deadlift, the squat and the lunge.

Here are some basic coaching tips and videos on teaching progressions (click on name of exercise) for each:

1. Lunge

Common errors:

- Front foot wobbling to the right or left or coming forward on the toes
- Back foot turning outward versus being straight
- Front knee internally or externally rotating while descending
- The position of the hips shifting to the left or right.
- Pelvis arching excessively.
- Torso leaning forward excessively or inability to maintain balance

Form tips:
- Begin the exercise in a half kneeling position and to attempt to shoot straight up in to the ceiling position
- Perform exercise next to a wall or surface which allows for balance to get the feel of dropping straight down
- Sit back on front heel while keeping knee over toe
- Pause at top for 1-2 seconds

Coaching cues:
- Place one foot in front of the other as if standing on railroad tracks (a special thanks to Mike Robertson for this one)
- Pretend head is teathered to the ceiling to descend straight down
Torso tight and tall

2. Squat

What to look for:
- The pelvis shifting to one side or the other
- Hinging forward at the knees versus the hips while descending. This will cause the client to come forward on their toes
- The knees internally rotating while descending
- Excessive forward lean of the torso while descending
- The butt appearing to tuck under at a certain point

Form tips:
- Sit back in to a chair for several reps to get the idea of sitting back on the heels
- Slide hands down the knees while sticking the butt out to simulate a hip hinge
- Push knees out during descent while keeping feet straight
- Sit back on heels

Coaching cues:
- Sit back on the heels and stick the butt out
- Stick the butt out as if practicing a bad dance move
- Torso tight and tall

3. Deadlift

What to look for:
- Weight placed too far in front of the lifter
- Back and/or chest rounding during the descent
- Rising with the hip before the chest
- Failure to initiate abdominal brace when lifting
- Causing the head to drop by looking down at the weight

Form tips:
- Begin with sumo deadlifting with a dumbbell or kettle bell and progress to rack pulls as client learns the lift.
- Place weight right between the legs of the client to force them to sit back on their heels.
- Instuct the client to hold a dowel rod down the length of their back and keep their head and neck in contact with the rod at all times to avoid rounding
- Stare at spot about 15 degrees in front of you to keep from rounding the head
- Pause at the bottome and rest your position

Coaching cues:
Stick butt out as if practicing bad dance move
Sit back on the heels and keep chest up

Type A Training

2010-08-07T05:48:00.000-07:00

Is she a Type A?

As much as we prize our detailed oriented assessments and movement screens, undoubtedly the best evaluation with a new client is the initial conversation before hitting the gym floor.

With this in mind, I teach all of my trainers to learn as much detail as possible about the client's goals, occupation, background and interests-- as all these things have a bearing on program design.

Not only does this develop a rapport (or not so much) with the client, but we also learn the type of personality we are dealing with.

Generally these fall in to two catagories:

Type A- Aggressive, competitive, difficult to instruct

Type B- Submissive, cooperative, easy to instruct

I can usually spot these right away by their background, lifestyle and description of their goals.

Type Bs usually tend to be individuals such as parents, teachers, programmers and even mailmen (provided they are not carrying a weapon of some kind) who are used to cooperating with others.

They are usually easy to direct and take to heart the lessons we attempt to impart on issues such as off-day recovery, energy system work and proper nutrition.

On the other hand, we also frequently see type A personalities who are just the opposite.

Consisting of business owners or leaders in their fields, these individuals are used to calling the shots and do not take kindly to being directed. These individuals are after immediate results and possess the "bang it out" mentality to undermine even the most well constructed program.

Frequently late and glued to their blackberries, Type As can be seen as the fitness equivalent of adult delinquents.

But while we almost never see Type A's stick with training for long, it is possible to get through if (and this is a big if) you can get them to recognize the value in what we do.

Working your plan:

Because these individuals often take direction poorly, the key to doing so is creating situations in which they are forced to slow them down and "feel" the value of exercises, stretches and proper direction.

In my recent article on Thirty Minute Training sessions, I detailed the manner in which we utilize timed circuits to keep early morning clients time efficient. This involves performing three exercises (push, pull and legs) back to back for a period of 8-12 minutes.

Though this technique is intended to allow us to coach time strapped clients as they move through the circuit, THIS WILL NOT WORK WITH TYPE As (I cant stress this strongly enough)

You will quickly find Type As moving like a bat out of hell with no attention to form. If you look away for a second, you may find them talking on their cell phone or doing biceps in the corner. The point is they quickly lose interest in anything over 45-60 seconds.

In fact, the only format I have found to be truly effective with this type of client is interval training. To combat a short attention span, we simply condense a ten minute timed circuit in to a series of 30-45 second intervals.

This approach allows us to coach the client and correct their form without fear of going off the rails.

Here is an example of a program designed for a Type A:

Dynamic warm up/Power (6 min):

A- Wall slide
B- Squat to stand
C- Inchworm
D- Split squat (static hold each side)
E- Lateral squat
F- Tall twist
G- MB slam
H- Power skips

* 30 seconds for each exercise. Perform in circuit fashion once.

Corrective exercise (4-5 min):

A- Stability ball rollout
B- Stability ball bridge
C- Stability Ball Ys
* 30 seconds per exercise. Performed in circuit fashion 2-3 times.

Strength Training (10 min):

Push- Single leg push up
Legs- Step up
Pull- X-pulldown
*30 seconds per station. Perform back to back in circuit fashion three times.

Conditioning (5 min):

Upper- Rope slams
Lower- MB sprint
* 20 seconds on/10 seconds off. Exercises performed back to back 2-3 times.

Flexibility (2 minutes):

Split squat EQI
Push up EQI
* 30-60 seconds for each position.

Session notes and considerations:

This guy better be a type A!

The first thing many will notice is that our session is broken up in to multiple smaller segments.

Ironically, the format above is modeled after the TPI cyclone created to impart fundamental skills to children 8-12! Much like younger children, type A clients possess a limited attention span and keeping each section in 5-10 minute segments allows us to keep them engaged and paying attention.

As our first concern with any client, injury prevention and corrective exercise are placed first in the session. While the client may prefer to go straight in to burpees, a proper warm up and corrective exercise will leave them winded and feeling better after a long day spent seated.

In this model, we pair relatively exerting workout segments (warm up, conditioning) directly before slower portions (corrective exercise and flexibility). This also allows us to remove pent up energy and slow the client down a bit for coaching. The key here is to speak up and correct the individual as you would any other client-- just keep in mind you have exactly 30-45 seconds to do so!

For conditioning and flexibility, make sure to eliminate all distractions by having water on hand and cell phone strategically out of view. By the end of the workout, the goal is to leave the client thoroughly engaged and in better shape than when they arrived. If you have achieved your goal, they will let you know!

Through the looking glass:

In order to successfully get through to your client, we must keep our instructions short and sweet. Here is an example:

1. Perform a 90 second hip flexor stretch twice per day
2. Eat 5 meals per day

Notice these instructions are crystal clear and leave no room for misunderstanding. In the beginning, I have found one of the more effective strategies for adherence is to simply ask them (or challenge) them to give you their word they will take your two suggestions for thirty days.

Though it may be difficult to get through initially, the client will undergo a complete conversion—going to lengths to adopt your every suggestion—if they see results.

Once this occurs, prepare yourself to be flooded with clients, opportunities (and possibly fame and fortune if you happen to train Oprah)

My question for readers what are some of the strategies for dealing with high maintenance clients? How many Type As have you train effectively at once? Feel free to share frustration stories below.

Getting Consistent

2010-08-07T05:17:00.001-07:00

Between many hours of working with clients, marketing our gym for fall and weekends of filled with program design and excel spreadsheets, I have somehow managed to begin contributing to a handful of new web sites without the ability to maintain my own blog.

While much of this can be put down to procrastination, I must also admit that it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the quality of information available from my fellow coaches and trainers. I mean what would I have to contribute by comparison?

The answer is what I have learn on a daily basis from coaches/authors such as Bret Contreas, Mike Robertson, Mark Young and Eric Cressey who all address related subjects with their unique thought process and experience. Though I may never know everything about the shoulder, glutes or reading journal articles, it is the thought process and practical applications developed from this amazing information which others want to read.

With this in mind, I can think all of the great coaches and authors I am currently learning from for improving the quality of many lives in my gym. As the owner of a busy personal training studio, I suppose my main contribution is finding ways to make this information applicable to both teaching clients and training my staff.

In my article on Four Things which a Personal Trainer Should Do (call me anal, but I have to capitalize my own stuff!), I talked a bit about the things which separate trainers from coaches and one of the major themes is evidenced based practice. In short, most trainers I know work from their personal experience in gyms and fitness while coaches are guided by science and research.

While I train an assortment of weekend warriors, high school athletes and baby boomers, I view myself as a coach to each one and utilize the same information being applied in top colleges and strength and conditioning facilities around the country. The only difference is that I am usually given roughly 30-50 minutes twice per week to do so!

So for all fitness professionals with questions about how to fit a full session in to thirty minutes, applying the FMS to every day clients and getting our clients to actually take this stuff outside of the gym-- this blog is for you!

In closing, here are a few random facts about myself you may want to know:

Name: Chris Kelly

Experience: Owner of Peak Fitness, Lakeland FL

Top Five Books: "Advances in Functional Training", "Starting Strength", "Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Disorders", "Blink", "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"

Currently reading: Gray Cook's Movement

Other fun facts:
- I became a trainer after rehabbing my ACL with my college strength program. I fell in love with the systematic progress of rebuilding the body from the ground up.
- I still get goose bumps when going to work.
- I became a fitness professional after several years of sitting in a cubicle in NYC.

Macro versus micro level thinking

2010-07-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

Feelin brain dead?

After a long day of program design and template creation, I will be the first to admit I cant write a workout to save my life. But after hours of staring at spreadsheets and inputting numbers, it is no wonder I cant distinguish a push press from a push up.

In order to ramp up my efficiency, I have found much more success with devoting one day to writing templates and formats another to actually programming exercises

The above is an example of one of the most valuable pieces of insight I have come across from numerous fitness coaches recently: the concept of batching. For those unfamiliar with this concept, batching involves choosing an item on your to do list and completing everything involved with this item before moving on the next.

Much like warming up for a workout, I find that I always produce my best work after several hours of thoroughly covering one issue. Whether this means writing fitness programs or doing my laundry (which luckily takes all of ten minutes), this concept of simply doing one thing at a time is flys in the face of the American mantra of quantity versus quality.

While it can be easy to get overloaded when we see a thousand things on our "to do lists", what I found to be helpful is to assign these items in to categories which can be executed step by step.

An example may look something like this:

Fitness:
1. Weekly workout templates
2. Client weigh-in day
3. Trainer continuing education

Marketing:
1. Pass out flyers
2. Send letters to old clients
3. Daily blog post (thought this evidently hasnt been very high on my list)

In my experience, keeping the list to three things which are associated with one another in some way helps things to flow without forcing my mind to shift gears. By limiting each category to three topics per day, I am forced to prioritize what must be done that day without over kill.

On a weekly basis, I will put together a larger to do list and simply assign the three most urgent items for each day until reaching the end. Though this is always a work in progress, I have found this methods to be useful in conserving my much needed brainpower during a long day.

The Aftermath of Illness

2010-06-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

When it comes to proper recovery, one lesson I think most good strength coaches and trainers advise their clients to take time off to recover from illness.

But while this may only result in 2-3 missed workouts, one thing many of us do not consider are the lingering effects that even a mild cold or infection can cause on posture and performance.

Much like recovery from acute physical injury, inflammation is the first response of the immune system to disease.

The inflammatory response (inflammation) occurs when tissues are injured by bacteria and results in a swelling and swelling around the area which is affected. This often results in substitution patterns by synergists which are supposed to last until the infection is eradicated.

The problems arise when these substitute patterns and synergists continue to dominate even after a full recovery.

When we are talking about areas such as the throat, chest, nose or even ears, we often see after sinus and respiratory infections is a pattern of chest or shallow breathing take hold in the presence of prolonged nasal congestion.

For clients restricted to bed rest or a reduction in activity, changes in muscle length or restrictions in immobilized areas of the body are also quite common.

In the book Anatomy Trains, author Thomas Myers describes the web of fascia when encases our muscles like seran rap from head to toe. This fascial web constricts or relaxes in reaction to daily movement and any change in daily activity-- from a stubbed toe to an immbolized limb-- can create changes in movement throughout the body.

Some examples include restricted dorsiflexion from propping the feet up on a stool or under the covers and forward head posture with sinus headaches. While many issues will usually resolve themselves, I view the implication of illness in the same light as an injury may affect the kinetic chain.

With this in mind, pay particular attention to the areas and joints directly above and below the site of infection.

Because illness and physical injuries often share the same pathological outcomes, it is crucial to play the detective after a layoff from illness.

With this in mind, some questions to ask your client include:
- A general description of their symptoms
- The length of time they have felt out of the norm
- Whether they can currently breath through your nose
- Whether they have or are still experiencing headaches

Some items to screen for include:

- Breathing patterns
- Postural restrictions in immobilized extremities (feet, legs, torso)
- Balance

Any one of the above questions or tests can be an important tool in assessing your client’s recovery and letting us know what you can do to help fortify the body against future injury or infection.

But my question for readers is: do you notice postural changes associated with common afflictions such the cold or flu? Is performance really affected by illness?

Hit me up with your thoughts.

A Thoughtful Approach to Metabolic Conditioning- Part 1

2010-05-31T05:34:00.000-07:00

In the quest for fatloss, one training method which has become increasingly popular of late is metabolic conditioning.

While this type of training is utilized to describe everything from Crossfit (enough said about that) to circuit training, the best definition I have come across is “training which stressed multiple energy systems through a combination of strength, power and cardiovascular endurance training”

In laymen’s speak, this means timed circuits or intervals consisting of bodyweight or strength training exercises performed at high intensity.

An example may look something like this:

Push ups- 8 reps
Jump squats- 8 reps
Pull ups- 8 reps
30 yd sprint
• Perform this circuit as many times as possible in eight minutes

This method is great for fatloss, but it is also powerful medicine for clients unfamiliar with intense training and must be taken in doses.

While anyone can throw together a circuit, far more important is the ability to scale conditioning for various populations.

At Peak Fitness, we have found the easiest method of doing so is duration. With most new and healthy clients, this begins in our first workout assessment is our “work capacity” test.

This test consists of a simple six minute timed circuit designed to test the client’s ability to perform vigorous work. Assumig we are not dealing with any orthopedic issues, the circuit consists of:

- Push presses- 8 reps
- Step ups- 8 reps
- Inverted rows- 8 reps
- Burpees- 2 reps

The client is instructed to perform as many rounds as possible in six minutes. Some things we observe in this assessment include:

- visual indicators such as the client’s expression, level of fatigue, and how many times they stop to get water
- Rounds completed

After this assessment, we now have an idea of where to begin on our metabolic totem pole. While I will delve further in to program design for this type of training in later posts, our scaling looks something like this:

L1 Client- 8-10 minutes
L2 Client- 12-15 minutes
L3- Client- 15-22 minutes
L4- Client- 22-30 minutes

In order to monitor clients, we will re-test every thirty days with a clearing exam for each level.

While we never go beyond a thirty minute workout with this type of training, reaching this level of conditioning is an amazing feat and really builds a sense of accomplishment amongst our troops.

Join me for my next post in which I talk about the similarities and differences in programming for Metcons versus strength training and how to successfully blend both for optimal body comp change.

Conversations Overheard in a Commercial Gym- Steroids you say?

2010-05-31T05:23:00.000-07:00

Show me a man that resorts to taking steroids and I will show you a man that has run out of ideas.

While this has always been my take on steroids in conversations with athletes and fitness enthusiasts seeking that extra edge in performance, today this conversation hit an all time low.

Rewarded by my decision to hit a commercial gym for the first time in over a year, I was prvy this gym of conversation around the squat rack:

Young Musclehead: I am mid-way thru my latest cycle and I am getting jacked!

Old Musclehead: Yea, so where are you seeing it most?

Young Musclehead: All over, but my lifts are going way up. Check this out!!

At this point, I expected a feat of super human strength as this kid loads the bar with several hundred pounds.

But instead of banging out a few knarly back squats, he proceeds to calf raise what looked like 400-500lbs for reps. Needless to say, at least they were space efficient as the entire routine took place in the squat rack:

1. Calf raises

2. Barbell curls

3. Overhead military press

4. Partial pull-ups- Because they were too tall to actually perform a pull up in the rack, they would just pull their chin over the bar from standing.

During rest periods, these two employed what looked like post-fatigue flexing during their rest periods and ended their workout with a mile run on the treadmill.

Now, I will not weigh in on the decision to use steroids as I believe this is a personal choice, but what I have described above is typical of most guys that use steroids. This is a condition far more dangerous than steroids—being a fucking moron.

With over a million people under the age of thirty using steroids, bodypart splits, the need for a quick fix and general seem to pre-dominate the gym.

In most cases (certainly judging by these clowns), the best strategy is to step back from a bodypart based split and concentrate of full body workouts and multi-joint movements kill the cardio and bicep curls and eat like a mad man.

So my advice to anyone outside the world of professional bodybuild or athletics would officially be instead of spending your hard earned salary from circle K on a cycle of roids, invest your money in time in some simple training resources and master the basics of lifting.

Some of my favorites include:

1.Starting Strength

2. Practical Program Design for Strength Training

Until then, thanks for helping me to vent =)

Monday morning musing- Training productivity

2010-05-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

In speaking with other personal trainers, many agree that a major part of this job is to act as a motivator and personal coach for the problems confronting our clients. And while I am certainly no psychologist, one thing I have learned about motivation is that these things occur in spurts.

Around the turn of the year, we experience a surge of new clients who are exercise fanatics, but by Spring time are so immersed in personal work that they cannot be bothered leaving the computer—let alone getting the gym! But by summer time, they are burned out and return to working out to regain your lost glory—only for this cycle to repeat itself again and again.

In the gym, waiting too long between sets or sticking with a particular circuit for too long creates a void which ultimately kills the workout, while unbroken conversations over ninety seconds seem to last a decade.

But while all of these things are personal observations, science tells us that the general attention span of a fully developed human is only around 10-12 minutes and continuous attention span, or the amount of time a human can focus on an object without any lapse, may be as short as 8 seconds!

With this information in mind, the question is what can we do to be most productive? The answer—at least in terms of fitness-- is improving the ability to cram as much as possible in to a set amount of time.

Known as work capacity, this is a quality we focus on heavily through interval training and timed circuits. But it is my belief this same spirit can also be applied to your daily routine through a few simple steps:

1. Write it all down- One of the biggest hassles at the beginning of a busy day is deciding what is most important. This can be alleviated by simply writing down daily tasks in order of importance. By putting immediate issues at the top of your list, you can keep less time sensitive issues in a “secondary” list which is checked off throughout the week.

2. Mark your calendar- Once you have your list, the next step is to map out your day with google calendar or other planners which list hours throughout the day. By viewing your day as a whole, you can allocate time to specific objectives between meetings and appointments. I find this aids in remaining geared to a specific project versus random multi-tasking.

3. Pencil in your workout- In this same spirit, knowing exactly how long your workout will last helps to keeps your focus on intensity. Rather than fixating on sets and reps, this is done by simply allocating periods of time to specific tasks. For example, choose three warm up stretches or strength exercises and perform 10 reps of each until the clock has hit a certain number of minutes. The goal behind this strategy is to fit work in to the same amount of time and is a great technique for fatloss and improved body composition.

4. Go beyond the gym- In daily life, this same strategy can be applied to things which normally bog us down—think cleaning, miscellaneous office work, etc. The idea is to set a timer for 5-10 minutes and do as much of this choir as you can during that time. By concentrating solely on this choir, you will gradually build tolerance and improve your “work capacity” for concentration in any task.

The Best Strategy for a Flat Stomach

2010-05-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about training early morning clients (aside from the waking up part) is the deep philosophical conversation and thought provoking questions which challenge the limits of my still drowsy mind.

In addition to the usual "how many reps again?" and "what time is it?", one of the newer questions I been asked latley is "how is it possible to have a ripped stomach and still have a gut?" This question is usually followed by the inevitable "what is the best exercise for a flat stomach"?

While I think all of us have advised our clients that training the backside of the body (do more pulls than pushes) is a good strategy to improve posture and compliment abdominal training, one thing many fail to consider is that all muscles are not created equal. For example, a major exception to this rule are the Lattismus Dorsi muscle.

The most superficial of all back muscles, the lats have a broad attachment to both the thoracic and lumbar spine, all the lumbar spinous processes and the illiac crest. In plain English, this means that the lats are attached to the pelvis and have the potential to create anterior tilt of this area when contracted.

In the case of your abs, tight and/or overactive lats means an increased lordosis or arching of the back which gives the appearance of a gut. This effect is sometimes seen in bodybuilders with ripped abs but ridiculous protruding stomachs.

While I will get in to specifics in future posts, it is important to consider that because most exercises such as pulldowns, chins, rows and pullovers recruit the lats as the prime mover, these exercises could also be contributing indirectly to a protruding stomach.

With this in mind, stretching the muscles which cause this anterior tilting of the pelvis is undoubtedly the most effective strategy for achieving a flat stomach. Thes include:

1. The Lats
2. Hip flexors (Psoas/quads)
3. TFL

4. Adductors

Only once these areas are free and mobile can we begin to most effectively strengthen the abs without fear of worsening this protruding stomach effect.

So which exercises are best for each area of the sixpack? Check out my article on Fitnessmash next week for our new core training secret weapon. In the meantime, I also invite you to check out an excellent article by Bret Contreas on the best exercises to activate various areas of the abs and try to stretch this weekend!

Becoming information efficient

2010-05-21T02:34:00.000-07:00

One of the most important statements I have heard uttered in my career as a fitness professional is that you can begin to emerge as an expert in any field within a year of studying your craft for one hour per day (or something along those lines)

Through the emphasis on education by experts such as Boyle and Cosgrove, the quantity of information for both strength coaches and personal trainers has greatly improved over the last few years (to the point that I am regularly asked questions such as which “dynamic warm ups” is best for the pec deck machine versus the leg press)

Now, reviewing the statement above, one thing that has become clear to me is that the fine line between a good and a great professional in any field is not only acquiring information, but understanding it’s relevance and applying it to your given task.

In the field of fitness, this means ideas and information that somehow improve the quality of daily practice. For example, a dissertation on the biomechanics of the foot and ankle may be essential in helping a physical therapist in their daily work rehabbing runners and athletes, but bear little relevance to a dynamic warm up for the leg press (that was a joke BTW)

My point is that analyzing the task or population at hand and evaluating what information is necessary to grow your service or system is a refined skill in itself. This is why the writings of strength coaches such as Eric Cressey, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson are required reading for my trainers. These are the “meat and potatoes” guys of strength and conditioning.

The density of applicable information in their work is fantastic and readily applicable to what we do on a daily basis. By the same token, I would like to present a few simple steps I have developed to better refine the delivery and application of my information:

1. Consideration

When considering subject matter to study, I look at the population I deal with and/or current projects I am working on and pinpoint the subject, information and applicable skills I will require to achieve success. For example, because I feel a need to improve the ability of my client’s to actively brace their abdominals in standing, I have sought physical therapy rehabilitation text on rehabbing the lumbar spine.

In addition, I am also studying the work of PT Gary Gray, whose work with standing abdominal training may be useful to constructing more efficient abdominal circuits.

2. Cataloging:

As I review this information, I will catalog relevant bits of data and ideas in to a “practical applications” section of my notes. This allows me to go back later and piece together my methodology and how I will apply this info (think of this

as Cliff’s notes to review later).

3. Categorizing:

After determining how I will apply this information, I will categorize the web resources in the “bookmarks” section of my web browser under titles such as “sports performance” “vertical core training” etc. I take this same approach with an ever expanding list of daily blogs I study. For this task, I highly recommend “Google Reader”. This resource allows you to tag and access specific blogs and websites when new info is published.

If I need inspiration in strength and conditioning, I will head over to Mike Boyle’s blog. If I feel like learning about the glutes, I now have Bret Contreas. Eric Cressey has taught me more about the shoulder than I will ever remember all via the archives available on his daily blogging site.

While books are still king in improving what I do, this daily flow of information helps me to truly become a little better every day by simplifying what I do. As I hope this blog entry will do for readers!

Monday morning ramble- Workout with a hangover?

2010-05-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

One phrase I have sometimes heard to describe a drinking problem is the when you are unable to complete daily activities after a night of drinking, then you may have a problem.

This is why, despite a terrible hangover from celebrating a friend's wedding on Saturday night, I was hell bent on maintaining my training schedule.

Unfortunately, Sunday was a lower body day and after not drinking for several years, I still knew alcohol and several sets of heavy deadlifting do not mesh very well.

Feeling the pounding my heart and my splitting headache as I rose from bed on Sunday morning, it was quite apparent to me that my workout would not be done by conventional means. Instead of performing my workout in one sitting my solution was to break up my strength training over several hours.

Conventional workout:

A-1- 1 leg SLDL- 3 x 6

A-2- X-band walks- 3 x 20

B-1- Walking lunge- 3 x 6

B-2- Weighted glute bridge- 3 x 15-20

Hangover modification:

AM Workout:

8 AM- A1 + A2- 1 X 8-10

9 AM- A1+A2- 1 X 8-10

10 AM- A1+A2- 1 X 8-10

11 AM- A1+A2- 1 X 8-10

PM Workout:

4 PM- B1 + B2- 1 X 8-10

5 PM- B1+B2- 1 X 8-10

6 PM- B1+B2- 1 X 8-10

7 PM- B1+B2- 1 X 8-10

Workout notes:

By adding additional volume to my usual routine, I was able to utilize lighter weight while still providing sufficient stimulus for growth
Because circuit B is generally more stressful, I saved these exercises for later in the day when I had eaten and recovered addition strength.
Instead of hitting the gym, I held a pair of 45lbs plates to my side I had in storage at my house. This gave my grip a great workout and was a change of pace from my use of a barbell during this phase. For those unable to make it to the gym after a long night, this same approach could be used with duffel bags, backpacks or other bags or objects.
While I do not recommend pumping iron after a night of cocktails (gin in my case), I found this approach to be the ideal way to still get a workout in without overtaxing the body.
With all that said however, this will probably be my last bout of drinking for a while!

Do you have 30 seconds to devote to your health?

2010-04-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

As a specialist in 30 minute training session, one challange I face my morning clients is stressing the need to stop and do for yourself.

While clients which come mid-day and after work have far more time to perform pre and post workout flexibity, core and cardiovascular exercise, this busy group of people only allow this 30 minutes (no more or less) to devote to themselves daily.

This means that if I am going to prescribe anything outside of the gym, it better be short, sweet and effective. With this mind, I challange you to do one stretch, corrective exercise or activity for yourself on a daily basis.

For the majority of us that sit on a daily basis, my number one recommendation would be the box hip flexor stretch:

- Place your back foot in a step or bench and lean forward until a stretch is felt for 30-60 seconds. Repeat 2-3 times per day

- For anyone with lower body tightness and/or back pain, this is a cureall stretch which really lengthens the quads, hip flexors and TFL.

- Do you have 30 seconds to devote to your health?

Intelligent Abdominal Training

2010-04-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

In the quest for a firm mid-section, the typical routine I come across involves plenty of crunches, twisting motions and perhaps a couple plank holds thrown in if time allows.

But while these may work (although not very well) for the muscles of the twenty five year old fitness model demonstrating in shape, the fact is this sort of shotgun approach is perhaps the biggest error I come across in core training.

While most of us benefit from universal exercises such as squats, push ups and bodyweight strength training, core training is one part of a fitness program that require individualization based upon needs and lifestyle.

Explore your core:

For me, the true “AH-HA” moment in appreciating this difference came when studying a diagram of the fibers of the abdominal wall.

Paying particular attention to the direction of the muscle fibers above (those red lines which run across the stomach), we have the rectus abdominus which runs straight up and down the stomach, the oblique’s which run at a diagonal and the transverse abdominus which actually runs side to side.

The other factor we must take in to consideration when designing exercises is where on the trunk these muscles are actually located.

While this may seem fairly straight forward, this simple drawing provides a wealth of information on how to best prescribe core exercises. For example, the rectus is best targeted by exercises which involve forward flexion such as sit ups and leg lifts. Going further, crunches involve flexing the torso to the pelvis and target the upper portion of this muscle while leg lifts target the lower abdominals.

On the side, exercises which involve diagonal patterns of movements—such as high to low chopping with a band-- best target these muscles while side to side or circular motions best recruit the transverse abdominus.

From the perspective of anatomy, one training solution may be to prescribe exercises which simply train each direction:

- Leg lifts- Lower abs
- Crunches- Upper abs
- High to low woodchops- Obliques
- Standing stability ball twists- Transverse abdominus

But while this program may look OK on paper, the reality is it involves four highly stressful movements which cause the lumbar spine to bend, twist and flex. Because this area also takes a battering in daily life, performing such as a program repeatedly would be like bending a credit card several thousand. timesIt may withstand the force initially, but eventually it becomes worn and will inevitably snap in half.

On the other side of the training spectrum, we have planks, side planks and exercises which train the abs to resist the type of movement described above. Much like a weight belt, these “stability” exercises train the abs to stabilize the spine against excess motion. Because these exercises involve little to no movement of the extremities, they are an ideal way to train the abs with reduced stress on the spine.

While many coaches have moved exclusively in the direction of prescribing stability exercises only, I still feel that movement based or “strength” exercises are necessary to fully develop the stomach.

With that said, my solution to an effective core training program is to include a movement based exercise which targets a specific part of the stomach along with several stability exercises to induce fatigue necessary for development.

But the question then becomes, which exercises to choose? This is where things become interesting.

Individualizing your program:

Now that we have established how programs are created, the next step is to take a look in the mirror. While good posture is characterized by symmetry, almost all poor posture involves a deviation of the pelvis. Because the job of the abdominals is to counter excessive tilting of the pelvis, most postural issues involve weakness in some part of the stomach.

Taking an example from above, this individual with Kyphosis posture appears to be stuck in an ab crunch (a precarious position indeed!)

While strengthening the abdominals will improve posture and tone in each situation above, a few thousand crunches in Kyphotic posture (which involves flexing the already crunched in area of the stomach) could really jack up your spine.

In most cases, choosing the right exercises to optimize pelvic position leads to improved tone in all areas of the stomach. With this in mind, included below are three common examples of poor posture and corrective abdominal exercises.

In order to build a base of both stability and strength, we will include one movement based exercise, followed by two exercises which involve stabilizing the trunk. Performed in a fatigued state, these exercises will force each area of the abdominals to work harder to stabilize the trunk.

Some tips for each exercise include:
- Keeping the stomach muscles tight and tensed for all exercises.
- For core stability exercises, attempt to keep the back as flat as possible without excessive arching or dipping.
- For those with lordotic posture (arching of the back), pressing the back in to the floor during movement based exercises will engage the abdominals. While some experts do not advocate a posterior pelvic tilt, I feel it is necessary in the case of excess anterior tilt. Those with sway or flatback posture, do not utilize this technique!

1. Swayback Posture:

This type of posture is characterized by a forward displacement of the hips. If you were to draw a vertical line upwards from the front of the ankle bones, the hips will be in front of this line. The Upper Back is displaced backwards to counter balance the forward position of the hips.

Commonly someone with this type of posture will have poorly defined gluteal (backside) muscles. This type of posture is common in both men and women.

Muscles to stretch: Hamstrings
Muscles to strengthen: Hip Flexors, External Obliques, Upper Back muscles and Front Neck muscles
Exercises to avoid: Crunching of the upper trunk, twisting motions, side bends
Exercises to prioritize: Leg raising/lowering (abs/hip flexors)

Sample circuit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfEhsX7vXIg
Active straight leg raise- 3 x 8
Plank w/knee tuck- 3 x 8
Side plank- 3 x 20 sec
- Perform exercises back to back with minimal rest. Perform three circuits in total with 60-90 seconds rest between each

2. Lordoitic posture

Lordotic Posture or Lordosis is the medical term for an increased forward curve of the lower back. This posture is most common in men that lift weights and women that wear heels. It is characterized by weak abdominals, glutes and hamstrings along with overactive/tight hip flexors and lower back muscles.

Muscles to stretch: Hip flexors, quads
Muscles to strengthen: Rectus abdominus, glutes
Exercises to avoid: Crunching of the upper trunk (always), leg lowering exercises (hip flexors)
Exercises to prioritize: Rollouts and straight leg sit ups (exercises which train full rectus abdominus)

Sample circuit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccsTLS20ajo
Straight leg sit up- 3 x 8
Stability ball rollout- 3 x 8
Side plank- 3 x 20 sec
Perform exercises back to back with minimal rest. Perform three circuits in total with 60-90 seconds rest between each

3. Kyphotic/lordotic posture:

Perhaps the grand-daddy of all bad posture, both the upper and lower back are flexed and arched excessively. Often seen in women, in my experience this posture often involves a transition between heel walking followed by several hours of peering over a computer.

Because the external/internal obliques (side abs) act to tilt the pelvis backwards (thus correcting the excessive back arching), we will prioritize these muscles in our circuit below.

Muscles to stretch: Hip flexors, back of neck
Muscles to strengthen: Front Neck muscles, the Upper Back muscles, External Obliques and Hamstrings
Exercises to avoid: Crunching (always), leg lowering exercises (hip flexors),
Exercises to prioritize: Diagonal movements (external obliques)

Sample circuit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWgKOYaEYTs
- High to low chopping- 3 x 8
- Diagonal/forward plank walks- 3 x 8
- Side plank hold- 3 x 8

Putting it all together:

As exhibited above, developing a flat and well defined stomach is far more than merely working the abs. But by following an all encompassing approach which involves stretching and strengthening the right muscles, it is absolutely possible to systematically tone hard to hit areas of the stomach.

Join me next week as I explore the backside of the core (butt) and how single leg training is the key to lifting your butt to the moon (or at least to where it used to be)

What I look for in a client

2010-04-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

When it comes to training clients, a big part of my job in is to fit as much quality work in to a thirty minute training session as possible.

But while I am constantly refining my approach, I sometimes come across words and ideas which challenge me to stop and consider.

One such phrase came to me during a fitness presentation several years ago on the importance good customer service:

"Noone cares how much you know until they know how much you care"

Spoken by a top professional in my industry, this phrase crosses my mind every time I find myself beginning to rush a client through an exercise or fall behind in the order of the session.

Though I will always be concerned with getting in everything that has been planned for that day, most important to me now is that the client has a fun and enjoyable experience-even if they curse my name a few times before leaving!

On the flip side of the equation, I derive great pleasure from watching clients show up to stretch early, improve their form in certain exercises and show me their nutrition logs.

In short, this shows me you care and makes me want to work harder to give you amazing service. Unfortunately due to both schedule and life, this is not always the case.

While many articles have been written about what to look for in a personal trainer, I thought it would be useful to touch upon the things which I really value from clients and what you can do in any situation to get the most out of your trainer.

1. Showing up 10-15 minutes early for a session

Because we deal mainly with thirty minute training sessions, every moment is structured to allow for maximum efficiency. For a client training for fatloss, a typical workout looks something like this:

- Warm up- 5 min
- Strength training- 10 minutes
- Metabolic training- 10-15 minutes
- Corrective/core exercise- 5 minutes

One of my first practices with new clients is to issue and review a pre-workout stretching and foam rolling routine to prepare the body for the day's work. Showing up to perform this routine early immediately adds at least 7-10 minutes to actual exercise time during our session.

But for those arriving 10-15 minutes late-which is sometimes the case with busy clients-the workout begins to look more like this:

- Warm up- 5 minutes
- Strength training- 5 minutes
- Metabolic training- 10 minutes

This puts pressure on both the client and the trainer and shows me a lack of respect for the task at hand.

2. Communicating with your trainer

Relating very closely to point one, trust and communication between trainer and client is essential for success in and out of the gym.

One thing I often see with new clients is a tendency to keep quiet during an exercise when their expression indicates they may be experiencing pain or discomfort.

From day one, it is important to realize that the main role of your trainer during the workout is to provide the most enjoyable, pain free and well coached experience possible.

This can only be the case however when you communicate issues and information related to your situation. While this doesn't mean inviting your trainer over for dinner with the family, it does mean that they need to know anything which may affect your workout or time schedule.

These topics include:

· Exercises that cause pain and discomfort
· Scheduling issues
· Old or current injuries and/or limitations that nay affect your training
· Days when you are feeling tired, sick or not up to the normal routine. We will always have an alternative

· Specific goals (dress sizes lost, weight totals, event dates, etc)
· Praise for exercises and workouts you enjoy and suggestions on alternatives for those you do not

Knowing all of these things help me do my job better and construct a program which is more specific to your needs.

Join us for our next two tips as we take a look inside the Peak Fitness culture and best practices for keeping your trainer working hard for you!

Are you really building your body?

2010-04-03T04:36:00.000-07:00

When it comes to personal training or group fitness classes, the assumption is that every session is an investment in self improvement.

Whether this means improved speed and agility, improved muscle tone or simply looking better in a certain outfit, every exercise, rep and set should somehow bring you closer to your goal.

Some of the question I ask myself when putting together each program is:
- How does this exercise or sequence fit in to the clients specific goal?
- How can this workout be progressed from month to month?
- What is the risk to benefit ration of each exercise?
- How can this workout be progressed from month to month?

Unfortunatley what I see far too often are workouts and exercises which vary from pointless and repetitive to ridiculous and dangerous.

While a fitness program can be done a thousand ways, there are certain ingredients which are necessary to achieve physical change (assuming your goal is fatloss).-- And then there are things which have no purpose, but seem to be included anyway.

With this in mind, this article will touch on both the good and the bad and what to look for in your next workout with your trainer/bootcamp:

1. Poor exercise order:

One of the first things I look at when judging a fitness program is how the exercises are sequenced. When it comes to fatloss, this order generally begins with the most stressful and demanding exercises (think full body and/or heavier strength training) followed interval or metabolic circuits which involve bodyweight or lighter weights.

Because exercises such as bicep curls and tricep extensions only work small muscle groups, they can be finished off quickly and more effectively at the end of a workout involving full body exercises.

Conversely, performing these exercises in the beginning would impact the ability of the arms and legs to squat, push and pull in lifts which have a greater carry over to your physique.

2. Poor Risk to benefit ratio:

While bicep curls in a workout are annoying enough, rarely do they involve hurting anyone. The same cannot be said for the following:

- Repetitive jumping, overhead pressing
- Barbell squatting or deadlifting extremely heavy weight (think weight exceeding that of your body)
- Pulled heavy weight with a rounded back
- Olympic lifting in populations over the age of 30
- Long distance running (2+ miles) during a session.

And the list goes on and on. Contrary to popular belief, your back, knees, shoulders, wrists, etc should NOT hurt after each session.

A high injury rate in any personal training or group exercise setting is a direct reflection of the exercises selection—and faulty judgment by the trainer.

3. Not including corrective work in each session:

The purpose of strength/metabolic training is to create a metabolic disturbance sufficient to require physical adaption and change. In lamens terms, this means your muscles are likely to get at least somewhat sore in the process of getting fit.

With this in mind, a crucial element of any fitness program is pre-workout stretching and mobility work along with corrective exercise.

In our case, our athletes/clients are issued a pre-workout routine and asked to arrive 10-15 minutes ahead of time to prepare themselves via stretching and foam rolling.

Because most of us are desk bound during the day (like myself as I write this article), we also include some basic corrective work at the end of each session to keep the stabilizer muscles of the hips, upper back and core healthy and active.

4. Not de-loading every 3-4 weeks:

While some injuries can occur from acute trauma such as lifting heavy weight or twisting the knee, the most likely cause of pain and long term trauma is chronic overuse.

For example, if your knees begin hurting after several weeks of working out, this is the body’s way of telling you to take it easy for a bit.

The reason this is important is a concept known as super composition—which states that the body will undergo a short decrease in performance following an intense workout.

During this time, it requires rest and recovery to rebuild a stronger (or leaner) version of the muscles you broke down. This also explains why figure competitors and elite athletes stop training all together anywhere from 1-2 weeks before their event.

In a personal training or bootcamp setting, this is done by setting up weeks which are more intense followed by recovery weeks involving more mobility, single leg and core training.

Strength Training- Prisoner style!

2010-03-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

One thing I was always been taught growing up is that we can learn something from individuals from all walks of life and as a personal trainer, this has certainly been the case.

I can honestly say I have likely seen and dealt with every physical and psychological condition known to man, but one of the most interesting lately came to me in the form of a client training for a particularly important purpose.

Facing a year of jail time after a felony for petty theft, this individual came to me with one goal: get as strong and fast as possible to avoid dropping the soap!

Because space (or free weights) is not exactly at a premium in a 8 by 10 cell, the routine I designed for him was based purely upon bodyweight to get him as strong and agile as possible to avoid becoming jail bait.

Based upon the push up, squat, split squat and chin up, this routine combined these traditional exercises with plyometric jumping and isometric holds to increase the force placed upon the muscles themselves.

In order to extend time under tension, we also involved complexing—which means performing several push up variations together—and came away with a program which looked something like this:

Day 1) Power emphasis: Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
A-1 Plyo-push up 3 x 5 3 x 8 3 x 10
A-2 Push up 3 x 5 3 x 8 3 x 10
A-3 Push up hold 10 sec 20 sec 30 sec
B-1 Split jump 3 x 5 3 x 8 3 x 10
B-2 Split squat 3 x 5 3 x 8 3 x 10
B-3 Split squat hold 10 sec 20 sec 30 sec
- Perform upper body exercises back to back with no rest. Rest and repeat for lower. Perform total circuit three times in this fashion

Day 1 video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7kpSzC491s

Day 2) Repetition emphasis Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
A-1 RFE push up 3 x 5 3 x 8 3 x 10
A-2 Floor push up 3 x 8 3 x 10 3 x 12
A-3 Incline push up Failure Failure Failure
B-1 DB front squat 3 x 8 3 x 12 3 x 15
B-2 DB backward lunge 3 x 8 3 x 12 3 x 15
B-3 DB squat jump 3 x 8 3 x 12 3 x 15

Day 2 video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-gtOGd4mZQ

By cycling different strength qualities—isometric, eccentric, maximal effort—we prevent the body from adapting to the same movements while building as much useful strength as possible.

Stay tuned for my next blog where I post the metabolic/agility circuits we designed to keep Dustin out of harm’s way!

Returning to Earth while still logging nutrition

2010-03-15T03:43:00.000-07:00

So after the first three days on no interruptions and smooth sailing, my world came crashing down around noon on Thursday-- about the time my CPA informed me it was tax season!

Needless to say, I have literally spent the entirety of the last four days either hunched over a computer or digging through my records to obtain every piece of paperwork necessary to file on time.

While my workouts and dieting did not go out the window, my logging certainly has. With that said, this has given me a small taste of the obstacles those who do not happen to own a gym encounter on a daily basis.

With this in mind, I have continued to jot down notes on what worked and what did not in the face of this distraction:

- Writing down my food in a small spiral notebook helped me to remember what was eaten when. Because these foods are basically the same every day, I was able to make reasonable subs in terms of caloric content.

- Because I have this log and my food is already customized to fitday, it will take 5-10 minutes to go back and enter in several days! (now the challange is finding time today to make myself do it)

- I almost wanted to drink coffee to give my mind the jolt it needed to go through this mind numbing process, instead I opted for a shot of five hour energy!

- Because I did not have time to get an entire workout in at once, I broke it down in to 10-15 minute sections every few hours:

10-10:15 AM- Lower body foam roll
12-12:15 AM- Timed core circuit
2-2:15 AM- Lower body stretch
4:-4:15- Lower body mobility

- The timed core circuit described above is an excellent way to get your corrective exercise, cardio and core training in. Ideally, this would take place at several points during the day, but mine looked something like this:

A-1: Lying X,Y,Ts- 15 reps
A-2: Ab wheel rollouts- 15 reps
A-3: X-band jacks to walk- 12 steps

In any case, look for my log later today and feel free to send me your scheduling horror stories as well!

Safe guarding against cravings

2010-03-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well folks, three days in and my biggest challenge so far have definitely been the workouts.

While fasting on Monday was difficult, one positive thing that I noticed is that I slept like a baby that evening. In my case, I believe one unintended benefit of the fast is cleansing my body of the huge digestive burden of breaking down my diet of peppers, pounds of veggies and no shortage of protein (see my dietary log)

Could fasting be the cure to my insomnia? Only time will tell, but regardless of my results in the next few weeks I will likely incorporate a liquid fasting day to give me body a break in the future.

As for the dieting itself, my log tells me I consumed 3000 calories yesterday (weight training day) and I am currently on course to consume around 1900 this evening.

With my target zone at about 2500 per day, this is a good example of portioning my calories to allow for a re-feed on the day after my fast to quell any possible cravings and a taper as I get closer to my next fasting day.

In my case, it will look something like this:

Monday: 0 calories
Tuesday: 3000 calories
Wed: 1900 calories
Thursday: 2500 cals
Friday: 0 cals
Sat: 3000 Cals
Sunday: 1900 cals

As you can see from the above, this wave like eating pattern, at least in my mind keeps my calories consistent while safe guarding against a drop in hormone levels-- by overfeeding after fasting.

On the workout front, tonight I will experience Tabata Terror and for those who have already endured this torture, I will take a few pics doing burpees for the next blog >=)

Until then, here is my dietary log from Day #1-2: http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=furious420

What your spine is trying to tell you

2010-03-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

After a Spring Break away from the pressures of work, Monday morning can be a particularly painful process. But for many clients returning to the gym, one area of the body which is refreshingly free on pain is the low back.

In as little as a week, the act of simply being on one’s feet can virtually cure acute pain in the low back and hips by breaking the cycle of repeated sitting and bending over. Because the ligaments and joints around the spine easily mold to the habits of our lifestyle, virtually all back pain is the result of the daily position of the spine.

In fact, studies have shown that around 20 minutes of cumulative spinal flexion (bending over), extension (bending backwards) or roation (twisting) can lead to damage and altered alignment of the spine. This means that actions such as frequently turn to stare at the television, leaning forward at the computer or wearing high heels all play on the position of your spine (and subsequent pain)

But one habit most back pain sufferers share in common is the tendancy to move from the lumbar spine rather than the hips. Because the lumbar spine is built for stability, this causes tremendous strain to this area. By contrast, using the hips to flex and extend the trunk and twisting from the thoracic (or middle spine) versus the lumbar spine acts to protect the back against pain.

The key to doing so is learning to move these areas without compensating with the lumbar spine. In both cases, this can be done on all fours with the following drills:

Hip extension: Quadraped hip extension:

The biggest key to ending back pain is learning to move the hip independent of the spine. The idea behind this drill is to learn to move the hip without extending or compensating with the spine. Placing a dowel rod on the back helps to measure whether the spine is moving. Perform three sets of 5 five second holds without bending or extending the spine.

Middle spine rotation: Seated rotation:

The idea with this drill is learning to dissociate middle and lower spine rotation. This is accomplished by twisting the upper trunk while keeping the hips level. Focus on rotating the upper back without moving or flexing the hips or low back. Repeat for two sets of thirty seconds on each side.

Interval Overtraining

2010-03-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

In today’s world of multi-tasking mayhem, concentration is something of a luxury. And when it comes to exercise, one of the reasons the fitness world has begun to despise aerobic exercise is that boredom sets in during long walks or jogs on the treadmill. Aside from the numerous studies which have shown that interval training is superior for fatloss, this form of exercise is simply more time efficient during the course of a busy week.

But take away our complicated lives and schedules and aerobic exercise may be more valuable than we realise. Keeping in mind, “fatloss” is only one of a number of benefits we enjoy from being active, here are few reasons to choose aerobics over intervals (at least once in a while):

1. Stimulant medications: After training numerous clients on stimulant medication, I have found that prolonged intervals (30+ seconds) actually can lead to abnormal breathing and fear of fainting. Because stimulant medications– such as adderall and ritalin– can cause an already elevated heart rate, the concept of maximally elevating heart to burn calories may, at a glance, be unncessary. The benefit of this heart racing affect is that simple steady state aerobic exercise (treadmill walk or run) is rendered far more effective at burning calories without increased exertion.

2. Prolonged soreness: While a little soreness may be an indication that a good workout hurts– so does unneccesary repetition. This means several days of high intensity jumping, sprinting or squat thrusts (god forbid) can leave your muscles screaming for relief. Because aerobic exercise improves blood flow and circulation to the muscles, a 25-30 minute walk or jog is the perfect compliment to stretching to reduce soreness.

3. Interval plateaus: One physical certainty is that our bodies adapt to even the most grueling forms of exercise (see burpees) . This means that while intervals may still cause you to work up a sweat, your body becomes better adapted with each workout. With this in mind, pace tempo running (treadmill, elliptical, outside)– or moving as quickly as you can– for around 1 mile improves your body’s work capacity in similar style to interval training through a different stimulus. Alternating several weeks of interval training with a week of pace-tempo running or a 12-15 minute pace tempo run once per week is a great way to shock the body in to fatloss submission.

And so it begins

2010-03-08T02:13:00.000-08:00

So it is 5 AM and I am sitting here what to do with the time I would normally spend eating before my first client? I know, I will blog!

One interesting statistic I came across when doing the research on the Modelfit dietary progress was that we make over 200 food based decisions per day. I know in my case, thoughts of my next meal are always in the back of my head, so it may actually be liberating to put them to the side-- or I will be a bear by tonight, we will see.

I have spent the last day taking the steps necessarily to prepare for today and I must admit there were more than I assumed:

1. Calculate daily calories:

Knowing how much I need to eat on a daily basis to calculate my weekly fatloss. In my case, I am 165 x multiplied by 15 this equals around 2500 calories (it is ok to round up)

Now if a pound of fat is 3500 calories, two days of fasting plus my workouts should take me to around 1.5lbs lost per day

2. Input my foods:

My next step was to input my custom foods in to my diet log on fitday.com. Contrary to popular belief, this took around 30 minutes and involved simply adding the numbers from the back of labels.

My only issue with this was adding in the individual nutrients-- fats, proteins, etc-- but the website actually now allows you to just add the food with it's caloric total.

Because the point of keeping our food log is to see how many calories we are eating (versus specific nutrient breakdowns), this can be considered in a time crunch.

3. Choose my fast days:

In order to remain functional, I am playing it safe and choosing 8 pm to 8 pm on Monday and Friday. While some (such as myself) would argue we shouldnt include 12 hours of sleep time, I still feel 24 total hours of total fasting counts.

Oh, and anyone that disagrees will be giving me 50 burpees.

4. Create my workout and accountability log:

In our Modelfit notebook, you will notice sections for both a strength training log where we log individual lift numbers along with an accountability log in which we log our weekly tasks.

I will post some pictures of each later today, but this log will help me to keep track of my lift numbers this month. This will give me a good idea of where/if I am losing strength and help me to take steps in compensate.

In terms of accountability, if I am able to fill in all of the boxes here I will know it has been a good week!

My Journey begins again- Weigh in and progress pics

2010-03-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here is a quick quiz to begin Monday morning: what is your instructor's bodyfat?

A) 1%
B) 0%, He is ripped!
C) 8.52%

Ok, so for those that guessed C, you are correct (now, hit the treadmill and give me 50 burpees)

In all seriousness though, with exactly six days to go until I officially begin the dietary portion of getting back on the Modelfit bandwagon, my first order of business is figuring out exactly where I am in terms of bodyweight and composition.

While weight fluctuates up to 10lbs throughout the day, the skinfold testing we utilize in our program is the greatest indicator of progress in the program. This measurement--along with inches lost-- has far more to do with how you actually look versus numbers on a scale.

With that said, this number can be difficult to determine for those with muscle in places fat is supposed to accumulate (IE guys) Though we usually measure the tricep, illiac crest (side of hip) and stomach in women, my arms are far too developed for this to work properly (I am just saying)

With this in mind, my skinfold numbers look as such:

Chest: 11
Stomach: 7
Thigh: 11

As you can see, I still have fat, it just shows up in other places. This is an important lesson when skinfold numbers look ridiculously low. In any case, as we head in to phase #3 I am gearing up for my first metabolic workout in some time tonight (more on that tomorrow).

Wish me luck and my numbers are below:

Weight:
Bodyfat: 8.52%
Date: 3/2/10

Preparing for battle

2010-02-25T11:31:00.000-08:00

With several days left until my Modelfit journey begins again, I am feeling better about taking time off over the last several weeks. After taking a month off from bench pressing and placing a greater focus on bodyweight, my posture feels a thousand times better and prepared me to perform in next week's metabolic torture.

On Sunday, I will do my measurements and perform a bodyweight strength test to confirm whether my little experiment has added inches to my chest and numbers to my push up, inverted row, chin up and split squat.

In the meantime, my focus will be on creating a dietary log to consistently watch my calories and foods during this time. While my diet hasnt changed in years, several revelation for me recently have come from Ultra Prevention , a book about the approach to nutrition taken for visitors to the famous canyon ranch.

What this book has helped me realize is that while my diet may provide the adequate amount of protein, carbs and fiber, I have been deficiently low in fat for some time. While I have always gone by the logic that "you are what you eat" the reality is adding healthy fats to my diet will greatly improve my mood and digestive capacity.

A few other interesting tidbits I picked up from this book is that If you observe food of any kind in your stools (poop), your body is not efficiently digesting the foods you consume.

Often, this is due to a lack of "good" bacteria in the body which acts to breakdown these foods and release them to the bloodstream. In my case, I feel this could be the X-factor in both my mood and results in the gym.

By simply adding more fat and digestive enzymes to my diet, my body will immediatly become more efficient at processing what I consume which equates to improved mood, fewer spikes in blood sugar and even better sleep (which I desperately need)

I am excited to apply this knowledge to my experience and I hope it will make a difference if I am craving come next week.

In the meantime, my push up numbers were up again this week and I continue to gain strength in my lifts (see below)

Workout A- Upper Body-Saturday
A-1: Incline alternating DBP- 3 x 6-75lbs
A-2: Floor push ups- 3 x 25- 45lbs
B-1: Weighted chin up w/20lbs plate- 3x12
B-3: Military press- 3 x 12/105lbs

Workout B- Upper Body-Sunday
A-1: 1 leg barbell SLDL- 3 x 12-145lbslbs
A-2: Double leg hip lift- 3 x 20/75lbs
A-3: X-band walks- 3 x 20 steps down and back
B-1: Dumbbell split squat- 3x12/75lbs
B-2: Spiderman lunge- 3 x 12/35lbs

Walking the Path

2010-02-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

Alright everyone, so with another week comes another revelation.

Over the last several weeks, in the midst of sickness, personal and business upheaval, I have admittedly not been on my game from a training standpoint.

I have let my nutrition slip, stopped running 25-30 minutes per day and took for granted the fact that I should remain in relative shape.

While I have maintained a reasonable degree of fitness via short, metabolic workouts, I have been distracted and it shows-- although I did not see it until last Friday at about 2:45 if the afternoon.

After being cast in a clothing ad out of nowhere last week, I finally felt my luck was turning. Though I was busy and could have turned the ad down, I reasoned it would be a welcome change of scenery from the confines of my gym.

Happily, I arranged to take the day off and drive to Bradenton for the shoot. And everything seemed fine initially-- very nice people, little drama, I even passed out a few business cards.

The only problem came when I stepped behind the lens. Because this was a lifestyle ad, it required friendly smiles from various angles and one thing that caught my eye when looking over the pics with the casting director was my double chin which was exposed from various angles.

While we always have shots which will flatter facial features, I feel the true measure of preparedness for a model is being photographed from weaker angles. In my case, the embaressment I felt when I viewed this pictures-- and the comments I got from the fat photographer on the shoot that could certainly use my services (I'm just saying)-- will long serve as a catalyst to get myself together.

Even when times are tough, this is a reminder to me to find strength in the program I created. With this in mind, I will working toward the slogan of being "photoshoot ready in three weeks" through a 3-6 week bout of Modelfit intensity-- the program which comes after the initial three month progression.

For me, this means fasting, metabolic workouts and living the hell I dish out once again. I plan to use this week to prepare my mind and body, as well as this blog to document the journey.

While I have the fitness part down, I know the nutrition will be a challenge. Much like conditioning after a long layoff, getting back to fasting for 24 hours twice per week will be brutal.

But the key to success or failure will be to eat enough in my off-days to remain full during my fast.

With this in mind, my plan for this week is to:
-Choose fasting days
-Currently I take several scoops of protein powder twice per day as mid-afternoon and mid-morning snacks. I plan to switch over to animal proteins to slow down digestion and keep my stomach full longer.
- I also plan to up my intake of veggies in the morning to slow down digestion of breakfast and set the tone for the day.

In the meantime, I will continue posting my numbers from unloading workouts which are going fairly well. My numbers continue to rise and I am looking forward to my max rep test in bodyweight lifts on Saturday.

For now, here are my workouts from this weekend:

Workout A- Upper Body-Saturday
A-1: Weighted push ups- 3 x 6-75lbs
A-2: 1 arm dumbbell press- 3 x 22-20-18
B-1: Weighted chin up w/50lbs plate- 3x6
B-2: Bodyweight chin up hang- 3 x 25 sec hang
B-3: Military press- 3 x 6/135lbs

Workout B- Upper Body-Sunday
A-1: 1 leg barbell RFE split squat- 3 x 6-185lbslbs
A-2: Off-set reverse carpet square lunge- 3 x15/55lbs
B-1: Two arm/1 leg Double leg SLDL- 3x12/75lbs
B-2: Heavy X-band walks- 3 x 12

Quick update and preview

2010-02-18T12:17:00.000-08:00

Ok folks, so the goal for my first week of blogging is to get 2-3 blogs in and so I shall.

While I have been busy over the last few days, my strength training program-- which is divided in to upper/lower splits is going very well. After several months of heavy benching and squatting along with intense wear and tear from metabolic workouts, my main goal for this month is to get bodyweight strong.

This means improving my push up, pull up and split squat numbers without resorting to heavy lifting. This does not in any way mean, I wont go heavy-- in fact I will limit my reps to 6 or below to avoid wear and tear on the bones/joints-- but instead of doing so with heavy external resistance, I will do so with the weight of my own body.

While we often think of "maxing out" involving A weightroom, a max set of push up—20+-- can be considered the same equivalent on strength-endurance continuum.

This is a concept which I am developing based my belief that the body should retain a equal proportion of strength and endurance to maintain function.

For example, if you can bench your bodyweight ten times, you should also be able to perform at least 10 push ups.

With this in mind, my goal is to go far above this limit for each bodyweight lift. Here is a look at my week in review:

Workout A- Upper Body
A-1: Incline alternating Dumbbell press- 3 x 6-75lbs
A-2: RFE push up w/45lbs plate- 3 x 22-20-18
B-1: Weighted chin up w/45lbs plate- 3x6
B-2: Bodyweight chin up hang- 3 x 20 sec hang
B-3: Military press- 3 x 6/125lbs

Workout A- Upper Body
A-1: 1 leg barbell SLDL- 3 x 6-185lbslbs
A-2: Weighted glute bridge- 3 x15/75lbs
B-1: RFESS- 3x15/45lbs
B-2: Heavy X-band walks- 3 x 20 sec hang

*Stay tuned tomorrow for my first exercise of the week!

Abandoning the bench press

2010-02-15T04:44:00.000-08:00

Dear friend,

First, I want to thank you for all the good times we spent together. Throughout the years you have made me me confidence, improved my self esteem and helped me to care far more about the way I look.

But along with these things, you have also brought me endless hours of anguish, deprived me of a social life and physically assaulted me on more than one occasion. It has taken me this long to realize that you are nothing more than weight on my chest that I can no longer bear.

While I will always miss the strong bond we have formed, I finally realize relationships are about more than just a big chest and I am writing you this letter to let you know I am done with you for good.

I know you have thousands of other men to call your own, I will always miss you and hope to see you again some day.

Regards,
Chris (a reformed meathead)

Like most guys, my first concern before my career as a trainer was always how much I could bench, squat and curl. And while these movement brought me a well developed chest, biceps and quads, they also brought me equally shitty posture.

With rounded shoulders, a semi-hump back and an inability to squat to parallel, I was, for many years, a full blown meathead solely intent on lifting as much weight as possible.

While I have significantly improved the mechanics of my movement since “seeing the light”, the scars of my past remain ingrained in my lack of mobility, semi-rounded shoulders and a constant tingling I know I shouldn’t be feeling in my upper back.

Based upon a postural screen which we will get in to later in the program, my specific issues are as follows:

Poor ankle mobility (tendency to come forward on my toes when I squat)
Kyphosis of the upper back (forward lean when squatting down or bending over)
Hip flexion weakness (stiffness of the ability to raise my knee above my waist)

Despite my irrational concern for losing inches in my chest (no, really), this has led me to the painful decision to give up benching pressing for the time being. Instead, I will focus on a program to improving the number of bodyweight push up, inverted row and split squat I can perform without stopping.

As of this morning, my max numbers in these exercises are as follows:

Pushup- 39
Pullup-12
Split squat- 27
Invered row- 21

My feeling is that both strength (the ability to lift heavy weight) and endurance (the ability to outlast the competition) are crucial to building a well balanced physique. In order to do so, I will perform a mix of bodyweight and external resistance in my strength training.

By the same token, I will also insert specific corrective exercises in to the active rest periods of workout day strength circuits to work on mobility and posture to kill two birds with one stone.

While I will be posting my daily training journal with thoughts and impressions of what I am doing and why, the first step is to share what I am doing to fix my posture:

Foam roll: The first step in developing better posture is to eliminate trigger points and improve the length of the muscle in question. I plan to foam roll 3-4 days per week before and after strength workouts.
Stretch: After foam rolling, the next step is to signal the muscles to improve lengthen via conventional stretching. I will perform this activity after each round of foam rolling, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
Mobilize: Once the muscles have regained length, mobility drills for specific areas of the body will allow me to move better through the range of motion. These will take place after foam rolling and stretching.
Corrective exercise: While I am all about moving as many muscles as possible, this will involve isolation exercises to coax smaller stabilizer muscles to contribute more work in total body moment. These will be performed during my workout
Core Training: While my core is already fairly strong and stable, this month is devoted to improving the core’s ability to resist movement (twisting, extending and flexing the trunk) and stabilize the trunk.

I will get in to details later today with my first off-day workout—a metabolic circuit which is all about mental toughness. While we label this period unloading, I never said it wouldn’t involve hard work!