Webfire Themes Weebly Templates

start your path to live. awesome.

NO MATTER HOW PUT-TOGETHER YOU THINK YOU ARE, CHECK FUNDAMENTALS

5/23/2019

This is my gait analysis (video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvHHNQhHii9/). I obsess over biomechanics; and I can still get something out it. I got an encyclopedia’s worth of data from the Biomechanics Lab at Northwestern Health Sciences University. They’ve analyzed Olympic athletes in their sprint patterns, weightlifters in squats, and people rehabbing in just how they stand or walk. Go and check them out: https://www.nwhealth.edu/research/sweere-center/biomechanics/

Over the years, I’ve heard people tell me about an “assessment” they did at a running shoe store. Those are a joke compared to even what I do in an initial movement pattern assessment. But it’s total nonsense when stacked up against something like this.

Don’t skip the vital step of figuring out how your body moves. Recently, I met with a prospective client who is a figure competitor. She’s been on stage. She’s been lean. But her movement is a complete mess. She told me she trained with an IFBB coach; and I was just sad. Getting shredded is great and all. But if you can’t move properly, what’s the point? Every cue I gave her in terms of foot mechanics, varus/valgus awareness, and even lat activation, was NEWS.

Just because you haven’t gotten hurt YET, haven’t had foot surgery YET, haven’t had knee or hip replacement YET, doesn’t mean you move correctly.

Once Weekly Strength Training Is Enough

5/23/2019

I can attest to these findings. For optimal life, simply strengthening even just once a week is beneficial and may, in fact, prove MOST beneficial for the average populace.

Certain cell turnover rates don’t change. That is, you cannot replace tendon, or increase ligament and bone density faster than about 6 months. So, if we compare the result of someone training 6 days per week, twice per day, for 12 weeks, to someone training once per week for 12 weeks, we won’t find statistically significant differences in connective and skeletal tissue at that time. Moreover, if we fast forward 3 years and find the high frequency person quit at week 12, while the once weekly participant is still going once per week, what we will find is the once weekly person outrageously more powerful, mobile, healthier and dramatically changed versus the twice per day fanatic.

On paper, we may think, “high frequency person got 144 training sessions in versus low frequency got 156: not that different.” Actually, it’s COMPLETELY different. Imagine this were monetary investing. One person saved A LOT of money for 12 weeks, overextended himself, and then spent all the savings (and more). He’s in debt. The other person saved a manageable amount every week for three years, never spent a cent, and is increasingly putting more into investment every week.

People falsely think they have to be like the first person. But even the first person wishes he would’ve been like the second.

Paper here:
https://www.jyu.fi/en/current/archive/2019/02/resistance-training-even-as-little-as-once-per-week-benefits-older-individuals

Hard Core Training

5/18/2019

1. Where you can get.
2. Around where you can start.
3. Don’t do this please.

see video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu_-X6jHPEy/

Video 1 - how you may one day be able to train abs, if you understand how to train them appropriately (and, if you don’t understand trunk flexion and the difference between hip and spine action, please look back at my prior posts on abs or check the website) - this is a version of the weighted dragon flag; I have 6lb ankle weights on each leg; my primary concern is maintaining the flexed trunk position while changing hip angles in order to lengthen the lever length (increase force need) and decrease the lever length (decrease force need). Another variation would be to fix yourself at the hip and move into and out of maximal trunk flexion. Previously, I showcased that while non-weighted in Secret to Abs, part 1.

Video 2 - with one caveat, this is about where you can start once you’re past the beginner stages. I prefer to keep my legs out in order to lose mechanical advantage, lengthening the lever, and requiring more force. The hip is immobile. The spine is bendin, so there ain’t no pretendin. The distance between ribs and pelvis is closing. Most people can control this if you bend at the knees fully and draw them all the way into the chest while you peel the hips off of the bench. The version I show here would be a several step progression from there.

Video 3 - leg raise - take note of the space between my mid back and the bench. That IS abdomen stretch. So what is a simple leg raise like this doing? Good question. I suppose after 100 to 1000 consecutive reps, I may finally feel the abs because they’ve been stretched for so long. But they aren’t contracting anymore than your bicep is when you hold groceries in your outstretched arm. What is certainly working is the psoas major, minor, and ileacus. And the first has its origin on your T12 through L5 vertebrae. I don’t know about you; but I’d like to work abs and not back pain when I work abs. Likewise, the way people do Roman chair and toes-to-bar is generally NOT intelligent ab training. It’s hip flexor and low back pain tolerance training.

Just A Reminder: You Could Always Just Not Eat

5/15/2019

It’s fascinating to watch people speak from abject ignorance, never hazarding to run a single scientific experiment themselves. And they will opine with great indignation about fasting and diets which they’ve never really studied or attempted.
I have DONE IT ALL. I did low fat, high fat, keto, paleo, raw vegan, vegetarian, supplemental shakes, purely whole food, carb back loading, IF, sustained fast, cyclical ketogenic dieting, elimination diets, bug eating, anti inflammatory nutrition, macro counting, bodybuilding nutrition, mass gain, cut down, maintenance, performance nutrition, you NAME IT. No seriously. Name one. I’ll try it. And then I’ll make a rather balanced assessment AFTER. Ten thousand client hours later, I’ve got a pretty good dataset from clients as well, all of whom have benefited from varying tactics. No one eating style is my religion. I’m a pragmatist.

Frankly, entomophagy and raw organ meats from humanely treated grass fed herbivores and wild game are probably best. But then we get into the debate about convenience, sentience, ethics, sustainability and what people WILL DO.

Regardless of where you are trying to cast your lot, remember, you could just NOT EAT. There are hundreds of thousands (if you’re lean) or millions (if you’re not so lean) of stored calories on your body. You’ll be alright. Really. Your thyroid won’t die. You’ll make glucose just fine. Your lean tissue doesn’t just waste away. The food industry and supplement companies may get a little slow down. That’s about it.

It’s simple. And even if your goal is to get bigger, you’ll get by for a few hours or days here and there throughout the year. Your immune system will thank you.

Keep Lab Tests in Context

5/15/2019

In the fourth grade, I once received a C on my report card in spelling. This was confusing because I was a linguaphile. As far back in that year as I could remember, I had received only perfect scores on each test. So I went to the teacher. She showed me her gridded notebook, where she fastidiously recorded everything with great precision, pointed to my C, assured me that no mistake occurred, and closed the book. I asked her to open it up again. She did. We looked more closely and found that the lines were so tiny that at the very end of the ledger she had accidentally switched my tabulation with a student whose last name landed them right beneath me in the notebook. The human eye, after all, can jump around when figures are right next to each other. The teacher apologized, corrected the mistake, and life went on.

I wonder if the mistake hadn’t been so obvious and egregious if I or she would’ve ever known. What if I had a bunch of different test scores, some Bs, some Cs, and so on? If I hadn’t been so confident in my perfect scores, if I hadn’t been insistent, if she hadn’t been willing to question herself, what would have happened? And she was quite organized and rigorous. And this was such a straightforward process. I wonder if/how she handled the other student thereafter.

Any test for which your blood is pulled is variant. That is, the same person will have different values the same day. The same lab, when conducting two tests, will have different values with the exact same sample. That’s to say nothing of insufficient draws, contamination of samples, or patient mix-ups, all of which do happen. The result is stacked against “normative” outcomes, a statistical term, which itself begs various questions about objective value and analysis.

One lab value every 6-18 months is not really how data collection works. You need more data to determine trends. The fact of the matter is that there is currently a reproducibility crisis in science, where the MAJORITY of published outcomes cannot be reproduced by anyone. Some tests are incredibly reproducible (ie - tests for lead concentrations in blood are over 90% reproducible) while others never were (ie - cell size IgG tests).

Before you pat yourself on the back or dread the meaning of a “bad” value, remind yourself that this is just data.
I’ve done a cholesterol panel three times in the same day with three substantially different results. And of course this is what should be. The body is in different states at different times.

The Final Answer on Training Frequency

5/7/2019

video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu5_TAUDhhV/

Tom Platz, whose leg development and overall lower body training ability has yet to be matched, tells us that as intensity peaks the appropriate training frequency is once per two weeks.

Lee Haney, possibly the greatest but surely one of the greatest Mr. Olympias of all time, tells us we’re crazy if we train something less than three days a week (in the full video he recommends a laggard like calves be trained 6 days per week; but then you have Dorian Yates who added 6 inches to his calf circumference with once weekly training). Here’s the crazy part: they’re both right. Both are abiding by a progressive overload concept, albeit differently executed.

Here’s the crazier part: they’re both wrong. Whatever you WILL do is the right frequency. In rigorous studies, ON AVERAGE, twice weekly is better at size and strength increase than once (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/27102172/). Average doesn’t tell us optimal. Beyond that, it becomes less clear, given whether we’re measuring skill adaptations, muscular, or connective tissue changes. I’d even argue that what movements constitute a specific muscle group is therefore up for debate and stricter definition.

The bigger lesson is this: the highest level experts have an inherent bias toward the method they personally liked and found helpful for their unique circumstances and physical factors.

For the average person who wants to develop strength, frequency is distraction. For competitors, there is a case to be made for different approaches. You have to test the model and see how you respond. I have clients who progress on very infrequent lifting schedules and ones who progress on high frequency. Test. Don’t just listen to someone tell you about their fav.

Just Follow These Simple 493 Steps

5/7/2019

It’s THAT simple.

You ever hear someone consolidate directions down into a very simple set of steps... only a few dozen. That’s all! Easy, right?

I once had a peer who was trying to help employees with the mistakes they’d made in entering point of sale transactions on the terminals at Bally’s. She created a “cheat sheet” with ONLY 39 steps. I had to laugh. Why only 39? At that point, why not put 139 in there? I imagined, “step one - look for the mouse; step two - place right hand on mouse (if injured or missing right hand, please see appendix 22c).” There’s effective. Then there’s distracting overkill.

With regard to health and fitness, I hear many people say, “I know what to do, but don’t do it.” Then you don’t know. You are inundated with the “very simple” 493 step process you’ve cobbled together over the years. That’s distracting overkill. How’s that working out?
Let’s actually simplify and find effective. Pick one single behavior you’ll trip over which leads to other healthy decisions. The all-in versus all-out false dichotomy isn’t working for us as a society. Integrate something small, like ONE step.

Or, just follow this simple 493 step process. You know it by heart.

Ability > Body Comp

5/5/2019

Please stop. Body fat is ONE of five categorical measures of fitness. It is not THE greatest. It is not THE only. It is A metric.
Currently, I have three clients who look “in shape” to many people, but are incredibly weak, on the cusp of serious health crises, and when they’ve taken falls (for which they have a higher propensity), they get critically injured.

I spend almost zero minutes outside of the early morning on mobile devices or looking at social media. But in that limited time I see stories about overweight people doing athletic activity and getting body shamed about it. What?

I don’t think the layperson may understand this; but 100, 110 year old people with good cognition aren’t shredded with six packs. They’re smaller, sure. So being extremely overweight is a health risk. But why the heck would we give people a hard time about carrying some extra body fat, period, let alone WHILE they are involved in doing something great for themselves.

I run a lot of personal experiments; so I fluctuate on purpose 20-60lbs per year. I can. And I can do it safely. I do it to learn a variety of things about change psychology, metabolism, and frankly, I actually like science - the REAL application of science, that is, not the theoretical BS, sit-behind-a-screen-and-never-perform-a-single-experiment-kind-of-“science.” The truth is, there are certain things I’m far better at while heavier than when lighter. And while heavier (for me, this is like 245-285), there are calisthenics exercises I can still do that a more “in shape” person hasn’t a prayer to do.

So let’s stop with the negativity, especially that coming from abject ignorance and inexperience about what health and fitness actually is. I’ve had “fat” peers and clients who could absolutely dominate “in shape” fitness models and personalities in every single domain of exercise. The fastest sprinter in-person I’ve ever seen in my life was a guy who was 260lbs; and he absolutely crushed a 180lb “ripped” athlete. And from what I know about the VERY dark secrets of health and fitness personalities, a lot of heavier people will live happier, healthier, longer lives.

All that said, carrying extra weight AND having low to no athletic capacity is imprudent. But do we have to notify individuals personally? I think they get it.

Ability > Body Comp

Hey Preachy, You're A riskier Drug Addict Than Everyone On Illicit Substances

5/3/2019

It cracks me up when people talk about how lethal some substance is. Ok. I get it. You didn't ever study chemistry. Say it with me: the dose makes the poison. The concentration in a solution dictates the outcome of chemical reactions.

Look up statistics on ER visits and cause of death in the developed world. Sure. Illegal drugs may be A problem. Are they THE problem? Are they THE TOP problem? No. Not even close. Most banned substances are not the primary cause of death or ER visit. The top 100 causes are more linked to sugar, being sedentary, and common over-the-counter and extremely common prescribed drugs.

Certain antibiotics ruin human health permanently and probably cross-generationally (http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/fluoroquinolone_toxicity.). But we haven't qualm one about doling them out like tic tacs. And add to that list acetaminophen: https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/09/11/tylenol-far-most-dangerous-drug-ever-made-11711?fbclid=IwAR23nvOGpLTXjoYLnrUesk2SH7M_NVn8SIu9r4wk5ICcxQ--amwjOBY03yw. We'd sooner cram an infant full of this poison which could permanently destroy his organs than let him have a second bite of a protein bar. Our societal mores are upside down.

Simply Start

5/3/2019

Today you have more time left in your life than you ever will again. Each day that passes is one less day to work on whatever it is you’d like to begin. You’ll never have more time than you do right now.

I’ve had clients begin with a daily practice that takes 30 seconds. I’ve had clients work on as simple a homework assignment as one glass of water before their out-to-dinner every single night routine. And still there can be some tripping up in compliance.

Waiting for the “best” time to start or “taking a break” until you have more time is fool’s logic. The time is now. There is no break from the entropy that is the physical nature of the universe. There is something you can do to improve your mental, physical, and emotional health this second, and for every day hereafter.

Simply start.

start your virtual coaching session today

schedule free initial consult

Back to top