Thursday, October 31, 2013

It's Not Boot Camp, It's Marketing

    Ah, another gem from James Fell. I was actually going to (and still will) write about the term 'boot camp', and why it is one of my pet peeves. This is pretty spot-on!

The main difference between a military boot camp and a fitness boot camp

If you haven’t seen the movie Full Metal Jacket, then what rock have you been living under? It is full of awesome in the form of real-life Marine Corps drill instructor R. Lee Ermey.
In that movie, the asses of new recruits are severely kicked for several weeks to get them ready for war. Certain fitness classes promise to transform you into a warrior, or at least make you more badass, or something, but there are some differences between the military boot camp and the fitness kind.
“Well, duh,” you say.
You don’t live in a fitness boot camp 24/7 for several weeks.
In a fitness boot camp, they don’t shave your head.
In a fitness boot camp, they don’t care about how polished your boots are.
In a fitness boot camp, rather than enlist, you pay money.
You don’t learn how to use rifles and other manufactured lethal weaponry in a fitness boot camp.
Fitness boot camps aren’t training you to go off to a real war where people shoot at you and/or try to blow you up.
The list goes on.
But there is one difference that stands out much more than these. Yes, it stands out even more than the “go to war” one. Can you guess what it is?
In a fitness boot camp, the instructor doesn’t want you to graduate.
After several punishing weeks of training, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket told his men: “Today, you people are no longer maggots. Today, you are Marines.”
They had graduated, and it was time to GTFO and make room for the next bunch of recruits.
As a guy with an MBA, I can tell you there is an adage in business that it is five times harder to find a new customer than resell a current customer. Fitness boot camps don’t want you to ever graduate out of needing them, because they want to keep selling you more. They most definitely don’t want to train you in such a way that you’re ready to leave and face other forms of fitness combat after 13 weeks.
Here is a quote from Full Metal Jacket’s narrator, Private Joker: “Graduation is only a few days away, and the recruits of Platoon 3092 are salty. They are ready to eat their own guts and ask for seconds. The drill instructors are proud to see that we are growing beyond their control. The Marine Corps does not want robots. The Marine Corps wants killers. The Marine Corps wants to build indestructible men, men without fear.”
The bold emphasis is mine.
When you pay for a fitness boot camp, you’re paying to be told what to do, and you’re paying to be motivated. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, if you can afford it. If your boat is worth more than my house, and you like forking out a constant stream of cash to never learn how to go it alone and be beholden to an exercise babysitter, then that’s fine. You go.
It’s easier for rich people to get and stay fit. They can have a trainer for every session that motivates them to show up and go hard. Be it a yoga class, boot camp, or personal training session, I know people who never work out without some well-paid person telling them precisely what to do.
The not-so-rich don’t have this option, and development of self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation is therefore critical.
If in the latest economic meltdown you were one of the financially destroyed rather than one of the destroyers (and seriously, screw those guys), then you need to learn how to go it alone as well as be motivated to do so. You need to reach towards that day when you are no longer a maggot, but a Marine, or something.
Self-efficacy is scientist speak for having your shit together. I go into extensive detail on what it is and how to use it in my Mission: Motivation book, and since it’s only like four bucks, you should totally buy it (see links at end of this post). It is a situation specific form of self-confidence. It means that you’ve progressed past needing someone to tell you what to do with your workouts, and you have gained independence. You have graduated and have the education and experience to handle things on your own. You’re a big boy now.
Note that this doesn’t mean you can’t go back for occasional coaching to take you to a new level. I never would have qualified for the Boston Marathon without my coach.
Trainers offer extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic means it comes from an external source. Intrinsic means internal. Internal means you. It means you yelling at you to keep going; push harder, don’t quit. Not some other guy you paid to yell at you.
A lot of trainers don’t want you to learn either self-efficacy or intrinsic motivation, because these skills interfere with their paycheck. Instead, they’d rather teach you learned helplessness so that you never stop needing them. They don’t have a fresh line of recruits ready to take your place on graduation day the way the Marine Corps does.
There’s nothing wrong with using a trainer or coach or class instructor to push you, but realize that they may not have your best interests at heart when it comes to developing independence and going it alone.
If you want to be born again hard, you need to learn how to become your own drill sergeant.

James S. Fell, CSCS, is the co-founder of www.SixPackAbs.com and owns www.BodyForWife.com. James is a nationally syndicated fitness columnist for the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. His book, Lose It Right: A Brutally Honest 3-Stage Program to Get Fit and Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind is coming from Random House in early 2014. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
He is also the author of the ebook Mission: Motivation – A Realistic Guide to Getting and Staying Fit published by AskMen and available for Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iTunes.



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Thursday, October 17, 2013

How to Warm Up, Part 2

  Here is the second part of how Catalyst Athletics' Greg Everett approaches warm ups with his athletes. It is pretty lengthy but worth the read...
 


So what should a warm-up actually look like? Here are some guidelines to help you develop what I would consider an effective training preparation protocol.


Monostructural Work

This is some repetitive activity like rowing, jogging or jumping rope. I don’t believe this to always be necessary. Its purpose is to get some initial body temperature increase and systemic loosening in unusually cold temperatures or for individuals who have been immobile for a long period of time prior to training. This should be low intensity and for about 2-5 minutes depending on need. We usually start our class warm-ups with one of these or some basic agility ladder drills since most of our clientele work sedentary office jobs. This is definitely important for our early morning classes—usually these clients have literally just rolled out of bed. Agility ladder work is a lot more interesting than jogging or rowing and our clients love it. Partner medicine ball drills are another way to get some more fun and variety into this part of the warm-up.


Foam Rolling

Possibly the most significant change to my basic warm-up routine has been the addition of pre-training foam rolling. When I was first introduced to the practice, I relegated it to the post-workout period along with stretching. This of course is helpful and certainly worth doing, but rolling before training can make a tremendous impact on movement by allowing muscle and fascia to glide more smoothly. Hitting problem spots a little more aggressively is fine, but generally I suggest pre-training foam rolling be fairly light, smooth and quick rather than slow and painful; the latter I find best saved for after training (this is somewhat analogous to using dynamic stretching pre-workout and static stretching post-workout). I like to hit the upper back to mobilize the thoracic spine, then smooth out the scapular musculature and lat/teres/etc. attachments under the arms. From there glutes, hamstrings/adductors; then VMO/adductors, quads from front to lateral aspects, ITB/TFL, and finally calves if needed. Generally about 10 passes on each area is adequate.


Dynamic Warm-up

This is where we get into the kicks and twirlies. My goal with this portion of a warm-up is two basic things: make sure I address all the movements or joints necessary, and try to get in enough variation day to day that people stay engaged and perform it properly rather than turn into drooling robots who aren’t accomplishing what I expect them to.

I posted a video of many of the drills I use frequently on the site a couple years ago. This is a pretty extensive warm-up series and typically I wouldn’t actually use all of these in a single warm-up. I think of this stuff in sets of drills that each address a certain movement or area of the body and then I try to alternate exercises each warm-up while still having 1-3 from each set. This is how we get some variety without neglecting anything.

These drills can also be varied to prepare people specifically for the subsequent workout. That is, emphasis can be placed on movements and areas of the body that will be important for the training. An example would be doing more wrist, elbow, shoulder and upper back work for a workout that has a significant overhead component.

I conceptualize these sets or areas of the body somewhat nebulously, but if I had to write them down it would look something like this:

-Wrists
-Elbows
-Shoulders/Upper back
-Spine/trunk
-Hip flexors/quads
-Hip extensors/adductors
-Knees
-Ankles/calves

There is a range of specificity there both by necessity and for the sake of practicality. Following are some ideas of how I address each area. You’ll notice that many of the drills don’t fit neatly into one category and often address multiple areas—this is just the nature of athletic movement and is only a problem when trying to write something like this. In fact, it ends up being convenient because you’re often able to get more accomplished with fewer drills.


Wrists

My default drill here is wrist circles with the hands clasped together. This is quick and simple and usually about as much as the typical person needs. If a client has particularly tight wrists and/or will be doing activity that demands a lot from the wrists, stretches can be done with the hands on the floor or against a wall for flexion and extension or with one hand used to stretch the other. Drills with PVC pipes and similar can also be thrown in occasionally. Also, if you’re doing some floor-based work later, e.g. inchworms, you’ll be getting some of this stretching along with that.


Elbows

Elbows go overlooked much of the time until they start hurting, at which point it’s usually too late to fix them quickly. A few seconds of mobility work will help keep the elbows moving smoothly. Basic elbow circles are usually enough, although I have my clients rotate the hands as they do them to get a little more movement of the radius and ulna. Make sure you go both directions and extend the elbow completely each time.

You can get a bit more involved and throw in things like drill bits (demonstrated about halfway through this video), or rotations with a PVC pipe. For the latter, hold a PVC pipe horizontally in front of you with your left hand gripping the left end of the pipe with a supinated grip and your right hand grasping the middle of the pipe lightly (doesn’t really matter if it’s palm up or down, but up is easier). Keeping the right hand as an anchor in about the same place, let the pipe slide through it freely as needed while you pronate your left hand, still gripping the pipe, and extend your left elbow. Move back and forth between supination and pronation, fully extending your elbow each time.


Shoulders/Upper Back

Foam rolling the thoracic spine is the ideal way to start your shoulder warm-up. Many times people are so focused on shoulder mobility that they overlook the fact that their upper backs are hunched and tight, placing excessive demand on the shoulders to take up the slack. Mobilize the upper back, and suddenly your shoulders will feel a lot more flexible.

The basic arm circle forward and backward is the standard. Make sure you’re moving the shoulder blades in concert with the arms as you do these and keeping your upper back extended. People get remarkably lazy with these and end up looking like hunchbacks running a giant egg beater in front of themselves. Over and backs (swing the arms up over your shoulders and chop your upper back, then swing the arms back down behind you) and bear hug swings (swing your arms out to the sides, then back across your body like you’re hugging yourself) are also quick and easy.

If the following workout is shoulder intensive or the shoulders are a focal point, some more in-depth work can be added. Dislocates and presses behind the neck with a PVC pipe are quick and effective (make sure you’re retracting your shoulder blades with the presses). Pipe rolls are a good way to finish after some dislocates. With the same grip, swing one arm up and around your head and follow with the other arm; make sure you go in both directions.

Band pull-downs and chest expanders are good as well. For the pull downs, grip the ends of a light elastic band and hold it overhead like you would a bar for an overhead squat. Keeping the shoulder blades retracted tightly, pull the hands down to the sides until they’re below your shoulders. The band should slide lightly down your back—this isn’t a dislocate; the hands move straight down and back up. For chest expanders, use the same grip but start with the arms in front of you. Squeeze the shoulder blades back and pull the band apart as you bring your arms backward and let the band stretch across your chest.

Finally, a stretch we call the pat down: get near a wall and put the hands against it overhead like you’re getting searched by an arresting officer. Keeping the abs tight to prevent hyperextension of the back, push your chest down and back from the wall to open the shoulders. Instead of just pushing, thinking of pulling down away from the hands as well.


Spine/Trunk

Standing trunk rotations are sufficient to loosen up spinal rotation and hit the hips a bit, and they’re quick and nearly impossible to screw up too bad. Allow your back foot to pivot as you rotate away from it. You can do some rotation on the floor with iron crosses, which can be a bit more of a stretch, but doesn’t have the same dynamic element. Lying on your back with your arms to the sides and legs straight, lift one straight leg up and then bring it across your body to try to touch it to your opposite hand. Bring it back to the midline and down and switch legs.

While I like the standing rotations a bit more than iron crosses, they can’t do what the scorpion can do for the hip flexors. Lying on your stomach with the arms out to the sides, bend one leg and bring the foot to the opposite hand. Activate the glutes as you do this to keep the lower back from hyperextending and to help relax the hip flexors and allow them to stretch.


Hip Flexors/Quads

Leg swings forward and backward are very basic but effective. The back swing will loosen up the quads and hip flexors if done properly: keep the knee close to the other leg and try to close the knee entirely while getting the knee behind the hip.

Lunge variations are excellent for opening up the hips and I like having some kind of lunge used daily not only for this reason but also because of the glute activation and hip stability elements. Basic walking lunges are the simplest, but to this I’ll usually add either a rotation of the trunk or lateral trunk flexion toward the lead leg at the bottom of the lunge to further stretch the hip flexors.

Hip circles can be thrown in as well. The glutes should be kept tight as the hips move forward to stretch the hip flexors.


Hip Extensors/Adductors

The bow and bend is again the most basic here but also effective. Bend at the hips with the knees slightly unlocked and reach to the floor, then return to the top and use the glutes to push the hips forward as you lean back. The back can round as you reach down, but don’t let it complete the whole movement—make sure the hips are hinging so you’re stretching the hamstrings. This will hit the hip flexors quite well also as long as you get the hips through with tight glutes.

The spiderman lunge is one of my top choices for opening up the hips. Take a long lunge step and put the hands on the floor, then try to push your hips and chest toward the floor as far as possible. Stay low as you advance with the next leg. The lead shin should be about vertical—don’t get your body way ahead of your front foot. This should feel like someone is trying to rip your leg out of your hip, but in a non-violent and helpful way.

Groiners are like mountain climbers that reach the feet up to the hands and put you in the spiderman lunge position. The idea is to switch legs rhythmically, but to sink in deep each time to stretch out the hip capsule and adductors.

Leg cradles (knee to chest) are a good starting movement that doesn’t cause much strain. I like doing these walking and extending the ankle of the support leg as you squeeze the other knee to your chest. Make sure the support side glutes are active and your hips remain squared off—don’t let the lifted leg side drop.

Lunge variations will do some stretching of the lead leg hamstrings, adductors and glutes. The forward and backward leg swings mentioned above will hit the hamstrings on the forward swing. Lock in the pelvis as you swing—letting the hips rock back simply allows the lower back to flex rather than keeping the swing to the hip joint. Side leg swings will hit the adductors on the outward swing and some lateral hip, TFL and ITB on the inward swing. Lean forward slightly to lean against a wall or pole and swing one leg across yourself and then back out to the side. Let the toe point up at each side.

Inchworms are another good early drill because they’re slow and controlled. Place the hands on the floor in front of the feet with straight knees and walk them out slowly. When you reach a push-up position, drop the hips to the floor, engage the glutes, and lift your chest to stretch your hip flexors. Then walk the feet (keeping the legs straight) back up to your hands.

The Kossack is one of those exercises that I love but seem to forget too much of the time. Get into a squat and throw one leg straight out to the side with the heel on the floor and your toes pointed up. Keeping your feet on the floor, shift into a squat on the straight leg side and straighten the formerly bent leg. Keep your hands on the floor in front of you and support yourself as much as you need to make it from side to side without tearing your groin. Eventually you should be able to do this with no arm support and keeping your hips low as you transition from side to side.

Finally, there’s the Russian Baby Maker. I doubt I’m the first one to ever do this stretch, but I am the one who gave it that name. And no, I’m not going to explain why—it’s an inside joke that dates back to my college years; you’ll just have to trust me that it’s funny. Put your feet a little wider than your normal squat stance and toes a little more forward than you would normally squat with. With your hands holding the tops of your feet, wedge your elbows between your thighs—get them back as deep into your groin as you can manage. While pushing the elbows out into your thighs, slowly drop your hips toward a squat position. Don’t worry about keeping your back arched. This is not the same as pushing the knees out in a squat position—here we’re trying to spread the proximal ends of the femurs apart rather than the distal ends. In other words, spread the hips, not the knees. You can hold this bottom position for a while, or you can periodically move the hips up slightly and re-settle.


Knees

The knees should get pretty warm with the above drills, but focus work can be done if desired. Simple squats are a good place to start. To these, you can add some knee rotations in the bottom position, which will also help the hips and ankles. In the bottom of the squat, put the hands on the knees and move the hips up and down slightly as you push the knees in small circles each direction.

You can also do knee rotations in a number of ways from a standing position. The basic one is with the feet close together and straight forward, place the hands on slightly bent knees and move both knees together in a circle. You can also move the feet out and move the knees in the same direction, or in opposite directions.


Ankles/Calves

The above knee circles in the bottom of the squat is a good ankle warm-up and a number of different movements can be performed from this bottom position, such as shifting side to side. A more aggressive stretch can be performed by leaning both forearms on one knee to push the ankle closed.

Ankle circles in the standing position with the toe on the floor are quick and simple, and you can also add some heel-toe walking to other warm-up drills to sneak in some ankle work.


Putting it Together

This isn’t an exhaustive list—there are other exercises that can be used to address each of these areas. However, this is more than enough to keep you busy and getting enough variety to not drive yourself or your clients nuts. A single warm-up won’t use all of these drills by any means. We get a group warm-up done here in 12-15 minutes at a steady but not rushing pace. An example series might look like:

1. Wrist circles – 10 each direction
2. Elbow circles – 10 each direction
3. Arm circles – 10 each direction
4. Bow & bend – 10
5. 1-legged RDL + leg swings – 10 each leg
6. Spiderman lunge – 10 each leg
7. Scorpion – 10 each side
8. Russian Baby Makers – 30 sec hold
9. PVC dislocates – 10
10. PVC overhead squats - 10


Static Stretching

Select static stretching can be placed here to address specific problem areas that need aggressive stretching. Here is a stretching article.


Corrective Drills

This would now be the time to perform any remedial work you want to place before the workout. The individual is warm and the muscles and joints prepared to perform exercises safely and effectively. Examples would be glute activation drills like bridges, clamshells and X-band walks or shoulder prep/pre-hab work like band external and internal rotations, abduction, etc., or stability exercises like Turkish get-ups. These are drills that will either help the athlete or client perform safely or properly in training, or are elements deemed important enough to warrant the focus and energy only available at the beginning of the training session.


Try It

I know a few people who never warm-up, and a few of them will even tell you that warming up is unnecessary. Interestingly enough, all of these folks have chronic pain and histories of injury. Don’t make up silly excuses and analogies because you don’t feel like spending a few more minutes getting reading. You’re not a wild animal being chased without warning in the jungle—you’re an athlete getting ready to train in the gym.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

How To Warm Up, Part 1

  I am becoming a huge fan of Catalyst Athletics, and really enjoy the insights of Greg Everett. While being an absolute novice when it comes to Olympic lifting, I quickly am becoming a fan of them. Here, Greg discusses his reasons for his warm up protocol, which, though geared toward weightlifting, can be applied to all types of exercise. Here is Part 1, with more to follow...




  Catalyst Athletics: Our Warm-up is a Warm-up Greg Everett | Training: General | November 8 2011

 
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Catalyst Athletics: Our Warm-up is a Warm-up, Greg Everett,
Somewhere along the line, warming up became remarkably complicated. And for some, the line between warming up and training has faded to the point that I find myself compelled to say things like the title of this post.

Whenever you start getting confused about what to do, a reliable course of action is to ask yourself a simple question: Why? What is the purpose of this? What am I trying to accomplish? If you can answer those questions, chances are you’ll be able to work it all out just fine. If you can’t answer those questions satisfactorily, don’t be afraid to seek out the advice of someone more experienced in that particular area.

When it comes to warming up, what are we trying to accomplish? The name itself is a bit of a hint, but increasing body temperature is just one element. It might be easier if we rename the warm-up to training preparation. Now if we ask what we’re trying to accomplish, it should be obvious: we’re preparing our bodies for the training to follow.

I’ve seen more times than I can even believe warm-ups that read exactly like workouts—and not easy ones. The first thing I think to myself when I see these warm-ups is that I would have to warm-up to do them. This is a pretty good tip-off that your warm-up may not be serving its purpose. Ring dips, box jumps, burpees and the like are not elements of a warm-up. There will be times when you insert non-warm-up exercises before the primary workout, but these come after an adequate warm-up; they’re not part of it. These are usually remedial exercises to address an athlete’s or client’s weaknesses or activation exercises to help correct inactive musculature in a manner that carries over into the subsequent training (an example would be glute medius activation drills).

The title of this post is a modification of a popular line that demonstrates a lack of understanding of the purpose of a warm-up (which would garner more sympathy from me if it weren’t demonstrative of such an elitist attitude), as well as suggests that some people are more concerned with creating the appearance of athletic ability than actually developing it.

Having recently hired two new trainers at Catalyst, I’m having to go over a lot of the fundamentals again to ensure that everyone’s on the same page. One of the things I find myself reiterating regularly is that the number one priority in this gym is not hurting people. As much as I feel like this should be so obvious it shouldn’t need to be even said out loud, it can be overlooked easily when overwhelmed by the excitement and novelty of certain aspects of training, and often a big part of a trainer’s job is protecting clients from themselves.

That being said, I recognize and accept that some injuries and pain are inevitable with any physical activity, particularly among groups of people who have the shared tendency to push themselves. However, I see this not as an excuse to ignore it, but as a reason to do everything we possibly can to minimize the occurrence and severity of injuries. Much of this is accomplished through programming choices and client entry protocols, but the warm-up plays a significant role

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Paleo: Why It's So Funny! : Brilliance from James Fell

Paleo has jumped the shark

Whisky. Tango. Foxtrot.
Paleo water. It’s not a joke; it’s an actual thing.
And it makes it official. Paleo has put on its leather jacket, strapped two hydrodynamic boards to its feet, and caught air over top a carnivorous fish.
Perhaps you recall my last post about low carb / paleo and religious zealotry. In that post, there was a section called “Follow the Money” where I discussed how Mr. Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Jimmy Moore couldn’t escape low carb dieting despite adverse affects to his health because his entire business was all about spreading low carb gospel.
I’m not trying to be mean to Jimmy here, but holy crap. You seriously need to go and check out this link, which is “As recommended by Jimmy Moore of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb.”
One of the marketing claims is that this paleo water is, “…as close as scientifically possible to the water our genetic blueprint demands – but no longer receives. Today’s chemically treated ‘pure’ water is so far removed from the water we lived on for thousands of years.”
Yes, today’s chemically treated water is way different from what we drank for millennia, and that’s a good thing! Clean water is probably THE most important health advance humans have ever made. This so-called “paleo water” is about extra hydrogen something something, but the reality of our Paleolithic ancestors is that most of the water they drank was contaminated with stuff like parasites, E. coli and poop. Ever hear of giardiasis, AKA “beaver fever?” You don’t want to get it, but if you do, at least you can take antibiotics to cure it. Cavemen didn’t have such medicine. Their lack of clean water sometimes killed them.
At first, I thought this had to be a joke, so did a lot of people on my Facebook page when I linked to the paleo water advertisement. Maybe some vindictive vegans had created a fake page to discredit paleo and Jimmy both. But nope, I have confirmed that these guys are serious, and that Jimmy Moore did indeed endorse it, as per comments yesterday on his Twitter account.
This company is trying to marketing spin the popularity of paleo to sell a system that infuses hydrogen into water. (Again: or something). Does that actually do anything? I have no clue, but this chemist seems to think it’s a load of crap. Speaking of crap, want some real paleo water? Find a pond, take a dump in it, then have a drink.
Here’s another marketing claim from the paleo water company:
“When our clients taste PRIMAL WATER a common comment is that their body ‘knows’ this water. It ‘remembers’ it.”
Excuse me for a moment.
stupid burns
But you know what? Whether or not infusing hydrogen into water is worthless or worthwhile is not my point with this post. My point is to take a deeper look at paleo as a marketing gimmick.
I knew an exchange student from Africa when I was in university who had river blindness. He had permanently lost his sight due to a lack of clean water. I wonder what he would think about REAL paleo water vs. clean water that wasn’t full of stuff that could blind or even kill you.
James Randi
Yes, paleo is nothing but a marketing gimmick, and a damn effective one judging by how many it has sucked in. I should mention I have an MBA a dozen years of sales and marketing experience. I know a scam when I see one.
If you read my last post, you saw part of a rejection letter for my book (which IS being published by Random House April 1, 2014) from a major publishing house that didn’t think my program was “salable” because it was “sane, levelheaded, with proven advice.”
Gimmicks and scams are what sell.
Paleo is an awesome gimmick, I’ll give you that. It just sounds really cool. Our lives lack adventure. We commute in tin cans through traffic jams, sit in cubes and get performance reviews by people with double-digit IQs, have to obey all sorts of rules and laws … those cavemen had it made. Living the Paleolithic life must have been awesome.
Paleo advocates like to use the term “ancestral health,” but I’m going to burst some bubbles and point out why that term is an oxymoron.
First, let’s start off with the most shocking revelation that is something everyone who wants to lose weight must understand. You ready? This is the most important part of this post. Here goes.
 Starvation has killed more people throughout human history than any other cause.
Has that sunk in? Good, because what it means is that our ancestors had no sense of moderation, and with damn good reason. Being a glutton is a major survival skill. When you spend a lot of time starving, and for a brief period of time there is an ample supply of food, you eat until you’re ready to burst in order to put on as much fat stores as you can in order to survive the next famine. This is a well-studied phenomenon called post-starvation hyperphagia. Just FYI, “hyperphagia” means “pigging out.”
And not only that, but you went for the highest calorie stuff you could find. Green leafy vegetables were a last resort. If something sugary or fatty was around, you gobbled that stuff down like it was antidote to fast-acting poison. All you wanted was a metric shit-ton of calories in order to survive long enough to procreate.
And just FYI, meat was a rare treat. Most of our troglodyte ancestors ate a largely vegetarian diet. I’m sure they loved their meat, but it was hard to come by; hunting was risky and burned lots of calories that they needed to preserve to survive. (Cavemen didn’t like to move around too much if they didn’t have to.) Not only that, but they didn’t have refrigeration so it didn’t take long for meat to start getting maggoty. I guess maggots are extra protein though, right?
Another shocking fact about living in the caveman era: There was a good chance one or more (or all) of your kids would die. Are you parent? I am. The thought of such a thing rips my heart in two.
Also, a mere scratch could become infected and kill you. There was no effective treatment for pain (have fun in childbirth, ladies), there were no doctors or dentists, indoor plumbing or toilet paper … Heat came from a fire instead of a furnace, so your cave was often full of smoke, and air conditioning didn’t exist at all. Razor blades, waxing and laser hair removal didn’t exist, and neither did deodorant. Lice existed though. They existed a lot.
I’m pretty sure our ancestors didn’t do CrossFit either. Their exercise regimen was mostly walking, gathering stuff, making stuff with their hands, occasional chasing stuff, as well as occasional being chased by stuff, and sex done doggie style. Speaking of the latter, I expect women didn’t have too much say in when they had sex or even whom that had it with.
But you want to live paleo, so you book your trip to the PrimalCon Vacation in Tulum, Mexico. You drive a car to the airport, fly high in the sky in a big silver bird, drive in another (air-conditioned) car to your not-a-cave air-conditioned hotel, drink clean water and eat maggot-free food. And instead of wearing clothes you stabbed and skinned yourself, it’s something light and comfortable that was made by a child in a faraway land and purchased for a reasonable price at a department store. You can relax by the chlorinated pool and later on watch your hero Mark Sisson give a presentation using software called PowerPoint delivered via some weird technology called a computer. Way to Grok.
And don’t worry about your kids. They’ll be well looked after with almost zero chance of being eaten by a saber-toothed murder beast.
And speaking of Sisson, I’m pretty sure our ancestors didn’t have supplements. Mark will sell you some, though.
I have a feeling if you went back in time and really lived paleo for a week you’d hate it even more than I hate Nickelback.
Listen, I get the idea behind paleo, and I am all for living a life less processed. I think Michael Pollan was right with his basic advice of, “Eat food (meaning stuff that isn’t processed to hell). Mostly plants. Not too much.”
But why create a mystique around ancestral living when it’s mostly based on a lie? Marketing, that’s why. Again, it sounds cool.
Want to know what is more cool? Critical thinking. I challenge you to not follow the herd and make rational decisions about your diet and exercise regimen that aren’t based on flawed dogma. Don’t demonize food groups because someone says our genes haven’t changed – they have! The genes of much of the population has adapted just fine to dairy, because there were plenty of famines where those who couldn’t consume dairy starved to death and were removed from the gene pool. Same goes for eating grains. Being able to digest a wide variety of foods is a major evolutionary advantage that has been naturally selected for over the years.
Sure, there are things about modern society that sucks. I don’t like there being mercury or PCBs in my fish. I don’t like the way factory farms treat animals. I don’t like pollution or rising sea levels. I don’t like people who text when they drive. I really don’t like nuclear weapons. When I was a teen I was certain Ronald Reagan was going to get us all blown into radioactive hellfire and I would die a virgin.
But there are great things about being alive right now, which is why I think romanticizing ancient times is foolish. One of the big reasons I’m keen on modern society is healthcare. Here’s a great quote from Dr. Paul Offit, who is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia:
“People have been living on earth for about 250,000 years. For the past 5,000 healers have been trying to heal the sick. For all but the past 200, they haven’t been very good at it.”
Most of us don’t have to worry about dying from minor or even serious injuries, or a host of nasty infections, because of modern medicine. I wouldn’t trade that for all the hairy cave sex in the world.
raquel
Your Paleolithic carnal experiences may differ.
Yes, we have rampant obesity, easy access to heavily processed food, and sedentary lifestyles. Just because you don’t want to play that game doesn’t mean you should embrace a gross misinterpretation of ancient humanity. Think for yourself, and figure out what is right for you in our mostly wonderful modern world.
While you’re figuring things out, here’s a tip on how to get rich, if you think that will make you happy. Figure out the next big diet gimmick, because paleo has jumped the shark and won’t be around a lot longer. It will go the way of the blood type diet (over seven million copies sold) and the [insert place where rich people live] diet.
Get your thinking cap on and come up with a cool idea for a diet that can be romanticized in some way, and you’ll make a fortune.
My cut is 10 percent.

James S. Fell, CSCS, is the co-founder of www.SixPackAbs.com and owns www.BodyForWife.com. James is a nationally syndicated fitness columnist for the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. His book, Lose It Right: A Brutally Honest 3-Stage Program to Get Fit and Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind is coming from Random House in early 2014. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter

Friday, September 20, 2013

Do You Paleo?

    Warning: if you like Paleo or think you are a true follower of the lifestyle, think again. Alan Aragon is one of my absolute favorites in the research and training field. He holds no punches and preaches the truth with a huge sense of humor. While this particular article does not have much of his funny wit, it is chock full of knowledge bombs. Prepare to learn and change how you percieve Paleo...

Interview with Alan Aragon Paleo Critic

20 Sep 2013 by Karen Pendergrass in Interviews
Alan Aragon is a nutrition expert and renowned Paleo critic that writes research reviews on the latest nutrition publications, writes a monthly column in Men’s Health Magazine, and is also a continuing education provider for several organizations, including the Commission on Dietetic Registration, National Academy of Sports Medicine, and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
Aragon has been openly criticizing the Paleo Diet for over a decade, so I asked him a few questions about his background and opinion of the Paleo Diet and Paleo Movement in general to gain some insight and clarity to his oppositional stance.

1. Alan, tell us a little about your background and what you do. 

I’ve spent the majority of my career in nutritional counseling, but as of the past few years, I’ve been progressively more involved in research and conference lectures. My areas of concentration are the integration of training and nutrition for altering body composition or enhancing exercise performance (my latest publication is here). I have two primary research projects in the works and one secondary research project that should make it past peer review hopefully before the year is over. I’m also working on a book for the lay audience, and at this point I’m not too sure how much I can divulge about that. The speaking road will lead me to London and Canada before the year is up, in addition to my regular speaking spots at the Fitness Summit and the NSCA. My formal bio can be seen here.

2. What is AARP?

Are you trying to tell me I’m over the hill? If that’s the case…then I can’t argue with you on that. In all seriousness though, AARR (Alan Aragon’s Research Review) is a monthly review of the scientific literature related to nutrition, training, and supplementation. It’s what I do to stay on top of the current research, and help other health/fitness professionals and enthusiasts do the same. It’s an outlet for me to pour out my nerdy obsessions, when you really boil it down. Both the theoretical and practical sides are covered. I also have various guest contributors from all corners of the allied health fields, so it’s pretty diverse in terms its scope of content.

3. Many proponents of the Paleo Diet believe that post-Agricultural Revolution foods that weren’t eaten by our prehistoric ancestors should be avoided under that pretense. What is your response to this assertion? 

It’s logically faulty to just assume that pre-agricultural times were optimal in terms of nutritional circumstances, and general health circumstances, for that matter. Some of the most significant technological breakthroughs for improving human health and preventing/treating disease occurred within roughly the last century. The march of technology can be both good and bad, but let’s not dismiss or ignore the enormous amount of good. But beyond that, many whole foods (both plant & animal) of the present day did not exist in the Paleolithic period; they are products of modern-day farming and food engineering, so that virtually kills the objective right there. The best practical move we can make as modern-day humans is to predominate our diet with whole and minimally refined foods, while judiciously moderating the “naughty” stuff. One thing that really bugged me was seeing potatoes (a whole, nutrient-dense food) on the list of banned foods set forth by pioneering Paleo diet researcher Loren Cordain. Talk about going full-potato!

4. Are there some populations of people that you believe are extremely maladapted to Neolithic diets and therefore should avoid grains and legumes altogether?

I don’t think it’s practical or even accurate to assume population-wide extreme intolerance to grains and legumes. The issue with grains inevitably boils down to some level of gluten intolerance. The most current estimates of celiac disease prevalence fall below 1% of the population. As far as non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) goes, a very recent study led by Daniel DiGiacomo of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University estimated that the national prevalence of NCGS is a smidge over 0.5%, which is about half the prevalence of celiac disease. I’ve seen higher gluten sensitivity prevalence estimates in less reliable literature, but the bottom line is that the gluten-tolerant faction of the population is likely to be well over 90% of us. So, it simply makes no sense to view gluten-containing foods as universally “bad.” Adding to the illogic of banning foods that are tolerable by the vast majority of the population, the traditional Paleo diet doctrine selectively ignores the fact that ‘Paleo-approved’ foods (i.e., nuts, fish, and shellfish), have a combined prevalence of allergenicity comparable to – and by some estimates even greater  than that of gluten-containing grains. Another amusing fact is that 4 of the 8 “major food allergens” designated by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act are Paleo-approved.

5. Are Paleo Diet adherents missing important health benefits from eschewing grains, legumes, and dairy?

If you include taste enjoyment as an indirect benefit to health, then I’d say yes, that applies to all of those foods. Anyone who can tolerate a given food, and truly enjoys the food, should not force the avoidance of it. This rigid, all-or-nothing approach to dieting is a recipe for disordered eating in susceptible individuals. Speaking of the foods from a nutritional standpoint, I’d also say yes. Every species of food has its own unique nutrient profile – and I’m not just talking about essential vitamins and minerals. There are a plethora of phytonutrients (& zoonutrients) in those foods that may act individually or synergistically to promote health and/or inhibit disease. Let’s take oats, for example. There is a substantive body of research pointing to multiple beneficial effects attributed to the beta-glucan content, and other non-essential components of oats. These benefits range from appetite control (as indicated by increases in peptide Y-Y) to enhanced immune response, and improvements in blood lipid profile and glucose control. The list goes on. As for dairy, I pity the poor soul who can digestively tolerate dairy just fine, truly enjoys it, yet avoids it just because it breaks Paleo rules. I’ll quote research by Rafferty & Heaney on the nutritional profile of milk:
“NHANES 1999–2000 and CSFII 1994–1996 analyses of food sources of calcium, vitamin D, protein, phosphorus, and potassium reveal milk to be the number 1 single food contributor of each of these bone-related nutrients with the exception of protein in all age groups of both sexes…”
Regarding legumes, the aforementioned principles apply. Furthermore, I’ve repeatedly challenged folks to show me research indicating the adverse effects of whole legume consumption (not soy protein isolate by the bucketload) in healthy humans. Invariably, I hear crickets. In contrast, the scientific literature (in both observational and controlled studies) on the health benefits of legume consumption is substantial. Peanuts are legumes, and peanut butter (especially combined with chocolate) has been known to impart magical powers. Your mileage may vary on this. An interesting bit of information that folks ignore or overlook is that legumes are common staples of some of the healthiest populations in the world. In fact, Dan Buettner (of Blue Zone research fame) reported that beans, including fava, black, soy, and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Of course, this is observational data with many potential confounding variables. Nonetheless, it warrants caution against the assumption that legumes are the bad guys. I’ve recently made the point that traditional Mediterranean populations have intakes that violate every food restriction rule of the Paleo diet, but they’re busy being too healthy to give a damn.


 6. While it is almost universally recognized that Celiac’s Disease is a gluten-mediated condition, do you suggest that people with Autoimmune Conditions consume grains?

For those who enjoy grains, yes. I am a big believer in respecting you own personal taste preference, and letting that override the rules and formalities of any given fad diet. If grains don’t suit your personal taste, then by all means don’t eat them. It’s the idea of banning them universally despite a lack of supporting evidence that I take issue with. For those who DO have the desire to eat grains but have issues with gluten intolerance, the good news is that commercially available gluten-free grains outnumber gluten-containing grains by at least 2 to 1 (complete resource here).

7. If a client of yours presents with IBS, what dietary recommendations do you make to improve GI function?

Well, right off the bat, I wouldn’t do a knee-jerk recommendation to avoid all grains, legumes, and dairy. The British Dietetic Association recently published evidence-based guidelines for the management of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In summary, lowering the intake of fermentable carbohydrates is recommended. Also, avoiding or minimizing gluten-containing foods may be necessary, but let me reiterate that there’s still a fair range of gluten-free grain foods available to choose from if the person likes grains. Lactose-containing foods can be problematic, so their minimization or elimination should be considered as well (note that low & no-lactose dairy products are abundant). A high consumption of fructose has also been implicated in exacerbating IBS, so this should be moderated as well. Indiscriminately having an IBS patient “go Paleo” can potentially lead to problems since there are Paleo-approved foods are high in fructose, fructans, and polyols suspected to aggravate IBS. However, I would concede that as a quick-and-dirty shotgun solution to managing IBS, the Paleo diet model is actually quite a good approach. I would also encourage screening and treatment by a gastroenterologist (or similar qualified medical specialist), since many times the treatments for digestive disorders are beyond the scope of nutritional modulation alone.

8. Is the fear of a skewed off, greater than 1:1 Omega-6, Omega-3 ratio, irrational and unfounded?

Yes, it is unfounded. There’s no objective evidence demonstrating the optimality of a 1:1 ratio of dietary omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. It’s all speculation without a solid research basis. For example, the ratio of omega-6 to omega 3 in coconut oil (a Paleo fetishist favorite) is almost 4000 to 1, yet the weight of the evidence does not indict coconut oil as an agent of adverse effects. Most commercially available land animals’ fatty acid composition has omega-6 content that’s many times greater than its omega-3 content. So, if we were to strive for a 1:1 ratio in the diet, we’d have to minimize the consumption of beef, chicken, pork, etc. It’s just silly. In line with this, the higher proportion of omega-6 fats in whole foods of plant origin such as nuts is not a concern. The evidence of omega-3 consumption’s beneficial effect on health indexes is abundant, so I would recommend keeping fatty marine foods in rotation in the weekly menu in order to reap these benefits. For those really worried about it, omega-3 supplementation is always an option.

9. Is our ‘fear’ of sugar unfounded?

It depends. I’d say in rational, health-conscious, physically active adults, the fear of sugar is indeed unfounded. In children and adolescents (who are mostly clueless about health, lets’ face it), sugar consumption is often unbridled & combined with physical inactivity, so yeah – the concern is there. The crux of sugarphobia centers around fructose, which is an almost unavoidable component of commercially available sugar-sweetened products. Table sugar itself (sucrose) is half glucose, half fructose, and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is ubiquitous in soft drinks and packaged sweets has a slightly but inconsequentially higher proportion of fructose. Many are familiar with Robert Lustig’s campaign against sugar, and his emphasis on the evils of fructose. What often fails to be addressed is that dose and context make all the difference in the world. The research indicting fructose as an inherent agent of harm uses artificially high doses that are many times greater than typical human intakes. Much of this research is rodent-based, and rodents’ capacity to convert dietary carbohydrate to fat is roughly ten-fold that of humans. There are several diligent scientific reviews that have been done on this topic, which I would encourage everyone to read, since the full text is publicly available. To quote a recent review by Salwa Rizkalla:
“Despite the epidemiological parallel between the marked increase of obesity and fructose consumption, there is no direct evidence linking obesity to the consumption of physiological amounts of fructose in humans (≤ 100g/day). A moderate dose (≤ 50g/day) of added fructose has no deleterious effect on fasting and postprandial triglycerides, glucose control and insulin resistance.”
I would also encourage everyone to read John White’s recent review challenging the fructose hypothesis, whose key points are quoteworthy:
“In considering the volume of contemporary literature on fructose, 1 conclusion stands clear: fructose is safe at typical intake levels but can produce adverse metabolic effects when abused—as is true of most nutrients. It turns out that the largest abusers of fructose are not American consumers, but research scientists. [...] It is only when researchers hyperdose human and animal subjects with fructose in amounts that exceed the 95th percentile by 1.5- to 3- and 4- to 5-fold, respectively, that adverse effects are provoked.”
The way I see it, the practical take-away for the general population would be to keep added sugar (as opposed to intrinsic sugar in milk or whole fruit) limited to roughly 10% of total calories. This will allow for moderation & sane dietary practices while also hedging your bets away from the adverse potential of excess intake. Certain athletes involved in high-volume endurance competition (and other highly physically active folks) can safely exceed this in order to meet the demands of their sport.

10. What are your biggest gripes with the Paleo Movement as a whole? What do you appreciate about the Paleo Movement as a whole?

My biggest gripes with the Paleo Movement is the extreme-ism and absolute-ism that some folks apply to food avoidance despite a lack of supporting research evidence. And even the “Primal” model of going 80% Paleo while leaving 20% for the non-Paleo stuff is rather humorous. For example, in the context of a typical 2500 kcal diet, 20% of those calories coming from grains & dairy would constitute 500 kcal – which is the capacity for a typical bowl of cereal. So, if a bowl of cereal (or 2 cups of pasta, or 4 slices of bread) every day qualifies as Primal, then it sounds a lot like conventional eating to me. It’s just difficult to tolerate the lack of logic there. I generally can’t stand the labeling or branding aspect of a diet, or the universalization of diet rules. This is because individuals have vastly different preferences, tolerances, and goals for the function of their eating habits.
As for what I appreciate about the Paleo movement, the push toward consuming more whole foods is definitely a positive thing. I appreciate guys like Robb Wolf & Mat Lalonde who are much more flexible and objective in their approach & philosophies than the majority I’ve communicated with in the Paleo sphere. Last but not least, I like the CrossFit training attire.

11. Are there any questions that I failed to ask you that you feel merits answering?

Not that can think of at the moment, this should be plenty to get people thinking. I want give you thanks and credit for being the first Paleo-focused publication to reach outside the box and interview me.

Alan Aragon Paleo Critic interview conducted by Karen Pendergrass. To learn more about Alan Aragon, visit his website here.

Monday, September 16, 2013

To Belt or Not to Belt?

  Weight belts are weak, much like gloves, wrist straps and carrying the entire tub of protein powder to the gym ( do not get me started). Do we really need them, or are they just an accessory to make us look 'bro-tastic'? Three coaches give their insights and opinions. My opinion? I haven't owned a belt since 1990 and have used one fewer than ten times since...



Do You Really Need a Lifting Belt?


Do You Really Need a Lifting Belt?

Here's what you need to know...

The typical trainee has a weak core. Using a weight belt masks this problem.
Strength athletes can use a belt, but only for sets above 85% of 1RM and not with all lifts. Never wear a belt when performing an exercise that has you sitting or lying down.
If you're an athlete and you don't wear a belt in your sport, then wear a belt sparingly, if at all.
There's a specific way to wear a belt – don't just slap it on.

Some lifters are never seen without their beat-up old leather belts, while others go their entire careers without ever putting one on.
Four coaches took aim at lifting's most common fashion accessory – the weight belt.


Mike Robertson



An athlete doesn't get anything out of using a belt.

An athlete doesn't get anything out of using a belt.
Only those who are trying to compete in a strength sport (Olympic lifters, powerlifters, strongmen, etc.) should be wearing a belt when they lift.
When we assess our clients, they almost universally come in with a weak or underdeveloped core. As such, we have to rebuild this over time with smart coaching and exercise progressions.
If someone is constantly using a belt to "hide" a weak core (relative to their hips/legs), this is a problem we need to address.
An athlete really doesn't get anything out of using a belt. And many times it works against them because the goal is to build a balanced body that works as a functional unit.
For strength athletes, it's a different story – you're judged on your ability to move weight. However, the bulk of the training time should still be done raw, only using a belt when in the 85%+ range of lifting.
To effectively use a belt, there's a lot more to it than simply "pushing your abs out." In fact, this is detrimental as it slams your lower back into extension.
Instead, put the belt on and exhale slightly, allowing the ribs to come down. Now with the ribs down, take another deep breath in – you should feel pressure to the front, sides, and back of the belt.
This is true, circumferential, core stability in all directions. You'll not only be more stable, but move more weight as a result.


Tim Henriques



Over-reliance on belts weaken the core.

Over-reliance on belts weaken the core.
Lifting belts can increase intra-abdominal pressure. This intra-abdominal pressure is good in that it increases spine and core stability. It's bad in that it shoots up blood pressure and can aggravate hernias and other injuries.
Lifting belts can help performance on big lifts involving the lower back. If a lifter is squatting heavy or pulling big, a belt may be able to increase performance on those lifts.
However, if the exercise really doesn't stress the lower back/core that much – leg presses, triceps pushdowns, etc. – wearing a belt is unnecessary (apart from making your waist look smaller and your shoulders look bigger).
Over-reliance on lifting belts might also weaken the core musculature. Think of a belt like a crutch – use it too much and the muscles don't respond because the belt is there.
That being said, folks like Louie Simmons advocate pushing your abs against the belt, in which case belt work might actually make your core stronger because you have some resistance – the belt – to push against.
But if you're an athlete and you don't wear a belt in your sport, then I would wear a belt sparingly.
So my answer to the belt question is this: First, don't wear it on stuff that doesn't involve the lower back much, and definitely don't be one of those dudes that puts the belt on in the locker room and doesn't take it off until he's changing out of his workout clothes.
Second, save the belt for the big sets, whatever that means to you. For warm-up sets and light work sets it's generally unnecessary to wear one, but for the big stuff put it on.
Finally, you need to learn how to use the belt. I like to do a core bracing exercise in which I put the belt on, get into lifting position, and then brace my core really hard.
Sometimes I'll have lifters put their fingers in between the belt and their core. When they brace they should feel considerable pressure on their fingers. This is harder than it seems, and if it is for you then regress the movement in the following way:
Start in a normal standing position with a slight arch in the lower back and learn how to brace there. Then move into more lifting-specific positions. Hold the brace for about 5 seconds and do a few sets of this.
If you have an injury and you feel the belt protects it, wear it. It's easy to brace the core hard in spinal flexion, but while lifting we want to mimic our lifting position which is usually with a slight spinal extension.
When it comes to types of belts, I'm partial to the Inzer Forever Belt with a Lever. I've had the same belt for 17 years and still love it.


Dan Trink



The answer lies in the middle.

The answer lies in the middle.
About 400 years ago, when I first set foot in the gym, everyone wore a weight belt. It didn't matter if you were squatting, bench pressing, or taking a step aerobics class, a cinched weight belt was as much a part of the gym uniform as leg warmers or Zubaz pants.
Then, about 15 years ago, guys like Paul Chek came out against weight belts saying how they stunted the development of the transverse abdominus and other core musculature. At that point, unless your name was Sven and you were lifting a 400-pound atlas stone at the World's Strongest Man competition, you wouldn't be caught dead in a belt.
As with most things, the right answer lies somewhere in the middle. The majority of people shouldn't be wearing lifting belts the majority of the time.
However, if you're going for a maximal or near-maximal squat or deadlift, and the weight on the bar is hovering around 2x bodyweight, a belt will certainly help you complete the lift by providing more support to your abs and lower back as well as keep your spine from crumbling into a pile of dust.
I've also noticed a lot more Olympic weightlifters wearing thin belts with a Velcro closure during near-max attempts. This is also a good idea as anything that can keep you safer and training longer and harder will be beneficial in the long run. And given the way a lot of these athletes train and the massive loads they're able to lift, these belts are probably necessary.
While you want your lifting belt to be tight, the goal is to be able to get a belly full of air and brace your abs against the belt. So if you're cinching your belt so tight that you can't get in a full, deep breath, you may want to back it off a notch.
You can actually use a weight belt as a proprioceptive tool to help teach an abdominal brace by getting air into your abdomen and bracing against the belt. I usually do this by placing my hands around a client's waist, but if training alone the belt does a great job.
And never wear a belt when performing an exercise that has you sitting or lying down. Ever.
Bottom line, if you're an experienced lifter about to do a near-max effort single or double, then pop on a lifting belt. However, if you're cranking out sets of 8 to 10 at 70%, then put the weight belt back in the closet with your string tank top.


Todd Bumgardner



Belts are for experienced lifters and big weights.

Belts are for experienced lifters and big weights.
I'm absolutely an advocate for using weight belts to promote strength.
It's an easy argument – intra-abdominal pressure that provides spinal stability leads to greater force output. Like any other training tool, however, use is situational.
While belts are a useful tool, they should be saved for the big lifts and Olympic lifts, and for efforts at 75 percent or greater of one-rep max. Sorry, but screaming, parachute pant biceps curls aren't belt worthy.
Sure, it's efficacious to use a belt for lifts at lower percentages – you're going to improve force output. But building core strength and coordination is advantageous for building lasting strength. Consider the lower-percentage lifts to be the core builders, while belts are showtime ergogenic aids.
Belts are also reserved for those with at least a few years of lifting experience – young lifters, and those young in training age, need to learn how to breathe and how to brace with their lats, abs, and supporting core musculature before they slap a belt on.
We actually came out of the womb with a solid belt – lifters need to master using it before they turn to external assistance.
Do you know how to get your air low into your belly? Have you mastered lat tension? Can you breathe behind the shield? If you've answered no to even one of these questions, forget about using a belt.
If you're belt ready, use it well. Align it so the bottom of the belt is just above the crests of your hip bones. Make sure the front of the belt covers your belly button.
Also, make sure the belt is used to reinforce a solid, diaphragmatic breath. Don't just push your abs out against the belt. This means that you shouldn't have the belt so tight that your belly can't expand into it.
As you take in a breath, you should feel your trunk fill with air and put pressure on the belt in 360 degrees. Your belly should press into the belt, as should your back. Your obliques should press into the belt just above your iliac crests. If you're doing it right you'll feel like a marshmallow stuffed into a wedding band.
Make sure the belt isn't a crutch for shitty positioning. Lock your form in, and then use the belt as assistance for holding good position – long spine and low breath.


Wrap Up

Weight belts are a tool – in the right context they're indispensable, while in the majority of cases (and in the majority of lifters) they're useless at best.
Learn proper form, learn how to brace your core, and focus on getting strong with as little "gear" as possible. The fun tools will be waiting for you when you have the need for them.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

The Beauty of Complexes

 If you can not stand to walk on the treadmill, if running is too boring, and if you are too uncoordinated to ride a bike, try complexes. These are truly made to test your mettle, as you may think your lungs may burst mercifully before you pass out. Some of the best coaches torture their athletes with these; they save time and will have you on the floor in a matter of minutes. But don't let that scare you, give them a shot! This snippet comes to you from an old T-Nation article. Enjoy.





Complexes: Not So Complex
Quick review: A complex is where you pick up a barbell, perform several reps of an exercise with it, then move right into another exercise, then another, and another, and maybe one or two more. Then you see black spots, get all ripped 'n shit, and bang swimsuit models.
Okay, okay, Coach Dan John has a much better definition: "A complex is a series of lifts performed back to back where you finish the reps of one lift before moving on to the next lift. The bar only leaves your hands or touches the floor after all of the lifts are completed."
Alwyn Cosgrove is even more concise: "A complex is a circuit using one piece of equipment, one load, and one space."
So maybe you perform front squats for 8 reps, then push presses for 8 reps, then bent-over rows for 8, and finally back squats for 8 — all without putting the damn bar down.
It's brutal. Better still, it's brutally effective for fat loss and improving all the physical qualities I listed in my snazzy intro.
But the best thing? You can't do it while talking on the fucking cell phone or otherwise "going through the motions." It requires focus, discipline, hard work, and quite possibly a touch of insanity.
Make no mistake, if anyone says this is easy you can bet they've never actually tried it.


So When Do You Use Complexes?


Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Shoulder Pain? Fix This!

This is an older article that I still refer to. It was one that really opened my eyes to the importance of shoulder health. If you are having issues with your shoulders, chest tightening, or just generally sit at a computer all day, use some of these tips to correct yourself before you wreck yourself. Sorry, couldn't help myself. Enjoy!

Push-Ups, Face Pulls, and Shrugs
...for Strong and Healthy Shoulders!

Screw the Rotator Cuff!
That's right, screw it. Seriously, it's about as over-hyped as Kevin Federline's big "debut." We think the rotator cuff gets way too much attention. Whenever shoulder pain creeps up, what's the first thing that everyone brings up? The rotator cuff, of course. (Or for those of you from Indiana, that would be your "rotary cup").
"Well, you need to strengthen your rotator cuff."
"You're probably impinging your rotator cuff."
"Sounds like you tore your rotator cuff."
We've had it up to our shoulders with the rotator cuff! While the rotator gets all the chicks, all the glamour, and all the attention, the real star of the show is forced to the background. In fact, it never even gets any mirror time at the gym, unless you're picking at your backne. (We've seen you do it).
Allow us to introduce the real star of the show: the scapula!

Our Favorite Bone
The scapula is our favorite bone and we're not afraid to admit it. (Insert way-too-easy penis joke here.) No other bone in your body functions like the scapula, nor does any have so complex or important a job. Without the scapula, your shoulder is nothing!
When you really examine the scapulae (plural for scapula), one of the first things you'll notice is that it's position on the body, and it's function, are almost entirely determined by the function of the muscles attached to it. If it weren't for your tiny acromioclavicular (AC) joint and a couple of ligaments, your scapulae wouldn't have any bony attachments to the rest of the bony skeleton.
Since the scapula is half of the glenohumeral joint (the shoulder joint) and is essentially the foundation of the shoulder, this becomes an important point. Any altered scapular muscle function, weakness, or inability to position the scapula and then stabilize it results in a direct affect on the shoulder joint with dire consequences. These include glenohumeral instability leading to arthritis, impingement, rotator cuff tendonitis/tendinosis, rotator cuff tears, labrum injuries, and so on.
Rather than blindly give you a series of exercises and a program, we think it's important that you have at least a rudimentary understanding of how the scapula functions.

Functional Anatomy Surrounding the Scapulae
We live in a 3-D world, so the scapulae function in three dimensions. The scapulae tilt forward and backward, rotate inward and outward, and rotate upward and downward.
Through the combined efforts of some 17 muscles it can also protract and retract as well as elevate (shrug) and depress.
Of the typical 180 degrees of overhead reach in a healthy shoulder, the scapulae's upward rotation is responsible for about 60 degrees of it. It does so through the synergistic efforts of the "upward" rotators: the upper trapezius, the lower trapezius, and serratus anterior.
Now imagine what would happen if you were unable, for whatever reason, to get that necessary movement from the scapulae. What would happen then? In all likelihood, when one (or all) of our scapular upward rotators are weak, inhibited, or simply not able to control and produce movement like they should, impingement syndromes develop and your rotator cuff is at a significantly increased risk of injury.
Contrast this with our downward rotators comprised of the levator scapulae and rhomboids. In her text Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, Shirley Sahrmann discusses a phenomenon called scapular downward rotation syndrome. In essence, due to poor training, behavioral demands and flat-out poor posture, our scapular downward rotators have a tendency to become short and stiff.
Class, what does all this mean? Let's use a simple math equation to put the pieces together:
Lack of proper training for the upward rotators + excessive training and postural demands placed on the downward rotators = a recipe for rotator cuff injury!
But as bad as that sounds, it gets worse before it gets better. Let's delve even further into the matrix, looking at how the majority of us develop our training programs.

Flawed Programming
Flaw #1: Focus on external/internal rotation movements only vs. role as a humeral depression
At the risk of sounding heretical, we've got to tell you that all those internal and external rotations aren't bad, but they're not doing as much for you as you'd like to think. This is even more true if your only goal is to have a jacked physique or push around heavy iron.
Specific muscles of the rotator cuff do promote certain movements (e.g. the subscapularis promotes internal rotation, the teres minor and infraspinatus promote external rotation, etc.), but there's a bigger, more functional role that's very rarely discussed. That role is humeral depression.
Go back to our example of upward rotation — as you move your arm upward, the scapula rotates upward as well. If your rotator cuff is working appropriately, it will exert a downward pull on the humeral head, which keeps it from impinging on the acromion. If the rotator cuff is weak or inhibited, it can't exert this downward pull, and again we're left with impingement.
Luckily for you, a lot of the exercises we've included focus on the stabilizing role of the rotator cuff. But don't skip ahead just yet, there's more to learn!

Flaw #2: Ignoring the effect of the thoracic spine on the scapula and shoulder
The scapula will talk to you if you listen. It will tell you when it's SICK (yes, there really is a condition called a SICK scapula), it will tell you where you're strong, and it'll tell you where you're weak simply based on its resting position on the ribcage and how it moves, or doesn't move, when you do.
Because the scapula rests on the ribcage forming the scapulothoracic joint, the shape of the ribcage will also determine the resting position and the mobility of the scapula. In turn, the shape of the ribcage is determined by the postural alignment of the thoracic spine (upper back). This is also why we spend so much time focusing on proper alignment of the thoracic spine in our Inside-Out product line.
This makes your scapula the middleman between the spine and the rotator cuff. We already know that poor scapular mobility or stability can compromise the strength, function, and health of the rotator cuff. Therefore, to assure optimal shoulder function we must develop the relationship from the spine (inside), to the scapula, to the rotator cuff (out).
Let's look at one example of how the thoracic spine posture affects your shoulder. In a normal thoracic spine/scapular relationship, as you reach upward, the scapula tilts backwards (posterior tilt) to make space in the shoulder joint for the rotator cuff. In a case of thoracic kyphosis (rounded forward upper back), the scapula is unable to tilt backward.
The result is a closing of the gap between the upper arm bone (humerus) and the acromion and impingement of the rotator cuff. In the photos below, you can see how the athlete compensates for an inability to tilt the scapula posteriorly and fully elevate the arms by arching in the lower back. To achieve full elevation, he's most likely impinging the rotator cuff.
As spine mobility and upper back posture improved (check out the shape of the ribcage), the scapula was free to tilt backward, restore overhead reach, and reduce compensation and impingement.
Day 13 months6 months

Flaw #3: Attempting to balance bench presses with rows
If you read the interview with Bill, you remember that he laid out what the basic movement pattern relationships should be based on the function of the scapulae and rotator cuff. It looks like this:
• Vertical push to vertical pull
• 0.85-0.95 to 1 (almost 1 to 1)
• Horizontal push to horizontal pull
• 1 to 1
• Internal rotation to external rotation
• 1 to 0.75
We all know that we should balance our pushes and pulls, especially with regards to our bench pressing and rowing, right? But what if it's not so simple a relationship? Do we have your attention?
In essence, what we're looking at here is balancing our ability to protract and retract the scapulae. Bench pressing is a horizontal pushing movement that you'd think normally produces protraction (forward movement of the scapula around the ribcage) and trains the muscle that cause protraction, a.k.a. the serratus anterior. The logical opposing movement would be a row of some sort. Balanced, right? Wrong.
Answer: Retraction and depression
Answer: Retraction and depression
Balanced? Nope.
Get it? What looks good on the outside, feeds an imbalance on the inside. Serratus anterior becomes ineffective as a protractor, stabilizer, and upward rotator. Then there's an added bonus. But first a quick anatomy lesson.
Next time you're cutting on a cadaver (What? Doesn't everyone?), check out the serratus anterior and the rhomboid. What you'll find is that because of the fascia that covers everything in the body, they're essentially the same muscle with the scapula kinda stuck in the middle.
So if the serratus anterior isn't fully effective at producing an upward rotation force and the rhomboid (a downward rotator) is getting trained with both pushes and pulls, then guess who wins the tug-o-war with the scapula.
Correct! The rhomboids and downward rotation. This means you're more likely to experience shoulder impingement. But that's not all!
Remember how the thoracic kyphosis limited posterior tilt of the scapula with elevation of your arm? The kyphosis will also promote an anterior tilt of the scapula at rest. Over time, the pec minor (which attaches to the front of the scapula) will stiffen or shorten and the scapula gets "stuck" in an anterior tilt.
This will also result in weakness of the serratus anterior, lower trapezius, and the upper trapezius. These, as you now know, are the upward rotators. Weakness in the upward rotators will then allow the downward rotators to become the dominant force on the scapula. If you need to figure out what happens next, please reread the scapular equation in section two of this article.
So whether you're a truck driver or a powerlifter, you can end up with the same shoulder dysfunctions.
Truck DriverPowerlifter
The bottom line? Crappy scapular position leads to crappy scapular stability which leads to crappy rotator cuff function! As Matt Damon's character in Good Will Hunting would say, "How you like them apples?"
So what's the fix?

Long Live the Push-Up!
The push-up has been used for centuries to help everyone from cromagnon man to the ancient Greeks, to guys and gals like yourself, with one goal in mind — to achieve a jacked physique! And why not? It's an amazingly simple exercise that anyone can perform anywhere.
Unfortunately, in recent years, the push-up seems to have fallen out of favor in a lot of circles. For those who like excessively detailed programs, it's just not "complex" enough. For others, it's only for the "bodyweight" guys. And lastly, some just don't know how to fit it into their program and progress it correctly.
Before we get onto the push-up and its progressions, let's look at some of the research that's been done regarding push-ups. Obviously, our first goal of performing push-ups is to recruit and strengthen the serratus anterior. So how can we do that?
Lear and Gross determined that push-ups performed with the feet on an elevated surface (in this case the feet were elevated 45.7 cm) significantly increased the activation of the serratus anterior compared to traditional push-up variations. If it's been a while since you performed traditional push-ups, it would be a good idea to start with basic variations, but elevating the feet is a viable progression if your primary goal is improved serratus function.
Another common question when performing push-ups is, "Where should my hands go?" Cogley et al. wondered this as well, and examined subjects to see how various hand positions affected EMG activity of the pecs and triceps. Researchers looked at three hand positions: shoulder width, hands together, and wide (approximately 90/90 position). The EMG for all trials showed that EMG was highest in the hands together position, which makes perfect sense — this is the position of least mechanical advantage, and therefore more musculature must be recruited to perform the movement.
Adding an unstable surface to the mix can also change which muscles are most heavily recruited. When push-ups were performed with the participant's hands on a physioball, there was a significant increase in both activation of both the triceps and rectus abdominus. It appears as though the unstable surface increases the activity of the triceps as a shoulder stabilizer, and it also increases the demands of the rectus abdominus to produce stability.
Here's where things get interesting. It seems the more weight you put on the upper extremity, the higher activation levels you get in the surrounding musculature as well. Uhl et al. examined multiple push-up positions that progressively increased loading on the upper extremity. Researchers started with patients in an all-fours position, and progressively moved them into more loaded positions such as push-up position, push-up position with feet elevated, and even single-arm push-up position.
As you can imagine, the one-arm push-up produced a significant increase in recruitment of shoulder stabilizers such as the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and posterior deltoid over all the other conditions. It appears as though there are many ways to progressively increase the difficulty and function of the push-up, whether you're elevating the feet, performing the exercise on an unstable surface, or performing single-arm variants, we're going to give you a ton of options in the following section.
Hopefully you're starting to see that whether you're rehabbing a shoulder injury or just concerned with keeping your shoulders healthy, push-ups are an excellent and undervalued exercise. It should also be stated that just because it's a great exercise, there's also a correct way to perform it, and the basic principles of progression should be followed.
In other words, if you're rehabbing a rotator cuff injury, don't jump into the most difficult progression right away. As well, if you're a strong and healthy individual, don't mess around with the "on-knees" version — get right into something you can do correctly and that challenges you!

Performing the Push-Up
To correctly perform a push-up, lay face down on the floor with your toes pointed, hands and elbows at a 90 degree angle to the shoulders, and stomach tight. Press up to the starting position, making sure to keep the stomach tight throughout, and then lower under control to a point where the chest touches the ground. As you're lowering, tuck the elbows such that the angle between your upper arm and torso is approximately 45 degrees.
One aspect that we can't emphasize enough is to use a full range of motion. Be sure to lower under control, and at the top think of pushing your body as far away from the floor as possible. This extra "push" at the end will emphasize proper serratus function.
At this stage in the game, the powerlifters in the group are screaming, "We need more weight!" Trust us, we're all for progression; we don't want you using bodyweight resistance for the rest of your life. The easiest progression you can use in this case is a weighted vest such as an Xvest. If you need additional instruction on how to perform push-ups with an Xvest, maybe you shouldn't be lifting weights at all.

Push-Ups with Bands and Chains
That's not it though; let's look at some other ways we can perform the push-up to increase the intensity of the exercise.
Using bands is another option when we want to increase the loading of our push-ups. Again, the progression is simple — once you've mastered one band for the desired number of sets and reps, bump it up to the next level. It's that simple!
To perform push-ups with bands, you're going to take the band behind your back and place your hands in the ends of the bands such that the band is in the palm of your hand.
As you can see in the picture, you have to make an ëX' with the band. Simply twist the band, put it behind your back, and you're ready to rock!
Still not enough variation? You can also drape chains over your back.
If one chain isn't enough, either move up to the next size of chain or drape multiple chains over your back. The band and chain variations are also excellent for powerlifters looking to improve the lockout of their bench press.
We've included two variations of the chain push-up. The first version you cross the chains in a diagonal fashion over your back as in the picture above.
The behind-the-neck version is even tougher; moving the weight further up toward your shoulders will increase the activation of the rotator cuff and make the exercise a lot harder.
Finally, please note that getting the chains on your own back is a pain in the ass. Get a partner to help you out if possible.
Once you've mastered the basic push-up variations, feel free to move on to some of the following variations. They're not only great for strengthening, but they also jack-up the rotator cuff involvement and force your body to stabilize the shoulder in a more dynamic environment.

Med Ball Push-Ups
The medicine ball push-up is a great variation, as it increases activation of the rotator cuff due to the unstable surface. There are multiple variations you can use here.
Start off using a small med ball under one hand, with the other hand pushing off the ground. This will limit the instability to some degree and allow you to learn the exercise. We shouldn't have to say this, but make sure you're switching hands either in-between sets or at the midpoint of every set.
If that isn't enough challenge, move on to the double med-ball version. Place a small med ball under each hand and perform the exercise. As you increase the instability, not only will you recruit more shoulder stabilizing musculature, but you'll also force your core to increase its stiffness as well. Just try these variations with a soft-tummy; we dare you!

Blast Strap Push-Ups
The blast strap push-up is very similar to the med ball push-up, so we're not going to continue harping on the topic. Regardless, this is another effective variation you can use.

Enter the Face Pull: The Most Underrated Exercise!
The face pull may be the most underrated exercise in all of strength training. It falls into the horizontal pull category, but where rows potentially promote a downward scapular rotation syndrome and internal rotation of the shoulder joint, the face pull can do just the opposite.
Because the shoulder is either flexed or abducted 90 degrees throughout the face pull, the scapula is in upward rotation to some degree. Right away this gives us greater activation of the upward rotators, especially the upper and lower trapezius. The upward rotation offsets the pull of the downward rotators and helps prevent the development of the downward rotation dominant imbalance.
Now let's look at face pull performance. Traditionally, the face pull is performed with a rope handle or strap and a pronated grip.
In the contracted position, the pronated grip limits the degree of external rotation of the shoulder.
In thinking about movement pattern balance, we know that the internal rotators of the shoulder tend to be at least 25-33% stronger than the external rotators. We also tend to find that from a postural perspective, internal rotation of the humerus is quite common. Using the traditional pronated grip for the face pull can then potentially feed a rotation imbalance in the shoulder.
To remedy this situation, we recommend the use of a neutral grip. This allows you to pull the rope or strap past your face with the humerus in much greater external rotation and promotes shoulder rotational balance.
To further increase loading the external rotators, the lever arm can be altered by increasing the angle at the elbow. Make sure to adjust the weight accordingly; this is the second version that's shown in the above video.
Remember those short or stiff pec minors? You can make your face pull more effective by taking advantage of the acute effects of stretching the pec minor for about 20 seconds on each side. You can do this effectively by placing the front of your shoulder against a door jam and leaning your body weight forward and simultaneously pulling the scapula backward.

Diagnosis Via Face Pull
In cases where the rotator cuff is known to be weak relative to the deltoid, the posterior deltoid can overtake the rotator cuff as the primary external rotator.
This will show up in the face pull as the humerus (upper arm bone) hyperabducts relative to the scapula. In other words, as you pull horizontally, the scapula stops moving and the upper arm bone continues to be pulled back along the horizontal plane. Rather than the upper arm bone and the scapula ending up in the same plane during the contracted phase of the face pull, the upper arm bone and scapula form an angle. The dead giveaway is a dent or a dimple that forms between the posterior deltoid and the infraspinatus.
If this is the case, your shoulder program would be better served by working on some isolated strengthening to the rotator.

The Only Shrugs You Haven't Done Before!
One of the common findings in a downwardly rotated scapula is a lengthened upper trapezius. In this situation, the excessive length makes the upper trap weak and a less than effective upward rotator of the scapula. Ineffective upward rotation of the scapula, especially with overhead movements, is a recipe for rotator cuff injury.
The obvious fix would be to address the weakness with some form of shrugging movement to strengthen the upper trapezius and improve the upward rotation function. There's just one catch: the typical barbell or dumbbell shrug may make the situation worse.
A shrug with the arms at the sides will certainly activate the upper trapezius, however it also strongly recruits the levator scapulae and the rhomboids, the downward scapular rotators. This feeds the imbalance causing the downward scapular rotation dominance.
The answer is to perform a shrugging movement with the scapulae in an upwardly rotated position with the overhead shrug.
Now if you have or have had shoulder problems resulting in pain, the overhead shrug may be problematic. In this case, the next best exercise is scaption with a shrug.
Scaption is essentially a thumb-side up, dumbbell lateral raise in the plane of the scapula. The plane of the scapula is about 30 degrees or so in front of a lateral raise performed straight out to the side of the body.

Summary
Proper training and injury prevention go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other.
As you can see, we've presented one scenario where dysfunction, and potential injury, may exist that can't be "fixed" with a few sets of external rotations for the rotator cuff. A lack of attention to proper daily postures and less than optimal exercise selection can, given enough time, be a recipe for rotator cuff injury and lost training time or worse.
So what does it take to assure a healthy rotator cuff? If we had to boil it all down to three principles it would be this:
Sometimes an isolation exercise like external rotations may be an answer, but that's an article for another time.

About the Authors
Bill Hartman is a physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach in Indianapolis, Indiana. You can sign-up for his upcoming Performance Training Journal at www.billhartman.net.
Mike Robertson, M.S., C.S.C.S., U.S.A.W., is the Director of Custom Athletics and President of Robertson Training Systems in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mike received his Masters in Sports Biomechanics from the Human Performance Lab at Ball State University, and has been a competitive powerlifter for the last 6 years. To contact Mike or sign-up for his free newsletter, check out his web page at http://www.RobertsonTrainingSystems.com.