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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 5/10/2011

Rubber Hitting the Road:  When “Talking” About Opening Your Own Facility Is Not Enough – John Izzo

This was a fantastic article by John Izzo which hits the nail on the head on so many fronts, I don’t even know where to begin.  Not a week goes by where either Eric or myself don’t recieve an email (or phone call) from someone asking business advice.

Full Disclosure:  while Eric is a machine and a brilliant coach and business partner; and while he’s the Cressey behind Cressey Performance; and it’s his name/brand that people undoubtedly recognize; it’s our business guy, Pete Dupuis, who’s the mastermind behind much of our success as a business.  He’s the one who’s taking phone calls from parents (trust me, at times, not fun) and coaches, scheduling clients, tracking sessions, keeping track of expenses, paying the bills, ordering equipment, negotiating with the landlord, and most important of all, writing my paychecks!

I say this because while John hits on many. many valuable points in his article, one point that I feel is crucial – especially if you’re considering entrepreneurship in this industry – is hiring a business guy.  It will make all the difference in the world, and will allow you to focus on what your strengths are.  Which, for most, is assessing, writing programs, having big biceps, and coaching.

5 Most Overrated Exercises – Nick Tumminello

Did I or did I not tell you that livestrong.com was stepping up their game and getting more quality trainers/coaches  to write for their site?  Here, my buddy Nick Tumminello, gives the low-down on a handful of popular exercises that aren’t quite as badass as they may first appear.

Why Kids Need Recess And Exercise – Denene Millner

The fact that this is even debatable blows my mind.  Back when I was in elementary school, some of my fondest memories are thinking back to recess – playing kickball, burnball, and triple-dog daring my best friend, Joe, to try to kiss (on the lips!) Susie behind the swings.

Needless to say, the highlight of the day was heading outside for those 30-40 minutes and doing whatever it is we felt like doing – whether it was throwing rocks at squirrels or using our lunch trays to slide down the hill in the middle of winter.

Today, however, kida are lucky to get 15 minutes – and that’s stretching it.  Instead, schools are under pressure to increase tests scores, and as a result, recess is often an afterthought – despite research showing otherwise that giving kids a break IMPROVES their capacity to learn.  And, lest we forget the ever growing obesity and diabetes epidemic amongst our youth.

Listen, I’m not blaming schools, and I understand that their first priority is to educate our kids.  But to deprive them of a simple need – the need to freakin MOVE – is a travesty in my opinion and something that’s a HUGE mistake.

 

 

 

 

 

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From One Trainer to Another

Q:  Here’s a personal question for you:

Why did you decided to get out of the commercial gym setting and focus more on athletes?  I assume you still train everyday folks at your place but do you still focus on the same kind of movements?

I ask this b/c I am currently at Golds and I to say I hate it would be an understatement.  People sign up for training and they want a quick fix and most of the time it’s people who have never lifted a weight in their life or have crappy body mechanics.

Now, I know I have a TON to learn but I like to think that I am (ummm…how do I put this without sounding like a pompass ass?) “more educated” than most of the other trainers at the gym…..just an observation.  Anyway, I’d like to hear your thoughts on your experience and how you arrived at the fact that you were tired of beating your head against the wall with corporate owned facilities?

A:  Why did I decide to get out of the commercial gym setting?  Easy – common sense.  HA!  Okay, in all seriousness, this one’s a doozy, and something I definitely can’t do justice in one simple blog post.  That being the case, I’m going to take more of a serious tone with this one – so for those looking for the usual LOLs, you’re going to be disappointed.

As well, I’m going to jump around a bit – so hopefully my message doesn’t get lost in translation.

With that out of the way:

Believe me, as someone who’s “been there, done that” with regards to working in a commercial gym setting, I can definitely commiserate.  I worked in various commercial gyms early in my career (some good, mostly bad), and to be quite frank, I wouldn’t take any of it back because I honestly feel that those experiences made me a better trainer – and coach – in the long run.

Thing is, though, there was a little bit of luck in my case.  Don’t get me wrong, I feel I’ve worked my butt off to get where I’m at now – and, despite the contrary (and my joking around about it) I’ll be the first to admit that I have a loooooooooong ways to go before I achieve ninja status in this industry.

Yeah, yeah, I write for various sites like t-nation.com and livestrong.com, have appeared in Men’s Health several times, have a fairly successive blog, and can stop bullets with my pecs, but at the same time, I recognize that I have a shit-ton (read: a lot) more to learn and know that I have plenty of room for improvement.   Anyone who states otherwise – and I’ve heard people say it – is an asshat.

I remember walking into a room a few years ago where Gray Cook, Mike Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove, Lee Taft, Pat Rigsby, Papa Smurf (kidding), and Stuart McGill were all talking shop.  Talk about a surreal moment where I literally felt like the dumbest person on Earth!   That put things into perspective for me.

I’m VERY lucky in that I was able to surround myself with very smart people early on in my career.  Not coincidentally, I owe A LOT to Eric (Cressey), as he’s been a huge mentor for me throughout the years – and, it just so happens that he’s one of my best friends, too.

I’m sure I’ve told this story in the past, but it was back in the fall of 2005 when Eric contacted me asking me if I’d be interested in moving out to CT.  He had just finished his Masters at UCONN and had started working at a local gym in Ridgefield.  He mentioned to me in passing that they were looking for another trainer and suggested that I look into it.

Long story short, I went out, interviewed, badda-bing, badda-boom, I nailed it, got the job, and a few weeks later, I left central NY.

Now, having already worked in corporate fitness for three years, as well as a local gym in Syracuse (Bally Total Fitness), I had my fair share of commercial gym nightmares.

Ridgefield Fitness Club (where I worked in CT), however, was completely different.  There, the owners (a husband and wife) “got it” and never placed any undue pressure on us to meet quotas or to hit specific numbers as far as selling training was concerned.  Instead, they took it upon themselves to hire quality trainers, which in turn, got their members results, which then led to members buying more training.  Weird how that works!

Moreover, I grew a lot as a trainer there.  I was surrounded by like-minded people who were eager to learn, shot ideas off one another, pushed me to get better, and were just amazing people through and through.  Like I said, it was a completely different scenario for me, and it was refreshing to work in an environment where teaching someone how to squat properly was emphasized more than BOSU ball bootcamps.

Alas, after a year, both Eric and myself decided to head to Boston.   I ended up getting a job at a swanky, high-end commercial gym in the heart of the city, and it was back to douchyville.  Much like you mentioned above, I had to deal with many of the same things you’re dealing with now – trainers who were more concerned with checking their text messages or looking at themselves in the mirror than actually paying attention to their client.

Note:  as luck would have it, I came across the above picture on Facebook this morning!

Granted, I’m not saying that that was the case with all the trainers there, but it was certainly more common than not.

In not so many terms, I wanted nothing more than to throw my face into an ax, but I made the best of it.  No matter where you go or where you work, you’re going to deal with un-motivated clients who are going to bitch and whine and feel that so long as they show up (if they show up at all) for their two sessions per week, they’re going to look beach ready in no time.

Of course, while some are quick to point the finger at you as to why they’re not getting results, you can point the finger at the other 166 hours during the week that they’re not under your supervision and crushing M & Ms at the office.  You’re not a babysitter – and so long as you can look yourself in the mirror and know you’ve done all you can to prepare said client for success than you’ve done your job.

If they’re not willing to listen, then that’s on them – not you.  You can’t beat yourself up about it.  On the flip side, though, if you can motivate the un-motivated, they’re like putty in your hands.

Thankfully, now, I don’t really have to worry about motivation most of the time.  Sure, I may have to kick some skulls in occasionally, but for the most part, people who walk through our doors at CP know what they’re getting themselves into – motivating people isn’t generally a problem.

Conversely, in many commercial settings (with few exceptions) you may have to take it upon yourself what type of clientele you “hire.”  When I was working as a personal trainer, I eventually got to a point where I basically interviewed any potential clients sent my way.

At first, I used to go out of my way to try to impress prospective clients with big words and glow sticks.  I’d bust out things like lower-cross syndrome, anterior pelvic tilt, reciprocal inhibition, glute medius this, quadratus lumborum that, crunches suck, yada yada yada, you know the drill.

BIG MISTAKE

At the end of the day, and this is something Mike Boyle has stressed repeatedly time and time again:

No one cares how much you know, until they know you care.

All I can say is that if you’re consistently getting your clients results, and you actually give a shit, they’ll reward you with their loyalty.  If not, fire them!

Granted, if you have bills to pay, and you need clients, that throws a monkey wrench into things.  But, once you’re at the point where you can fill your schedule with A and B clients (that is, those clients that show up religiously, do what you say, refer their friends, and are walking billboards for YOU); and you can dump your C and D clients (those that cancel all the time, always complain, never refer clients, and are otherwise walking balls of fail), your life will be infinitely more enjoyable.

It will take time, obviously.  But so long as you’re consistently trying to get better, networking, attending seminars, reading blogs, etc – it will happen.

Trying to wrap things up (this is longer than I expected), I’d highly suggest that you look into reading anything and everything by Thomas Plummer and Pat Rigsby.  Both do a fantastic job at discussing the business side of things, which sadly, is something I waited far too long to take advantage of.  Nonetheless, both are undoubtedly a wealth of knowledge in that regard.  Far more than myself to say the least!  I guess in the end, all I can say is that there is no definitive answer.   It takes time to establish and learn the ropes – but something tells me you’re far a head in the curve compared to most of your peers.

That said, I wouldn’t poo-poo on the fact that you train “regular folk” exclusively.  Trust me, athletes can be just as much of a pain in the ass as non-athletes – sometimes moreso when you consider the entitlement factor.

In the end, I don’t know if I even answered your question (I told you I as going to babble).  I knew I was going to get long-winded, but hopefully I was able to shed some light on the topic.  Heck, maybe I at least sparked some conversation amongst other fitness professionals that might chime in below in the comments section.  Anyone?

 

 

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Pretty Much the Best Protein Shake Ever Invented

Not a day goes by where I don’t have at least one protein shake as a meal.  Now, don’t get me wrong, all things being equal, I much prefer eating whole, REAL food (think: chicken breast, various fruits/vegetables, oatmeal, quinoa, etc) over the liquid variety.  But, due to my schedule, oftentimes, pounding down a quick protein shake tends to be much more convenient, yet still allows me to get the necessary calories I need during the day.

To that end, I still like to use REAL ingredients when I make my shakes. 

Much (if not all) of the brands you can buy at your local GNC or supplement store are nothing more than a chemistry experiment filled with a conglomerate of ingredients I can’t even begin to pronounce.

Case in point, here’s the ingredient list of a popular protein shake that I often see a lot of people drinking:

Water, Calcium Caseinate [From Milk], Sodium Caseinate (Milk), Milk Protein Isolate, Cocoa Powder, Vegetable Oil Blend (sunflower and canola), Maltodextrin, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Potassium Citrate, Whey, Vitamin Mineral Blend, Digestive Resistant Maltodextrin (soluble dietary fiber), Cellulose Gum, Soy Lecithin, Monosodium Phosphate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Potassium Chloride, Acesulfame Potassium, Salt, Carrageenan (Red Seaweed), Medium Chain Triglycerides, Sucralose

Does anyone know what the heck Sodium Hexametaphospate is?  Will it give me a third nipple?  Okay, probably not.  But it doesn’t necessarily sound like I something I want to put into my body on a daily basis.  I don’t know about you, but I want to know EXACTLY what it is I’m putting down my pie hole.

Which brings me to today’s post.  Last week, my good friend, Adam Bornstein (current fitness editor of Livestrong.com) asked a bunch of us jocks (and jockettes) to give our favorite protein shake recipe, and here’s what I threw his way.

Tonycolada <===== HA!  That’s me!

Ingredients:

  • Anywhere from 3-6 ice cubes (depending on how thick you like your shakes).  I like to eat my shakes with a spoon, so the more ice cubes you use, the thicker it will be.
  • 1-2 cup milk.  Or, for those with a lactose intolerance (or you just want to cut calories a bit), almond or hemp milk would suffice as well.
  • 1 Scoop Vanilla protein powder
  • Frozen pineapple and mango.  I buy all of my frozen fruit from Trader Joe’s, and both the pineapple and mango come already cut up in small pieces. I’m pretty judicious with my servings, but I usually throw anywhere from ½ cup of pineapple and 4-5 pieces of mango into the mix.
  • Baby Spinach.  Yep, you read that correctly – I put spinach into my shakes.  Trust me when I say this:  you won’t even notice it’s in there because the fruit and protein powder offset the taste.  For those who aren’t convinced, however, you can just add one scoop of a green’s product instead.
  • 1-2 tbsp unsweetened, shaved coconut
  • 1-2 tbsp Chia seeds or ground flax seeds

As you can see, it’s a pretty hefty shake to say the least.  I like to follow a general rule of thumb when I make my protein shakes, which are really meal-replacement shakes more than anything else.

1.  It has to include ONE protein source (in this case, protein powder makes the most sense; but if you want to take it to the next level, Velociraptor could work, too).

2.  It has to include ONE fruit.  For the Tonycolada, tropical fruits make more sense, but really, ANY fruit can work for a shake.

3. It has to include ONE veggie.  Seriously, you won’t even taste the spinach!  But, like I said, using a powdered green’s product like Superfood would be ideal as well.

4. It has to include ONE healthy fat source – peanut butter, olive oil, flax seeds, whatever.

Anyways, give it a try today and let me know what you think!

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What’s Your Goal?

I was talking shop with one of my clients last week, checking in with her progress, asking her how things have been going, when she looked up at me with a visible “look” on her face and said, “I don’t think I’m making as much progress as I think I could be.  I think I need a goal.”

This one seems kind of obvious, but it’s often surprising just how many people look back at you with a blank stare when asked one simple question:

What are your goals?

Can you answer that question?  If someone were to look you dead in the eyes and ask “why are you going to the gym today, what are your goals?” would you be able to answer them with a definitive answer?

Exacerbating the issue – almost infinitely so – is the fact that people just kinda show up and go through the motions.  Quite literally, there’s no sense of purpose in their training – no gusto or razzle dazzle, if you will.  I’m not saying this is the case with my client, but for many, going to the gym is more of a chore (or nuisance) than anything else, and they just walk around like a chicken with their head cut off – walking from machine to machine with no game plan.  In short, they’re just there.

We’ve all seen it:  The guy reading his newspaper while in the leg press; or the two women laughing hysterically as they curl their pink dumbbells ad nauseum.   Is it any wonder that these are the same people who will complain that despite paying their gym membership on a monthly basis, NEVER look different?

Just showing up ain’t gonna cut it – you NEED a goal.

Taking it a step further, you need a SPECIFIC goal.

Using myself as an example, it wasn’t long ago when I was just a skinny, cardio-obsessed, bicep curl junkie who, regardless of what I did, could never put on any weight.  Or so it seemed.

Of course, if I could go back in time and drop kick myself in the face for thinking that running 15-20 miles per week and doing 500 crunches per day was the best road to Jackedville, I would do it.  Hindsight is 20/20, right?

Anyways, it was 2003, and my girlfriend at the time just broke up with me. Balls.  Adding insult to injury, she moved in with her “new” boyfriend, less than two miles from where I lived.   Yeah, that sucked.

Needless to say, it wasn’t my finest hour, and somewhere between watching endless episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (hey, it was 2003 and those guys were everywhere.  Don’t judge me!) and punching holes in the wall, I decided that it was high time that I make a concerted effort to put on some weight.

It was during that time that I first started reading t-nation.com and devouring anything and everything written by John Berardi.  I ditched the body-part splits (no more calves and rear delt day), started being honest with myself and learned to squat to depth, implemented a “new to me” exercise called the deadlift, nixed the distance running and instead started doing more sprints at the local high school track, and most important of all, stopped eating like an anorexic hummingbird.

I had a goal:  to get my swole on and there was nothing, NOTHING, that was going to stop me.    Actually, to be more specific, it was to put on 25 lbs – but “gettin my swolification on” sounds cooler.

Fast forward ten months, I went from 180 lbs to 210 lbs, and looked like a new person.   Now, I know people want photographic evidence, and while I’m normally pretty reluctant to post shirtless pictures of myself up on the internet, I think this discussion warrants a little visual perspective.

Here’s me back when all I did was run a lot, throw 82 MPH fastballs, and do bicep curls the day after a start.  This picture was taken around 1998 during one of the many summers I lifeguarded while home during summer break (I’m on the left).

That’s pretty much what I looked like all through college leading up to about 2002 – and, if you can believe it, I was even skinnier and less likely to have girls want to hang out with me when I was in high school.

Conversely, here are a few pictures I found on my laptop from around 2003-2004, which coincide when I actually stopped training like a raging pussy.

Aside from the fact that I was as white as a Coldplay concert, I was easily 30-40 lbs heavier in these pictures as compared to the ones above.  And, fast forward a decade later I’ve been able to keep the weight on and stay equally as lean year round.  One of the benefits of working in a gym.

Now, I’m not showing these to brag or show-off (okay, maybe a little), but rather, to showcase that having a goal, a mission, a purpose, can make all the difference in the world.  Looking back at my training career (which started when my parents got me my first weight set when I was 13), I can’t help but notice how much time and effort I wasted just going through the motions.

Bringing things around to you, I don’t care if your goal is to lose “x” number of pounds by the end of summer, lose the love handles, bench a certain amount of weight, or train for a show or meet – WRITE IT DOWN on a piece of paper, put it on a post-It note and plaster it on your fridge, I don’t care.  Make it concrete.  Make it real.   I’m telling you right now, it will hold you more accountable and light a fire under your ass.

As Dan John would say, your goal is to keep the goal, the goal.  If you don’t have a goal in the first place, however, what’s the point?

This is the exact same mentality that I’m using now in my efforts to deadlift 600 lbs.  My training is centered around a purpose in the hopes that I’ll eventually attain it.  If I didn’t have some sense of “why the hell am I doing this?”, I’d only be spinning my wheels – much like I did in the years described above.

So, again I ask:

What’s your goal?

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Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: 5/2/2011

1.  To start, all I can say is holy to the shit.  I opened up my laptop this morning to see the words Osama Bin Laden is dead splattered all over my Yahoo homepage.  Wow.  I don’t even know what to say now other than thank you to all of the men and women who continue to risk their lives overseas on a daily basis.

Yet, can you even imagine what it’s like to be the Navy Seal who’s bullet killed Bin Laden?  I’m calling Pulitzer, Nobel, Grammy, Emmy, Best Actor, or any other prize you can think of – he wins them all!

And, while I know there are some people out there who are going to be a Debbie Downer about this, and try to remind people that Bin Laden was supported by the US Government back in the 80s and 90s (like some guy I saw do on Facebook this morning) – please, don’t be an a-hole.  Seriously.

To that end, I think this song is fitting given the situation (FYI:  turn your speakers down if you’re at work.)

2.  I’ve been making some cameo appearances in and around the interwebz recently – apparently, some people feel I have important things to say!

First up, we have my first article on LIVEstrong.com – The Best Exercises You’re Not Doing.  As I mentoned a few weeks ago, I’m going to be doing more writing for Livestrong, so this one should be the first of plenty more to come.  Nonetheless, check it out, and be sure to leave a comment if you found it useful!

Secondly, Steve Shaw and the crew over at www.muscleandstrength.com asked if they could re-print some of my old(er) posts from my blog, which I think is cool given that it will expose more people outside of my target audience to my stuff – which is never a bad thing.

While this may be a refresher for some of you reading, for those who haven’t, How Chin-Ups/Pull-Ups Can Help Your Bench Press might be right up your alley.

3.  I saw this last week over at elitefts.com and thought it was one of the more badass videos I have watched in a long time.

Prove the Impossible

I don’t know about you, but watching that fires me up.  I think I’m going to go deadlift a car now.

4.  A few weeks ago, Mike Robertson sent us a copy of his Bulletproof Knees and Back Seminar that he did in Vancouver late last year.  The dvd set has been making its rounds amongst the CP staff, and I was finally able to get my hands on it this past weekend.  While I still have a ways to go in terms of actually finishing it, all I have to say is that Mike has yet again hit another home-run.

I’m always impressed at how awesome Mike is as a public speaker, and how effortlessly he’s able to take complex material and “dumb” it down for the lay population to understand.  And, given that 80% of the population at some point or another will suffer from low back pain (not to mention the knees are right up there, too!), this dvd set would be a welcome addition for any fitness professional – or casual fitness enthusiast for that matter.

Really, though, I don’t have to say much.  Mike’s reputation as a standup guy, and as someone who consistently puts out quality products, speaks for itself.  I’d argue that this one is his best yet!

5.  Speaking of other people I know who are extremely smart:  my good friend, Cassandra Forsythe, recently wrote a fantastic article on the artificial sweetner Stevia.  Given the recent hooplah (and rightfully so) over the efficacy of artificial sweetners, and whether or not the health concerns are warranted (they are), I thought this was a nice piece that helped weed through the science and the fiction.

6.  NERD ALERT:  it was brought to my attention that director Peter Jackson will be updating a video blog as he films parts I and II of The Hobbit, which are slated for 2012 and 2013 releases.  The first installment can be seen here.

You’re welcome.

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Exercises You Should Be Doing: TRX Busdriver

While the world is currently at a standstill over the Royal Wedding pukefest coverage, I for one have stayed true to my word, and haven’t watched one single second of it.  And, despite their efforts to the contrary – I wouldn’t let any of the women in this morning’s womens group talk about it, because frankly, I didn’t want my sperm count dropping.

Nevertheless, I’m going to keep this one short today unfortunately, because I’m in scramble mode trying to find another apartment.  I’ve spent the past few days on Craigslist searching for apartments for my girlfriend and I, and I’ve been meeting with realtors all week trying to find a place that doesn’t smell like wet dog.  It’s getting somewhat comical, though, because this will be the seventh year in a row that I’ve moved.  Thankfully, I travel light, and all I have to pack are my books, a couch, my tv, and a vintage Star Wars poster.

Anyhoo, lets get to the meat and potatoes.

What Is It:  TRX Busdriver (or, for something less lame, you can call it the TRX Kid-n-Play:  as a tribute to the early 90’s dance masters, Kid-n-Play, ohhhhh, ohhhhh, ohhhhhh).  If you don’t get the reference, then shame on you.

Who Did I Steal It From:  strength coach and guy who can kick my ass with both hands tied behind his back, Dewey Nielsen

What Does It Do:  While this is a fantastic exercise to work core stability, what’s often left un-noticed is the fact that this is also a superb way to train ANTI-EXTENSION as well.  So, in a sense, you kill two birds with one stone here.

Key Coaching Cues:  Making sure not to hyperextend the lumbar spine, simply move the TRX (or blast straps for that matter) from shoulder to shoulder maintaining as little movement as possible in the hips and pelvic area.  Another point to consider, is to make sure that you squeeze your glutes the entire time, and to recognize that the narrower your stance is, the harder the exercise will be.

You can do this for time, but I prefer something along the lines of 2-3 sets of 6-8 repetitions PER SIDE.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

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Forks Over Knives

A friend of mine emailed me yesterday and gave me a link to this trailer (seen below) which apparently was shown on The Dr. Oz Show recently.  I don’t have television, so I had no idea that this movie was being made, but after watching the trailer myself like ten minutes ago, I’m pretty fired up about it.

Piggy backing on the heels of books like In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma (both fantastic books written by Michael Pollan), as well as the documentary Food Inc. (which features Pollan, and, coincidentally, was the movie I took my girlfriend to on our second date – who says romance is dead), I have to say that I really, really, REALLY love the fact that more of the mainstream media is starting to get involved with sending out a more “truthier” message about the food industry.  More to the point, is the fact that people are starting to WAKE UP and finally realizing that what they put down their pie holes on a daily basis is literally killing them.

I mean, look at us.  It’s not uncommon for someone to be taking upwards of ten pills a day to treat their diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, depression, anemia, impotence, blahbiddy blah blah blah.  You name the symptom, and there’s a pill you can take to relieve it.  That is, of course, until you need to take yet another pill to counteract the side-effects of the first one.

Hey, I have an idea – how about you stop eating an entire bag of Doritoes for breakfast?

And, if this isn’t a cause for change I don’t know what is:  I was walking through a clothing store the other day and saw that they were selling XXXL pants.  Jesus, what’s next, size SUV?

Who’s to blame, though?  Is it the government who, in all their infinate wisdom, continue to spew out archaic jargon like saturated fat is bad, despite no definitive research to back it up?  Or, is it us, who continue to play the ignorant card?  I mean, if we’re really honest with ourselves, we know that a french fry really isn’t a vegetable, right?

It’s gotten really bad, and it’s no wonder that many experts are predicting that OBESITY is going to soon take over as our #1 cause of (PREVENTABLE) death – and this isn’t even taking into account the insurmountable burden that all of this has on the healthcare system.

Nonetheless, Forks Over Knives, I hope, will continue to spead the message that people need to start taking more of a proactive role in their own health.  I know for those reading, this is more like I’m preaching to the choir – but do yourself (and your family, friends, and colleagues who don’t know any better) a favor, and force them to go see this documentary.  It may very well save their lives.

UPDATE:  I didn’t notice it the first time around, but after watching the trailer again, I get the funny feeling that they may be attempting to drive people towards veganism/no-meat diet – which, if that’s the case, I’m going to light my face on fire.  As Roland, notes in the comments section:

Did you see Rip Esselstyn in there, author of the Engine 2 Diet? Vegan, low fat…

Uh oh – major Red Flag.   At the very least, however, I’m hoping that people will start to see the bigger picture here.  We shall see……

 

 

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Leaky Roof Syndrome

To begin, yesterday, I had just finished my training session when Eric walked up to me and said, “you’re 12:30 eval is here; she’s waiting in the office.”   Oops – twenty minutes early.  I head over to the stereo to turn-off the Wu-Tang (not exactly a great first impression when M.E.T.H.O.D Man is blaring through the speakers), pound my protein shake, and change shirts really quickly before I head out to greet Paula.

Upon quickly glancing at her health history, I notice something that jumps out and grabs my attention – she noted that she had been suffering from a chronic hamstring strain for the better part of the last two years.  Hmmm, interesting.  Almost immediately a light bulb goes off in my head and I start to stroke  my evil strength coach beard (but more on that in a bit).

Anyways, whenever a new client walks into the facility, we always try to sit down for 5-10 minutes to better ascertain what it is (s)he is looking to do.  Generally speaking, this is the time where we try to dig a little deeper, discuss training background, goals, injury history, etc.  The form sitting in front of me was otherwise blank, so without even blinking an eye, I ask about the hamstring.

Paula smiled, took a deep breath and let it rip.  Without going into too many details, she explained how she had always been an athlete (she was a sprinter in college) and had always lead an active lifestyle – she even did some personal training on the side a few years ago, and really enjoyed it.  For all intents and purposes – she’s the epitome of a fitness junkie.

Giving full disclosure, however, she openly admitted that she’s her own worst enemy, and sometimes has a knack for not knowing when to hold herself back.  When she first hurt her hamstring, she waited a few weeks, and once it started feeling better, she hightailed it to the track and did some sprints – only to re-injure herself, again, and again, and again.

After what was seemingly her umpteenth hamstring strain, she finally decided to seek some professional expertise and visited a local physical therapist near her hometown.   And for many of you, I think you know where this story is going.

To say that a ham sandwich could have done a better job than this physical therapist would be the understatement of the century.  Based off of what Paula told me, this therapist did nothing other than give her ultrasound and electric stimulation for a few weeks and then sent her on her way.  Incidentally, there was no real formal assessment of her movement quality.  Basically, Paula walked in, said “my hamstring hurts,” and the therapist treated the hamstring.

I guess in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t necessarily wrong.  For instance, when one of our baseball guys shows up and says his shoulder hurts, as traditionalists, we usually end up looking at the shoulder first and work out way out crossing things off as we go:  things like, scapular positioning, thoracic mobility, contralateral hip mobility, soft tissue restrictions, to name a few.

But there’s the rub – WE DON’T JUST LOOK AT THE SHOULDER.

And this is where I feel this particular physical therapist (and the countless other health professionals whom Paula visited) missed the boat entirely.

Leaky Roof Syndrome strikes again!!

It’s akin to someone complaining about a leaky roof in their house, and hiring someone to come in and place a patch over the leak itself – when in fact, the root cause of the leak is coming from somewhere else entirely.  Placing a patch over it is just a temporary fix in the long run, and will do nothing but delay the inevitable.

So, fast forward to yesterday and Paula getting visiably emotional while telling her story.  Who could blame her?  I mean, up until this point, no one had really taken the time to listen and to actually offer any concrete resolution to her problem.  All she’s been told is that she has “tight hamstrings,” (which, as I’ve noted in the past, is a bullshit excuse more often than not), and that she just “needs to take it easy.”

All this great advice for a $25 co-pay?  Sign me up!

Bringing this to a close, here are a few points of interest from yesterday that I found:

  • By and large, whenever someone mentions the word “strain,” you can usually (not always) chalk it up to something called Synergistic Dominance. Translating for the non-nerds out there, Synergistic Dominance is defined as a condition when a muscle in a group of muscles, that share similar actions, become more dominant and in turn, another less dominant.
  • In Paula’s case, during her assessment, I found that she had little (if any) ability to activate her glutes, which is kind of a problem – especially given they’re a very powerful hip extensor.   If her glutes are unable to fire, then that means her hamstrings (also hip extensors) have to work overtime to pick up the slack.  And, when you put two and two together (poor glute function paired with hamstrings throwing you the middle finger), you get chronic strains.

  • Furthermore, after taking her through some more tests, I found that she had very little ankle dorsiflexion.  Actually, that’s just being nice.  She had NO ankle dorsiflexion.  She lives in planar flexion from wearing high heels all the time.  Is it any wonder, then, that whenever she tries to sprint, she ends up hurting herself?
  • And finally, as I alluded to above, all the therapy in the world won’t make a bit of difference if people continue to move like shit.   Renowned physical therapist, Gray Cook, has popular saying

“fix the pattern, and the muscles take care of themselves.”

  • It’s so simple, that it’s brilliant.   I took Paula through some basic movement drills, and it was readily apparent that her lunge pattern needed some work – her foot externally rotated and knee caved in on each step, and even worse, her hip would collapse; all indicative of really poor hip stability.  Sorry, but ultrasound isn’t going to fix that.

In closing, it’s things like this that make my job so awesome – cause here’s a woman that came to us as a last resort, and she left yesterday feeling hopeful that we’d be able to help.

This isn’t to say that we don’t hava a lot of work to do – we do!  On top of building some basic strength, and correcting some motor patterns, she’s going to need quite a bit of soft tissue work done.  I gotta say, though, that it definitely frustrates me when I hear stories like this, and do nothing but show how “broken” our primary care system is (at times) in this country. And,let me just say that this post wasn’t meant as a “dig” to all physical therapists, chiropractors, physicians, or orthopedic surgeons out there that may be reading.

I understand that with any profession, there are those that do their job very well, and others that, well, don’t.  And I am in no way saying that what I found is altogether right or wrong. I But this is one instance where I was pretty fired up about the lack of “giving a shit” this physical therapist had.  We can do better than that!

PS:  If you found this article useful, or just liked it’s general awesomeness, please do me a favor and “like” it, or maybe re-tweet it.  Any way to get the word out there is very much appreciated!

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 4/26/2011

How I Create a Perfect Fat Loss Day – John Romaniello

When a guy like Roman talks about fat loss, people listen – and with good reason (he’s purty).  More importantly, though, what I got most from this particular post is how he breaks up his day from a productivity standpoint.  I mean, I work with a guy (Eric Cressey) who will write a book in the time it takes me to take a dump, and I’m constantly amazed at the amount of work he can get done on any given day.  This post, specifically, lite a fire underneath my ass.  Thanks John!  This was awesome.

BSP Nutrition Tip #6 – Eat Lots of Healthy Fat – Brian St. Pierre (via Diesel Crew)

Jim “Smitty” Smith and the rest of the Diesel Crew just revamped their website and it looks sweet!  Here’s a fantastic article (which is part of series) written by my boy, Brian St. Pierre, on healthy fats and why you’re an idiot if you continue to avoid them like the plague.

How to Set Goals and Achieve Them 100% of the Time – Dean Somerset

Fantastic post by Dean on what REALLY motivates us to reach our goals.  One word:  Emotionalification.  Yes, I just made that word up, but if you’re able to find the emotional background of your goals, as Dean notes, you’ll never have to worry about setting a goal that never gets achieved.

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Sometimes the Little Things DO Matter

We’ve all heard the adage, “don’t sweat the small stuff.”  Taking it a step further, we’ve even gone so far as to say – at least in the gym setting – that those people who focus more on the minutia are doing nothing more than spinning their wheels.

Take for example the guy who walks into the gym at 150 lbs soaking wet, and has always struggled to put on weight.  Rather than, you know, walk over to the squat rack and use it for its intended purpose (squats), he sets up shop to get his bicep curl on – usually spending an entire hour training a muscle the size of a tennis ball.  Makes a lot of sense, right?

Or, what about the female who, despite being 15 lbs overweight and admittedly sick and tired of always trying to lose those extra pounds, walks into the gym and spends the next 60 minutes on the elliptical machine watching Days of Our Lives.

Conventional wisdom would tell her that despite what the machine says, she didn’t just burn 750 calories (for the record, you’re an idiot if you really think those machines are accurate), and that her time would have been better spent performing some form of resistance training and interval work.  And, even more importantly, it probably wouldn’t hurt if she skip the Dunkin Donuts pit stop afterwards.  Just sayin…….

Basically, in short, when it comes to exercise, or life in general for that matter, people tend to spend the bulk of their time focusing on the small, intricate things that probably won’t even matter in the first place.  Like the guy who’s struggling to put weight on, yet is concerned about his bicep peak; or the girl who’s struggling to take weight off, yet has been doing the same, boring, cardio routine since 1998.

At the expense of back pedaling a little bit, though, sometimes, focusing on the small things does make a difference.

Much like a director spending half the day trying to perfect the lighting to get that one aesthetic shot on camera; or the nuclear physicist triple checking his math to make sure the world doesn’t shit itself; or just doing something as simple as trapping your fart underneath the covers as sign to your significant other that you love them – it’s the small things can make all the difference in the world.

The world of strength and conditioning is no different.   I can’t tell you how many times during the day I tell someone to tuck their chin while deadlifting, to sit back more on their squats, or to stop shrugging during their seated rows FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY!!!!!!!

People want to train hard, and I can respect and appreciate that.   Hell, I want that; I strive for that.  But oftentimes, when the “go hard or go home” mentality starts to take over, the little things tend to get thrown to the wayside.

Knees start caving in on squats.  Elbows start flaring out during benching.  Backs start to round just a smidge more during deadlifts.  Athletes start compensating with more lumbar rotation during med ball drills.  It’s a slippery slope to take, and one that I’m not too comfortable traveling down as a coach.

The last thing I want is for another coach or trainer to walk into our facility and freak the freak out when he or she watches our athletes train.   Kinda like what would happen if I walked in and saw this circus going on.  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

So, in the end, I guess all I’m trying to say is this:  While it’s true that many people tend to place too much emphasis on minutia – as coaches, it’s often what’s needed in order to be successful in the long run.  Sometimes, the small things DO matter.