The Aerobic Deception?

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Note:  This post is more of an update on what is running through my head (scary) than an actual factually-based post.

For the longest time I was under the deception that aerobic exercise was "bad".  From creating poor hormonal profiles for muscle building to being an inefficient means of calorie expenditure to the consequences of the almost certain mechanical stresses that were being inappropriately applied to a system, I was not very "pro-aero".

"Neuroligically Hardwired" Movements

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Last week I engaged in an awesome discussion on Twitter regarding my post "Lunges vs. Leg Press". It was essentially three solid days of tweets being sent back and forth between my account and another account discussing our particular view points. Near the end of the discussion, the owner of the other account brought up the idea that movements such as lunges and squats are (paraphrasing) movements that are hardwired into our brain and nervous system.

I have heard this argument before, that these two movements, in addition to others, are being considered "basic human movements". My understanding of statements like these is that squats, lunges, hip hinges, and the like are movements that all humans know how to perform and therefore should take precedence in training and exercise programs. I happen to fundamentally disagree with these thoughts.

The Other Half of the Rep

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A challenge I've been presenting some of my clients with recently is for them to make the movement they are doing as challenging for themselves as they lower the weight as it is for them when they raise it.

Articulating The Goal

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Building off of last week's post--"What's The Goal?"--I think the importance of being able to articulate that goal to your client (if you are a personal trainer) needs to be discussed.

What's The Goal?

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What is the goal of the exercise you are doing?

It's Not About The Reps

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"How many reps should I do?"
"I feel like I should be able to do more reps."
"I could do more reps if I didn't have to think about it."

Exercise Is A Stressor

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A perspective that I have have been developing for a while and have been communicating to others more recently is the idea that understanding and appreciating that exercise is a stressor is of the utmost importance for an exercise professional.


I believe that this is in part what the RTS™ idea of "exercise is invasive" is trying to convey--having the perspective that what we do on the outside profoundly affects the inside and understanding and accepting the responsibility that comes with that.

My application of this idea as of recent has been beyond simply the mechanical stresses that are imposed upon the system when strategically challenging motions and positions.  I think to fully be able to appreciate this idea you have to have some notion of what else in a client's life is creating stress, whether it is them eating foods that don't agree with their system, poor relationships with those they interact with, or a highly-demanding work environment, as well as a lifestyle structure that does not allow for adequate recovery from these other stressors.

Stress, as I am defining it in this context, is "the body's reaction to change that requires a physical, mental, or emotional adjustment or response" (About.com).

Because of this viewpoint that exercise in its most basic form is a stressor, I am of the belief that a huge part of my job as an exercise professional is to manage this stressor for the time a client is with me relative to the other stressors they are currently having to deal with.

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This means that if a client comes in and says they had a really stressful day at work and they need a hard workout to get their mind off it, I stand there and tell them that it would be a breach of my ethical and professional guidelines to do that.

This means that if a client comes in and says they were at holiday parties all weekend so they need an intense workout to get all of the alcohol out of their system and burn of the 40,000 calories in hotdogs, potato salad, and pies they ate, I stand there and tell them that it would be irresponsible of me as a professional to add to the stress that their diet put on their system by challenging them at the intensity they are requesting.

This means that by attempting to take an inside (the body) view of exercise, I cannot see losing weight, improving health, fighting disease, or feeling better as (superficially speaking) eat less move more issues.  Instead, I have to see them as internal environment issues.  Which means I have to know how my tool of choice (force) may potentially affect the internal environment such that I can effectively manage my tool to the best of my ability in order to allow for an internal environment to be created within my clients that allows them to lose weight, improve their health, fight disease, and feel better.

Exercise is a stressor, and with that perspective comes the responsibility of understanding that what you as an exercise professional are doing may be furthering someone's issues, not relieving them.

Your body.  Your training.

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"Supertraining" and Machines: Part 3

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There is a lot that could be said about the remaining six paragraphs of section 4.2.7.2 in Supertraining regarding "Non-Functional Resistance (NFR) Machines", but in an attempt to do more than debate every sentence, I want to pick out one concept that is brought up in these paragraphs.  Also, if you haven't already checked out Part 1 and Part 2, now could be a good time to do so.

What I want to discuss is this idea of "stabilizers".  I had an epiphany about this a few weeks back.  See, I used to be very anti-machine and pro-dumbbell and barbell.  And by "used to" I think I really started switching how I view things around February or March of 2012.  There are a number of ironies with this, not the least of which is that I would gladly use knee flexion machines (leg curls) but would stay away from chest presses, leg presses, and every other kind of machine like the plague.

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Looking back, this selective bias towards knee flexion machines and away from everything else was completely void of reasonable logic, but regardless I thought I was sound in my reasoning.  Although until a few weeks ago, I couldn't recall exactly what that reasoning was.

I had multiple discussions with people where they were telling me the exact same thing that I tell people now and where they would use the exact same logic that I use now, but it wasn't clicking in my head at the time.  In fact, I was very against what they were saying.

Finally, after spending over a year trying to remember why I disliked machines so much, it finally hit me one day:  I was under the belief that if you exercised using machines you wouldn't work your "stabilizers".  In fact, for years before I got my first exposure to studying anatomy via the Muscle Activation Techniques™ internship, I thought there were muscles whose sole purpose was to "stabilize" and they would be neglected if I exercised on machines.

Here's the thing:  labeling a muscle a "stabilizer" or "prime mover" or whatever else you want to call it is essentially denoting a muscle's ability to produce or prevent motion around an axis.  Think of it as a continuum where a "stabilizer" has less of an ability and a "primer mover" has a greater ability, but each has an ability.  It's just that one is less than the other.

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And because each has an ability, each should have the mechanical opportunity to prevent or produce motion around the axis in question.  This means that when you sit down in a chest press machine, your shoulder "stabilizers" don't automatically shut off as I once firmly believed would happen.

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So what is a possible difference that you may be feeling when doing, for example, a dumbbell chest press on a flat bench compared to a chest press on a machine?  Because of the restraint imposed by the architecture of the machine the amount of skill needed to successfully perform the desired motion is dropped way, way down to almost, if not right at, zero.

With increased passive restraint and decreased skill requirements comes the ability to challenge tissue to a greater degree.  Greater mechanical challenge to the tissue provides the opportunity to develop stronger muscles, which brings us to the question:

**Are you performing chest presses to improve the skill of pressing or to increase the ability of the muscles performing the presses to produce tension (force)?**

Your body.  Your training.

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Making "Stupid" Smarter

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One thing I try work through in my head are ways to go about taking exercises that may be completely inappropriate for a client and manipulating the variables of the exercise in order to make it appropriate for their abilities and goals.  As a professional, I think this is an important skill to develop.

No Impact Doesn't Mean No Issues

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A lot of times I will hear people say that they used to run frequently for their exercise but then their joints started giving them issues so now they choose to do "low impact" or "no impact" forms of exercise like riding a bike or using the elliptical thinking that these choices are without consequences for their structure.  While not having to catch some multiple of their body weight with every step should be less likely to cause joint discomfort, what they often fail to realize is there can still be tremendous joint forces created while participating in these no impact exercises.  Furthermore, depending on how they are using the piece of equipment, different force scenarios may be presented, which may exceed the set point of certain tissues and lead to other issues not previously present.

Things that need to be taken into consideration are:

1) The position(s) you are in while using the piece of equipment.

• Is the elliptical pushing you into more hip flexion that you can actively get to?

• Are you being shoved into excessive radial or ulnar deviation while using the handles on the Arc Trainer?

• Are you in too great of hip/spinal flexion for too great of time while using the bike?

• Is the incline while walking on the treadmill forcing you into more dorsiflexion than you currently have?

2) How exactly you are using the piece of equipment and the specific joint forces that are being created.

• Are you pushing down on the StepMill steps when the machine is pushing them backwards?

• Are you pushing back on the pedals of the Arc Trainer at a point when the machine wants them to go down?

• How are you pushing into the pedals on the bike?

• Are you standing up or sitting down on the bike?

• What is the path of motion of the machine as created by its axis/axes and how are you using the machine relative to that path?  Moreover, what are the effects of your choice to use it in this manner?

3) Where is your focus while you use the machine and are you trying to use it in a way that exceeds the set point of the involved tissues?

• Are you pulling up on the pedals of the bike or pushing down?

• Are you using your arms, your legs, or both while on the elliptical or Arc Trainer?  In what manner are you using them?

• How much are you holding yourself up with the side bars while on the StepMill?

Not taking these things into consideration may lead to further joint and neuromuscular issues if what you are doing isn't a good fit for your body at that moment.

One way to improve the likelihood that you will be able to handle using these pieces of equipment without the potential negative consequences is to, first, receive a neuromuscular assessment via Muscle Activation Techniques™ to figure out what tissues are contracting efficiently and then to meet with a Resistance Training Specialist™ so they can guide you on what equipment to use and how to properly use it for your individual situation.

While many pieces of exercise equipment seem like they are self-explanatory, the reality is that each one presents an array of specific scenarios in which it is used most favorably.  If one of these scenarios does not match what is tolerable for your body at this point in time, you may be causing just as many, if not more, issues than you were with your running, regardless of the impact on your joints while using them.

Is your exercise right for your body?

Inter­ested in find­ing out more? Check out the “Mus­cle Acti­va­tion Tech­niques™” page.

Inter­ested in set­ting up an assess­ment time or dis­cussing this sub­ject fur­ther? E-mail Char­lie at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.

Your body. Your training.

Want to use this arti­cle in your blog, newslet­ter, or other plat­form? You may, but be sure to include all of the bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion found in the yellow box below!

Precision and Quality

 

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"The outcome of an exercise will only be as good as the precision with which the motion/position is performed and the exact way it is challenged.  It all boils down to the quality of each individual rep!"  (Purvis, Tom.  Resistance Training Specialist™ RTSm Science 1 Manual.  4:7.  2012.)

Above is one of my favorite excerpts found in the RTS™ course manuals.  These two sentences, for me, involve a huge portion of the process of exercise.

When I read this excerpt so many concepts come to mind--structure, progression, immediate/short-term/long-term goals, exercise mechanics, the exercise equation, satellite vs. zoom, communication, cuing, current status, current abilities, fatigue, length-tension, equipment selection--all things that should be taken into consideration when designing exercises and applying forces to the body.

How precise are you with your force application?

How precise are you with what you are moving and what you are holding still?

If you had to justify how you went about doing things with mechanics, physics, or physiological principles when you exercised or trained somebody, could you?

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If you had somebody watching over you taking notes and then questioning you afterwards, could you justify the earlier choices  you made?

What are the effects of your choice of exercise equipment on your ability to maintain the chosen position while performing the chosen motion?  Did those effects play into your choices?

If the concepts mentioned above do in fact determine the outcome of an exercise, what kind of outcome are you creating by either not considering all of the details or, if you are, not having the discipline to see to it that the details are maintained for the duration of the exercise?

If the positions, motions, or presented challenge are randomly chosen, can you expect the outcome of the exercise performed to be anything but?

I am by no means perfect at any of this, but I think it is something good to think about and remind myself of and question myself on on a frequent basis to try to ensure that I am providing the best exercise experience and process for my client and myself that I can.

What level of precision and quality do you expect and require of yourself?

Want to learn more?  Take RTS™.

Looking for a place to study some of these concepts in greater detail?  Join the Precision Human Performance study groups!

Your body.  Your training.

Want to use this arti­cle in your blog, newslet­ter, or other plat­form? You may, but be sure to include all of the bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion found in the yellow box below!

The Power Of 4

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Self Made® Book Store

Paula Owen's book The Power of 4 is a comprehensive overview of steps that may be taken to improve your well-being.

The b0ok, while only six chapters long and a mere 256 pages, is jam-packed with information to try to get you on the right path to accomplishing many wellness related goals.  It's an easy read in as much as it isn't terribly difficult to comprehend.  It is nicely laid out and the subsections within each chapter make stopping after a few pages easy to do if you only have a few minutes at a time to read.

Now, when I say it is jam-packed with information, I mean there are pages upon pages that are written with each sentence being a new statement of wellness information.  To be honest, if you sat down and actually read the book word for word, it could very easily be overwhelming because there isn't much discussion that takes place for each point.  It is more like a handful of important topics and then as much information as possible about each topic packed into a reasonable area.

Pros and cons to this:

Pro:  If you are looking for a reference with many possible answers that isn't a bulky encyclopedia or text book, this would be a reasonable place to start.

Con:  If you are looking for the "why" or "how" of almost anything that is presented in this text, you aren't going to find it.

**Disclaimer** I read the first edition of this book.  Since it's publication, a second edition has been released.  It is very possible that any issues I see in the first edition could be eradicated in the second and I would be none the wiser while writing this review.

Here are my two main issues with this text:  While I feel a lot of the information presented is high-quality and I believe to be true, almost everything in the book is written as an absolute, meaning there isn't room for the interpretation that maybe the information presented just isn't quite right for your body and your situation.  When dealing with the human body, it is very very very difficult for me to speak or write in absolutes.  It is just too highly individual of a subject for statements written or spoken as absolutes to actually be accurate 100% of the time.

Second, while I do believe the information to be quality, I cannot say for certain whether that is true.  There is a long list of references at the end of the text, which is great, but it does not allow me to know which reference belongs to which statement.  And because the book the comprised of statement after statement of alleged facts with little to no discourse after each, it is difficult to dig deeper than what is immediately on the page at that moment in time.

Here is my suggestion for reading this book: skim it.  Find areas that seem pertinent to your inquiries and use the statements presented as a starting point for digging further into the information.  I think there really is a lot of good information presented, but the book is essentially a composition of sound bites, so it is very difficult to get much more from it than sound bites.

One final thought:  If you want to read the section on exercise, go ahead, but lead with caution.  There is some good stuff, but then there are some statements that make me question how much Ms. Owens has explored the subject herself as opposed to simply repeating what others have told her, in particular when it comes to the use of machines while strength training.

Once again, I read the first edition of this book.  The second one may be completely revised so as to eliminate all of the concerns I brought up in the post, making this edition more or less of a rough draft to the current one.  So do not judge off of someone's rough draft, but rather go in with the understanding that that is what this edition may very well be.

I recommend this book to someone who is looking for a solid start of possible topics to research further concerning their health and overall wellness.

Your body.  Your training.

Enjoy this review? Get a copy of The Power Of 4 in the Self Made® Book Store!

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When to Use Manual Resistance

Manual resistance is something that I rarely see used in the gym anymore, which is too bad because, when implemented appropriately, it can be very affective for increasing strength, particularly for female and elderly clients or those with movement disabilities. Okay, it probably sounds awful that I am grouping all females into the same category as the elderly and physically disabled, but please bear with me and let me explain.

First, what is manual resistance? Basically, manual resistance is any type of controlled external resistance loaded against your movement by another human being, such as a training partner, personal trainer, or performance coach. What manual resistance allows you to do is generate a lot of force without having to a move a lot of weight.

Examples of manual resistance exercises would be towel curls or extensions where the client or athlete is holding on to one end of the towel and performing an overhead triceps extension or a biceps curl and the trainer or coach is holding the other end of the towel and pulling down, providing an appropriate amount of resistance throughout the range of motion.

As I stated earlier, I like using manual resistance with my elderly and female clients, in particular. The reason I like using it with the elderly is because I can have them train a bunch of different muscle groups without having to make them move around the gym from machine to machine or rig up a bunch of different pulleys at the cable station. Instead, they can just stand, sit, or lie in one place and I can provide the resistance as they move their limbs.

For females, manual resistance can be a very important training tool as well. The reason I like using it with my female clients is because a lot of them are afraid to use bigger weights, even though they are stronger than they think. So instead of having to deal with a hissy fit when I give them certain dumbbells for an exercise, I can apply an appropriate resistance to them and they have no idea what the exact number is.

One of the downfalls of manual resistance is unilateral movements. Reason being, it is extremely difficult to ensure you are applying the same amount of resistance to each limb during the set. For this reason, I would not suggest using manual resistance as your sole form of resistance for unilateral exercises, but instead use it to supplement weights or bands.

Get big or die tryin'.

Charlie Cates is a human performance specialist and the owner of Self Made (http://selfmadefitness.com/) in Chicago, IL. He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist through NASM and has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP's. He can be reached via e-mail at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.

This article may be reproduced with biographical information intact.

Step Off of the Treadmill

The only treadmills that will be allowed in Self Made will be used for sprint work or recovery work. I am so sick of seeing people tell me that they are going to get their cardio in by staying on the treadmill for 30 minutes while they zone out for an entire TV program. If you are that bored with your cardio routine that you have to watch the news or re-runs to pass the time, you are in serious need of a cardio overhaul. Stimulate your mind and your metabolism with these alternative forms of conditioning:

• Plate pushes
• Battling ropes
• TRX circuits
• Body weight circuits
• Kettle bells
  
• Jump rope
  

All of these should be done in a high-intensity fashion, going for a 1:1 to 1:2 work:rest ratio. That means if you jump rope all-out for 30 seconds each set, rest 30-60 seconds between sets. As your stamina and recovery time improves you can use a 2:1 work:rest ratio. If done at the correct intensity, you could easily burn three times the calories in half the time using these methods. That's a training session that's six times more effective. Boom.

Get big or die tryin'.

Make Training Your Sport

One thing I have noticed that my life is lacking since finishing basketball my senior year is a competitive aspect, and I think this is the reality for the vast majority of adults. While you go to the gym to train, most people don't have a purpose as to why they are training, so why not give them one?

Instead of doing your traditional 3x8 for your weights and then hit the treadmill for a twenty-minute job, how about you spice up your training and add a competitive edge to it. I'm not talking about seeing if you can go up 5 pounds on each exercise either. I'm thinking you should take every single exercise you would normally do during a workout, say your Friday workouts, and do one set of each in rapid succession. Then go each a second time and possibly a third, fourth, or fifth time as well. Time how long it takes you to get through those circuits and keep your time each week. Your workouts leading up to your Friday workouts will be preparing you for that competition day, and you will find yourself more excited to work out on those days as well. After a month or two, switch up your Friday routine and set a new time goal for yourself. After a few months, go back through an old Friday workout and see if your time has improved. This will be a great way to mark progress throughout the year as well.

Get big or die tryin'.

Do You Train?

Who out there works out and who out there trains? Check out this list by Adam Spizman to figure out if your time inside the gym and out makes the cut.

Top Ten Checklist: Do You Train? by Adam Spizman

Get big or die tryin'.

Top 5 Transformation Tips

Looking to transform your body or anything in your life? Check out these tips from Dave Tate of EliteFTS.com.

Top 5 Transformation Tips by Dave Tate

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (5/23-5/29)

This past week was a short week for me. It was my deload week for my lifts, which was very much needed since both of my shoulders and my right hip were aggravated. It was also a short week because of the fact that Wednesday afternoon I left for Cleveland to watch my girlfriend run at the D3 Track Nationals. Because of this, I lifted Sunday through Wednesday. I also did plyos on Monday and Wednesday and I did hill sprints on Tuesday afternoon.

I recorded a couple videos as well. On Monday morning after my lift I shot a video for the Total Random X Challenge by Underground Wellness. The contest was to see who could use their TRX suspension trainer in the most random place. I shot my video in the library and was declared the winner for that week. Then, later that afternoon, I shot a video on how to get "squash quick".

I also issued a challenge via the Self Made Facebook Page, which stated "Find a hill that takes you roughly 6 seconds to sprint up when you're fresh. Sprint up and walk down as many times as you can in 20 minutes. Get at least 30 sprints in." This was my hill sprint workout on Tuesday. I got 32 sprints in.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were days that I took completely off to let my body heal and to enjoy my time at track nationals.

That's all for this past week. Now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (5/16-5/22)

This past week was a HUGE week for Self Made!! In case you haven't seen, the site got completely redone, and it looks awesome! Maria Tucker, a student at Williams, helped me put it together, and she did an amazing job. There are still some things that are in the works for the site, but for now it is a significant improvement as far as the professionalism and individualization of the site are concerned. This was by far the biggest thing that happened all week.

The Self Made Facebook and Flickr pages were released as well, and I am very happy with the progress that has happened with both in such a short time. I was also able to finish uploading all of the videos for SMS7 onto YouTube and the Exercise Index, and the Exercise Index was completely reorganized as well so now exercises are listed by name and prime mover!

As far as my training went, this past week was my heavy triple week for SMS7. All of my lifts went really well as I was able to hit all of my weights for my main lifts and able to increase weight from Week 2 for my supplement lifts. I didn't do plyos or alternate conditioning at all this past week because it was also finals week, so I limited my cardio to my recovery sessions on Tuesday and Thursday.

That's pretty much it for this past week. The website was the biggest news, and I'm really excited about this new format and what it will allow me to do and what it will do for my business as well. Now it's time to go live this week.

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (4/26-5/2)

This past week was my deload week of my strength training. I take a deload week every fourth week, as I have mentioned in previous posts. This deload week was much needed as I could feel both of my shoulders were starting to wear down and my body overall was pretty tired. I rehabbed my shoulders Monday through Friday with stim and ice, so we'll see how they feel tomorrow morning when I bench.

I did plyos twice again this past week, sticking to the Monday/Friday pattern. I also did plate pushes on Wednesday and recovery work on Tuesday. Thursday I had recovery work planned but became bogged down with sessions and class.

I was hoping to begin planning for the newest issue of The Source on Saturday and Sunday, but unfortunately my schedule got filled up again so that never happened. The May issue will be coming out later this week, however, so look for it in your inboxes soon! And if you haven't signed up for it yet, make sure to do so by following this link: http://selfmadefitness.com/?page_id=79

My weight has finally gotten up to a respectable level as I broke 230 for the first time since October this past Friday. I've definitely made a conscious effort to be taking in more calories throughout the day. I also have been drinking a ton of raw milk, and I think that has a lot to do with this weight gain. I'm feeling strong, though, and I think that as long as my shoulders stay healthy I will be able to get very close to the training goals to reach by graduation that I had set for myself to back in January: 500 free squat, 450 deadlift, 350 bench, 225 standing military press. I would say my deadlift is the closet to that goal right now, but I think all of them are within reach.

I wrote the new program for the Williams men's basketball team this past week as well, and I think they will see great results from it. They've progressed out of their GPP/Bodyweight phase and are now beginning to use external resistance.

That's all for this past week. Now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.