Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work 4-29-10
Here’s some stuff to check out while you’re in between rounds of solitaire/minesweeper/or whatever it is you’re doing that will inevitably get you fired.
Does Reaching Behind the Back Reflect the Actual Internal Rotation of the Shoulder? – Mike Reinold
I’ve pointed many people to Mike’s blog in the past few months, and with good reason. The man drops knowledge bombs on a consistent basis! Here, he discusses why the behind-the-back (BTB) reach/stretch isn’t necessarily a valid test for assessing actual internal rotation.
Active Thoracic Mobilization – Bill Hartman
Pigging back on the link above, Bill discusses (and demonstrates) a really great active thoracic mobility drill that we’re starting to implement quite a bit at CP.
Confession: I’m a Crossfitter – Jen Sinkler
Jen is one of the fitness editors for Experience Life Magazine – of which I’ve been featured in several times: click here, here, and most recently, here. Jen was actually a long-time member of the US National Rugby Team, and in this article, explains how CrossFit helped her fill the void, and find an alternative way to kick some major butt once she retired, un-retired, then retired again. Trust me, she could kick your ass.
Admittedly, as a strength coach, I have my issues with CrossFit – namely the lack of structure and seemingly haphazard way most (not all) affiliates approach program design. That being said, however, I do recognize the many benefits that it offers, and understand that when it’s done right (as Jen highlights in her article) it can be a superb way to get people moving and motivated to train.
Keeping the Power Inside the Bar – Lyle McDonald
This is an article that I came across in my “stuff to read” folder that, due to circumstances outside my control (work, training, girlfriend attempting to drag me to salsa lessons), is like ten months backed up. As such, I was catching up on some old newsletters the other night, and came across this one and thought I’d pass it along. It has a Dan John’esque vibe to it, which is probably why I liked it so much
Last, but not least:
Weighing the Evidence on Exercise (via the NY Times) – Gretchen Reynolds
Nice article that attempts to hold people accountable for their own actions: READ – let me know if this sounds familiar – your friend walks up to you and says, “I’m doing everything, but just can’t seem to drop the weight. Oh look, Dunkin Donuts is open!!!!”
Moreover, and these are points that a client of mine brought up:
WHHHHY when referring to exercise, do they only analyze running or other means of steady state endurance exercise? I would be curious as to whether weight bearing or high intensity exercise remodels metabolic pathways differently than endurance or non-exercise – I bet it does! I think that steady-state and high intensity exercise are so different, in fact, that they cannot be grouped together into one entity.
Is the ONLY reason people work out nowadays to lose weight?! What ever happened to taking good care of your health? And why all these studies with weight as the primary endpoint? Where is the muscle/fat analysis via exercise? I weight as much now as I did 5 years ago, but my old pants would fall to the floor if I tried them on… just saying, I think that BMI or weight as the ONLY endpoint does not allow for accurate analysis of the whole picture…
Definitely some valid points for sure……
