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Q and A (Flaxseeds/Fish Oil and 2:1 Odds That “Barry” Comments On This Post)

Q: What’s your opinion of flaxseed oil and all of its supposed side effects? Also, would you recommend taking it in addition to or in place of fish oil? Thanks for any help… I love your stuff please keep it up.

A: First a little bit of the geeky stuff. There are two fatty acids that the body cannot biosynthesize, and are therefore considered essential: linoleic acid (an n-6) and “alpha-“linolenic acid (an n-3). These two fatty acids must be obtained from the diet because the body lacks the delta-15 and the delta-12 desaturases, which are needed to create double bonds and elongate fatty acid chains beyond 9 carbons to create these essential compounds. Come to think of it, that’s not nearly as geeky as I thought. There’s more of where that came from. Ladies? You+Me+Fatty acid metabolism+Star Wars+Tetris=most romantic night of your life. True Story.

As nutritionist/strength coach/smart mofo Alan Aragon has noted on several occasions:

“……based on estimates from archaeological and modern-day hunter-gatherer population research, human beings originally thrived on a diet whose ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids was approximately 1:1, and unlikely to be greater than 4:1. It also contained far less trans fatty acids and than the present diet. Today, consumption of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids is roughly 25:1. A major cause for this is the predominance of n-6 oils (corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, refined packaged grain products) and a relative minority in n-3 sources (fatty marine fish, flaxseed oil, walnuts, and small amounts of canola oil).”

That being said, there is often a stigma associated with flaxseed products in general. Barry Bonds’ jokes aside, it’s often been noted that ingesting flaxseed to increase levels of EPA/DHA (the omega-3’s) is pointless due to the poor conversion rate of ALA into the said omega-3’s. However, in his book Girth Control, Aragon showcased a study in which a team recently observed 3g ALA/day (from 5.2g flaxseed oil) raise plasma EPA levels by 60% at the end of a 12-week trial.*

Personally, I’m not a big fan of the taste of flaxseed oil. I’m sure there are some products out there that taste great (if you know of any feel free to leave a comment), but I’d rather drink a glass of diarrhea. Conversely, I use ground flaxseeds quite a bit. I’ll add a tablespoon to my protein shake in the morning, and I also like to add them in my homemade protein bars (to give them a bit of a nutty taste). Furthermore, a serving elicits roughly 3-5 grams of fiber (depending on the brand), and the lignan found in flaxseeds also serves as an antioxidant. And yes, I realize that lignans are phytoestrogenic (estrogen like chemicals), but honestly, you’d have to eat a shit-ton in order to develop man-boobs, so relax fellas.

Long story short, I wouldn’t go out of your way to exclude flaxseed products out of your diet. I think if you’re making sound choices and getting more n-3’s in your diet (flaxseeds, fatty fish, nuts, fish oil capsules, nuts, etc), you’ll be fine.

* I know you were expecting me to reference said study. Well, I’m not. Go buy the book you selfish bastard.** Click here.

**Listen, it’s me. I didn’t mean to call you a selfish bastard. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me? Who’s my cute little monkey head? You are, that’s who.

***PS, I love you.

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High Heels for Babies. (Crickets Chirping) I’m Speechless. Well, Not Really.

I’ve been on a roll lately with the rants, so I figured why not keep a good thing going and share with you a story that will undoubtedly make your eyes hate you.

Heelarious: High Heeled Shoes for Babies

Essentially these two women (Jenelle Kulaas and Britta Bacon) thought it would be “funny” (get it? HEELarious) to develop high heels for their newborns. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. That is funny. I mean, what could be funnier than promoting atrocious motor patterns in infants just when they’re starting to learn how to walk? “Oh look everyone, look over there! Little Susy is wearing her whore- in-training shoes. Doesn’t she just look fab? Whoopsie daises, she just fell and hit her head on the coffee table. LMAO, she’s so freakin cute!”

Heelarious

Not too long ago, I wrote on why I’m not a big fan of grown women wearing high heels, let alone an infant who is just starting to develop all the gross motor skills that she will use for the rest of her life. I don’t know which is worse; letting your child play with a plugged in toaster oven while swimming in a pool filled with ebola, or putting these shoes on her feet. It’s a toss up. I don’t know, I’m confused. Where do babies come from anyways? Santa Claus, right?

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HFCS+Actors=HILARITY (LOL)

In case you missed this week’s episode of The Fitcast, we briefly touched upon the topic of how the corn industry has apparently gotten their panties all up in a tither (ie: they’re being whiny bitches) about how high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has gotten a bad rap within the past few years. In a sign that the apocalypse is just around the corner, sweetsurprise.com recently released a few tv ads that pretty much make me want to jump into a live volcano.

As Leigh Peele stated on her blog the other day:

To quickly note, sugar isn’t just sugar. Nothing is ever that black and white, but, is HFCS going to kill you, are they right? The short answer is, under current research, there is no danger with intake of HFCS on small levels.”

It’s true, HFCS isn’t quite the evil step-sister that it’s made out to be, and in small doses, it really isn’t that big of a deal. But come on!!! Do we really need ads telling people that they shouldn’t avoid it? Do they really expect us to think that saying that it’s made from corn (it’s natural!) makes it healthy or a viable option?

Furthermore, as ex-CP client Gregg Taliercio mentions:

“Industrialized corn funneled and processed down to High Fructose Corn Syrup isn’t all that natural. Fruit sugar is still sugar, and to have them compare HFCS to regular sugar is certainly fair, but isn’t that setting the standard pretty low? But HFCS is made of fruit sugar, it has to be okay, right? Well again, this sugar comes in the absence of any of the positive things fruit brings to the table like antioxidants, fiber, and all kinds of micro-nutrients.”

Apples

Each commercial ends with a voice over telling us to “Get the facts. You’re in for a sweet surprise.” I find it comical that one of the “facts” on their website is that HFCS retains moisture in bran cereals and helps keep breakfast bars moist. WOW. That is freakin mind blowing. Way to shoot for the stars fellas. You really hit a home-run with that one. I mean, you could have told me that HFCS cures tape worm in puppies and I would have scoffed as no big deal. But now that I know that it retains moisture in cereal bars, I’m completely sold. You sir, are a treasure and a true pioneer of science.

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Newsflash: Everyone Used to Bench 400 lbs!

As many of you already know, I was back in NY this past weekend for a family reunion. I’m happy to report that I ended up not wanting to kill myself. Yay me! In all seriousness, it was great to see my family, whom I haven’t seen since last Thanksgiving. It was also great to go bat shit crazy and eat pretty much every carb I could get my hands on. Pizza and chocolate chip cookies never tasted so glorious.

See people, we fitness professionals aren’t skeered to eat some carbs everyone now and then. I’m certainly not. CARBS!!!!!! Lets just put it this way; if eating carbs was like knocking over tall buildings, I would have been freakin Godzilla this weekend. Or Kim Kardashian’s ass. HI HO!

In any case, while home this weekend, my mom mentioned to me that as she was reading my blog the other day, the new gym teacher at the school where she works was watching the Bench-Off videos over her shoulder. Shortly thereafter he stated that “back in the day, I used to bench 400 lbs. Blah blah blah.” Is it just me, or is anyone else amazed at how many people used to bench 400 lbs back in high school/college?

I mean, outside of the year that I spent training at South Side Gym in Stratford, CT, I’ve only seen TWO people bench a legitimate 400 lbs. And I’ve trained at plenty of different gyms. Yet, it seems a week never goes by where I don’t read or hear about someone benching this magical figure back in high school. Yet, they can only bench 185 for reps now.

These guys have no idea how much 400 lbs is. If I were to put 315 on the bar, I’m willing to bet that most would destroy the back of their pants, and come up with some lame excuse as to why they couldn’t do it. Like they tweaked their shoulder the other day, or I don’t know, their vagina hurts. That’s two today. I’m on fire!

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Random Thoughts (More Vitamin D, Skipping, and Bagels Suck)

1. A few weeks ago, I touched on the topic of Vitamin D and how I feel it’s going to be the next “big thing” as far as supplements is concerned. In short, just about everyone (even people in Texas) are deficient in Vitamin D. Vitamin D plays a key role in many things such as:

-Helps maintain calcium homeostasis, along with bone and muscle health

-Plays a role in helping to regulate blood pressure and improves cardiovascular health

-May have an integral part in helping to prevent autoimmune disease, as well as helping to prevent cancer

-Supplementing with Vitamin D has been shown to improve one’s sense of well-being (AKA: helps with depression)

My friend Jen Heath actually wrote a fairly detailed summary on the importance of Vitamin D (scroll down to #3), so I’ll just let her do the talking.

2. I’m off to Upstate NY this weekend for a family reunion. Vegas has me at 2-1 odds that I end up wanting to shoot myself in the face with a taser gun. Hahaha, just kidding. No, but seriously, toss me that 22.

3. Eric and I made an executive decision yesterday at CP. No more skipping drills with our new athletes (high knee skips, reverse skips w/external rotation, etc). Most of the kids totally butcher the skipping anyways and Eric made mention that having our guys perform skipping drills instead of sprinting is like handing them a calculator and teaching them how to turn it on. Everyone knows how to use a calculator, just like “most” people know how to sprint. Why waste time skipping, when we could be sprinting instead?

Addendum: Conversely, I do feel that skipping drills (as well as other low-level movement training protocols) are an important component for really de-conditioned athletes and/or “computer guys” who do nothing but sit in front of a desk all day. If these guys even make it to the gym, most do nothing but jog, which locks up their hips even more since they’re using a very limited range of motion (virtually no hip flexion/extension what-so-ever). That being said, adding in some easy skipping drills allows them to move around a bit and loosen up the hips, which is cool in my book. Plus lets be honest, it can be quite entertaining to see someone who hasn’t skipped since 6th grade try to do it again.

Addendum #2: Effective Immediately- any trainer seen advocating sprinting to their 40 lb overweight client is subject to random acts of torture which include, but not limited to:

* Being forced to listen to every 17 year year old kid who weighs 150 lbs and has watched Fight Club tell you how he wants abs like Brad Pitt.

* Attending my family reunion

4. Speaking of CP, we always like to inspire our clients with various quotes of the day. This week’s installment:

5. New favorite exercise= speed pulls against chains. I’ve always been slow off the floor with my deadlifts, so I implemented three weeks worth of speed pulls against chains in my last cycle and saw my deadlift go up ten lbs in that time span. Chicks totally want to hang out with me now. Ladies? Anyone? Those ham sandwiches aren’t just going to make themselves now are they? Hello?

UPDATE: Thank you to Gregg T for being the bestest Grammar Nazi this side of polygamous marriages. Gregg lives in Utah, which is pretty much the coolest State EVER. Unfortunately, I was away from my computer all day traveling and basically came across as a nimrod for using affective instead of effective above. I’m never going to get laid. Dammit!

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Morning Cup of Vomiting in My Mouth

I received an e-mail from a fellow fitness professional this morning, which simply said this:

Don’t know if you’ve seen this yet, but holy s***, un-freakin-beleeeevable:

www.downsdisc.com

Hopefully these NBA players are just endorsing it and not using it. But it’s fooling the public nonetheless!! Keep up the great blog and articles!!!

Other than having an uncontrollable urge to throw my eyeballs into a pool full of piranhas, I’m utterly speechless after having watched that. It amazes me the lengths that some “experts” will go to make a buck.

1. Causes imbalance, which forces our abs and body to work harder? Riiiiigggghhhhtttt. Cause you know, we want to make our athletes capable of producing less force and reinforcing aberrant motor patterns; not to mention make them weaker.

2. Add another 20 degrees of extension= 8x more work for your abs compared to crunches alone!!!!! OMG, that’s amazing! Too bad it’s completely irrelevant! First off, other than my six year old nephew, who references the Air Force as their lone source of scientific data? Secondly, it’s a huge misconception that spinal range of motion is correlated with spine health and/or improved performance. Third, what happens to a metal rod when you continuously bend it back and forth? It breaks; or at the very least, is weakened dramatically. The same can be said of your spine when you go into constant flexion and HYPER-extension. Does that sound like something that’s healthy or wise to do on a consistent basis?

(Hint: looking at random pictures of Kelly Brook= HEALTHY. Ohhhhhhh, so very healthy. Performing abdominal exercises on a poorly designed apparatus with total disregard for spinal end range of motion= not healthy).

Needless to say, this kind of stuff really bothers me, and it’s rather disconcerting the information that the general public is exposed to by these infomercials that do nothing but perpetuate lies and cater to those that are looking for that “magic pill.” Then again, who am I kidding? The Downs Disc will undoubtedly sell hundreds of thousand of copies and all I’ve done today is spend all morning debating whether or not Governor Palin qualifies as MILF material and playing Duck Hunt on my Nintendo. Pwwww, Pwwww, Pwwww.

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Two Words: Bench Off

At CP, we’re always game for a little healthy competition. Whether it’s seeing who can perform the most push-ups within a minute, who can come up with the most bad-ass medley and make someone else puke, or who can come up with the most things for Kevin, our intern, to clean (Hint: the entire facility floor, with a toothbrush), there’s never a dull moment.

Last Friday was Dan T’s last day training at CP for the summer. For his final farewell, he decided to challenge Eric to a bench off. So cliche. If they had any balls they would have had a Michael Jackson dance off. Real men don’t bench, they get Thriller! JAZZ HANDS!

Anyways, it was an epic battle. Here’s Eric at 335

Smoked

Dan T at 335

No need to comment on this one, Dan’s commentary said it all.

Eric at 345

Unfortunately, the video was cut-off a tad early and you miss Dan yelling, DAMMIT after Eric hit it.

And alas, Dan at 345. Kids, don’t try this at home

PWNED!

EDIT: for some odd reason, I inadvertently didn’t get Eric’s 355 bench. Maybe it was because my camera and I aren’t on speaking terms lately, or maybe it was because Dan was off crying in the corner somewhere. Either way, there’s a lesson to be learned here people. Boobies are awesome!

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Random Monday Thoughts (Except It’s Almost Tuesday)

1. So I read last week that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps eats upwards of 12,000 calories per day.

Michael Phelps

Until you start training five hours per day, six days per week, don’t get any crazy ideas.

2. Why are you not reading my training log over at t-nation.com? I’m pretty sure it’s been voted the most kick-ass training log this side of awesome.*

3. We have a female athlete who has been training with us for a few weeks now, and for the past two weeks she has been saying her back has been bothering her. Upon digging a little more into the matter, she mentioned that her back bothers her pretty much everyday. Guess what I see her doing after she was done training? This:

Low Back Stretch

Ahhhhhhhh. The lumbar spine isn’t meant for excessive range of motion. In looking at the research (specifically by that of Porterfield and DeRosa, and even moreso by the work of Shirley Sahrmann), it’s clear that there’s roughly five to seven degrees of “acceptable” rotation between S1-L5, and one degree of rotation (each), from L4-L1; for a grand total of roughly 13 degrees of rotation. Yet, watch many people “stretch” their backs, and they’re getting way more than that and thinking it’s healthy (thank you ADA!). Isn’t it quite coincidental that a vast percentage of lower back issues arise in S1-L5, yet this is the area that people stretch the most? Hmmmmmm.

Needless to say, I really wish people would get away from thinking that lumbar range of motion is indicative of overall spinal health. It’s not! Certainly there are exceptions to the rule, but I feel that the vast majority of people who suffer from low back pain would be wise to stop stretching their lumbar spine and start focusing more on spinal stability.

4. I’m moving this week, yet again. On one hand I’m sad to leave my current apartment (for what it represented), but I know this is what I need to do, and well, I’m looking forward to turning the page in my life and see where fate leads me.

Dear Fate,

If you do exist, can the next page in my life lead to, I don’t know, the breasts of Megan Fox? Pretty please, with chocolate covered cherries on top? I’ll totally be your BFF forever.

Megan Fox

5. Just wanted to give a shout out to CP client Danny Verna, who benched 300 lbs for the first time in his life last week. And he did it without anyone yelling, “all you, all you, all you.” What made it even more sick, was the fact that he did it with what was essentially a close grip. And even though he went to a John Mayer concert in New York today and most likely lip synced to Your Body’s a Wonderland, he’s still cool in my book. I can’t hate on Danny for admiring a guy who has hooked up with the likes of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Minka Kelly, Jessica Simpson, and most recently, Jennifer Aniston. Not only is he a champ at playing the guitar, but he’s a champ at hooking up with hot chicks, which I’m pretty sure is grounds for being nominated for the Medal of Honor or something

6. Also wanted to let everyone know, that my good friend, Jonathan Fass co-hosted The Fitcast this week. Check it out.

7. Life without television is great. Sure, I miss my SportsCenter highlights and lets be honest, Skin-a-Max. But in the grand scheme of things, I just feel less paranoid that the world’s going to end now that I’m not inundated with stories of death, murder, war, economic woes, escalating gas prices, politics, and updates on Angelina Jolie’s uterus.

8. Know what I hate? When people say that all you have to do to train your core is perform squats and deadlifts. While there’s no doubt that in doing so, you will train your core, I still think it’s a bit simplistic and shortsighted (not to mention stupid). I feel rather strongly, that people need some form of dedicated “core” work in their programming. And while I won’t go off on a tangent here (I’ve talked about this ad nauseam in the past), some great articles to read would be Mike Robertson’s High Performance Core Training and Mike Boyle’s The Real “Core” Exercise. Additionally, for those that are masochists, you can check out Jim Smith’s Combat Core Training. A nice resource to have for those looking for unique ways to train their core.

* n=1 (me)

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Harder, Not Longer (Planks That Is)

In his book Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance, Dr. Stuart McGill notes that when referring to low back stability, one needs to place an emphasis on endurance rather than strength training. As counterintuitive as it may sound, most people with chronic lower back pain, do in fact, have strong lower backs. The reason why they’re so jacked up all the time is because they use their lumbar spine too much, and lack the proper spinal stability to control end range of motion.

Rather than bore you will all the intricate details (cause I know how many of you have been waiting with abated breath my thoughts on gross motor patterns of the lumbar spine), I came across this Cliff Notes version of McGill’s thoughts written by Len Kravitz titled Low Back Stability Training. It’s a great synopsis on McGill’s thoughts. Here’s a quick snidbit:

From McGill’s research on low back stability, the data suggest that the healthiest training intervention for the spinal flexors involves muscular endurance versus strength training. McGill states that “the safest and mechanically most justifiable approach to enhancing lumbar stability through exercise entails a philosophical approach consistent with endurance, not strength; that ensures a neutral spine posture when under load (or more specifically avoids end range positions) and that encourages abdominal muscle cocontraction and bracing in a functional way.” Bracing is a neurophysiological phenomenon involving cocontraction of the abdominal wall and deep intrinsic muscles of the spine in an effort to better stabilize the low back.

Enter the wonderful world of planks. Oftentimes you hear of strength coaches/personal trainers having their healthy clients perform planks for upwards of two minutes (per set!). I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to hire someone to just stand there and watch me perform planks for 10% of my session, I might as well hire a freakin ham sandwich.

If I’m dealing with healthy individuals, I’d much prefer to make planks and their variations harder, rather than longer. And just to clarify, those who actually suffer from chronic back pain are a completely different story. In that case, I’m all for using planks for endurance. However, with typical clients, my cut-off point is 30 seconds. From there, I just think of ways to make planks more challenging. A great example would be the side plank w/row.

Here you just use a cable machine and set up as if you were going to perform a typical side plank.

1. Elbow directly underneath your shoulder, both shoulders back, hips forward (don’t stick your butt out).

2. Set the pulley at a low setting and grab it with your free hand.

3. Brace your abdominals and perform a standard row, making sure to stay completely stable. You shouldn’t have to compensate by hiking your hips or rotating your torso.

4. Don’t look now, but that hot girl on the elliptical just checked you out. DUDE!!! I said not to look. Dammit. Okay, stay cool. Go make a protein shake or something. I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that chicks dig dudes who drink protein shakes. You’re so money and don’t even know it!

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Forced Repetitions and Why You’re Still Weak

Q: I asked this guy for a spot on my last set of bench presses and said I was going for three reps. He’s like alright lets do six then, I assumed he was joking, so after I did my third rep he helped me with the last three.

So my question is, is that a stupid thing to do, have someone else help you complete additional reps? I mean maybe the 4th rep was 80-90% me but anything beyond that I can’t imagine was more than 60-70. Anyways here’s the more direct question:

What do you think about having a spotter helping complete additional reps you couldn’t have otherwise done?

A: Not a fan at all. I know many of the popular muscle magazines and “hard core” gym rats will say that it’s bad-ass and that it will get you strong. I think it’s borderline retarded, and the research backs me up. CLICK ME to see forced reps get pwned by science. Nerds: 1 The Loud Mouth Gym Rat at Your Local Gym: 0

***For those that don’t want to click on the link, it basically demonstrates that forced repetitions do nothing in regards to increasing strength and/or power.

Furthermore, Chad Waterbury wrote a really good article that touched upon this topic not too long ago titled The Secret to Motor Unit Recruitment. In it, he mentions how focusing more on bar speed and terminating a set before you reach full fatigue is the key to increased strength and size.

A key point to remember: strength/power development is mostly dependent on motor unit recruitment. I say “mostly,” because one’s cross-sectional area also plays a role (a bigger muscle has the potential to develop more force than a smaller muscle), but in the grand scheme of things, it comes down to one’s ability to recruit motor units (and this is dependent on the load being used and the speed at which that load is being lifted). According to Chad, you can’t sustain maximum motor unit recruitment for more than 15 seconds (you can read the article to find out why), so from a neuroscience standpoint, it doesn’t make much sense to train to failure and perform forced repetitions if your goal is strength. And even if your goal isn’t strength, but more aesthetics, I still feel you’re shooting yourself in the foot in the long run.

Training to failure or performing forced repetitions on a consistent basis is going to do nothing except make you tired and affect the rest of your training. Regardless, I think the moral of the story is that your time would be better spent focusing more on the quality of your reps rather than the quantity. And lets be honest, if anyone is going to force anything, it should be something cool like more pictures of Kelly Brook in a bikini. Because dammit, this is America, and I love you guys. POW!!!