Friday Fitness Info Roundup

Friday is a day I usually have some time to relax with a cup of Portland's famously great coffee and catch up on reading fitness information.

1. Listen here to an hour long audio conversation between my friends Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove talking about topics relevant to trainer and fitness lay person alike. Two of the absolute smartest guys in fitness.

2. Women's Health magazine has two good articles in this month's issue (the one with Matt Damon on the cover). The first, by Adam Campbell, is about why women should lift weights, heavy weights, to lose fat. The second is on how jogging to lose weight doesn't work very well, but running (i.e. sprint intervals) does.

3. Anthony Renna, who runs the excellent Strength Coach podcast now has 4 episodes of this StrengthCoach.tv up on youtube. Check out some cool fitness facilities.

4. Dan John in his typical fashion has a witty and informative article on the benefits of kettlebell swings in terms of fat loss and movement quality. I'm convinced it is not possible for Dan to open his mouth or type something that doesn't contain a golden nugget of knowledge.

5. Physical Therapist Gray Cook now has a series of short audio interviews with Laree Draper on his site where he answers common questions about improving how we move. If you are anything like me each episode will require a couple of listens to fully grasp the wisdom of Gray's words.

Alright, time for some more coffee...

New Rules of Lifting for Abs

Lou Schuler & Alwyn Cosgrove are soon releasing the third book in their New Rules series, and since Lou was kind enough to provide me a copy I gladly read it and think it worthy of review.

But first Lou would like to explain the inclusion of 'abs" in the title on this Fitcast podcast.

For your benefit listen to the entire podcast. Some nuggets of knowledge are within.

Right away I loved this book that for no other reason it proclaims no more situps or crunches. Seriously though, Lou pulled in some great research from luminaries such as Dr. Stuart McGill regarding core and back health.

For the lay person that does not dig into research from the Journal of Strength & Conditioning and other such sources (even I find some of it quite boring) much of the material regarding what the "core" is, it's many roles, and how it functions will be quite eye opening.

I read this kind of material all the time and yet got a lot out of the informational chapters. Lou has a knack for connecting the dots and entertaining us along the way.

One part I would quibble with is spinal flexion for fighters. Yes, fighters do need ab armor and do alot of spinal flexion in sport specific training, but according to Dr. McGill that doesn't mean fighters should use flexion movements in the gym. Rather he says they should save those lumbar bends for competition. But I doubt any of you are pro-MMA fighters anyway so lets carry on.

The title of Part 3 "All Training Is Core Training" says it all.

Everything we do affects our core, and so it makes sense to be aware and utilize that fact in every movement we do. Within this framework Lou & Alwyn put together a great library of static, dynamic, and integrated core stabilization exercises, then set them in the context of three phases of strength training programs.

For most people it would take many months to get through these programs, and they should see a good bit of progress along the way. Even for the experienced lifter there are some serious challenges.

The programs are organized so that one can go back and repeat them with heavier loads or other changes such as doing ladder sets, density circuits, or other methods of causing adaptation so that progress will continue.

And as any experienced trainer knows the basics never go out of style.

My favorite part of the book is the last third which deals with lifestyle issues, nutrition, and strategies for developing a healthier lifestyle.

We all know that without adopting better lifestyle and nutritional habits change will not happen, and Lou presents some interesting studies showing how hours spent in front of the computer (yes you may stop reading now and go outside), TV, video games, and other sedentary forms of entertainment kill your abs.

Yep. They shoot them dead.

I tell my clients this everyday but sometimes it takes reading it in print to accept it, which is why I've already been using some of Lou's material to help my own clients. And it works.

So if you are a trainer don't hesitate to recommend this book to clients, as it will help you help them. And if you are a person working out on your own, then you have an excellent guide at your side.

The book is now available for pre-sale on Amazon for $16, and ships out Dec. 30th. Check it out.

Why Can't I Lose Weight?

My friend Lou Schuler, author of The New Rules of Lifting series just wrote a little article intended to answer unanswerable questions for a forum we both contribute to. And out of the kindness in his heart he agreed to allow me to reprint it for you here.

By the way, Lou and Alwyn Cosgrove have a new book in the series, "The New Rules of Lifting for Abs" coming out in January 2011, and after having read an advance copy I can say without hesitation that it is one of the best written, clearly presented, and well researched books on fitness for the general public. In fact I've already stolen some ideas and research out of there for use with my clients. Just don't tell Lou.

So here's Lou:

"Why can't I lose weight?"

Homeostasis is a bitch.

Unless your current weight is an aberration, you’re walking around in an organism that has remodeled itself to be exactly the size you are now. You have muscles and bones that are just the right size to support the load you carry around. You have an appetite that probably isn’t satisfied unless you give it enough food to maintain your weight. If you eat more or less, your metabolism probably adjusts accordingly: it speeds up when you eat more than you need, and slows down when you don’t.

Experts like to say that diets don’t work, but that’s wrong. Eating less always works for as long as you can bear it. Which, admittedly, probably isn’t a very long time. That’s why the best approach includes a combination of three interventions: exercise, diet, and lifestyle modification.

1. Exercise

Of course this is obvious: burn more calories than you take in, and you lose weight. But exercise by itself rarely induces significant weight loss. Why not? Mainly because you aren’t burning nearly as many calories as you think.

Let’s say you read in a magazine that someone your size will burn 400 calories with an hour of walking at a brisk pace. You do the math: Since a pound of fat contains 3,500 calories of energy, you figure that you’re just 9 workouts away from losing that pound.

It sounds good, until someone explains the fine print. You might burn 200 calories just going about your normal routine for that hour. So exercising at that pace means a net deficit of 200 calories – half what the magazine promised. Then you consider that you might be less active the rest of the day, simply because you’re tired from the workout. That might cost you another 100 calories.

You can try exercising more, or exercising harder, and those are both good ideas. You’ll improve your health and probably speed up your metabolism a bit. If you’re a complete beginner, you might add some muscle to your lower body, and shed some fat. But you aren’t likely to lose a lot of weight, and the idea that you must always “do more” is both self-limiting and demotivating.

2. Diet

All the magazines will tell you this: Cut 500 calories a day, and you’ll lose a pound of fat a week. They’ll even tell you which “empty” calories to cut. You start with the liquid calories (everything except milk) and snack foods. The women’s magazines in particular will show you an infinite number of ways to modify recipes so you can eat fewer calories at every meal, including dessert. (They love to show you elaborate desserts constructed entirely of fruit and air.)

So you try it. And you’re hungry all the freakin’ time. Why? Because your body isn’t stupid. The calories it’s accustomed to receiving from your meals aren’t “empty.” They provide a combination of energy and building materials. The magazine says you don’t need any of the 240 calories in that 20-ounce bottle of Coke. But if your body is used to having them, it’s going to notice their absence.

One solution would be to replace low-nutrient foods, like Coke or potato chips, with high-nutrient foods like lean protein, fruits, and vegetables. And that’s a legitimate strategy. The protein and fiber will help you feel fuller longer between meals. Protein takes more calories to digest, and will help you add new muscle tissue. And, of course, the micronutrients in fruits and vegetables (and to a lesser extent in protein-rich foods) will benefit your long-term health.

Now the net change in calories isn’t as dramatic, but it’s more sustainable, and it makes more sense to your body. The addition of protein and fiber helps mitigate the hunger you’d feel if you’d slashed calories indiscriminately.

On the downside, this slight but sustainable calorie reduction isn’t causing the pounds to melt away. Even when you combine your new diet with your old exercise program, the needle on the scale still swings past your target weight, even if it stops short of your original weight.

3. Lifestyle modification

Nobody wakes up one morning and decides to follow a completely different routine. Well, no, that’s not right. Lots of people think they can flip a switch and go from being a soft, sedentary office worker to a rock-hard gym rat. But it rarely works that way.

Look at that hour before work that you think you’ll spend in the gym: Are you really prepared to get up and moving an hour earlier than you ever have before? Are you prepared to go to bed at least an hour earlier every night, even though it means missing The Daily Show and whatever art-house fare Cinemax is featuring?

That’s just exercise. Modifying your life to accommodate a clean, low-junk, high-nutrient diet is a lot harder than it looks. Most of us don’t eat or drink in isolation. Certain foods are associated with particular events. You associate that 20-ounce Coke with your mid-afternoon break with your favorite coworkers. Most of the chips and dip you consume are on weekends, watching football games with your buddies. And that 700-calorie “coffee” drink you have every morning – that’s your best opportunity to chat one-on-one with the boss, to get a read on her priorities and how she thinks you and your colleagues are performing.

If you’re going to make serious changes that involve regular exercise and a sustainable diet that’s lower in calories, you have to figure out a way to navigate all of this, and more.

4. The combo special

Your time, energy, patience, and motivation aren’t infinite, so the best way to ensure success in a weight-loss program is to start with your limitations in mind. Here’s what I mean:

Exercise: Over time, you’ll burn more calories in a program with built-in progressions, ensuring that you get some variety while doing more total work in the same amount of time. If your progression plan assumes that you’ll be able to expand your workout time, it probably won’t work. You might start with just 2 hours a week devoted to training, and build up to 3 or 4. That’s realistic. Starting a program with the idea that you’ll have the energy and motivation to train 5 to 6 hours a week isn’t. It might work out that way, but I wouldn’t count on it right out of the gate.

Diet: Whatever modifications you make must fit into the parameters of your life. If you’re a skip-breakfast, grab-lunch-on-the-run, eat-everything-in-sight-for-dinner type, you can’t assume that an inversion of that plan is realistic. Aim for the possible: eating something at breakfast instead of nothing; eating real food for lunch, even if you don’t have the time to linger over it; having a mid-afternoon snack to take the edge off your usual late-day hunger; and then having a substantial but not unlimited dinner. Make sure you’re sated by the end of your dinner, and clear your house of the things you tend to eat by the bucket if you aren’t sated.

But let’s say you’re doing all that and you still aren’t losing weight, or not losing as much as you’d like. That’s when you start looking at the more advanced strategies discussed on our Nutrition and Fat Loss forums: manipulating macronutrients (fewer carbs, more protein), cycling carbohydrates, etc. Most people with a lot of weight to lose will probably need those strategies eventually. And most people who’ve lost weight and kept it off will probably tell you that they work best when you have the three major elements – exercise, diet, lifestyle – under control.

Ab Fixes

A short article I wrote for Men's Health UK regarding correcting perceived abdominal imbalance is now online. For your convenience here it is:

When three should be six

Every body is different and, even if you’re following an intense training plan and flawless dietary regime, six abs popping out from your midriff with West End-worthy choreography isn’t guaranteed. A little variation in the size of your six (or, if you’ve really been gunning your core, eight) is nothing to worry about, of course. But if you find your rectus abdominis developing in a noticeably lopsided way there may be other issues afoot. Personal trainer Chris Bathke explains how to deal with abdominal imbalance.

A question of posture

“Perceived imbalances in the abdominals are complicated, and there may not be one magic movement to fix a three-pack,” explains Bathke. “Your six-pack is made up of one muscle separated by tendons, so it’s doubtful what you see as a deviation has anything to do with the size of the rectus abdominis.” (And you can’t isolate half a muscle, anyway, so don’t go trying acrobatic sit-up variations in the hope of shoring up your symmetry.)

If the problem is with your abs, often the underlying cause will be postural. “It might be an issue in your hips that is causing your torso to compensate with a slight twist, or it might be tightness in one side of your back resulting in a similar postural misalignment – but you’ll need to consult a physical therapist to be certain,” says Bathke.

Not so bleak

If, on the other hand, your imbalance is down to your obliques, there are practical training steps you can take to fix it. “If you feel one side of your stomach is more muscular than the other then first measure how long you can hold a side plank on each side,” says Bathke. “If one side is noticeably weaker then add woodchops into your program and do a 2:1 ratio of reps from the weaker to the stronger side.”

How to do the side plank

Lie on your side with your forearm on the floor under your shoulder. Push your hip up off the floor and hold for as long as you can. People often stick their bum out to take some of the load off the obliques. Don’t. “Your body should form a straight line from your feet through the hips to your head,” says Bathke.

How to do woodchops

For our purposes you will want to do anti-rotation woodchops so that the hips are not working, only the core. To do this grab a cable as in a regular woodchop but resist the twisting of your torso as you bring your arms across your body and back.

In other ab-related news yesterday I received an advance copy of The New Rules of Lifting for Abs from my friend Lou Schuler. This is Lou and Alwyn Cosgrove's third book in the phenomenally successful New Rules series. If you haven't read the other two I highly suggest buying them. As a trainer I still refer back to those books for useful bits of information, and the programs are great for everyone from newbies to people that have been training for years.

I won't reveal too many details about the new book yet other than to say Lou does a fantastic job at presenting core training in a way consistent with the most current and advanced research on the matter. In other words no crunches, sit-ups, or leg lifts, but lots of full body movements that remind us that the core is not just the abdominals, but is really all the muscles that attach to your his, pelvis, and lower back.

So yes, your "core" training should include exercises that work the glutes, adductors, hip flexors, and lats in addition to the usual abdominal muscles.

Perform Better 3 Day Function Training Summit in Long Beach

Review of the Perform Better 3 Day Functional Training Summit Long Beach

August 6-8, 2010

I just got back from Perform Better's annual festival of brain overload, otherwise known as the Functional Training Summit, and know that I had better start digesting what was dished out over the weekend before it fades into just a collage of extremely smart people. There is no way to try and review each session I attended, as that require a separate hard drive, but there were some themes that connected many of the talks.

The first day started out at the acceptable hour of 9am. Everyone knows trainers hate getting up early more than anyone. Upon walking in we ran into the regulars in the lobby: Robert Dos Remedios, Bill Hartman, Dewey Nielson of Impact Jiujitsu, Craig Rasmussen of Results Fitness, Rachel Cosgrove among others. Free coffee draws them like flies.

While still signing in Steve Cotter, kettlebell coach and all around athletic freak, came by so we after the obligatory bro-hug I asked if he might need some assistance in his 9am hands-on session. I knew the place was going to be packed so I had worn my IKFF coach shirt, and Steve was gracious enough to let me help out. There were about 300 people in the room swinging iron balls the entire hour, which caused me to be quite cautious when attempting to navigate my way around.

Steve is a master teacher, and it really shows in his ability to command and effectively instruct such a huge group. Judging by the smiles afterward, and the line of people waiting to talk to Steve he was successful in conveying some key concepts in classical kettlebell lifting. His presentation focused on the sport lifts of the jerk, clean and jerk, and snatch. Along with that he broke down the form of each and why proper form is key to development, progression, and staying injury free. In other words Steve focused on movements that work the entire body, and stress developing a high degree of movement quality, joint mobility, joint stability, and structural integrity.

Before getting into further specifics, many of the very best minds in the fitness and physical therapy, and athletic training world touched upon the same theme: Movement quality.

If you don't have it, then above all you need to address it.

Move On

Since most in attendance are trainers, coaches, physical therapists, chiropractors, the issue is how to express this to clients that may just want to drop a few pounds or look good naked. They may not give a damn at first that they move like crap, so how do we as health professionals get them to care and show why this matters?

I have to admit this is a skill I am still working on developing, as it can be quite challenging in a culture where ideas of fitness are often based on phony digitally altered photos of fitness models and celebrities, and chemically enhanced athletes and bodybuilders.

Gray Cook, father of the functional movement screen,. Dr. Stuart McGill, one of the world's most respected researchers on spine mechanics, Dr. Sue Falsone, director of physical therapy at Athlete's Performance, Bill Hartman, the smartest man in fitness, Dr. Greg Rose, head honcho at the Titleist Performance Institute, Michol Dalcourt, Dr. Lee Burton, Chuck Wolf, Vern Gambetta. The list of presenters goes on but they all addressed the issue of movement quality and why without it not only will individuals not achieve truly good health, but will increase the likelihood of future injury and inhibit physical potential.

Both Gray and Michol Dalcourt used the term “authentic movement” in their talks, which refers to developmental physiology and the study of how humans learn to move in infancy. In terms of fitness what this means is that as adults if we don't practice good movement in exercise we lose it – sitting in chairs or on the sofa for most of the day with little squatting, rolling on the floor, crawling, or other similar movements.

Sue Falsone even had us get into fetal position for certain thoracic spine mobilization exercises, and also mentioned that reclaiming our original mobility is critical to staying out of her physical therapy office. And she had some funny stories about having LA Dodger players hide in the corners to do these exercises so other players wouldn't see them.

Dr. Greg Rose spoke about training rotational athletes (golfers, tennis, baseball etc...), and focused on where golfers break down (the low back and shoulders/elbows). But why they break down is most often because adults lose hip mobility and so are limited in pelvic rotation, which causes gross compensation up or down the kinetic chain, and leads to pain and injury.

In other words everyone that has to move their hips in life, whether it's swinging a club or getting in and out of your car better know where they are in regards to good hip function or else. The same goes for the ankle, and of course the thoracic spine. In other words no matter your activity if the body is not moving properly then problems arise.

Antagonists Don't Exist

Expanding on the movement quality topic for a moment, another interesting idea presented by more than one speaker is the fact that muscles/fascia are task specific, not anatomy specific. In other words if we think of workouts as training this or that muscle instead of particular movements then we are ignoring how the body truly works.

This is in part why bodybuilding style body part splits can and do worsen movement quality and why so many people end up with dysfunctions while doing them.

We often think of muscles working in opposition, such as the bicep and tricep. However the way they function depends on the movement, not an anatomy map. For example Michol Dalcourt gave the example of the anterior and posterior tibialis. We normally think one functions to cause dorsiflexion in the foot while the other muscle caused plantar flexion. Which is true, but only in one plane of motion (sagittal).

But what if you are moving laterally, then what? Well in that case since both of those muscles run to the inside of the leg down near the ankle, then when moving in the frontal plane both anterior and posterior fire together to produce movement. In other words they are synergists, not antagonists. Therefore training that only takes into account plantar and dorsiflexion are missing the boat.

Gray Cook gives the example of when standing from a sitting position the rectus femoris (one of the quads) and three hamstrings fire together to produce movement. Further, neither change length from sitting to standing. Instead of functioning as big movers, in this common movement these large muscles all function as joint stabilizers. This is called Lombard's Paradox.

So while we normally think and train these muscles as antagonists, one of the most common human movements we do many times each day proves that training them solely in that manner is a mistake. There goes your leg extensions and leg curls huh?

Welcome to a brave new world.

Dr. Stuart McGill was one of the most popular speakers of the weekend, and arriving late to his talks meant sitting on the floor. His popularity is deserved as a who's who of superstar athletes and their trainers go to his lab to be trained by him.

In two of his four talks Dr. McGill addressed back pain and methods he uses to assess and address it. The take home is that our spines, particularly our lumbar area, only as so many bends until it fatigues and breaks down, so doing any exercise that involves spinal flexion (crunches of any sort, leg press) are inherently inadvisable. Developing core strength endurance is where most people need to look, so plank variations, chops, farmer carries, and so on are preferred choices in Dr. McGill's toolbox.

To back this up he showed video clips of various MMA stars, World's Strongest Man competitors, Olympic track and field athletes etc... using these movements in their strength and conditioning work, as well as back pain patients using similar movements.

In addition to video evidence one only had to look around the room and see else was listening with rapt attention. Jon Chaimberg, UFC champ Georges St. Pierre's trainer, Dan John, world class strength coach, Gray Cook, Alwyn Cosgrove's staff, and so on.

One other tidbit of information Dr. McGill stressed was that he thinks there is way too much focus on squatting with a barbell, and that this puts unwelcome stress on the spine, and that over time this will take a heavy toll. He recommended that people should do more sled pulling and pushing, less squatting.

Some of Dr. McGill said is sure to be controversial to some people, but it was great in how he does not shy away from it, but simply backs it up with years of research in the lab, in gyms, and training thousands of people from back pain patients to world class athletes. In a question and answer session one guy got up and said he was a bit confused about some of the information as his pilates background taught him the body functioned in certain ways and pilates curl ups and other movements attempting to isolate the spine or core in flexion were THE way to go.

Dr. McGill simply replied that in the fitness world there have been too many gurus espousing this or that way with no real science to back it up, so if you want to destroy your spine go ahead and keep doing such movements.

Brutally honest. I Love it.

Old or New School?

Vern Gambetta, who has been in training athletes for 40+ years talked about how nothing is really new, and that what athletes did 100 years ago is just as valid. He showed pictures of baseball players in the 1930's doing planks and trunk stability work, of multi-joint cable movements in 1910, and his first “facility” which produced world class water polo and baseball players that consisted of climbing ropes, a hill to run up, monkey bars, and free weights.

In other words whole body movements that utilized authentic movement. Machines and bodybuilding is where we screwed up. Vern spoke about athletes in the the 19^th century that had nothing but simple kettlebells, ropes, and barbells that could put 300lbs over their head. But I love ethnographies of physical culture so call me biased.

Departing from the topic of movement quality for a moment, Bill Hartman, physical therapist and “smartest man in fitness” talked about training field athletes. In particular he spoke about how in his work he found football players and others often are too developed when it comes to strength and need more oxidative capacity in order to maximize their potential.

In other words these athletes, including MMA fighters, often focus too much on high intensity intervals (Tabatas) that use the phophagen and glycolytic systems but ignore the oxidative system. If you've ever seen a fighter gas after 5 minutes, or a football player slowing down in the 3^rd quarter then you know what Bill is talking about.

What he isn't talking about here is “cardio”, but specific methods of keeping the athlete working at an intensity level at which they won't tap into the glycolytic system, but where they will progressively improve the oxidative capacity of slow twitch muscle fibers so that over time more ATP can be produced and utilized by the muscles.

What this means is that the athlete will improve their ability to perform a certain task over and over at a higher intensity. Short intervals only in training won't get the job done.

Now whether or not most people will want to endure the type of block periodization programs Bill uses is another matter, as it looks like pure torture. But it works, and his athletes, some of whom were in attendance, have proven it in competition.

In summary I came away with a host of information that is going to be put to use in my client's training post haste, and that everyone reading this interested in the concept of movement quality should immediately go buy Gray Cook's new book “Movement”, along with Stuart McGill's books.

Now excuse me but I have to go move.

Contrasts

I was talking with a friend today about what's really important in training, and we both agreed that it's changing someone's life for the better. And the way to do that is to learn as much as possible and always seek to improve your skills.

Now I'm not the world's best trainer. Faaaaar from it. However when a client shows me how their life has improved, that really makes my week. Just yesterday a client explained to me how losing 50lbs, removing mobility limitations, and increasing strength has boosted his confidence, energy level, relationship, and how people now treat him differently. He now impresses his young son by climbing ropes and is starting martial arts training with him.

It's impossible to put a price tag on that.

But we've still got a ways to go in this industry in terms of quality.

Read this short but insightful article by Alwyn Cosgrove. There is a lot of truth there concerning misinformation spread via dumbass trainers and the mainstream media that too often quotes the wrong people.

Awesomeness right here:

I think my mission in life is to rid the world of this ridiculous workout notion. Somehow this highly developed organism that we call the human body is not a remarkable piece of machinery that functions flawlessly as a unit, it's just random ass "parts" put together — each of which can be worked separately.

My arse.

You didn't even turn your computer on using only one muscle so why in God's name are you trying to develop a body using some sort of body part split?

And while I'm on the subject, how come fingers and toes don't get their own "day"?

Biceps get their own special recognition, what about fingers and toes and sternocleido mastoids? Or left arm on one day, right arm on another day (different body parts)? Because it's stupid, right? Well, so is splitting up your chest and shoulder "days".

There are NO athletes other than a small bunch of genetically gifted, pharmaceutical abusing individuals who use a "body part" split with any success. NONE.

Now, if you ARE one of the genetic elite pharmaceutical abusers, then feel free.

Split routines arrived on the scene shortly after Dianabol was popular. Do you see the connection?

Now before you ask me, "Can I split up my routine in some way?" Of course you can. But split it up based on what your body DOES, not based on what "part" it is. Splitting up by parts makes as much sense as splitting up by the number of freckles in that area.

And then, if you dare, glance at this article and video.

Seriously, if you have to dress up in cutoff vests and ridiculous hats in order to train a client please leave the fitness industry. But of course he's not training clients, he's creating marketing hype to make up for lack of skill and knowledge.

Cougar Strength Clinic

It's been a very busy couple of weeks, but also productive.

First off the next Couple's Fitness Competition is happening Saturday, June 13th. We've got 6 more events lined up for you, so come on down to Santa Monica Beach and have some fun - but please sign up by May 30th. Details here.

Tomorrow I'm going up to the Cougar Strength Seminar hosted by my friend Robert Dos Remedios, the Strength and Conditioning coach at College of the Canyons. He, Alwyn Cosgrove, Valerie Waters, and others will be speaking on a variety of topics. I'll be the one furiously scribbling notes during and buying beers afterward.

Dos does great work with his athletes. Check the video - this is what a real gym should look like. Nobody sitting down on machines that make it easy, just lots of hard work, sweat, and progress. End of rant.



Lastly, Eric Cressey's More Lower Back Savers article is up. I highly recommend it for anyone that has, does, or might have back pain. And since that's pretty much everyone I know you'll digest his advice.

The KISS Principle

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are staying healthy as we head into the Christmas Season. They say the average American gains 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years, and it ain't muscle. But of course none of you are average so instead of blathering on I'm going to pass along advice from those smarter than I. Guys that have trained thousands of people.

The theme of this post is Keep It Simple Stupid, which comes to me by way of noted strength coach Dan John. By the way, everyone would benefit from reading every article by Dan right now.

Finished? We'll continue.

In discussing the genius of keeping it simple Dan brings up the Paredo 80-20 rule, named after the Italian Economist, which says that 20% of what you do produces 80% of the result. In other words stick to the basics and avoid gimmicks. But you HAVE to show up consistently and work/play hard. You HAVE to eat clean most of the time.

To quote Dan on nutrition:

Time and again, I have rediscovered the wisdom of sticking to lots of vegetables, fruits and lean meats. In addition, drinking huge amounts of water helps. What about potassium? Yes, I take that, when I buy it. Flax oil? Great stuff, keeps me regular. Whey protein? I dunno. Creatine? Water gain, I dunno. Super Amino blast? Hmmm. Bee Pollen? B-15? And on and on and on.

In addition, beware the “Bathtub Model” of nutrition. Basically, it is this: The human body is a bathtub, the spout is calories in, the drain calories out. Add more water, drain stays the same, makes you fat. Water comes in the same, drain increases, makes you lean. Very simple. So simple it is just not correct. There is an old saying about the human brain: “If it was simple enough to understand, you wouldn’t care to understand it.” The same with the body. Why do people lean out on 6,500 calories a day, while their girlfriend gets fatter (less lean, if you will) on one meal a day and six diet drinks? Because the bathtub model is rubbish!

Eat food. Eat multiple meals a day. Eat breakfast. Eat.

The KISS Principle for training:

The key is to find the 20% that leads to the “biggest bang for the buck!” Most athletes usually come to the answer that, and this is beyond what mom and dad provided at birth, in the weight room it is the basics: cleans, presses, squats. On the track, it might be stadium steps, hills or sprints. For the endurance athlete, it might be those “hard runs” with friends on Saturdays. Once an athlete knows the techniques, sometimes very great progress is made on the simplest of programs. For example, many, many lifters and throwers used the following program in the Sixties and early Seventies:

Monday: Train Hard (and heavy and go home!)

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Train Hard

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Train very hard; if competing train very hard after competition. Keep the exercise number low, the intensity high!

In other words you to make good progress you need to train three times a week, whether you are an athlete of are trying to lose weight. And you need to work HARD and intelligently. You don't need more than an hour - few have that much time nor is it necessary. Train hard and go home.

I agree with my friend Alwyn Cosgrove who says that most people know what to do, they just don't apply what they know. For example if you are trying to lose weight:

Did you train today? Did you do something that will elevate your metabolism? Did you eat supportively? Post workout shake? 5 meals? Protein at every meal? EFA's?

Stop trying to figure out a better plan if you aren't already doing all of the above.

Decide on a goal. Work hard to reach that goal and enjoy the process. Then relax and reassess.