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Training the Backside of Your Core

I’m not a big fan of the word “core.” Unless of course, your name happens to end with “core,” then it’s completely awesome. However in the fitness world, the term “core” is often misused and misunderstood.

Your “core” is not just the front of Mens Health or Oxygen Magazine, with the cover model sporting a six pack that you could wash your clothes on. Walk into any gym in America and you will find many trainees seemingly working their core by performing endless repetitions of crunches or any other multitude of machines in an effort to attain said six pack. Walk into any gym in America and you will find that most trainees are still fat, despite training their “core.”

Walk into my gym (Cressey Performance Center, located in Hudson, MA) and you will find trainees performing deadlift variations, pull-throughs, glute-ham raises, supine bridges, squat variations, lots of single leg work, and as I have alluded to on several times in the past with this blog, ANTI-rotational movements. No crunches. No gimmickey machines. People look good.

Everyone looks at rear ends. Guess what? That’s your “core” too.

I am in total agreement with physical therapist/strength coach Gray Cook when he says that people need to pay more attention to “training the backside of the core” (ie: glutes, hips).

We should be hip based creatures. The hips are the engine of the core. Everything from force, power, to strength is transferred through the hips. The engine of your car does the same thing; gives your car horsepower. Your mid-section (abdominals) can be seen as the transmission or drive shaft of the core. You’re not supposed to bend or twist the drive shaft/transmission of your car. So why do we seem to think that that is the best way to train our core? Why do we totally neglect the engine?

In the end, training the backside of your core will lead to better PERFORMANCE. Learn to use your hips and glutes, and you will be able to handle more weight in the gym. You handle more weight, you burn more calories. You burn more calories, you burn more fat in any given 24 hour period (assuming your diet is dialed in). Presto: lean, firm mid section (and a nice rear end to boot. Yay you). No crunches involved.

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Fatigue ALWAYS Masks True “Fitness”

Vladimir Zatsiorsky (a man who is smarter than all of us) summarized the fitness-fatigue theory (or two factor theory) by stating, “The immediate effect after a workout is considered a combination of (a) fitness gain prompted by the workout and (b) fatigue. The summation of positive and negative changes determines the final outcome.”

Fitness-Fatigue Model

Fatigue will always mask your “true” fitness level. Many trainees (myself included) make the mistake of constantly pounding away each and every week, adding more and more volume. Inevitably, performance drops and a whole lot of frustration ensues.

A great analogy I like to use is this: If I were to ask you find your one rep max on the bench press and then told you to go out and run a marathon, do you think you could come back after running 26 miles and still lift that same weight? Um, no.

In general, just learning how to fluctuate your training volume on a weekly basis will go a long way to help prevent fatigue from deterring your progress in the future. I can attest to this. About a year and a half ago I was going through a “funk” and not making much progress in the gym. I just felt really rundown, tired, and weak.

Unfortunately, I continued to pound away each week. I decided to back-off for a week (deload) and low and behold, I came back the following week and broke a personal record (PR) with a 560 pound deadlift.

You can’t expect to set personal records each and every week, and if you’re one of the many who feel that in order to make progress you need to constantly add more and more volume each and every week, then you’re really shooting yourself in the foot. Again, fatigue will always mask fitness. Keep your ego at the door and learn to back-off when needed.

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Crunches (Revisted)

Awhile back I wrote a blog on how much I dislike the abdominal crunch. If I had to make a list of things that I dislike the most, it would look like this:

1. Ben Affleck

2. Abdominal Crunch

3. People who don’t say thank you when you hold open the door for them.

4. Nutritionist who claim that diets high(er) in protein will result in your kidneys exploding

5. Poodles (my apologies to those who own a Poodle; but seriously, I’d rather have a rat as a pet before a Poodle).

As you can see, I’m not a big fan of the abdominal crunch. As for why, you can read that from the link above. Cliff Notes Version: when one performs an abdominal crunch, they’re essentially pulling the sternum closer to the pelvis hundreds, if not thousands of times, promoting a kyphotic posture (rounded back).

I’m a firm advocate of ANTI-rotational training when it comes to the abdominals, but another great exercise I like to implement with my clients is the REVERSE crunch.

Here, you get ALL the benefits of the crunch but without the disadvantages (which are many). With the reverse crunch, we’re able to train the entire abdominal wall (rectus abdominus, internal/external obliques), but without promoting all of the postural imbalances caused by traditional crunches.

A few key points to remember:

1. Keep your knees tucked to your chest throughout the duration of the movement.

2. Try NOT to use momentum to finish the movement.

3. You can start by holding onto a pole or table to assist you (for leverage). From there, use a medicine ball or 10 lb dumbbell (placed on the floor, above your head) as a counterbalance.

4. I routinely perform charity work rescuing puppies (not Poodles) from animal shelters and fight forest fires with my shirt off. Just wanted to let you know.

5. As you progress, you will soon be able to perform the movement without any “leverage” or assistance. Shoot for 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps two to three times per week.

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You’re Not That Special

I come across a lot of people who seem to think that they’re special. Don’t get me wrong, we’re ALL special in our own way. I mean, anyone who can sit through an entire evening of listening to the Presidential Debates and not want to punch their television would certainly constitute as someone “special.” That being said, I am here to tell you that you’re not that special.

You don’t have a thyroid issue and you’re not “pre-disposed to being fat,” despite what you may think (my apologies to those people who have actually gone to a physician and have been clinically diagnosed with hypo or hyper-thyroidism). Contrary to what many people believe, you can’t self diagnose yourself with a rare condition . Unless of course you happen to be me, and you self diagnose yourself as the sexiest man this side of the Mississippi River. It’s a curse that I have to live with. True story.

Nonetheless, it dumbfounds me that I come across so many people who seem to think that they’re the one case in all of human history that defies the laws of basic thermodynamics and physiology. The First Law of Thermodynamics (read: it’s a law, not a theory. In other words, it’s a fact) states: “The increase in the internal energy of a thermodynamic system is equal to the amount of heat energy added to the system minus the work done by the system on the surroundings.”

In our context: calories in vs. calories out.

If you’re expending (exercise) more calories than you’re ingesting, you lose weight. If you ingest more calories than you expend, you gain weight. If your caloric expenditure equals your caloric intake, weight stays the same. Granted it is a bit more complicated than this, but I am sure you get the point. And if you don’t get my point, let me break it down in more simpler words. Quit lying to yourself and making excuses. It’s been shown time and time again that when left to their own vices, people will OVER-report how much they really exercise and UNDER-report how much they really eat. Remember that piece of chocolate cake you had last night? How bout that six pack of beer over the weekend? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

As I stated above, you don’t have a thyroid issue and you’re body was NOT meant to be fat, and you’re not a human anomaly. You’re not that special.

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You Think Soy Is Good For You? Think Again.

First off, Vegas was awesome. Unfortunately I can’t tell you what I did because we all know what Rule #1 of going to Vegas is (what’s done in Vegas, stays in Vegas). I will say that the buffet at The Bellagio is unreal and that my girlfriend won $800 using the slots (AKA: dinner was on her for the last three nights we were there).

Anyhoo: soy. Guess what people? It stinks (literally and figuratively), and why anyone would go out of their way to include more of it in their diet is beyond me.

In her book, “The Whole Soy Story,” Kaalya Daniels begins by stating: Soy is the phenomenon of the times, the “healthy alternative” to meat, the “non-allergenic” dairy, the “low cost” protein that will feed millions, the infant formula that is “better than breast milk,” the “wonder food” of the new age.

1. Unfortunately, soy is everywhere and it’s virtually impossible not to get some amount of it into your diet. Admittedly a little soy here and there isn’t that big of a deal. It’s when people go out of their way to include tofu, soy burgers, soy protein bars, soy milk, etc into their diets (thinking that that’s the healthy thing to do) that causes bad things to happen. Needless to say, soy can be found in everything from canned tuna fish to bread to infant formula.

Before the 1950’s there was a limited market for soy based products due to the fact that there wasn’t a huge market for highly processed foods in the first place. It wasn’t till there was massive soy oil “waste problem” that the industry started to market soy as a healthy alternative. As Daniels noted in her book, “the quickest way to gain product acceptability in the less affluent society is to have the product consumed on its own merit in a more affluent society. Thus began the campaign to sell soy products to the upscale consumer, not as a cheap poverty food, but as a miracle substance that would prevent heart disease and cancer, whisk away hot flashes, build strong bones and keep us young forever.” HOGWASH.

2. Many advocates of soy will state that soy has been a “staple” in Asian countries for centuries. A staple food is defined as a major part, element or feature, with the implication that a staple food contributes a large portion of calories to a diet.

Fact: the people of China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Japan don’t eat that much soy. Many papers have noted that soy only makes up 1.5% of calories in the Chinese diet, compared with 65% of calories coming from pork. Additionally, the type of soy eaten by Asians is COMPLETELY different than what we Americans eat. Asians tend to eat small amounts of old-fashioned, little processed miso and/or tempeh. Not soy sausages, soy burgers, chicken-like soy patties, tofu cheesecake, soymilk, etc that we Americans eat. Big difference.

3. Proponents of soy will also claim that soy prevents certain types of cancer. While some studies show that soy (or its isoflavones) might help to prevent cancer, far more studies show it to be ineffective or inconsistent. And lets not forget that the vast majority of studies are done on rats (not people). Again….big difference.

4. If you’re a male and you’re stressing soy in your diet, say goodbye to your testosterone levels. Soy has been shown to DECREASE t-levels in men due to the high quantities of phyto-estrogens in soy and thus soy based products. This is also a great reason NOT to use soy based formulas with infants. Hormonally speaking, you’re really going to wreak havoc on a developing baby.

5. It should also be known that soy has been shown to DECREASE thyroid function in men and women.

6. And just because I want to kick a horse while it’s down, soy is also listed as one of the top 8 allergens. All soybeans contain antinutritional factors (known as antinutrients) and toxins.

Goitrogens: damage the thyroid (already mentioned above).

Lectins: cause red blood cells to clump together and may cause immune systems reactions

Oligosaccharides: are the pesky sugars that cause bloating and flatulence. Rule of thumb: if you’re on a first date, don’t eat soy.

Oxalates: prevent proper absorption of calcium and have been linked to kidney stones.

Phytates: impair absorption of minerals such as zinc, iron, and calcium

Isoflavones: are phytoestrogens that effect reproductive and nervous systems

Protease Inhibitors: interfere with the digestive enzymes protease and trypsin, which can lead to gastric distress and poor protein digestion.

I could go one and on, but I figured I made my point. Soy is NOT a miracle food and it’s NOT healthy for you, despite what many people will claim. I know I probably stepped on a few toes with this blog post, but it’s just something that I think needed to be said. I highly encourage you to check out Dr. Daniels book for more info.

Tony Gentilcore, CSCS, CPT

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The World’s Best Coat Rack

I am off to Vegas with the girlfriend this weekend. No we are not eloping, and no we are definitely NOT going to see Celine Dion while we’re there. Sadly this will be the first time on a plane for me (I’m 30) and I heard through the grapevine that they’re taking bets in Vegas on whether or not I wet myself on take off. Needless to say, I figured that since I am going to be gone for a week, I should write a quick blog post before I leave.

The Smith Machine (pictured below) is often touted as being “safer” than their power rack counterparts. To this I say….HOGWASH.

A friend of mine e-mailed me a few days ago saying that the company that he works for was thinking about purchasing a Smith Machine rather than a power rack for safety reasons. He wrote me and asked if I could write a bullet point rationale on why this is flawed thinking. Below is what I wrote, which is a mix of thoughts from my good friend Eric Cressey and myself.

The World’s Best Coat Rack

1. The Smith Machine offers less transfer to the real-world events than free weight exercises. The body isn’t meant to move in a fixed plane of motion. Rather, it’s meant to move in “free space” where the muscles must act in a synergistic fashion to stabilize the body. The Smith Machine is a sure fire way to promote what is called Pattern Overload Syndrome, where the same tendons/ligaments are stressed repeatedly (in a fixed plane)…..resulting in a plethora of postural issues and kinetic chain dysfunction, as well as tendonitis (acute inflammation of soft tissue) and tendonosis (chronic degeneration of soft tissue).

2. Depending on the movement, the shearing forces on the knees and lumbar spine are increased by the fixed line of motion. In short, the Smith Machine is atrocious for the lower back and knees. If anything it serves as a crutch that puts the body in a biomechanical disadvantage and more often than not, promotes injury rather than preventing it.

3. The lifter conforms to the machine, and not vice versa. Human motion is dependent on subtle adjustments to joint angle positioning; the body will always want to compensate in the most advantageous position possible. Fix the feet and fix the bar (which the Smith Machine forces), and the only ways to get this compensation are inappropriate knee tracking and, more dangerously, loss of the neutral spine position (a big no no). Watch most people squat in the smith machine and you will see rounded backs ALL the time. This is “safer”?????? Um no.

4. Smith machines are generally more expensive. I suspect that you could get a regular coat rack for about $2K cheaper – and it would take up less space. You could get two quality racks for the price of ONE Smith Machine.

So no, I have to disagree that you can do everything in a Smith Machine that you can in a power rack. If you want to promote horrible compensation patterns and a ton (literally) more stress on the knees and lumbar spine, then go right ahead…..the smith machine should be your choice.

Tony Gentilcore

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Are High Heels Worth It?

Believe it or not, one of the first things I do with female clients of mine who come to me with back pain is to get them to stop wearing high heeled shoes all the time. I know there are many men out there cursing my name after having read that, but well…..so be it.

Would you rather look good or have better posture and no lower back pain? High heeled shoes place you into hyperextension, which not only increases stress on the lumbar spine (namely by promoting an anterior pelvic tilt), but also does a number on ankle mobility. And while I enjoy high heeled shoes as much as the next guy, in my opinion they’re just not worth it from spine health standpoint.

I’ve seen it time and time again. When female clients of mine stop wearing high heeled shoes everyday, their chronic lower back pain drastically decreases. Additionally, their kyphotic (rounded back) posture improves because the lumbar spine is no longer in excessive lordosis.

Additionally, in an article written by Yael Grauer, she states:

“According to a series of articles in the Washington Post, heels are even worse than I’d imagined. The long list of heel-related ailments include corns, callouses, bunions, stress fractures, joint pain in the ball of the foot, Morton’s neuroma, hammertoe, tight Achilles tendons and more. Heels cause instability and push the foot too far forward, which increases pressure on toes and joints, throws your natural alignment out of whack and can cause low back pain and osteoarthritis of the knee. Heels also increase the possibility of ankle sprains. The higher the heels, the higher the risk. The American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine reports that a 3” heel creates seven times more stress than a 1” heel. Pointed-toe shoes can cause hammertoes and bunions. Open-backed shoes can inflame the tendon connecting the calf muscles to the heel.”

Furthermore, “Long term wear and tear (caused by high heels) will result in degenerative changes in the spine, such as foraminal narrowing, disc degeneration and lipping and spurring on the vertebral bodies. Continuing the narrowing of the foramen will result in pressure on the nerve roots,” he continued, “resulting in a myriad of problems ranging from the musculoskeletal to organ malfunction.”

So ladies, are high heels worth it?

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Don’t Worry About Minutia

Minutia: small or trivial details.

Setting diets up based on percentages just doesn’t make sense (think The Zone Diet). When someone places protein, carbohydrate, or fat requirements in terms of percentages for a diet, it doesn’t necessarily have any relevance to what that person actually needs. A diet consisting of 30% protein may be too little for one person (ingesting only 1000 kcals per day) and too high for someone else (ingesting 5000 kcals per day). Two extremes I know, but I’m just trying to make a point.

Using the above example, someone who “needs” 150 grams of protein would only be ingesting 75 grams of protein per day on a 1000 kcal per day diet (half of what he actually needs), and 375 grams of protein per day (more than double what he needs) on a 5000 kcal per day diet (again, assuming 30% protein).

Additionally, many diets are often labeled “high carbohydrate or high fat” when a specific macronutrient is over a certain percentage. Most dieticians would be quick to label a diet consisting of 35% fat as “high fat.” However, if we were to take a 2000 kcal diet (with 35% of calories coming from fat) and add 200 grams (800 kcals) of carbohydrate to it without changing anything else (total calories are now 2800), a “high-fat” diet all of a sudden becomes a “low-fat” diet because the percentage of fat dropped from 35% to 25%, even though total grams of fat stayed the same.

No need to worry about trivial minutia such as macronutrient percentages.

Tony Gentilcore

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Christmas in August?

For the past five years I have had the opportunity to work at various types of gyms/facilities. Some good, some bad. And by “bad,” what I really mean is Bally Total Fitness. I keed I keed. Seriously though, that place stinks.

Right now I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I remember back in the day, I would get so excited and the anticipation of that Christmas morning where I would hightail it down the stairwell to see all my new toys under the tree was undoubtedly the best day of my life. Well, I kind of have that feeling now.

I have always wanted to work at a gym that allowed me to take full advantage of my abilities as a trainer. A place where I didn’t have to wait for certain pieces of equipment while working with a client (yes I am talking to you Mr. I curl in the squat rack guy), or a place where there aren’t massive crowds every single night. Essentially I have always wanted to work at a place that I would be proud of and kicks major ass.

Cressey Performance Center folks. My good friend Eric Cressey opened up his own facility recently and I can honestly say that I DO feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

Here’s a brief bullet point rundown of the facility:

1. Located on 43 Broad St in Hudson, MA (with easy access to Mass Pike, 495, Rt. 9, etc)

2. Private and Semi-private training only. No annoying crowds.

3. Cutting edge training techniques with top notch equipment for training athletes as well as soccer moms and “weekend warriors.”

4. Sprint track (and yes, we have cardio machines too).

5. You will never hear John Mayer or Celine Dion playing in the background.

Feel free to stop by the facility and stay tuned for updates at www.cresseyperformance.com. You can also e-mail me at [email protected]

Tony Gentilcore

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Low Back Shenanigans (2 of 4)

Dr. Stuart McGill is smart (or is it smaht?). In any case, he’s essentially the world’s expert when it comes to lower back health and performance. Below is part II of a series of “tidbits” that my good friend Eric Cressey jotted down the last time we listened to Dr. McGill speak. Pay attention gym rats. It’s been said that upwards of 80% of the population will experience some form of low back pain in his or her lifetime; you can thank me for the info later.

6. Shear forces are far more of a concern than compressive forces; our spines actually handle compressive forces really well (think pushing DOWN on a fishing rod). You can’t buttress shear effectively in spinal flexion (rounded back), so it’s important to avoid it – especially at the most commonly injured lumbar spine segments – at all costs. The spine doesn’t buckle until 12,000-15,000N of pressure are applied in compression, but as little as 1,800-2,8000N in shear will get the job done. Take home message: stop training with a rounded back; ALWAYS keep a neutral spine when training.

7. The rectus abdominus (abs) is not about trunk flexion (think crunches); it’s an anti-rotator that is responsible for transferring hoop stresses. If it was about trunk flexion, it wouldn’t have the lateral tendinous inscriptions; we’d have hamstrings there instead!

Side Note: read this blog entry from a few weeks ago and you will see why crunches are pretty much worthless.

8. Don’t just train the glutes in hip extension; really pay attention to their role as external rotators. Once you’ve mastered linear movements (e.g. supine bridges), you need to get into single-leg and emphasis movements like bowler squats and lunges with reaches to various positions. These are great inclusions in the warm-up.

9. Contrary to popular belief, the vertebral bodies – and not the discs – are the shock absorbers of the spine. Amazingly, the elasticity we see is actually in the bone; blood is responsible for pressurizing the bone.

10. End-plate fractures are the most common injury with compression; they almost always are accompanied by a “pop” sound.

P.S. As an interesting aside to all of this, Dr. McGill and I actually spoke at length about the importance of hip mobility – something that obviously is closely related to all twenty of these points. If you lack mobility at the hips, you’re forced to go to the lumbar spine to get it, and that is a serious limitation to building stability. On several occasions, Dr. McGill alluded to Mike Robertson and my Magnificent Mobility DVD, so if you’re looking to protect your back, improve performance, and feel better than you ever thought possible, check it out..