Author: Tony

In his book, Low Back Disorders: Evidence-based Prevention and Rehabilitation, Dr. Stuart McGill mentions on several occasions that no back is alike. Nonspecific “backache” is nearly impossible to quantify and, even if it could be quantified, offers no guidance for intervention. Some backs suffer with discogenic problems for example, and will respond quite differently from those with ligamentous damage or facet-based problems.

As well, how we would approach someone with flexion based intolerance as opposed to someone with extension based intolerance varies quite dramatically as well. This is why I hate a one-size fits all, cookie-cutter approach to corrective exercise. Just telling someone to go do a few planks isn’t going to cut it in this sense. All backs aren’t created equal.

That being said, sometimes the best approach isn’t therapy or worse yet, surgery. Rather, it’s sometimes best to just take a step back and figure out what daily event is exacerbating the individual’s symptoms. Simply put: find the cause and remove that cause.

As McGill mentions, consider lightly hitting the thumb with a hammer repeatedly–eventually the slightest touch causes pain. This is symptom magnification because the tissue is hypersensitized. Reduction of hypersensitivity in the thumb only occurs following a substantial amount of time after the hammering has stopped. It’s kind of like when you’re flipping through the channels on a Sunday afternoon and you happen to come across the show The Pick-Up Artist on VH1. It’s only after you stop watching it that you feel less inclined to want to jump in front of a lawnmower.

Anyways, back to hammers. Tissues in the back are continually “hit with the hammer” because of the aberrant motion or motor patterns. For example, those people with flexion based back pain (flexion intolerance) may replicate their symptoms every time they get up from their chair. Once they correct this faulty movement pattern and “get rid of the hammer,” then and only then, will the tissue be less sensitized, and said person will be able to return to a pain-free (hopefully) lifestyle.

The point is, sometimes we have to remember the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle. More often than not, the key to solving your back pain could simply be looking at your daily motor patterns and correcting them.

*that’s what she said

UPDATE: Just wanted to say congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays. I’m not pissed. Point blank, they were the best team last night and played an awesome series. Now excuse me while I go kick a puppy in the mouth.

From Reuters Health:

Strength training can help ease pain and improve physical functioning in people with osteoarthritis of the knee, a new review of current data confirms. In most of the studies, the researchers found, people showed improvements in pain, physical function, walking speed, and balance after undergoing strength training. The majority of studies used a progressive approach, meaning patients were required to increase the intensity of their exercise as time went on (for example, lifting heavier weights). Three of the four studies that showed no significant effect for strength training did not use this progressive approach.

Ah-HA! So this basically flies in the face of every doctor or physical therapist that like to inform their patients not to squat because it’s bad for their knees. I love it. Nothing drives me more bat shit crazy than when I hear health professionals give this advice. Well, that and guys who wear their collars up (which I saw a lot of while in NYC this past weekend).

Seriously, if anyone ever deserves to have their penis catch on fire, it’s any douchebag who thinks this is cool. Stop it. NOW!

Anyways, back on topic. It’s nice to see some mainstream media getting the word out there that strength training can help with quality of life; particularly with osteoarthritis. In all honesty though, is this really a newsflash for anyone? I mean, wow…..the researchers in the article make it seem like this is big news. Um, not really. I’ve seen it time and time again. Someone comes in with knee pain:

1. We get them to start working on tissue quality (foam rolling, soft tissue work, etc).

Click here for some foam rolling sexiness.

2. Incorporate various hip mobility drills (video shows one of my favorites….kneeling rockbacks).

3. Replace high impact, low amplitude exercises (treadmill) with low impact, high(er) amplitude exercise (Arc Trainer, Elliptical, high knee skips, various movement training drills).

4. Get them stronger. Certainly this is a blanket statement, but myself, as well as many of my colleagues have always stated that strength training can be corrective in nature. At CP, we go out of our way to explain to clients the difference between active and passive restraints. When referring to stress on our bodies, both active and passive restraints share the burden, and work together to keep the body functioning properly. Active restraints refer to muscle and tendon. Passive restraints entail bone, labrum, meniscus, and ligament.

As Eric Cressey has noted on several occasions, if the stress is shared between active and passive restraints, wouldn’t it make sense that strong active restraints with good tissue quality and length would protect ligaments, menisci, and labra (and do so through a full ROM)? Hint: yes, it would.

While the phrase “just get strong” can mean different things to different people, it’s important for trainees to realize that it’s an integral aspect of corrective exercise that many fail to utilize. This is why I find it absolutely asinine whenever a doctor tells someone to do nothing but take some ibuprofen and lay low for a few weeks.

Needless to say, this “study” was a breath of fresh air. But I don’t see why they need to do more research to see whether or not strength training has any efficacy towards said population long-term. Seems like a waste of money in my opinion. If we’re going to be funding any research it should be used solely to answer one question: how hot is Mila Kunis? This hot!*

* and this hot

Q: I was doing my stuff at the gym the other morning, and a woman who is a trainer there, saw me doing reverse lunges. She came over to me and said that when I do my lunge, not to let my knee touch the ground, that it should be just above the ground. “This is how ACLs get injured,” she said. She also said to try to shift weight to the front of your foot, and not let the knee touch.

Personally, on that issue, I think having more pressure on the front of your foot would cause knee strain, especially right under the knee cap and right above on the quad. But, what do I know? I said thanks and continued with my stuff. Thoughts?

A: Actually, you know more than you think. Which is that you ignored her advice and continued with your training session. Although it would have been perfectly understandable if you punched her in the ACL with a 5 lb dumbbell for interrupting you with such nonsense.*

Concerning the latter part of the question, you’re correct. Shifting your weight to the front of your foot and pushing off the toes will undoubtedly place more strain on the knees. Sure it will increase quad loading, but what’s good for quad loading might not be good for knee health. I like to instruct people to shift their weight to mid-foot/heel, which will take some of the burden off the knees and place a little more emphasis on the glutes/hamstrings.

Concerning the former part of the question, honestly, I have no idea what her rationale might be for stating that allowing your knee to “touch” the floor while performing a reverse lunge predisposes you to an ACL injury. The primary function of the ACL is to prevent anterior displacement of the tibia off the distal end of the femur. The ACL, along with the resistance of the posterior muscles crossing the knee joint (hamstrings), prevents the normal knee from hyperextending. How allowing your knee to touch the ground while performing a reverse lunge places the ACL at greater risk is beyond me.

If anything, telling people to gently touch their knee to the ground keeps them honest (key word: gently). If you tell people to stop 1-2 inches short of the ground, that’s going to inevitably turn into 3-4 inches. And before you know it, they’re not doing anything remotely close to a proper lunge. That’s a big reason why I’m such a fan of box squats; it forces people to learn what proper depth is supposed to feel like.

Just to be clear, however, there are plenty of compensation patterns that can predispose you to an ACL injury while performing a lunge (knees caving in due to weak glutes for example). But to the best of my knowledge, having your knee touch the ground isn’t one of them. Mike Robertson wrote a great article on this topic here. I encourage you to check it out.

In the end, my hunch is that she’s a trainer at a local commercial gym and was just trying to sound smart by using a term that would scare you or get your attention and hopefully lead to a conversation that ended with you buying a few sessions from her. It’s like me telling a 17 year old kid that he’ll increase his testosterone levels by 583% if he drinks, I don’t know, powdered deer penis. True story

*Hahahahaha. Irony is a bitch.

As some of you may know, I decided to pull a “Roy Hobbs,” this summer and basically make a pseudo comeback to play in the Metro-West Adult Baseball (over-30) League, for the Framingham Orioles. This was the first summer since 2003 that I played in any organized baseball league, and to be honest, it was a blast.

After two straight seasons of losing in the first round of the play-offs, the Orioles made it to the championship this season vs. the Southborough Cubs. Sadly, in the best out of three play-off, we lost both games of a doubleheader yesterday and our season is over.

That being said, while there are no official awards that are given out at the end of the year, I thought I’d share my final stats and basically anoint myself Sexiest Bastard Ever to Wear Orange Player of the Decade. I guess there’s something to be said about training for strength/performance.

Wins: 7

Losses: 1

Innings Pitched: 67 (and my elbow is completely pissed)

Hits: 28 (only three of which were for extra bases)

Runs: 10

Earned Runs: 6

Walks: 14

Strikeouts: 105

Saves: 1

ERA: 0.80

Girls Who Want to Make Out With Me: countless. Even if I did strike out with the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning in a 0-0 game, which would have forced a one game play-off next weekend. Dammit, I suck.

All in all, the point I’m trying to make is that there’s something to be said about training for strength/performance. I look back at how I trained back in college and I wish I could go back and drop kick myself in the pancreas. Back then I never heard of a deadlift, never did any single leg work, thought 3×10 was the holy grail of set/rep schemes, and figured the best way to a six pack was to perform 500 sit-ups before going to bed. Fast forward a few years (of quality training), and I can honestly say that I’m in better shape now then I was in my early 20’s. Not to mention I’m probably throwing just as hard (if not harder) than I was in college. I stopped training like a bodybuilder, and decided to train more like an athlete.

To any high school or collegiate athletes who may be reading this blog, don’t waste your time worrying about what exercise hits the long head of the bicep. Who cares!?! Spend more time trying to get stronger, and I promise not only will you perform infinitely better (in whatever sport you play), but the aesthetics will just be a side benefit. Ie: chicks will want to hang out with you.

I try not to make it my business to call out other professionals in the industry, but sometimes I come across something so “vomit-in-my-mouthish,” that I can’t help myself from laying down a little um, smackdown. Does that even make sense? Who cares, I’m pissed. ARRRRRRGGG!

There’s a certain celebrity trainer (Spoiler Alert: Tracy Anderson) who in her evil scheme to populate this world with an army of Skeletor look-a-likes, thinks that no woman should ever lift a weight over three lbs.

If you don’t believe me, click the link below for the full story which includes a video clip of said atrocity.

 

Tracy Anderson Is the Exercise Genius of Our Time

*Side Note: before anyone gives me flack for linking you to Oprah’s website, just know that a friend sent me the link. There’s only one condition, and one condition only where I would visit that site by choice. And that’s if Oprah ever decided to have an entire month dedicated to the beauty that is Jessica Simpson’s breasts. Two words: slide show. Still waiting, Oprah? Do it for the children.

 

I love how Gwyneth Paltrow (whom Tracy trains) mentions in the story that “I work freakin hard.” Hard in this sense means training in an 80 degree room using AIR as resistance. No, I am not kidding. I can only imagine how brutal the workout gets once Tracy busts out the paperclips.

Come on ladies, do you really believe this nonsense? Does it not piss you off? I’m pretty sure if she were still alive today, Susan B. Anthony would shit a pink dumbbell if she knew there were women still walking around with this “I’m a frail, delicate creature” mentality.

And while I’m basically beating a dead horse in saying this, lifting heavy WILL NOT make you big and bulky. Case in point:

Olympic Bobsled hopeful Bree Boyer close grip benching 135 lbs for reps. Still looks like a girl.

Olympic track hopeful Tiana Riel performing pull-ups for reps with a 10 lbs vest on. Still looks like a girl. Matter of fact she just signed a modeling contract with a local agency. Sorry fellas, she’s taken. Just to be clear, you wouldn’t have had a shot in hell anyways.

And before people start making the “well those are athletes, of course they need to lift heavy weights” comments, let me introduce you to Anna Sleeper; soon-to-be the greater Boston area’s strongest eye doctor. Here she’s doing 225 lbs for reps AFTER she completed her entire training session. Guess what? She doesn’t look bulky.

And here’s Deb DiRocco (she’ll castrate me if I reveal her age), mother of two and a true bad-ass:

Nancy LeBlanc, pushing the sled:

Michelle Elwell, actually not swearing like a sailor at the moment as she completes her lunges:

And lets not forget Tina and Steph as well.

All are great examples of women who work their tails off and don’t succumb to the notion that women can’t (or shouldn’t) lift appreciable weights. Wait for it, wait, wait……………………..and…………………BOOM goes the dynamite.

Surprisingly, I often get e-mails from people asking me for advice. Weird, I know. Last week I received an e-mail that I thought I would share with all of you because I feel it could be of some benefit to many of you who read this blog. Particularly to those of you who happen to be upcoming trainers in the industry.

I remember how clueless I felt when I first started out in this industry (I still do to a degree), and how appreciative I was whenever someone I looked up to was more than willing to share their experiences and expertise with me. I’ve always had a “pay it forward” attitude, and as such, I’ve never been apprehensive when it comes to helping out upcoming trainers when they happen to turn to me for advice.

Needless to say, to make things easier, I’m going to break down the following question into parts because I’m cool like that.

Q: Hey Tony,

Last time I emailed you, you gave me some great information about what types of certifications to get etc…as well as stuff on Thomas Plummer. I’m looking into getting my CPT (Certified Personal Trainer) and was wondering if I could bounce some more questions off those oak trees you call arms. (no homo).

Being that I’m looking into getting my CPT in the near future I was wondering if you could give me a heads up on how things go in that field. I’ve always been into lifting and helping people train; so I think this would be a fun way to do that on my own time. So here are some questions that I can think of off the top of my head.

1. Do I just go to a gym and say: “Hi I have my CPT and I’d like to set up shop here”…?

TG: Without question, getting certified through a nationally recognized organization is going to get your foot through the door in most cases. In my opinion, the gold standard certifications would be through the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association), NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine), and the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine). Granted there are a million and one other organizations that you can get certified through, but these tend to be the most reputable.

On an aside, I ranted on this before, but the ones to avoid would be any organization (or website) that asks you to pay $49 for some weekend course. To say that I think it’s absolutely deplorable that some people actually get “certified” through these websites is an understatement.

That being said, most gyms are typically always looking for new trainers (full-time or part-time). Make sure you update your resume* as well as provide a one-page “synopsis” as to why you chose to enter this field and what you feel you bring to the table. This isn’t required, but I feel it shows a level of professionalism and allows you an opportunity to sell yourself so-to-speak.

Try to steer clear of being that guy who says, “I like to lift weights, and figured that since I look the part, I’d give this a shot.” Try to add some substance. Why do you want to be a trainer? What differentiates you from everyone else? I know when we look to take on new interns at Cressey Performance, we like to see some initiative that they are willing to learn, and more importantly, that they know the difference between their/there/they’re, too/to, and your/you’re. I don’t know, I just feel that one’s writing skills is a great indicator of their sexual prowess (obviously, ladies?) ability to communicate and serves as a great way to make a good first impression.

2. What is the average charge for a session (I’m thinking 30-60min) with a client?

TG: That’s going to depend on where you end up working. As an incoming trainer, very rarely are you going to be able to set your own rates. More often than not, you’re going to be at the mercy of some sort of established “tier system,” where you get a certain percentage of the session (which is typically based off of how many sessions you do per week or how well you are at selling packages).

Personally, I despise this type of system because it rewards quantity of training rather than quality. Unfortunately you’re going to have to deal with it and accept it as a necessary evil.

If you were to find a facility that allows you to charge your own rates, you may have to do some homework to see what other trainers in your area are charging. You don’t want to be asking people for $80 per session, when other trainers in your area are charging $50. Likewise, you also don’t want to undervalue your services. Granted, you may need to offer free sessions (15-20 minute “trial run” sessions) from time to time, but one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to never (ever) discount your rates to accommodate someone.

3. Is there anything (or any type of person/gym) that you’d recommend me going to/staying away from?

TG: As an incoming trainer, and someone who has bills to pay, you’d be an idiot to turn away clients. Once you’ve established yourself and have built a solid client base, then you can start “categorizing” your clients, which is something I learned from Alwyn Cosgrove.

A Clients: Are those you would train for free. They work hard, they’re compliant, consistent, they show up on time, and they refer other people to you.

B Clients: Are loyal clients, but aren’t as consistent (train once per week, or once every two weeks).

C Clients: Are the ones that whenever they ask you what they should be eating, always come up with some lame excuse as to why they can’t eat that particular food. *Rolls eyes.* They also think BOSU balls are the shiznit and always remind you that their last trainer had them use one all the time. Honestly, you only put up with them because they’re either 1. a hot brunette or 2. They always give you a $100 bonus at Christmas.

D Clients: Simply put, these people are cancers. You’d rather pay someone to shoot you in the face than spend another hour with this person.

The idea is to eventually get to the point where you only train your A/B clients and pawn off your C/D clients to other trainers. Haha, suckers!

As far as which gyms to look for, if you can find a gym that allows group or semi-private training, then that would be your best option. One-on-one training is dead. It’s a complete waste of time. With semi-private training, clients are able to train more frequently at the fraction of the costs, which will allow them to get results faster. Additionally, you’re able to see more clients and make more efficient use of your time. At Cressey Performance, we’re exclusively semi-private training and it’s been great. My one major regret is the fact that I spent so many years training people one-on-one.

Additionally, it would be ideal to find a gym that offers continuing education, or at least some form of compensation for attending seminars/conferences, etc. When you interview with the general manager, this will be a great question to ask. Without question the places that I have enjoyed working at the most had a manager that understood the importance of continuing education.

Special Section: Me Just Ranting, But You Should Really Listen To Me Cause I’m Kind Of a Big Deal-by Tony Gentilcore

1. CONTINUING EDUCATION!!!!! It’s that important. You need to read, attend seminars, network with other professionals. Immerse yourself. If you don’t know what to read, check out my resources page.

2. You also need to start learning the business side of things. I waited forever to start doing this, and if I could go back in time to dropkick myself in the kidney for not doing this sooner, I would.

3. Remember, you’re always being observed. Whether it’s your manager, other trainers, or members, you’re always under the microscope. That being said, be professional. If someone is paying you good money to train them for an hour, don’t be looking at the clock every ten minutes, checking out other members, or just stand there and count reps while holding a clipboard like a zombie. Be proactive, be a COACH! People will notice your enthusiasm and want to train with you.

4. Also, don’t be that guy who only trains young, attractive females. Sure I joke about it, but it comes across as super tacky.

5. Three Words: BOSU balls SUCK.

6. Know your limits. You’re not a doctor or physical therapist. Know when you need to refer out to other professionals. This is why building a network of other professionals bodes in your favor; you refer people to them, they refer people to you.

7. As I stated above, don’t lower your prices in order to accommodate someone. Once you do this, it’s going to be a shit storm of other people trying to take advantage of you. People need to see value in your services. If they’re not willing to pay what you ask for, then they can stay fat and weak.

8. Learn to assess people. I always find it perplexing when trainers meet with new clients and never assess them to find out what biomechanical and/or postural flaws they may have. It’s this cookie-cutter mentality that makes me want to vomit in my mouth. Simply put, learning how to assess someone (in a matter of 10 minutes) is a great selling point as far as attaining clients. Gray Cook’s Functional Movement Screen would be a great starting point. And while many of you probably balked at the price, I can pretty guarantee that the knowledge you will learn will pay for the costs and then some.

9. And speaking of assessments, I’d much rather get people on the floor moving as soon as possible then spend 45 minutes checking their glute medius function. Don’t get too cute with people, they need a training effect. And if someone does in fact have a weak glute medius, chances are they’re weak everywhere. All the more reason to get them moving.

10.*Just as an FYI, writing down “being awesome,” as one of your majors in college doesn’t work. Believe me, I tried.