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Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: 5/21/12

Only 2 posts this week? I feel slighted.

That was a comment left for me last week by someone who was a little “miffed” at me for my lack of blogging prowess. Believe me, I felt bad for only posting two blogs last week, but I think it’s because you’re all spoiled and are used to me writing so often as it is. I’m not blaming you.  I’ve set the standard and I need to own up to it.

If it’s any consolation, though, last week was a HUGE week.

First off, while we had a little bit of a heads up leading up to it, our apartment got a bit of a face lift last week getting all (13) new windows installed within a two day span, and as an added bonus, we also got a new kitchen as well.

Well, by “new kitchen” what I really mean is a new sink and counter tops.  But to say our apartment looked like it went through a nuclear blast would have been an understatement.  It was a mess.  And with a bunch of random dudes walking around making all sorts of noise, it made it hard to get much (if any) work done.

What made the process even more stressful was the fact that both Lisa and I were expecting our families to come into town to celebrate her graduation last weekend, and it was IMPERATIVE that everything got done in time.

It did………….and all was well in the world.

And all I have to say now is that everything looks FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABuuuuuuuulos!1!11!!!

Above all, Lisa is now officially a doctor in sports psychology. After a Hobbit like journey, through all the trials and tribulations, and ALWAYS amazing me with her character and perseverance, she did it!  I couldn’t be more proud of her.

To make the occasion even more sweet, we spent the entire weekend with friends and family celebrating her achievement, and it couldn’t have been more awesome.  THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by and for the well wishes on Facebook.

2.  As a final reminder, I’m going to be in Edmonton the weekend of June 2nd as part of the Spinal Health and Core Seminar along with Rick Kaselj, Dean Somerset, and Dr. Jeff Cubos. Not only will it be my first trip to Canada since I was a sophomore in college, but it will officially mark the furthest West I have ever been in North America.  Go figure!

Additionally, I’ll be making another trip up to Canada a few weeks after that – this time to Toronto – to speak at the PTDC Hybrid Training Seminar along with Jon Goodman, Nick Tumminello, Dan Trink, Mark Young, and Geoff Girvitz.

Spots are still available in both cases, but if you’re on the fence I’d suggest you snag one up now because as it draws closer to the actual date(s), they’ll be harder to come by

3.  I came across this video of Dr. Craig Liebenson going through a case study of a flexion intolerant back which I felt needed to be viewed by more people. It’s only like ten minutes long, but well worth the investment.  Trust me, your Words with Friends battle can wait.  Watch the video.

If nothing else take notice of the look of death he gives the audience when he points out that ALL signs point to it being a flexion based issue and NOT an extension based one.  Classic.

4.  One of the more common email questions I receive is how one can go about writing for reputable fitness publications like T-Nation or Men’s Health. While I offered a few thoughts on the topic in THIS post not too long ago, fellow strength coach Jon-Erik Kawamoto upped the ante and wrote an awesome blog post HERE which provided some great tips from a lot really smart people like Ben Bruno, Bret Contreras, Molly Galbraith, Mark Young, Sean Hyson, Nick Tumminello, and Optimus Prime.

Okay, not Optimus Prime (although, how awesome would that have been????), but definitely a lot of other recognizable names that go out of their way to offer a lot of insight.

5.  Keeping the same theme, if you’re looking for something good to read, I’d HIGHLY suggest picking up a copy of Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel. Not that I have to pimp anything by these two guys – the names speak for themselves – but this is quite honestly one of the best books I’ve read in a while.

It’s formatted in a way where both authors offer their two cents as the book progresses.  Coach John will speak on a topic, and then Pavel chimes in with thoughts of his own.  Both are generally on the same page in terms of their thought process, but I love the contrasting styles.  While I’m obviously familiar with Pavel, I really haven’t read much of his stuff, and I totally dig his no BS approach.

I started the book last week and haven’t been able to put it down since.

And that’s it for today.  I’m about to get my lift in.  Since I’ve been feeling a bit beat up as of late, I decided to drop my training frequency from four days per week to three.  In the past I’ve found that that approach works REALLY well for me in terms of giving my body a break.  What’s more, with several other things going on in my life competing for time – blogs, articles, programming, etc – it just makes more sense to tone it down a bit.  So, for now, for those who care, my training schedule will look like this:

Monday:  Full Body (DL emphasis)
Tuesday:  Hill sprints (grass)
Wednesday: Full Body (Bench emphasis
Thursday:  GPP/Mobility Day (LIGHT Prowler pushes, possibly hug someone)
Friday:  Full Body (Squat emphasis)
Saturday:  GPP/Mobility Day (or what we like to call Superficial Saturday, which can be anything from extra bicep work to even more extra bicep work….haha)
Sunday:  eat lots of dead animal flesh and take a nap.

How you like dem apples?

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Exercises You Should Be Doing: Split Stance Low Cable Row

If you ask me there are only a handful of things in this world that people seemingly can’t get enough of:

1.  Cowbell

2.  Twilight (I’m still trying to figure this one out).

3. And in the strength and conditioning realm:  horizontal rowing.

The first two are obviously pop culture references (if you haven’t watched it already, I HIGHLY suggest you click on the cowbell link I provided) that I threw in there just because I can. And because I absolutely despise Twilight.

The latter, however, is something that’s a bit more pertinent to today’s discussion and something that – contrary to above – I feel many, many, MANY trainees go out of their way to avoid – which is a shame.

If you look at the overwhelming majority of programs that people follow, it’s hard not to notice that they’re very anterior dominate.  Meaning, they place a premium on the parts of the body that we can see (pecs, abs, biceps) and generally disregard the muscles that actually play a role in performance and optimal posture (glutes, hamstrings, and rest of the backside).  It’s BRO-gramming in its purest form.

Taking it a step further, even if someone is making a concerted effort to be a good little lifter and including more horizontal rowing into their training repertoire, sadly, most absolutely butcher technique and end up causing more harm than good.

Giving a few examples, here’s some old videos of EC when he was like 15 demonstrating the three biggest culprits:

Chin protrusion, forward head posture:

Hip and lumbar extension:

Humeral Extension with Shrug:

I each case I think we can all agree that neither of the above pass the “shit test.”  Put simply: if it looks like shit, it’s probably shit.

Moreover, none are actually working the muscles that the exercise is intended to target, and there’s a bevy of compensation patterns that come to the forefront.

In any case I bet these look vaguely familiar, right?

If you walk into any commercial gym, anywhere, at any time…. and someone is performing a seated row, that’s what you’ll inevitably see.

That notwithstanding, I do love me some rows.  I think they’re invaluable movement for building an impressive physique, and even more importantly, for addressing many of the postural issues that plague our society.

Nothing represents this phenomenon so succinctly more so than Janda’s brilliant Upper Cross Syndrome.

In dissecting the diagram to the right, we can easily see how our daily lives spending copious amounts of hours in front of a computer, as well as our programming mishaps can play into dysfunction.

The pecs, upper traps, and levator (tonus muscles) tend to be overactive and short/stiff; while on the other side of the fence the neck flexors, rhomboids, and serratus anterior (phasic muscles) tend to be weak and inhibited.

While it can be a bit more complicated, the easy solution would be to stop benching three times per week for…..the…..love……of…….god stretch what’s stiff/short and strengthen what’s weak/inhibited.

While I’m not going to go out of my way to address the former, the best course of action would be to perform some dedicated soft tissue work on the pecs, lengthen the tissue, and then “cement” that new length with some non-eye gouging exercise selection.

With respects to exercise selection, today I want to share yet another rowing variation that we utilize quite a bit at Cressey Performance:

Split Stance Low Cable Row

What Does It Do:  What doesn’t it do?  Obviously we’re going to strengthen the upper back (specifically the scapular retractors), which is never a bad thing.  Secondly, would be the anti-flexion component.  By bending over at a 45-degree angle – which you don’t do during a regular standing cable row – the spinal erectors get quite a bit work trying to prevent shear loading.

Third, one gets a fair amount of glute activation in the trailing leg.

Last, and maybe less obvious to some, would be the multi–planar stability in the front (plant) leg, as the hip musculature (glute max, glute med, deep hip rotators) has to resist the torsional forces placed upon the body.

In short, there’s a lot of “stuff” going on during this exercise, which makes it a winner in my book.

Key Coaching Cues:  While I’m all about progressive overload, I’m not overly concerned about being aggressive with this exercise.  I’d rather one not try to be a hero and do this exercise correctly than use too much weight and look like they’re having an epileptic seizure.

To that end:

1.  Tuck the chin and try your best to prevent any forward head posture.

2.  Squeeze the glute of the rear leg.  Like hard. So hard that you tear your shorts.

3. Make sure to keep the shoulder blade depressed (and adducted)….and don’t shrug the weight.

4.  Pull the elbow towards the hip and squeeze for a 1-2 second count with each repetition.

5.  Give somebody a hug.

Try it out today, and let me know what you think!

 

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Stop Chasing Pain Podcast with Tony Gentilcore

Late last summer I made the trek down to NYC to attend the Peak Diet and Training Summit to get my learnification on as well as take part in an “expert panel” that Joe Dowdell put together as part of that weekend’s festivities.

As much I LOVE getting smarter (and I did a ton of it that weekend), one of the best parts of going to those sort of things is the networking opportunities that manifest and take place.

While I already knew many of the attendees that weekend – Joe, Mike Roussell, Jim Smith, Kevin Neeld, John Romaniello, and John Gaglione to name a few – I also met a lot of new faces, too. You see, many times I end up hitting it off with other coaches, practitioners, and trainers who share many of the same affinities as myself. You know, lifting heavy things, the rotator cuff, and bacon.  God, I love bacon.

As it happened, that weekend I met two people who would end up as significant networking contacts.

One was Jon Goodman of the Personal Trainer Development Center, who wrote a fantastic guest post for this site (HERE) as well as invited me up to Toronto in June to speak at the PTDC Hybrid Training Seminar.

The second was Dr. Perry Nickelston; Or, P-Nickle-Stizzle, as I like to call him.

Dr. Perry is a rare breed indeed.  In his own words:

No. I am not your typical doctor. I have tattoos. I wear jeans to work. My shoes are Vibrams. I wear lots of bling (rings and necklace). I don’t wear a white coat or put ties on. I look for the cause of our pain and don’t chase the site. I don’t have an ego when it comes to referring out. If I can’t help you I will tell you. I don’t want to see you for lots of visits be use that means I am not helping fast enough. I want to teach you how to take care of yourself. I talk like what I feel and I walk the talk. I don’t tell you to do something I can’t do myself. I will use any tool and method to get you well. When you call my office I answer the phone. My office number is my cell number because I am here for you as a person. I am not the status quo…and that’s the way I like it. I love what I do more than anything and I want to share it with others. Got a problem with any of those? Tough cookies!

I had the humbling opportunity to be invited by Perry to talk some shop on his Stop Chasing Pain Podcast last Friday morning.

Even though we only chatted for around 35-40 minutes, he and I covered a lot of ground ranging from things like program design and mastering the basics to some of daily musings inside Cressey Performance (especially assessment) and what “stability” training actually means.

All told it was an easy flowing conversation between two dudes and how we can go about increasing people’s level of awesome.

A slight warning: I may or may not have had a potty mouth during the taping. Sorry Mom.

Nevertheless, Perry does a fantastic job with his podcast – he has something like 30,000 subscribers! – so I hope you’ll check it out and offer some feedback!

 

In the Trenches with Tony Gentilcore

 

 

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5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Write Your Own Program

Today’s guest post comes from fellow strength coach, Conor Nordengren.  Conor interned with us at Cressey Performance coming up on two years ago now, and since has gone on to establish himself as a reputable coach in the New England area.

His post today comes in a timely fashion since I, too, have recently been discussing the merits of “out sourcing” my own training regimen. Sometimes, we ALL suffer from analysis by paralysis and Conor helps shed some light on the topic.

Enjoy the post, and more importantly, enjoy the weekend!

“So…WTF should I do now?”

It was the week after my first-ever powerlifting meet this past December and this question was stewing in my brain. I had decided to take the week off from training to let my body and mind recover from months of heavy lifting in preparation for my meet.

My first meet had gone pretty well; I competed in all three lifts, only missing one PR attempt on the bench press, and walking away with PRs on the squat and deadlift. I was definitely happy and had a great experience, and it’d be fair to say that I caught the powerlifting “bug.”

I had my sights set on competing again this June and was determined to get stronger and improve upon my numbers. The primary goal of my training for my next meet would be very specific: I wanted to get my bench press to 300 lbs. or more. The bench press has never been a great lift for me and I knew I needed a smart, focused plan of attack to increase my max. While I had some ideas of my own on how to go about this, I felt it would be to my benefit to get some individualized programming from an experienced professional.

Yeah, this guy:

Up until this point in my training career, I’ve never had a program truly written and individualized for me.

I’ve followed some excellent programs, such as Eric Cressey’s Maximum Strength and Show & Go, Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1, and Dan John’s Mass Made Simple, and gotten wonderful results. Since I’d already done these programs and since I had a very specific goal in mind, I knew I needed a particularly targeted program.

The idea of sitting down and writing a program for myself didn’t last long; I immediately caught myself over thinking things and trying to write the perfect program, worrying about extremely minute details that probably didn’t matter too much at all. And I’d do this every four weeks? Yeah, I don’t think so.

Long story short, I enlisted Tony’s services and he has been programming for me for almost six months now in preparation for my meet in June. This has been a new experience for me and a great one at that.

 

As my meet draws near, I’ve been thinking about why it is beneficial for people to have someone else program for them. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. Accountability – Having someone else write your programs instills a sense of accountability in you. Many times, you are paying a coach to program for you, and you are much more likely to stick to your program and get all your workouts in if it’s something you’ve invested your hard-earned money in.

The person doing your programming has also put a degree of time, effort, and thought into your program. With this in mind, you’ll be letting your coach down if you skip a workout or don’t give every training session your all.

As an example, on one of the days when I train, I have to open the gym where I work at 4:45 a.m. When I get out of work, it’s sometimes tempting to take a long nap or postpone my workout to the next day so I can just “chill,” but I know that if I do this, I’ll be letting Tony down. That’s the last thing I want to happen, and if he ever were to find out, he’d probably Chuck Norris me in the face.

Note from TG:  Actually, no, Conor, that’s NOT what I’d do. I’d probably just slash your tires.

2. Identification of Weaknesses – Tony has mentioned this on his blog numerous times before and it always rings true: we like to do what we’re good at.

By nature, we don’t always gravitate towards areas where we’re particularly sucky, and this goes for our training and for life in general. Sometimes it takes another coach’s objective eye to identify your areas of weakness and their programming to improve in these areas to ensure that you make progress. I’m certain that had I not asked Tony to program for me, I would not be fully addressing my areas for improvement, which would be limiting my progress towards my goal.

3.  Motivation – Every four weeks, I receive a new program from Tony and it always gets me fired up to train. It’s almost like Christmas morning; I wake up, run downstairs and log in to my email account, and there it is: my new program!

“Hammer curls! Sweeeeet!!! Thanks, Tony!!! It’s just what I wanted! And…and…Prowler pushes? Oh…four of them? Gee, uh…thanks.”

Kidding aside, I’m always excited to train when I get a new program and am determined to crush whatever is thrown my way. Having someone program for you will keep you fresh and on your toes.

Going back to #1, knowing that someone has spent time writing a program for you will keep you motivated to get to the gym and get after it. Consistency is key to progress and getting your programs written for you will help to keep you honest.

4.  Time-saver – This is a benefit of having a coach that I just recently realized. By “outsourcing” your programming, you will have more time to devote to other important things.

As a strength and conditioning coach myself, this means that I can focus my free time on continuing education, programming for clients, my training, and any number of other things, whether they have to do with my job or not. This is huge for me, because as I alluded to earlier, it would probably take me hours to write myself a program. That’d be about as cool as a shart when you’re wearing white pants and it is time that I could spend doing other things of importance.

5.  Learning Experience – My time having Tony program for me has been a great learning experience. This isn’t exclusive to me just because I’m a strength and conditioning coach, but it goes for all fitness enthusiasts or anyone simply interested in strength training, too.

Having a coach will expose you to new exercises and methods that will increase your knowledge and, if you are a coach yourself, give you ideas that you may be able to implement with some of your clients.

When I look through my program, I always try to identify the purpose of any given exercise. For example, right now I’m doing reverse crunches twice-a-week and I have two left-hip internal rotation drills in my dynamic warm-up. Why? After thinking about it, the twice-a-week reverse crunches are to help keep me out of anterior pelvic tilt. The two left-hip internal rotation drills are to improve upon my left-hip internal rotation, which isn’t great, and is typically lacking in most men compared to right-hip internal rotation for that matter. We can all learn something from someone and getting your programs written for you is a “sly” way to do so.

The End

I’ve really enjoyed having Tony program for me and have seen the benefits of having someone else write your programs for you. Are there any other benefits to having a coach that I left out? If so, I’d love to hear them in the comments section!

Author Bio

Conor Nordengren is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) accredited by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is a graduate of Stonehill College, where he majored in Health Sciences with a minor in Business Administration. At Stonehill, Conor was a two-year member of the men’s basketball team. He completed internships in physical therapy and also worked as a physical therapist aide. Upon graduation, Conor interned at Cressey Performance in Hudson, Massachusetts, under widely recognized strength coaches Eric Cressey and Tony Gentilcore. During his time at Cressey Performance, he had the opportunity to work with a variety of clients including athletes at the professional, college, high school, and junior high school levels. Conor is now a strength and conditioning coach at Dynamic Strength and Conditioning in Nashua, New Hampshire where he is dedicated to helping people of all ages and ability levels achieve their fitness goals. You can read his blog at www.conornordengren.com and contact him at [email protected].

 

 

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 5/10/12

Several month’s ago Adam Bornstein (yes, THAT Adam Bornstein) contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in submitting an ab routine for his upcoming book, The Women’s Health Big Book of Abs. Without blinking an eye I said yes, sent a little sumthin sumthin Adam’s way, and then completely forgot about it.

Just the other day he messages me and says, “dude, it’s available.  Thanks for the help.”

And here you go……

Women’s Health Big Book of Abs – Adam Bornstein

As the title suggests, the book covers all the essential diet and fitness information one would need to get rid of that muffin top and attain lean, sexy abs. Cooler still is that the book contains contributions from a bunch of other peeps in the health and fitness world you may be familiar with:  Bret Contreras, Jim Smith, PJ Striet, and God……so you know it’s legit.

Glute-Licious: Maybe You’re Just Not Ready for This Jelly – Kellie Davis

Still a tad skeptical behind the power of the hip (or glute) barbell thrust? Still think it’s just a gimmicky exercise that has no merit? Well, in this post Kellie demonstrates that not only are you wrong, but that you’re missing out on some serious glute-licious development.  Indeed!

One Squat to Rule Them All – Ben Coker

It’s after reading articles like this that I REALLY wish I was somewhat (even remotely) proficient with PhotoShop.  Not to diminish the actual content, Ben’s introductory title – The Lord of the Squats – was priceless!

Speaking of the content, this was an EXCELLENT article on the benefits of box squats.  I’ve been a hyyyyyoge advocate of box squats for years, and it’s nice to see other coaches out there spreading the love, too.

Much like Ben, I feel box squats are a superb way to teach someone the proper hip hinge pattern as well as target an area that tends to be woefully weak for most individuals – the posterior chain.  Additionally, box squats offer unique advantages for those with banged up knees (utilizes more of a vertical shin angle) and back (reduced spinal loading on L5-S1).

In short, they’re the bees knees and you should be doing them.

One last thing…………………

Muscle Imbalances Revealed 3.0 (Lower Body Edition)

This is the product that initially launched the Muscle Imbalances Revealed series (I was involved with the Upper Body edition), and it’s recently been upgraded with a ton of great additions:

  • Corrective Exercises for Performance
  • DB Mobility Workout
  • Strategies for Hip and Ankle Mobility
  • Injury of the Month – Rick Kaselj’s fantastic monthly resource for fitness professionals

Lets say you bought the upper body edition (thank you by the way), and you loved it.  It changed your life. Yet, you don’t have the lower body edition to compliment it.  That’s like owning The Godfather Part II and not The Godfather (lets just pretend Part III didn’t happen).  It’s a sin!

Lucky for you, MIRL is now on sale – for 31% off the original price – from now until the end of week. Holla!

 

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Exercises You Should Be Doing: Tall Kneeling Landmine

You may be wondering why I’ve been out of commission since like the middle of the last week. For starters, Joe’s post – Just Because a Doctor Said It: A Response – was such a huge hit, and got such a great response, that I wanted to keep it up for a few days to maximize the total number of people who would read it.

Secondly, my girlfriend was out of town for a day and half and I took every opportunity to catch up on some of the manly things I never have a chance to take part it.  You know stuff like growing a beard, staying up past midnight, and chopping down trees just for the hell of it.

Of course I didn’t do ANY of those things. Instead, all I did was use the time to be as productive as possible and spent my entire Friday afternoon (and night) catching up on programs that needed to be written, doing some (pleasure) reading, and then hanging out at Panera where I put the finishing touches on another article that I just submitted to T-Nation.  Oh, and I ate a lot of bacon.

And, just like the rest of the free world (or at least the parts that have an IMAX), I also went to see The Avengers. All I have to say is holy epicness.

What’s more, did you happen to see how much freakin money that thing made this past weekend?  It SHATTERED the previous opening weekend record – previously held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.  I think it made something like a kazillion bajallion dollars.*  Crazy.

With money like that, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about Joss Whedon – the director – taking a martini bath every two hours.**

Anyways, it’s a gorgeous day here in Boston and we haven’t seen the sun in like a week.  Coincidentally, both Lisa and I have the day off and we’re going to take full advantage of it and walk around and enjoy the sites.  But, before I leave, here’s an exercise you should be doing.

Tall Kneeling Landmine

Who Did I Steal It From:  No one, technically.  But I know it’s been made popular by the likes of Mike Boyle and Gray Cook.

What Does It Do:  Since “core” training is all the rage just about everywhere you turn, it’s important to train it in a manner that it’s designed for. While there are several applicable “actions” of the core, this exercise specifically targets both rotatary stability and anti-extension.

  • Rotatary Stability:  Essentially this is akin to preventing unwanted motion – especially in the lumbo-pelvic-hip area. With this exercise it’s important to lock the center in place and to have as little motion as possible in that area.  Of note, when done correctly, this exercise also HAMMERS the external obliques.
  • Anti-Extension:  Again, while locking oneself into position, another key component of this exercise is to resist extension.

Key Coaching Cues:  One of (if the THE most) benefits of this movement is that it can be done anywhere, at any gym.  There’s no special equipment necessary. All you need is a barbell and a corner.  While you can’t see it in the video above, all the setup requires is placing the opposite end of the barbell in a corner so that it doesn’t slide around.

In terms of execution, the main point to consider is to emphasize a LONG-lever. In other words, try to keep your arms as straight as possible (maybe a very slight elbow bend) and focus on making as large of an arc as possible WITHOUT compensating.  Trust me, it’s much harder than it looks, and you won’t need a lot of weight to feel the effectiveness.

Furthermore, I like to tell people to dig their toes into the ground (more dorsiflexion) and to squeeze their glutes as hard as they possibly can.

I tend to shoot for anywhere between 5-8 repetitions per side, usually using the lower end with newbies and those who are generally weak.

Try it out today and let me know what you think!

* = rounded up.

** = you know, because that’s what rich people do. Right?

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Just Because A Doctor Said It – A Response

About a week and a half ago I posted a Facebook status which read, “I’m sorry, but just because ‘your doctor said so’ doesn’t mean you’re right.”

It was in response to an article that Adam Bornstein wrote on Livestrong.com titled The Most Dangerous Diets Ever, where a handful of readers were up in arms that he dissed the HCG Diet.

For those unaware, the HCG Diet is where one injects hormones (derived from the human placenta) into their while following a 500-800 kcal per day diet for “x” number of days…..

……under a doctor’s supervision, of course.

I’ve made it known in the past how I’m not a fan of this “diet”, and that I find it absurd that anyone would think injecting themselves with (EXPENSIVE) hormones while following such a pitifully low caloric intake for an extended period of time is a healthy endeavor.

More to the point, I find it downright appalling that any physician would endorse such a plan and then recommend to his or her client(s) to try it.

Makes me wonder whether they went to an actual medical school or Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Hahahahahaha. See what I just did there?  Zing!

That notwithstanding, the main argument for those who defend the diet is “well, my doctor said it was safe.”

Riiiiigggggghhhhhtttt.  Lets not forget that there was a time when doctor’s recommended that people smoke for its health benefits.

To reiterate what I said earlier in the week:

I’m not saying that ALL fall under this umbrella – there are undoubtedly many superb primary care personnel out there – but I find it hard to believe that any doctor would advocate this diet without some monetary kickback or incentive to do so.

It’s a lot easier to tell someone to drop $1500 on hormone injections than teach them proper eating and lifestyle habits, I suppose.

Then again, doctors don’t necessarily practice health and wellness, they practice medicine. If you present with a symptom, they’re going to treat that symptom with medicine. So, I guess I can’t fault those who do advocate this diet. Most get two weeks of course work in nutrition – max – during medical school.  Many think apple juice is the same thing as an apple!

To that end, today I’d like to share a guest post from Joe Lightfoot who, as a current medical student AND strength coach, has a unique perspective on the topic.

Enjoy!

Just Because a Doctor Said It – A Response

Tony’s recent Facebook status update (and blog post) regarding doctors created quite a lot of debate, and a lot of interesting thoughts were expressed. However, I felt the overriding response was one of negativity towards doctors.

It inspired me to write the following blog post. So how come I feel strongly enough about the issues to write about it?

My Story

Well, I’m about to graduate medical school this July and I’m also a coach (currently I work as the S&C coach to the England Under 19 Lacrosse team and I also work with non-athletes too). As I’ve seen it from both sides, I hope I can add a new perspective to the debate.

First off, I agree 100% with Tony’s statement. Just because a doctor does say something it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true.

But you shouldn’t be surprised or offended when a client has the point of view. Doctors have held, and will continue to hold a position in society whereby the public trusts them (whether rightly or wrongly in certain situations).

Why? I feel it’s due to the differing barriers of entry for both professions. To become a coach or trainer is relatively easy, however to become a doctor you have to complete either five years of medical school in the UK, or a total of eight years in the US counting undergraduate studies and then medical school.

Now the length of formal schooling is not a sure fire test of how correct someone is, but if you were a member of the public with no prior knowledge, who would you trust?

The client doesn’t know that you’re a hotshot trainer or coach who’s well read, takes care of continuing education, and has a wealth of experience. You could be someone who did one certification and professes to know everything.

Furthermore getting a client or athlete to trust you is your job. So whilst it’s damn annoying when someone believes something incorrect just due to someone’s perceived authority, attacking that said person won’t help the matter.

I think by demonstrating credentials, building trust and offering evidence to back up your advice is the best way to have an impact on your clients.

As a coach, I think a doctor’s position of trust is something you should use, not try and dispute. Rather than someone to fight against, that doctor could become one of your best allies in promoting healthy behaviours. I think it all begins with reaching out to the doctors of your clients and forming a partnership, and even offering education on the area of your expertise.

Doctor’s Knowledge Of Lifestyle

So do doctors know about lifestyle advice? The short answer is no. You’d be mortified if I told you how much education and training I’ve had regarding exercise and nutrition.

If I had to sum up my experience at medical school in one sentence, I’d do so like this: I have learned about disease, but I haven’t learned about health.

Doctors need more education on everything to do with lifestyle advice, particularly exercise and nutrition. That is indisputable.

But it isn’t all bad news. I’m currently visiting the US and shadowing a number of doctors in Boston. I recently met one doctor who is currently studying for the CSCS. Her reason? Exercise is one of the most important things her patients can do.

This isn’t a lone example. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Why All The Negativity?

Like any profession there are good and bad people. Medicine, like coaching, is no exception.

To say all doctors are egotistical, cheat on the wives, don’t practice continuing education or think critically is wrong, and frankly offensive.

Whilst some are motivated by money and titles, the vast majority of people became doctors because they want to help their patients.

If you took just a snap shot, you could quite easily come to the conclusion that all trainers are just out to sell the latest gadget to make money, and coaches all shout and scream at athletes until they collapse. In fact, the opposite is true, and the industry is full of awesome people who know their stuff and make a major positive impact on people’s lives.

The Future

Mike Boyle has said it; I think I’ve heard Dan John say it: Coaches and trainers are a front line defense against disease and illness, and we’re some of the few professionals practicing proactive healthcare and preventative medicine.

Doctors should welcome coaches and trainers support, guidance and help. Medicine is becoming increasingly multi-disciplinary and I hope to shortly see the day when patients are referred to strength & conditioning coaches.

So what can we do? It all starts with education. I’ve made it a life goal to bring the medical profession up to speed on lifestyle advice, and create a true health service with the Move Eat Treat campaign.

This campaign aims to educate health care professionals on lifestyle advice, including nutrition and exercise. Coaches and trainers have a wealth of information, which doctors need to embrace and understand.

Final Thoughts

Someone once told me that to change a health care philosophy would take 50 years. So I figured we best get started. A major step is getting doctors and coaches to work together, and it starts with mutual respect of each other skills.

Who’s up for creating a proactive health service? I’d love your support for the campaign HERE.

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The (Not So) Obvious Causes of Low Back Pain

Back pain is a bitch.  There’s really no other way to describe it. It’s been said that 80% of Americans will experience it at one point or another, which, when you run the numbers, is like four out of five people.  Yep, that’s what I like to call math.

Needless to say, back pain bites the big one and it’s easily the #1 cause for things like days missed from work, training days lost, not to mention the burden it places on health care costs.

The mechanisms for back pain are many, but can really be categorized into two camps:

1.  One, massive, blunt force trauma:  car accident, falling off a ladder, getting Terry Tated in your office for not refilling the coffee pot.

2. Repeated, low-grade, aberrant motor patterns which inevitably lead to something bad happening.  Sitting at a desk all day comes to mind. In addition, we all know of someone who either bent over to tie his or her shoe or simply to pick up a pencil who ended up blowing out their back. The body is going to use the path of least resistance to get the job done, and unfortunately, because most people have the movement quality of a ham sandwich (poor hip mobility, poor t-spine mobility, etc), the lumbar spine, literally, gets eaten up.

While it’s a bit overkill, our spines can be thought of as a credit card.  Bend it back and forth enough times, and eventually, it will break.

As a coach who works with elite athletes as well as people in the general population, I’ve seen my fair share of back issues, and I wholeheartedly feel that a structured strength training regimen geared towards improving movement quality, addressing any postural imbalances/dysfunctions, as well as “cementing” proper motor patterns is one of the best defenses in preventing low back pain in the first place.

Coaching someone how to achieve and maintain a neutral spine (something I wrote about HERE and HERE) would be high on the priority list.

Coaching someone how to properly perform a hip hinge or helping them clean up their squat pattern – utilizing the appropriate progressions (and regressions) – would also be kind of important.

And, of course, we can’t neglect staples like encouraging spinal endurance (planks), as well as placing a premium on proper lumbo-pelvic-hip control (core stability exercises like chops/lifts, Pallof Presses, and the like).

All of these things are great, and certainly will set people up for success, but there are many (MANY) less obvious components that often get over-looked.

Stealing an analogy from the great Dr. McGill – it’s the hammer and thumb paradox.  Lightly tap your thumb with a hammer and not much will happen.  No big deal, right?  After a few thousand taps, however, you’ll be singing a different story.

Keeping this theme in mind, lets take the birddog exercise.  Simple exercise, that many fitness professionals use with their clients to help improve dissociation of the lumber spine from the hips, and to teach co-contraction of the anterior core and erectors with little to no spinal loading.

Simple exercise, for sure, but not quite so simple in it’s execution.  If you glance at the picture to the left, you’ll notice the concave shape of the back and see that she’s just hanging on her lumbar spine.  Not exactly ideal execution.

If this were someone suffering from low back pain, would this alleviate their symptoms or make them worse?  My guess would be the latter.

Taking it a step further, have you ever watched people foam roll?  There’s no questioning it’s efficacy towards helping to improve tissue quality, and we have every one of our clients do it prior to their training session.

The thing to consider, though, is that when you’re dealing with someone with a history of low back pain – whether they’re currently symptomatic or not – you need to stay on top of them so that they’re not making the same mistake as above and hanging on their lumbar spine; essentially living in a constant state of extension.

Rather, what should happen is that they “brace” their core and maintain more of a neutral spinal position as they roll around (reference the fine looking gentleman to the right).

It’s borderline OCD, I know……..but I can’t stress enough how important it is to make the small things matter.

Take away the hammer.

Using an example that’s a bit more exciting, lets take the overhead press and break that down.  Now, I have nothing against the overhead press – far from it.  But when you actually watch a vast majority of people perform it, don’t be surprised if your eyes start bleeding.  With a keen eye, what you’ll almost always witness is someone substituting excessive lumbar extension for shoulder flexion. But damn, it can look gooooooooooood at times.

When this happens, it’s usually beneficial to regress the exercise a bit and take some of the joints out of the equation, ALA the Gray Cook approach.

In the half kneeling position, I’m essentially taking my lower half out of the equation where I can now focus on pressing the weight over my head WITHOUT compensating with the lumber spine.  The key here is to “dig” the rear toes into the ground and to squeeze the glute of the trailing leg, hard!  As I press, I’m thinking “elbow to ear.”

Moving to a standing position, strength coach Dave Rak (he’s single, ladies) demonstrates a variation he showed me with one hip flexed:

Here, we’re still able to “lock” the lumbar spine in place and alleviate as much body english as possible.  What’s more, there’s an awesome glute activation component in the trailing leg.  Yes, I understand you won’t be able to use as much weight, but that’s not the point (yet). Once we can perfect the movement pattern, and take some of the burden off the lumbar spine, then we can load it and satiate our inner meathead.

Belly Breathing – The Right Way

One last point to consider, and this is something that I never even thought of until Bill Hartman pulled a Bill Hartman and made me realize how stupid I am, is the idea of belly breathing into the belt.

I’ve stated my opinion on weight belts in the past, and have always been told to PUSH OUT in order to increase intra-abdominal pressure (and thus, spinal stability).

As Bill demonstrates in this video, that’s not necessarily correct:

And there you have it:  just a few more things to consider when discussing the topic of low back pain.  Sometimes it’s not the quite so obvious things that are causing the issue(s).

Have your own ideas to share?  I’d love to hear them below.

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Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: The New Rules of Lifting for Life, Bully, Are (Some) Doctors Shady?

1.  A few weeks ago while Lisa and I were doing out grocery shopping in Trader Joe’s, one of their employees – a cool dude – approached me and asked a few questions on working out. It was a small chat, really, but at the same time he was genuinely interested to hear what it is that I do to look the way I do.

Note:  I’m not saying this to sound conceited, so hope it doesn’t come across as such.  My GF will the first one to tell you that I’m always embarrassed whenever this happens, and that I’m probably the worst person when it comes to accepting compliments.

“I’ve been working out for a while, but I’m just not seeing the results I want,” he noted.

“Well, what do you do?” I replied.

“You know, I run a little, do some yoga, and I have a few dumbbells at home I use throughout the week.”

“Do you lift anything heavy?” I said.

“I read Men’s Health, and I do a few of their ab routines.”

“Okay cool, but do you lift anything heavy?”

[Crickets Chirping]

This is where I want take the time to thank both Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove and possibly name my first born after them, because their New Rules of Lifting series has literally saved me countless hours of talking over people’s heads.

New Rules of Lifting

New Rules of Lifting for Women

New Rules of Lifting for Abs

Rather than stand there and try to explain to people why performing endless hours of steady state cardio may be making them fatter, I can just tell them to go buy the book.

Don’t believe me that crunches are probably the least effective ab exercise?  Go buy the book.

Still think you’re going to get big and bulky if you lift anything over 10 lbs?  Get the book.

You’re lost when it comes to setting up a beginner workout routine?  Get the book.

Need a can opener in a pinch?  Get the book!

These books have done more for fitness and have helped improve the quality of information available to the lay public more than anything I can think of at the moment.

And with that, in case you missed it last week, their new book in the series, The New Rules of Lifting for Life is now available, and it’s awesome.

THANK YOU LOU AND ALWYN!!!

2.  I’m a huge fan of documentaries.  Recently, I’ve been streaming The War, Ken Burn’s opus to the greatest generation, on Netflix, and it’s absolutely fascinating.  My grandfather – who sadly died when I was young – was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed back in 1941.  I remember my mother showing me old pictures of him in uniform, and just being in awe that someone who played a role in making me was involved in such an historic event, and was a hero.

I’ve always been drawn to WWII.  In fact, I was a history major at one point in college and took classes like Hitler and Nazi Germany. Totally not kidding.  As you can imagine, I was a major hit with the ladies. Don’t even ask me what would happen when I started talking about the Maginot Line.

Anyways, I’m getting off track. Suffice it to say, I like documentaries because I feel it’s an opportunity to learn something I otherwise never would have in the first place.

I mean, who knew penguins marched!?!

Recently I’ve been reading a lot about the documentary, Bully –

I have to say, this one really hit home for me.  Not that I was bullied back in the day or anything, but it definitely resonated with me in the sense that it was heart wrenching to watch. If it were up to me, Bully would be required viewing for any kid in middle and high school.  Do yourself a favor and go see it.

3.  My buddy Sirena Birnal – a fantastic personal trainer here in Boston – recently wrote about the merits of sprinting and badonkadonk shaping (my words, not hers). Check it out HERE.

Feeling motivated after reading it, Lisa and I returned to our hold stomping grounds – Harvard stadium – to do some sprinting ourselves.  We kept it simple yesterday, only performing 10 total sprints with about 60 seconds rest in between, but it was awesome to get outside and move around a little.

I’ve been feeling pretty frustrated with my training as of late, and I chalk it up to the fact that I’m just not moving as much as I used to.  Sure, I’m still training upwards of four times per week, and I’m on my feet most days coaching clients, but I’m definitely not as active as I used to be, which is completely my fault

It’s something I want to discuss more down the road – even I’m not impervious to getting into a training rut – but for now, it’s a great feeling to have a fire under my ass again.  Literally and figuratively.

4.  A few weeks ago, Adam Bornstein wrote an eye-opener titled The Most Dangerous Diets Ever.  Predictably, it caused quite a stir and some people went out of their way to defend specific ones that he threw under the bus. One diet in particular – the HCG Diet – was of particular interest and seemed to get the most play.

Now, I’ve noted in the past how I’m not a fan of this diet.  Call me crazy, but I find it ludicrous that anyone would think that injecting themselves with hormones (very expensive hormones, no less) while following a 500-800 kcal per day regimen – even if it’s under the supervision of a physician – is a “healthy” endeavor.

What I found interesting was that there were several people who claimed it was perfectly healthy because their doctor said it was.

This prompted me to post a Tweet where I said, “I’m sorry, but just because ‘your doctor said so’ doesn’t mean you’re right.”

I mean, there was a time where doctors advocated that people smoke for the health benefits.  True story.

I’m not saying that ALL fall under this umbrella – there are undoubtedly many superb primary care personnel out there – but I find it hard to believe that any doctor would advocate this diet without some monetary kickback or incentive.  It’s a lot easier to tell someone to drop $1500 on hormone injections than teach them proper eating and lifestyle habits, I suppose.

Then again, doctors don’t necessarily practice health and wellness, they practice medicine. If you present with a symptom, they’re going to treat that symptom with medicine. So, I guess I can’t fault those who do advocate this diet. Most get two weeks of course work in nutrition – max – during medical school.  Many think apple juice is the same thing as an apple!

So, just to throw a “feeler” out there: what does everyone else think on this matter?  Am I off base?

Waits for the hate mail……..

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 4/27/12

The Pitfalls of Progressive Overload – Bret Contreras

I love articles that are straight to the point and offer personal perspective from the author. This was a fantastic article by Bret showcasing that you don’t HAVE to go on the “all you can eat” diet in order to get stronger.

“Pick your ideal weight and try to be as strong as possible at that weight”

Words of wisdom from my boy Bret.

If nothing else, read the article to see a picture of Bret when he was fat. Classic (and an awesome way to make a point).

Q and A: How to Write Resistance Training Programs, Part 2: Coaching – Steve Reed

The key word in that title?  COACHING!!!!!!

The only way to get good at something – anything! – is to actually do it. A lot.

Like, all the time.

I’m reading a fantastic book right now called Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success, which, much like it’s predecessors Outliers and Talent is Overrated, hammers the point that PURPOSEFUL practice (10,000 + hours to be exact) is the key to success.

The Beatles didn’t become THE Beatles overnight.  Likewise, Bill Gates certainly didn’t become a kazillion-bajillionaire in a week.  In both scenarios, it came down to unique circumstances, and PRACTICE!

More to the point, in this post Steve notes that the reason he’s able to write such effective programs is because he’s failed numerous times in the past, but consistently continued to PRACTICE writing more of them and then applying them to real people.  In a sense:  he’s learned to coach his ass off, which is something I wish more trainers and coaches would learn to grasp.

Why Women SHOULD Lift Like a Man: Part I – Al Painter

As the titles implies, ladies:  there’s no reason why you can’t train “like a man.”  Here Al does a fantastic job dispelling some of the common myths that women tend to fall prey to:

– You have to do more cardio to burn fat

– Crunches flatten the abs

– You can spot reduce

– It’s impossible to spend less than 30 minutes in the bathroom when getting ready for A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G

Okay, that last one was an LOL added in by me. But nonetheless, the overall message is something that I feel is important to highlight, and needs to spread like wildfire.

Ladies:  it’s okay to lift (heavy) weights and to step away from the Pilates class/not buy those pair of shoes that you can’t afford even though they’re on sale.