Group X = A breeding ground for inefficient movement patterns???

Every now and then when I walk by one of the Group X classes going on in the gym and I'll check it out for a couple minutes.  No, not to see if there are any hotties in spandex, but I get a kick out of some of the movement patterns and flawed technique that I see from some of of the attendees.

Actually, there are times when I feel sick to my stomach and my knees and back hurt from the awfulness that I see being demonstrated.

Most of the time these classes are packed with 30-50 people and most of the classes I've observed the majority of attendees move worse than a baby cow walking on ice.  Once and a while I'll be tempted to bust through the door and say "You call that a F'in squat -get lower!".  Of course, I am kidding.  I do really feel bad for the people attending some of these Boot Camps and Cardio Pump classes - they don't know what their doing is wrong, and 99% of the time the instructor won't take the time to correct them.

I understand that getting people to move is good, and if someone has fun while exercising- that's great.  But, when 90% of the class can't do a proper squat and they are doing 50-100 repetitions of an exercise, that's just asinine.  All that is going to be accomplished is a little sweat, a minuscule caloric burn, and a faulty movement pattern engraved in a persons mind.

This is actually good compared to some of the crap that I have seen! 

I think it would be a little more intelligent, and of course, more time consuming to teach a person HOW to do an exercise before you have them perform endless repetitions with horrible form.  It's not only squats, but push ups and lunges as well- the basic exercises are getting butchered in these so-called fitness classes.

I see people performing lunges with rounded backs and excessive forward lean, not to mention horrible foot placement.  Push-ups aren't any better, I've witness camel back syndrome and have seen hands placed in a variety of strange locations. 

I love push-ups, but make sure they are done right!

It goes on at boot camps  and group training facilities as well, exercises are just are not being TAUGHT.  They are being TOLD.  When you tell someone to do something and don't correct them if it's being performed wrong - that's just plain irresponsible as a fitness professional.

If a person performs and exercise with horrible technique day in and day out, it is an extremely long process to correct their deviations and deficiencies.  Exercise should develop healthy habits and movements not the opposite.  It's pretty clear why several people that I've evaluated before training sessions complain of knee, back, and shoulder pain.  Most of them demonstrate horrible form when performing a lunge, squat, or push up.

A solution to this problem would be having anyone interested in attending a Group X class or a Boot camp go through a screening process in a small group setting to evaluate and teach proper exercise technique.

Getting to proper depth is a challenge for most people!

I would honestly rather have someone perform 3 sets of 5 repetitions of proper squat rather than 100 squats with terrible technique.  One of my goal when training someone is to help them move more efficiently.  When a person demonstrates a movement that could lead to an "overuse" injury. When a client is beginning my program I look at the movement pattern to evaluate tightness/weaknesses.  I also structure their lifting sessions with the priority of correcting those issues.

Pop Quiz- Which athlete has better form???

One of the rebuttals I've heard from some of the attendees of a Group X class was,  "That class really made my legs burn, it had to be good".  In all honestly, just because an exercise "burns" or makes you sore doesn't necessarily mean that's a good thing.

Moving correctly is a good thing.  I know not everyone can afford to hire a personal trainer, and it's really hard to find a trainer who knows what their doing (most of them are salesman).  However, seeking someones help with knowledge of biomechanics will help identity some weaknesses and deviations in movement patterns that should be corrected would be really beneficial.   Once you can move better, your exercise sessions will be more efficient.

I'm not saying every Group X class or Boot Camp class is a waste time (a lot of them are), just remember why you are exercising- to improve your health, right?  It's pretty hard to feel healthy with a jacked up back, a sore shoulder, and knee pain 24/7.   Learn to move better, your body will thank you.

It's One Thing....

For most people, achieving the desired results they want from a diet / exercise program comes down to one thing.  That ONE thing is something that you need to start doing or stop doing to get your body and overall health in better physical condition.

Of course that ONE thing leads to a bunch of other things that snowball and create a bigger roadblock on your path to success.  With myself, clients, and friends it's really not too difficult to identity what ONE thing or ONE change needs to be made.

A couple of my clients are perfect examples.  One of my clients really enjoys wine.  Sometimes that enjoyment can be more than a glass or two and when that happens, clean eating goes out the window.  She'll tell me, "After one glass I'll eat really good, but after 3 - I start to crave chips, pasta, or chocolate".  On the nights she has NO wine her nutrition is right on track and her training sessions are more intense.

Another client of mine is in great cardiovascular shape.  He has phenomenal muscular endurance, however he is lacking the all important strength component.  Things like chin-ups and compound lower body exercises with a decent amount of weight are really a challenge.  It's not a real surprise that he has a history of lower back and shoulder issues.  The ONE thing that he needs to improve is STRENGTH.   Now that we are focusing on getting stronger rather than "circuit/metabolic" based workouts, his structural deficiencies are starting to subside and his training sessions are much more beneficial.

Some friends I know crave bread or snack foods.  If they go to a restaurant and there is bread on the table or chips and salsa, the word indulge comes to mind.  Once they load up on the carbs, grease, and salt, the attitude is "Oh well, might as well get something bad since I've already gotten off track".

We can all sit back and pinpoint ONE thing that we could start doing or stop doing for a few weeks and we would see significant physical changes.

Could you:

-Focus on getting stronger, and actually STRENGTH TRAIN?
-Maybe add in a little cardio/interval work to your program?
-Perform single leg work and identity some inefficient movement patterns?
-Start doing lower body resistance training instead of Bench Pressing 3 days a week?
-Begin your upper body sessions with pulling instead of pushing exercises?
-Start getting to sleep an hour or two earlier?

Could you avoid:
-Pouring that glass of wine (or 3) with dinner every night?
-Chowing down on that bread and butter that's gonna add 800 calories to your dinner?
-Going to the gym and heading straight to the elliptical?
-Going to happy hour and actually make it to the gym on a Friday?

You hear it all the time.

If I just didn't eat _______ I'd be a lot leaner.........DUH?
If I just did some flexibility/mobility work my back would feel a lot better......REALLY?
If I just didn't drink beer, I'd be able to lose 10lbs?  SHOCKER

You owe it to yourself to walk around healthier and in better physical condition, don't let something hold you back.  Especially if it's just ONE thing.

Aren't results what really matter???

There is so much criticism and opposing views in the strength/conditioning/fitness world that the internet has turned into a keyboard battle ground.  I know that some internet commandos don't know anything about getting stronger, and when it comes to anatomy, they don't know their ass from their elbow.  However, there are some real knowledgeable professionals that tend to disagree as well, and do so rather bluntly.

I'm all for a good session of constructive criticism.  I think I've learned more from doing stuff wrong than doing things the right way.  It is a little wake up call to your ego when you have a coach or trainer you admire basically call some exercises you prescribe as "a waste of time" or "too dangerous to teach, risk vs. reward".

It's important to accept others professional views. It is also important to spend time researching and gaining knowledge to determine why some "experts" feel the way they do about an exercise, program design, or training structure. The more knowledge you gain the more you will stand behind your training philosophy, or make changes where they are needed to get more efficient results. You don't have to agree with everything you read, but at least have knowledge on why you are doing an exercise / avoiding an exercise and understand which situations would be appropriate for various training programs.

This can also be applied to cardiovascular/fat loss protocols as well as discussing various diets.

Some industry leaders bash steady state cardio, and some get amazing results for their clients performing  5 / 45 min. sessions of incline walking a week.  Some people feel that interval training is the way to go for fat loss, others feel that "metabolic conditioning" is the most effective fat burning strategy.  Let's not even get started with the fasted cardio debate.

Discussing nutrition is even more lopsided.  Now there is such a big following of Intermittent Fasting, and the IF crowd is ridiculing the 6 meals a day crowd.  Then there are people that love to criticize anyone who mentions the term "Paleo", it's like the way you choose to eat is like the high school crowd you hung-out with.  Instead of the Jocks, Burn-outs, and Nerds- you have the IF'ers, Paleo's, and 6SM's (six small meals).

In the end, aren't results the only thing that matters.  Whether my athlete squats on both legs or performs single leg movements, as long as they get stronger and are more productive in their sport- I've been an effective coach.  If my athletes do Olympic lifts, or if I choose to focus on plyometric exercises for power production, as long as they remain healthy and perform more explosively, I have helped them achieve their desired result.

When it comes to Fat Loss / Cardio / Nutrition, as long as a client is getting leaner while retaining or even gaining lean body mass, does it matter if they are eating 3, 4, or 5 times a day?  Or if they are walking on a treadmill instead of performing intervals for their cardio based activity?  Or if they are carb cycling or following a ketogenic diet?

What matters is results.  I think some people just get all warm and fuzzy inside when they ridicule an article or blog post.  If another trainer or coach is getting measurable, desired results with their athletes or clients - don't they deserve enough respect to hear them out?  Like I said, we don't all have to agree, just understand why you disagree.  As far as getting someone stronger, leaner, and more muscular - there's more than one way to skin a cat, and we should spend more time understanding and applying various strategies than criticizing them.

Layoffs, Set Backs, and Moving Forward....

It's been a while since my last post.  It seems life has taken over and my time management needed to be "revamped".  I've been reading a ton of blogs and articles, but I've been a little lazy behind the keyboard.  I've had plenty of good topics, but so have many other blogger's, and if someone discusses a topic before me- I try to avoid writing about that subject. 

I don't want to come across as someone who "steals" from other people's ideas and pawns them off as my own.   When it comes to writing about fitness/strength stuff it is inevitable that certain subjects will be written about and blogged about by several authors, but in all fairness I'd rather refer people to great blogs/articles through social media (facebook) rather than rewriting what someone else has already discussed (and done a better job than I would have). 

That's my excuse for the layoff.....

I've recently had a few setbacks when it comes to lifting and conditioning.  The first one is school.  I have a little less time in my day to be a trainer/coach, teacher, husband, and puppy owner.   So I needed to come up with a "personal" schedule that actually fits reality.  That was tough to do and it's still in the working stages.....

That's really not a set back but reality starin' me in the eyes.  This is a setback:

When I was 12 I knocked 2 teeth out while skateboarding.  Luckily, I had braces and my dentist was able to put them back in without any serious damage.  Until now.  I made a dentist appointment for some "mild discomfort" in one of my front teeth.   It turns out that the root and tooth were so "dead" that I had to get tooth #9 extracted asap. 

I'm in the process of getting  an implant, but it's still a little crazy that this happened in such a short time frame.  For a few days I was in some pain, but all in all it wasn't horrible. Obviously, I had a little "off time" from the gym which brings up my next setback. 

I've been loving my new program, check it out here.  The only problem is I really need to warm-up very efficiently before every lifting session, given that I'm squatting 3 times a week- and I have a tight hip/glute area  (iliopsoas/piriformis) on my left side. 

On labor day, I was amped up for my Medium Squat / Heavy deadlift session  so I skimped on the warm-up and a few "get in the grove sets".  I actually started off having a great lifting session, then I realized my left hip region/lower back was starting to tighten up. I decided to push through the training session.  Later on that day my hip, glute, and lower back were screaming at me!  I didn't warm-up right, I jumped right into heavier weight, and I felt like a total idiot.

It's been a few days and I'm moving more efficiently, but I'm nowhere near 100%.  I've been using a lacrosse ball and foam roller so much I'm starting to bruise, but the pain actually fells somewhat good- especially once I'm done rolling and stretching. 

The take home lesson = kids, warm-up properly!

So now that I got my bitching and moaning out, I'll get to the point.  Everything doesn't always happen the way you want or expect it to, you have to accept that.  Nothing should keep you down, learn from experience and use unfortunate circumstances as motivation to work harder and get mentally/physically stronger. 

I'm a stubborn individual, and I like things to workout perfectly all the time.  That's not reality.  It's time to move forward and realize no matter what life throws at me I'm gonna keep bustin' ass and getting better.  Life is a competition,  between you and the obstacles you encounter.