I know this seems very uncharacteristic of me and something I normally don’t write about, but I recently collaborated with my good friend Andrew Coates and wrote an extensive article on hornets deadlifts.
I don’t know the exact number, but it’s around my 37th article on T-Nation on the topic…;o)
Andrew and I spent a lot of time on this article attempting to peel back the layers and to focus on the cues, tips, and programming suggestions that really matter for most lifters in order gain the most benefit from the exercise and to stay safe.
I’m biased, but I think this article turned out great.
There are shady characters in every industry, but it’s seemingly within the nutrition and supplement industry where the shadiest of shady characters reside.
How else to explain an industry where (celebrity) doctors cut their ties to integrity and shill the miraculous fat loss properties of Raspberry ketones?
Or where some of the product descriptions on the backside of a bottle or package resemble that of a science-fiction movie?
Like this one for example:
“The World’s strongest vaso-anabolic psychoactive experience. Our secret cellular volumizing formula is patented to nanomolecularize your vascular expanders.”
For those scratching their heads, in supplement speak, I’m pretty sure “nanomolecularize” means you’ll cause an earthquake when you flex your pecs.
Or you suddenly gain the ability to fly.
I don’t know, something will happen.
Whatever the case may be, now, more than ever, with all the varying pills, powders, and diets being “sold” to us as the next great thing, we need someone we can trust to cut through the BS and help filter through the phony facade.
We need someone to serve as the “shadiness police.”
My friends at Examine.com have just launched their new and vastly updated Examine.2.0. They’ve built an amazing resource; one that’s hands-down THE most extensive, thorough, and UN-BIASED tool at our disposal as fitness/health professionals (or people who are generally more curious and proactive with their health information).
They stick to their lane – cute kitty pictures analyzing research information – and that’s it.
No fluff
No opinions
No up-sells
No BS
If one of my clients or athletes walks in and asks about Keto, creatine, vitamin D, caffeine, or whether or not Deer Antler Root dipped in Unicorn tears harvested from a remote mountain range in Minas Tirith is worth trying…I can usually provide a competent, well-informed answer.
However, if I ever get stumped – which definitely happens – I can gather all the information I’d ever need from Examine 2.0.
And I know it’ll be the most recent, relevant, and scientifically peer-reviewed information out there.
What’s more, they include monthly updates and they also provide CEUs for American RDs, NASM, as well as the NSCA.
Starting today (through 8/25) you can take advantage of their re-launch sale:
Monthly Membership – usually $29/month will be $19/month
Yearly Membership – usually $199/year will be $144/year
To mirror yesterday’s conversation on training around pain, today’s post delves a little deeper into a specific area that many lifters tend to have issues with:
Not enough bicep curl variations in their program
Forgetting to remove their shaker bottle from their gym bag for week
Knees.
The knees are a vulnerable joint and there are myriad of reasons why they can become achy, sore, cranky, or any other similar adjective you want to put here.
Sydney, Australia based physical therapist and trainer, Dane Ford, was kind enough to write this straight-forward article on some of the root causes of knee pain and ways to address them on your own.
Squatting is an essential part of most people’s fitness routine, and it can be extremely frustrating when you experience sore hips or knees when you squat.
Today I’m going to share four killer exercise variations that will help take some pressure off your knee joints!
No matter what level your fitness is at – whether strength training or just getting healthy again after injury – these tips should work their magic in no time flat.
Let’s get started.
The Goods
Box squat.
The first variation for those who experience knee pain when squatting is the box squat. A box squat will strengthen your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. It’s also a great way to improve your squatting technique.
You’ll need a box squat or a bench around knee height to do a box squat.
Start by placing the box behind you.
Then, position your feet shoulder-width apart and push your hips back.
Next, bend your knees and lower yourself until your bottom touches the box. Pause for a second, then stand back up.
Step-Ups
Step-ups are another great variation for people who have knee pain when squatting. This exercise works your quads, hamstrings, and glutes and is a great way to build lower body strength.
To do a step up, start by placing your right foot on a box or bench.
Then, push off with your right foot and raise your body up until your leg is straight.
Pause for a second, then lower yourself back down.
Focus on keeping the hips level.
Start with a smaller step, and increase the step height as your body allows.
Hip Thrusts
Hip thrusts are a great exercise for people who want to build stronger glutes. This exercise can also help relieve knee pain when squatting by taking the pressure off your knees.
To do a hip thrust, start by sitting on the ground with your back against a box or bench.
Place your feet flat on the ground and raise your hips until your thighs and torso are in line with each other.
Pause for a second, then lower your hips to the starting position.
Progress this exercise by adding weight at your hips, like a barbell or plate.
Banded Crab Walks
Banded crab walks are an excellent exercise for people who want to build stronger glutes and legs. This exercise can also help improve your squatting technique by making it easier to push your knees out over your toes. This is a golden exercise for dealing with knee pain when squatting.
To do a banded crab walk, start by placing a resistance band around your feet. (You could place it around your knees or ankles, but the further down your legs, the harder the exercise will be).
Then, step one leg out to the side as far as the band will allow.
Keep the hips level, and the shoulders stacked over the hips.
Next, step in with the other leg.
Repeat.
Causes of Knee Pain
When addressing knee pain during squats, it’s important to understand some of the common causes. This way, you can be sure that you’re taking the right approach to fix the underlying issue. Here are three common factors which can contribute to knee pain when squatting:
Improper Form
Whilst there is no such thing as textbook technique, using ‘adequate’ form allows you to engage the right muscles when you lift and minimize injury risk. If you don’t utilize adequate form when you squat, the load in certain areas like your knee joints will be increased, instead of having the load evenly distributed through your entire body.
Our body’s tissues all have a maximum tolerable capacity. This means that we need to be able to go hard enough in the gym to stimulate adaptation and promote strength, whilst not overloading ourselves to the point of tissue injury.
Giving your body time to recover with rest or a de-load week every now and then is a great start, to allow proper cell regeneration, repair and adaptation to occur.
Adding variety into our movements is another great option to avoid overuse. Beyond the exercises we’ve covered above, mixing back squats with front squats, goblet squats, or other squatting variations will help to strengthen the squatting movement whilst providing a slightly different stimulus to our tissues, and reducing the overload injury risk.
Bad Shoes
If you’re wearing shoes that don’t provide adequate stability when you squat, then this can put unnecessary strain on your knees.
Be sure to wear shoes that provide you with a solid foundation from which to lift.
Health Conditions Related to Knee Pain
So now that we understand some of the mechanisms that can contribute to knee pain during squats, how do we know which structure in the knee is causing pain?
Knee pain can present as a number of different conditions depending on the injured structure. This can include:
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
PFPS or patellofemoral pain syndrome is a condition that affects the knee joint. It’s characterized by pain in the front of the knee and around the patella or kneecap, and is common in those who love to squat.
If you have PFPS, you might experience pain when climbing stairs, squatting, or sitting for long periods.
IT-Band Syndrome
ITBS is a condition that affects the iliotibial band, which is a long strip of connective tissue that runs down the outside of the thigh from the hip to the knee, and normally presents as pain on the outside part of the knee. But squatters need not worry too much about this – ITBS is much more common in runners rather than lifters.
Patellar Tendinopathy
Tendonitis is the inflammation of a tendon, which can occur in any tendon in the body. However, Patella tendonitis presents as pain just below the knee cap. If you perform a lot of explosive movements like box jumps, or fast tempo squats, you should be aware of patella tendinopathy.
Arthritis
Arthritis is a condition that causes inflammation in the joints. The two most common types that can cause knee pain are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that causes the cartilage in the joints to break down. This can cause pain in your knees, as well as other joints in your body.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes the body’s immune system to attack the joints. It may cause swelling and pain around the knee, leading to pain, stiffness, and inflammation.
Load management is key in managing arthritis. This is because we want to keep the muscles around the joint nice and strong, without irritating the joint too much.
How to Prevent Knee Pain When Squatting
Aside from performing some of the killer squat variations listed above, you can do a few other things to prevent knee pain while squatting.
Warm Up Properly
A good warm-up will help to increase your heart rate, loosen up your muscles, and make your body’s tissues more elastic. I recommend doing a light jog or bike ride for 5-10 minutes, followed by some dynamic stretching.
Use the Correct Weight
Another important consideration to prevent knee pain while squatting is to use the right weight. If you go too heavy too soon, it will put extra stress on your knees and could lead to pain. Utilize progressive overload by starting with a light weight and gradually increase the amount of weight you’re using as your body gets stronger.
Blood Flow Restriction Training
Another great way to improve strength whilst using light weight is by incorporating Blood Flow Restriction Training into your routine. This involves using a BFR band to reduce venous blood return from your muscles, making them work harder.
This means that you can use lighter loads to achieve the same result from your workout. BFR training can be a great addition if you are struggling with knee pain from squatting or trying to train with an injury.
Use a Smaller Range of Motion
Squatting through a smaller range of motion by reducing squat depth will reduce the load going through the knee joint, and is a great way to modify the exercise if you are struggling with pain.
Listen to Your Body
If you still experience knee pain while squatting, stop the exercise and rest for a few days. If the pain persists, consult a doctor or physical therapist.
Wrap Up
If you’re experiencing knee pain when squatting, try one of the variations I suggested and see how they work for you. Remember to always start light and gradually increase the weight as your body gets stronger.
And, most importantly, have fun with it! Squatting can be a great way to improve your fitness level and get in shape, but only if you do it correctly and safely. Give these variations a try and let us know how they work for you.
About the Author
This article was written by Dane Ford, the founder of Lift Physiotherapy and Performance in Sydney, Australia. Lift Physio aims to help you overcome injury, optimize your health, and unlock your full movement potential.
It’s even more of a drag when you’re someone who’s used to being active and an injury prevents you from training consistently or prevents you from training as hard as you’d like.
There’s generally two approaches many people take:
1. Complete rest.
2. Conjure up their inner Jason Bourne and grit their teeth through it.
Neither is ideal in my opinion.
I take the stand that injury (or training with a degree of pain <— sometimes) is inevitable. As I’ve jokingly (but not really) stated in the past…
…”Lifting weights isn’t supposed to tickle.”
Pain, pain science, and how to train around pain is a very complex and nuanced topic. This is a blog post, not a dissertation.
To that end, today I want to take some time to discuss a few strategies on how to train around pain that don’t revolve around the extremes: Sitting on the couch watching Netflix or plotting to take down Treadstone.
Full Disclosure: Much of what I’ll cover below is in Dr. Michael Mash’s online resource, Barbell Rehab, which is currently my new spirit animal of favorite continuing education courses.
1. A localized or generalized unpleasant bodily sensation or complex of sensations that causes mild to severe physical discomfort and emotional distress and typically results from bodily disorder (such as injury or disease).1
2. That feeling you get when your significant other wants to talk about feelings or what your eyes see when you watch someone perform 117 kipping pull-ups.2
More precisely we often associate pain with actual damage. However, pain doesn’t always have to gravitate around that denominator.
Pain can also be equated to a smoke alarm alerting the body that something is awry:
Hey, bicep tendon here: I think I’m close to snapping, can you tone it down on the bench dips?
Hey, knee cap here: I’m about to end up on the other side of the room if you don’t fix your squat.
Look out – a ninja!
More to the point, pain is multi-faceted and can manifest a plethora of ways, which is why it’s imperative to educate people that it isn’t always centered around a physical injury.
Take for instance this cup analogy highlighted in a 2016 study from the medical journal Physiotherapy: Theory & Practice titled “The clinical application of teaching people about pain” by Louw, et al.
Pain is like a cup, and there are many factors that can fill it up.
Moreover, you can address people’s pain in one of two ways:
1. Reduce the contents of the cup.
2. Make the cup bigger (via appropriately progressed strength training)
As Michael addresses in Barbell Rehab, there are several ways to build a framework to train around pain that don’t involve being passive, subjecting yourself to corrective exercise purgatory, or in a worse case scenario…surgery.
1. Technique Audit
When someone comes to CORE for an assessment with me and they go into great detail on how bench pressing bothers their shoulder(s), rather than spending 30 minutes assessing how much shoulder range of motion they have, waxing poetic on the myriad of drills they can perform to improve thoracic extension, and/or going into the weeds on diaphragmatic positional breathing mechanics I’ll instead do this really out-of-the-box thing where I’ll ask them to…
…wait for it.
…wait for it.
…here it comes.
…show me their bench press.
More times than not, all that’s needed is a subtle technique fix on their set-up and execution of the lift itself and their shoulder hates them less almost instantly.
This isn’t to say we’d ignore other factors like thoracic mobility and breathing mechanics altogether; especially of deficits exists. However, I’ve found that most people are less inclined to want to light their face on fire from corrective exercise boredom if I just cut to the crux of the issue at hand.
Their shitty technique.
2. Programming Audit
This is a point I remember Dr. Quinn Henoch of Juggernaut Training hammering home when I listened to him present a few years ago.
How often do you audit your programs?
Has it ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, the reason why you (or your clients) are hurt is because you were a bit overzealous with an exercise variation – or, more commonly, you were too aggressive with loading – and that that was the culprit of your’s (or their) low back pain…?
…and not because your left ankle lacked two degrees of dorsiflexion, or, I don’t know it was windy yesterday?
Load management (or lack of it) is the lowest hanging fruit we often overlook.
Using the same person above who’s shoulder bothers them when he/she benches: Let’s say they like to bench press 1x per week, on a Monday of course.
Like clockwork, the day after they bench, their shoulder feels like Johnny Lawrence used it for target practice with his fists.
It feels like that for a few days, dissipates, and then by the time the following bench day arrives it feels better and the same cycle continues.
A more cogent approach may be to spread out the same volume over TWO workouts rather than one.
Here’s what they normally do:
Monday: Bench Press: 6×5 @ 185 lb
(Total Tonnage = 5,550 lb)
Here’s what they should do:
Monday/Thursday: Bench Press: 3×5 @ 185
(Total Tonnage = 2,775 lb) x 2
NO MERCY!
3. Change Modifiable Factors
Pigging back on the above, when something hurts or is painful always, always, always look at volume/load first.
From there you can ascertain at what load does something hurt – what’s the symptom threshold? Find that and when you do, train just below it to build tolerance and resiliency. The result will be twofold:
1. You’ll be encouraging an actual training effect.
2. Eventually, you’ll surpass the original symptom threshold because you forced an adaptation.
An easy example here would be squats. If someone experiences knee pain at a certain depth – maybe at parallel or just below it – have him or her perform a box (or free) squat ABOVE that spot.
Likewise, maybe all that’s needed to make the squat less painful is to change the stance width, or degree of toeing out?
You can also tinker with bar position or even the tempo. The point is: Assuming we’ve ruled out anything nefarious, I’d rather someone keep squatting with a variation/tweak that reduces their symptoms dramatically than omit them altogether,
As I type these words on my keyboard I am aboard an Irish Rail train en route to Galway. We just spent the past five days in Dublin being tourists making the typical pit stops at sites like Trinity College, the Temple Bar neighborhood, and I even had a Guinness at the renowned Gravity Bar atop the Guinness factory.3
We still have several more days lined up exploring the sites of Ireland with everything culminating in Belfast where we plan to hit up the Titanic Belfast Museum as well as the Giants Causeway and a few filming locations of Game of Thrones.
#nerdlife.
Suffice to say I am in no mood to write new content. Thankfully my man Paul Levitin was thoughtful enough to send me a guest post before I left on my trip. He’s written a handful of excellent posts in recent months and this one no different.
4 Tips I’d Give Myself on Day 1 of My Fitness Journey
After working in a gym for nearly a decade, and collecting every certification under the sun, it’s easy to become jaded and say “everyone knows this stuff.”
Factually, most people do not.
Today, instead of thinking about where I am now, with 10 years of experience, I want to go back.
It’s easy for me to say “I don’t count calories anymore,” but that’s because I counted calories for nearly a decade, and I have more nutrition labels memorized than I do phone numbers at this point.
So If I had to start from scratch, if today was day 0 of my fitness journey, where would I begin?
Knowing what I know now, what would I do to most leverage my time and energy?
One thing is for sure: When I first started, I had no clue what I was doing. I wasted a lot of time, literally years doing the wrong things. I wasted money, buying useless supplements and other gimmicky products like sauna suits.
So if i could travel back in time to the first day of my fitness journey, here are my 4 tips that I would give my 17 year old self:
1. Don’t Overlook the Simple. Don’t Overvalue the Complex
Some things are so simple, so easy, I just couldn’t understand how they might be helpful
Things like, parking farther away at the parking lot, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking to the store instead of driving.
Like, yea, I get it, you get some steps, but could the hundred steps it takes to get from one end of the parking lot to the other, or the extra two minutes it takes to walk three flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator really make a difference?
Most people think that exercising, whether it’s lifting weights or doing cardio or anything else, represents a huge amount of calories being burned.
In reality, an hour of even the most high intensity exercise will only burn a few hundred calories, a small percentage of your daily calorie intake and burn.
The vast majority of your calories are spent each day simply living. Between bodily functions, like keeping your blood pumping and keeping the lights on in your head, to doing daily tasks like walking, eating, typing, and everything else you tend to do.
It makes sense, since simply proportionally, even if you spend an hour in the gym five days a week, that’s only five hours out of 168, which is 8.4%. Just logically, we have much more opportunity during the remaining 91.6% than we possibly could in the exercise time, no matter how hard we try to push it during those 4 or 5 hours.
A key step towards health then becomes trying to do more in your non exercise time. That walk from the end of the parking lot here, taking the stairs there, getting off your train a stop early and walking, or deciding to explore a new city on foot rather than take an Uber, these things can seem trivial, but over days, weeks, months, and years, they add up.
They keep you moving, they keep you burning, and it’s a key habit that all healthy people adopt, either consciously or unconsciously.
2. Eating for Health and Eating for Weight Loss Are Not Necessarily the Same. Exercising for Health and Exercising for Aesthetics Are Not Necessarily the Same
This one throws people through a loop. It definitely took me some time to wrap my head around.
I saw countless clients as a nutrition coach, as well as myself, getting frustrated saying “I’m eating so healthy, but I’m not losing weight!” That’s because these goals are not one in the same, and taken to extremes, can actually be counter to one another.
The problem comes from the ambiguous definition of “healthy.” To many people seeking to lose weight, they use the terms interchangeably.
A doctor, nutritionist, or health blog however, might use the term “healthy” to mean more nutritious, with more healthy fats. This however might mean more calories, which means that a big bowl of almonds every day might be hurting your weight loss, more than helping it.
Or, some “naturalist” type, might say “healthy” to mean less artificial ingredients. To them then, a 200 calorie kombucha would be “healthy,” but a zero calorie, zero sugar diet coke, would not, even though the latter would result in less calories consumed, and thus more potential weight loss than the former.
The same can be said for exercise. Hang around any heavy duty lifting gym for long enough, and talk to enough jacked and shredded bodybuilders and powerlifters, and you know what you’ll hear?
Stories of torn rotator cuffs, blown out backs, and bad knees. Probably some disordered eating as well, and quite potentially, the use of some illicit substances.
People might look “good” (whatever that means), but their health is actually suffering because of it
Now, does this mean these things are mutually exclusive?
Of course not.
You can eat in a way that is both healthy and ideal for weight loss, and you can exercise in a way that makes you look and feel sexy af, while also improving your overall health and longevity.
I am simply saying that this is not inherently the case, and the sooner that you come to grips with that, the less frustrated you will be.
That brings me right to the next point…
3. Optimal Is Only Optimal if You Do It. Don’t Optimize Yourself Out of Consistency
For a long time, I tried to force things,
I was a personal trainer, so I studied the science. I studied the studies.
Squats are more optimal for muscle development than leg press. Cool, no more leg press, only squats.
The optimal weekly routine has you hitting each body part 2 to 3 times per week, that means more focus on big muscle groups like back and legs, and less on arms, abs, and anything smaller.
Optimal cardio is low intensity steady state, those HIIT days are killing your gains. Ok, no more HIIT, only walking. (Jury is back out on this one).
As time went on, I continued to optimize and tweak and adjust, until where I started was nowhere at all where I began.
Now, this in and of itself, certainly isn’t a bad thing. It was the constant learning, optimization, and tweaking that allowed me to achieve the results that I had, like reaching a 500lb deadlift or sub 10% bodyfat.
But that was me. I was a personal trainer, spending seven days in the gym, eating, breathing, and sleeping fitness and nutrition information. It was my life. I was uniquely dedicated, and there was nothing that was going to throw me off course.
Often, people would see what I was doing, be it friends, family, or clients, and try to do the same. Unfortunately, they weren’t me (Sad, I know).
What I mean is, they weren’t coaches. They had lives outside of the gym, they had responsibilities, they had families, they had limited time.
Because of that, often what the science might have said was the most OPTIMAL workout might not fit with their lives.
Beyond that, what is more important, is that what is OPTIMAL does not take into account what is ENJOYABLE.
I was nut, I was going to do whatever it took to get lean and strong.
Normal people, which you might consider yourself to be, might want to, oh, I don’t know, enjoy their exercise routines?
Eat food that doesn’t look like it could be fed to a rabbit?
Crazy huh?
The thing is, in the quest for optimization, individuality is lost.
If we are assuming that there is ONE optimal way, (which we can argue about, and people on the internet surely will) that means that anything other than optimal is inherently deemed “wrong” or “worse”.
That can be disheartening for people who are already struggling with just getting to the gym or getting off the couch, now they are being told they are doing it wrong too.
So while I do think there is a time and place for doing what’s best, not if it comes at the expense of actually doing the damn thing.
So many people these days hear that strength training is the end all be all of exercise. And for good reason, it’s the bee’s knees, the benefits are basically endless.
BUT, if you’re someone who loves Zumba and going for long runs, should those be poo-poo’ed because they aren’t as optimal as lifting weights?
If you try to force yourself into a box, there’s a chance you might fit, but there’s always also a chance you might get claustrophobic and go crazy
This takes experimentation, and some knowledge of self
I’m not saying don’t try to optimize or ever do what’s best. Just saying, tread carefully, and a non-optimal workout routine done consistently for years is infinitely better than the most scientifically optimal workout that you do for 6 weeks then quit because you hate it
Which, brings me to point four,
4. In the Long Game, Consistency Wins. This is the Long Game, Whether You Like it or Not
When I was 17, I cared about one thing, and one thing only: looking good. More specifically, looking good right now. If I absolutely had to wait, I would accept results tomorrow, but beyond that we were really starting to push it.
Unfortunately, at the time, I was living in this dumb stupid super annoying place called “reality.”
It really was the worst.
Every day, I’d go to the gym and do abs, then lift my shirt up, and NO ABS. It was like a cruel joke.
Now you might be saying, been there Paul. And if you have, maybe you know what my next step was: obviously, logically, it was, more.
More abs!
More cardio!
More more more!
Looking back now, I can see how the logic might have been a little flawed. What I’m not doing isn’t working? Hmm, let’s do more of it!
Poor exercise selection and actual workout programming aside, this route couldn’t work for one key reason: it was unsustainable.
I’d sit doing abs in the gym for 2 hours some days, and be so sore the next day I couldn’t move, or so tired and lethargic I’d skip the day’s planned workout.
And simply logistically, there was no way for me to do 2 and 3 hour workouts like that consistently.
The problem was, I was looking at everything with a short-sighted view. Life, on the other hand, is long. So all my plans revolved around getting results as fast as possible, even though I was a teenager, and barely even started my life
And this is unfortunately how most people look at exercise, eating, and health in general. It’s all about now. Some people think about longevity, but it’s an afterthought at best
The thing is, life is going to happen, whether you want it to or not. You are going to get older. You are going to be 30, 40, 60, 80, whatever, at some point. So for better or worse, you might as well start thinking about it now.
Internalizing these 4 tips will help you create a lifestyle that works for you, and you can keep up with. That way, you can be healthy and enjoy it, not for weeks, or months, but years and decades.
About the Author
Paul Levitin spent a decade as a personal trainer & strength and conditioning coach, becoming the number one trainer in his entire company, while collecting over 30 certificates (CES, CSCS, PRI, PN1, FRC, & many more).
Wanting to better serve his training clients, he began to study behavior change, and eventually became a Board Licensed Health & Wellness Coach (NBHWC). This led him to create his education and mindset coaching company “The Healthy Happy Human Academy,” where he now helps clients deal with things like self-sabotage and perfectionism, to allow them to build a healthy, happy life.
He seeks to bridge the gap between the worlds of fitness and nutrition, and the frustrated, overwhelmed masses who just want to move more, feel better, and live a little longer.
I had the lovely opportunity to be invited onto the Fitness Pain Free Show hosted by my man Dan Pope recently. Dan and I have known each other for several years (the facility he works out of, Champion Physical Therapy & Performance, is located about 20 minutes away from my training studio in Boston) and he and I have conversed over shared clients/athletes during that time.
I’ve long championed that personal trainers and coaches need to be proactive and go out of their way to develop and curate relationships and networks with local physical therapists.
it not only enhances the results for the (injured) client, but it never hurts to have two sets of biceps eyes on the same problem.
Training While Injured: A Thoughtful Convo With One of My Man Crushes
In this episode Dan and I break down how we connected and how we’ve continued to hone our professional relationship in order to get our clients the best outcomes possible.
We also discuss the idea behind the TRAINABLE MENU and how it came to fruition during my own achilles rupture rehab. What’s more, Dan and I also discuss why it’s important for fitness professionals to respect scope of practice and why it’s important to NOT treat injured clients like a patient.
I think you’ll really dig this episode.
You can listen to it on Spotify (HERE) or iTunes (HERE).
I was recently invited onto the Your Fitness Money Coach Podcast hosted by Billy Hofacker. Some of you may recognize the name because Billy has penned several informative guest posts on this site surrounding financial literacy in the past year.
I was thrilled to post his content here because he has expertise in a topic that many fitness professionals need dire help with. To speak candidly, I wish I had access to this kind of content earlier in my career.
Nevertheless, Billy invited me onto his show to discuss what ended up being a bevy of topics. He ended up titling it “Standing Out From the Crowd,” and I think it was the right call. I mean, I personally would have gone with something like “Tony is the Wind Beneath All of Our Wings,” or “Tony’s Pecs Had me at Hello,” but whatever.
Billy is an excellent conversationalist and I enjoyed going back in time to discuss how I went about differentiating myself from the masses creating content and building my own brand from scratch.
I hope you give the episode a listen and be sure to check out more of Billy’s stuff. I’m not kidding: He’s an abyss of information and practical knowledge around business and finances.
It was an absolute pleasure to be invited onto the Becoming Ronin Podcast recently hosted by Jim “Smitty” Smith & Brian Oberther.
SPOILER ALERT: We did not use the hour to break down or discuss the 1998 Robert DeNiro classic, Ronin, which has one of the best car chase scenes ever filmed.
(sad face).
Appearance on the Becoming Ronin Podcast
We did, however, dive into true Ronin territory. This show is not meant to solely cover sets & reps, the differences between concurrent vs. conjugate periodization, how to master a bicep peak, or anything related to lifting heavy things.
It’s no doubt imbued with those “ingredients” and themes, but the Becoming Ronin Podcast goes a bit deeper into other, more robust “takes” and conversations into what it takes to truly live a life of fulfillment and meaning.
It was an honor to be invited onto the show and I think you’ll dig the conversational style of the episode.
Give it a listen HERE (direct link) or HERE (iTunes).
I received a question recently via my Instagram DM’s and figured it prudent to take some time to write a more thorough response I could share with the masses here.
“What is your response to female clients who use the cliche of not wanting to get bulky when training? Any practical scientific routes that you speak about to dispel this myth?”
…I really do feel this sentiment and way of thinking is shrinking and becoming less of a “thing” in 2022. Granted this is just my N=1 experience, but since this is my blog, pretty much anything I say here should be taken as fact.
Like:
Hacks is the funniest show on television right now.
Baseball players can (and should) perform overhead pressing.
I think my cat wants to kill me.
No, really, I’m not kidding.
Why are you looking at me like that, Dagny?
No, wait, stop. STOP.
Ahhhhhhhh.
I joined my first commercial gym in 1996. I came home for the summer after my freshman year in college and was elated to find out my hometown had suddenly gotten a bit more badass and opened up a gym.
(it sure beat having another pizza shop open up)
It was stellar and it served as my “home-base” until I left for New England in the fall of 2005. In those nine years it was very rare to see a woman in the free-weight area lifting weights. I felt it was fantastic anytime I saw it happen, but it was a rare event.
Akin to me wearing shorts in public.
Anyway, once I moved to New England (and subsequently Boston) I ended up living in a proverbial strength & conditioning bubble where people of all shapes and sizes (as well as non-Y chromosome havers) performed full-rom pull-ups, were more inclined to squat on Monday than bench press, and salivated when it was deadlift day.
And that’s where I lived until this past Fall when I joined my first commercial gym since 2005. I’ve been training there for the past several months and it’s night and day in terms of the general vibe.
Everyday I see various women squatting, deadlifting, thrusting, and lifting appreciable weight. It’s awesome and I love that the mentality and attitude toward strength training has shifted to reflect a stark contrast compared to a generation prior.
That said, it’s not lost on me that the stigma of “lifting weights will make me bulky” still stings in today’s society and that it festers in the psyche of some women still.
The best way I can answer this question is in two parts:
1. What to NOT say and do.
2. The opposite of that.
What to NOT Say and Do
The question sent to me asked if I have a “practical scientific route” I take when this issue comes up. I do (or I should say did), but it rarely (if ever) works.
If I’m honest, early in my career I took this approach and it makes me cringe to think about it. If a new female client brought up her concerns about putting on too much muscle it took a lot of will power on my end to not have my eyes roll out of their sockets.
And then I’d get all “mansplainy” and wax poetic about hormone profiles and how women have waaay less testosterone than men and that it’s really hard to put on muscle.
I’d say something snide like:
“It’s hard to put on muscle. 100% of guys wish they could add muscle as fast as many women “think” is possible.”
Then, to top it off, like an a-hole I’d continue…
“You won’t turn into He-Man in a week. Or a month, or a year for that matter.”
Like I said, I cringe when I think about how I used to handle this sort of conversation. I’m willing to bet I lost more potential (female) clients then gained taking this approach.
Here’s What I Now Do Instead
At this point in my career I tend to get a lot of self-selected clientele. Meaning, by the time someone walks through the front door the day of their initial assessment or session, they’re already perfectly aware of what they’re getting themselves into.
They’ve either read a lot of what I have written and know my general approach to training or they look up at the sign above the door and read my tagline…
Surprise!
Nevertheless, while I still like to endorse some level of education on the topic of women and strength training, I’ve since rescinded my global approach to a large degree.
I still play devil’s advocate at times and will say something like “saying you’re going to get big & bulky from strength training is like me saying I’m going to win a gold medal in the Olympics because I went out and did some sprints yesterday.”
(and then I keep my fingers crossed that there’s nothing but crickets chirping afterward).
Instead of going on and on about women’s limited testosterone levels, how toning isn’t a real term (one of my biggest pet peeves fitness professional do), or how they’ll never attain the results of elite female bodybuilders, yada yada yada…I dig deeper, and ask more questions:
“Why do you feel strength training will make you big and bulky?”
What does bulky mean to you? What does it look like?
“Is this something that happened in the past?
“What exercise(s) in particular do you feel cause this?”
Maybe their perspective projects that of a trainer they worked with previously. Maybe they never took the time to learn nor where they shown proper technique. Or, I don’t know, maybe they have a hard time letting go of certain myths and think the Abominable Snowman exists.
Either way…
Sometimes it’s more helpful to take some time to peel back the onion and to ascertain someone’s root cause for thinking they way they do, rather than chastise them out of the gate for the sole purpose of proving them wrong.
I have found that this approach has been a far more efficacious way of handling things and has helped me build far more powerful and lasting relationships with my female clients.
And not for nothing: After a few weeks of consistency I find the switch flips anyway. Once the foreignness and stigma of the barbell is no longer a part of the story – and we begin to build & increase autonomy and competency – I find most of my female clients begin to strive to be more (adding muscle is cool!) rather than wanting to be less.
Fitness professionals are notorious for myriad of things:
Wearing sweatpants to work everyday. It’s definitely one of the perks of the job.
Always forgetting about the protein shake shaker in their gym bag (or in their car) that invariably, three weeks later, ends up melting someone’s face off once it’s opened.
Their affinity for smedium t-shirts.
Never talking about financial literacy (I.e., planning for retirement, investing, and/or general business savviness).
The latter is just something we never discuss and is our version of an unspoken rule; kinda like talking to a pitcher during a no-hitter.
My friend and colleague, Billy Hofacker, is back with another fantastic post geared toward helping fitness professionals better wrap their brains around money. This time around, specifically, centered around the stress of seemingly never having any.
What’s more, he even includes a special (and FREE) “master class” video for my readers that I feel everyone should check out.
I remember starting out in business. I was fortunate enough to have a free session with a guy named John, a CFO of a huge company. I’m talking about a company that was doing hundreds of million in revenue.
You see, I have my own personal journey with money that included being suffocated by 130K in non-mortgage debt and working my way out.
Now I was going to use some of the principles I was learning from my personal journey and apply them to business.
Needless to say I was excited for my free session. I remember standing behind him as he was showing me how a business budget worked. He would mention “budgeting” certain amounts for certain categories. The curious person that I am, I asked him where that money actually was. I said something like, “If I have $500 allocated towards equipment, where does that money actually go? It seems to me like it’s just sitting in the account like all the other money. What’s to stop it from being spent?”
One of the most common reasons Fit Pros hire me as their financial coach is because they want a plan for their money.
Not having a plan is painful.
It results in a lack of confidence and results. Many people think that businesses fail due to a lack of profit but are surprised to learn that in fact, 82% of businesses fail because they lack an understanding of cash flow.
The good news is that there is hope. A solid cash flow system can do a lot for your business. Clients who have developed a system report that:
Decisions Become Much Easier – They know when and how much to invest in marketing, hiring, and marketing
The Path Becomes Clear – They are able to focus like a laser as they know what the next step towards their goal is
Confidence Increases – Sure, Fit Pros want to do better financially. They want to earn more but what’s perhaps more important is the person they become in the process
There are a few common mistakes or myths when it comes to cash flow plans.
I will relate all three to fitness.
The First Mistake: People Don’t Stick With It Long Enough
Just like some fitness clients, if they aren’t completely transformed after a couple of months, they throw in the towel.
Just like fitness, financial improvement takes time. You don’t erase 20 years of poor financial habits in five minutes with a spreadsheet. This boils down to behavior change which we know takes time.
The work precedes the results.
The Second Mistake: Thinking There Is a One Size Fits All Program
Should everyone become a competitive endurance athlete? Not necessarily. Some people have other interests within fitness and/or aren’t suited for it. Some trainers (e.g. the kettlebell guy or gal) make the mistake of forcing the program they like on the client when the modality might not be most effective for the client.
They neglect the concept of bio-individuality.
Some financial coaches do the same thing while they would be better off working with the client to develop the best plan for them.
While certain principles may apply, the exact how-to’s may differ from person to person.
The Final Mistake: Thinking That the Cash Flow System Will Be Boring Or Restricting
Author and leadership consultantJocko Willink says that discipline equals freedom. When you are disciplined with your fitness or your finances, the result is more freedom, not less. If you aren’t fit, you’ll have less options in what you can do physically.
If you aren’t financially fit, you will also be restricted in what you can do.
Click HERE To Get Access to the full video training.
The Problem
One of the reasons it’s hard for people to create and stay on a financial plan is the chaotic nature of how money comes in and goes out.
Depending on your situation, you may:
Not pay yourself at all
Not pay yourself consistently
Be on salary
Pay yourself monthly
Pay yourself bi-weekly
Pay yourself bonuses
Have a side hustle
Have recurring revenue
Have various programs
There are so many situations people find themselves in and that’s just the income.
Let’s talk about expenses.
You most likely have automatic monthly expenses. These would occur the same day every month and for the same amount. A prime example would be your rent or mortgage.
You most likely have daily expenses. These are things like food, coffee, toiletries, etc.5
We all have random expenses. These are the ones that really throw people off. An example is that car insurance payment that’s due every six months. You can have a plan for everything else but if you don’t have a plan for these, your budget could be busted.
The good news is that we have a plan to account for all of these and then some. While it’s beyond the scope of this post to cover every detail, I’ll provide an overview as well as a next step.
Of course, I’m a huge proponent of “paying yourself first” so if you’re not doing that, I’d make that a priority.
Now let’s cover a plan for the three types of expenses I mentioned.
Check out my video HERE where I explain everything.
Monthly Automatic – These are probably the easiest since you know the dates and amounts. You would just coordinate the dates they are due with when your income comes in.
These are automatically paid from your main checking account.
Daily – Call me old school but I like to use cash for daily expenses. If I can’t use cash, I’ll set up a separate debit account at my main bank so I can at least keep things separate. I recommend people do the same for daily expenses, at least for a period of time so they can really see what’s going on.
Random – As I mentioned, these are the ones that throw people off the most. For that reason, it’s essential to have a plan for these infrequent expenses. You’ll want to open up a bank account at a separate bank (an online account is perfect) and save the breakdown that you will need each month. For example, if you’ll need $1200 to buy Christmas gifts, set up an auto transfer for $100 each month to that account.
In a Nutshell
That’s the simple plan you can follow to get rid of money stress for good. I realize this can be overwhelming if it’s new to you and that you also may have unique circumstances.
For that reason, I recorded an exclusive video for TG’s list (i.e. YOU) which dives more into the details and should help more with the how.
Of course, I’m available if you have any questions.
Many fitness professionals get stuck in the day to day and have little to show for their hard work. Billy Hofacker helps them get on a plan to achieve financial freedom. You can learn more by listening to the Your Fitness Money Coach podcast or visiting www.yourfitnessmoneycoach.com.
You can also opt in to get a digital copy of his book Fitness ProfitsHERE.
Paul Levitin spent a decade as a personal trainer & strength and conditioning coach, becoming the number one trainer in his entire company, while collecting over 30 certificates (CES, CSCS, PRI, PN1, FRC, & many more).
