Don't Let Your Knees Go Over Your Feet When Squatting or Lunging!

 The ever-present golden rule to not allow your knees to go over your feet while squatting or lunging is absolutely WRONG!

 It seems there is no escaping this silly and useless rule. In the position I am now I get to hear from many different people from many walks of life and nationalities. It seems this rule is carved in stone with the vast majority of Americans and Canadians, and a few of the Europeans (most are still not crippled by this rule). I put the blame on the American (including Australian and New Zealand influenced) fitness classes and the celebrity fitness professionals. The classes are beneficial for getting people motivated and moving but teaching improper techniques is a major drawback. I can not honestly state this happens in every single class but A LOT seem to have adopted this knee never over feet rule. Slowly but surely it is losing its American isolation and beginning to bleed into the international community. Since  fitness class instructors and celebrity trainers can not possibly be wrong, this rule must be correct. If a person does squat or lunge while allowing her knees to go past "the foot barrier of no return", she might hurt her knees and possibly never be able to walk again.

 This is a frustrating battle for fitness professionals who do have an understanding for anatomy, exercise kinesiology, theories of exercise science and biomechanics. Debunking a gym myth that is thought to be a really legit rule, is a pain in the ass. What I plan to do here is give anyone reading this (who is faithful to the knee foot rule) a little insight to why this rule is wrong. Take the info or leave it:

• The length of your femur bone will dictate how far your knees while go over your feet.
• The femur (thigh) bone comes in different sizes. The taller you are the longer the femur. People with long femurs will squat and lunge over their feet regardless. A shorter person can get away with squatting or lunging while keeping the knee behind the feet, but taller people will totally screw up the proper alignment to perform a squat. Instead, it will look as if the person is doing a hybrid of a good morning and a squat (in the eccentric half of the motion). With a barbell added to this form the lower back becomes very susceptible to bearing a lot of the weight and therefore at great risk for a well deserved injury. If anything this form can be modified a bit and be used as a decent deadlift starting position.
• A basic partial squat in the "athletic world" is simply the preparatory position to a jump
• Before a person jumps his body automatically drops into the squat position. Usually this is what we call a quarter or partial squat. The partial squat is a good starting point for learning to either squat deeper or to jump. Before a person jumps he does not shift his weight into the "heels" of his feet. If he does his jump will probably be very low. Instead the weight of his body naturally sets at the "center of gravity" point, which is in the middle of the foot between the heels and forefoot. The ankles will bend properly along with the hips. If you view this from the side his lower legs and torso will be running parallel.
• In most properly progressed workouts a person will learn to squat and advance to a form of jumping squats. If you learn to squat into your heels like you are in a overpacked fitness class you will not have the proper motor skill to jump to your optimal abilities.
• Only Powerflifters squat into their heels
• There is a good reason for this. Powerlifters are simply looking to lift the maximal amount of weight per exercise. So, you can see the powerlifter will spread his legs out, turn his feet outwards, and sit far back as he lowers the weight. This is simply a play on physics. Put the body in a position where the weight does not really have to travel that far. More you spread your legs the lower the bar is and the less you have to bend your knees. Turn your feet out and the less need for ankle mobility to lower the weight. Sit far back and the less the lower body needs to flex and extend to move the weight. Unless you want to powerlift, probably best not to adopt this method.
• It's not the knees that are holding a person back it is the issues stopping optimal ankle mobility
• During a squat a person will have to bend optimally in three joints (hip, knees and ankles). The deeper the PROPER squat ... the more the ankle needs to (dorsi) flex.
• Ankle mobility is very important for anyone who weight trains, and especially important for runners. For the proper muscles to fire off  in the proper sequence during a squat you need to be able to flex at the ankles. If not your body will use another physics law "find the point of least resistance" to move the weight. Ankles will not take the flexion so the knees and lower back joints will take more stress than they are supposed to (length tension relationship).
• A decent trainer will help you fix up low ankle mobility. When squatting into your heels the ankles do not flex a great deal and the issue of low ankle mobility will remain.
• Qualify thyself
• Seriously, we all know or knew how to squat and lunge. Squatting and lunging are primal movements that we gained at the point we learned to walk. The patterns developed as our bodies altered for the force of gravity (namely the spinal cord and feet). Then people begin to ride bikes, drive cars, sit on supersoft chairs and at desk. At this point the pattern probably begin to breakdown. Either we use this ability or we lose it.
• So, it is good to understand if you loss the ability to properly squat and lunge or if you still got what it takes. If you lost it, it is best to learn it again and definitely deal with any joint problems that may come along while assessing your lunge or squat. Trouble spots to look for:
• Do your heels invert (come together) and want to raise off of the floor when squatting deeply?
• Do your knees shift away from your feet either inward or outward?
• Is there any noticeable tilting or shifting of your body to the right or left as you squat?
• etc. etc.
• Hate to leave you hanging with these questions but If I go into depth on how to qualify yourself on squats and lunges this would be come a very lengthy blog. SO if you have questions for me just email me ty@fitnessenergysystem.com, leave a comment or ask in my forum

 Hopefully that helps a bit.

Taste of Cubicle-ville

This weekend I was able to accomplish A LOT of work. I thought it was a necessary thing to do to catch up with things I have been procrastinating. Everything I needed to do revolved around my pc and desk. When it was all over I found myself looking at the time with "that's impossible" expression on my face. I just sat in front of this stupid computer for almost six hours. The only breaks were to relieve my coffee irritated bladder. Right away my stomach grumpled ready for a binging. When I stood up my legs felt like they were made of old wood and rusty hinges. My neck ached from being in the forward position all that time and my lower back made these two popping noises that foreshadowed the coming trouble.

It was too hypocritically funny. I usually tell my clients over and over again not to just sit in front of the computer for more than an hour. Here I was feeling the exact reason why. The great thing is I got a lot accomplished. The bad thing is this morning's ( which is the morning after) workout went from the idea of Olympic lifts to a warmup and a bunch of drills. I simply was not ready for a real workout after abusing my body with desk work all Sunday. DEFINITELY, never doing that again.

Oh ya, one good thing is I was able to prep the first of a video series I call 3 minute drill.



In a nutshell these will be aerobic based drills that are better alternatives to mind-numbing treadmills and elipticals. Not sure what happened to my other videos, they seem a bit distorted. I'll leave that to another day when I am ready to do desk work again and next time with frequent breaks for joint and mental health.

Asymmetry Circuit for Die Hards

 A while back I wrote about self-checking for asymmetries that will effect your joint health and progress. This is adding on to that method and idea. Gray Cook speaks about handling the asymmetries through assessment of movements. The movements for the most part are unilateral in nature. So instead of attempting to pinpoint exact muscles or groups of muscles a person should simply address the movement flaw. A real simple example is a frontal (lateral or sideways) lunge. Finding tension or lower ROM (range of motion) with the left or the right side means, a person would do more volume (either sets or reps) on the lacking side. Quite simple and easy to apply to any unilateral exercise. A more complicated example would be the Turkish Get-Up. A person would not only increase the volume on the flawed side, but would also cut the volume on the opposite side and ONLY train up to the point where the exercise form is correct. Now this is a bit humbling. If a trainee can't even get off the floor properly than this is the stage he will stay at until he can.

I think this is the best way to go for those not wishing to research into kinematics and anatomy. Now, I have been approached with a few questions from "die hard" older long distance athletes. They may have asymmetries and nagging injuries but they are not willing to stop their plyometric training to fix the issue. They usually approach me and ask for a one stop solution. More specifically they ask will yoga or pilates work for the injury. As I right this my blood pressure raises in the idea of magical solutions through cookie cut classes. I usually sigh and just tell them it may help (God help them). A great coach put it like this. Saying there is a simple cookie-cut solution is like saying a person can write a bunch letters on paper and call it a dictionary ( SO TRUE).

Well, for the hard-nosed athletes and enthusiasts I would advise you to do your asymmetry training consistently either in smaller chunks before your actual training, or in a full session on days you are not training. Consider it prehab to prevent rehab. Like I wrote before this session time is for you to really analyze the form you are using and the response from your body when stimulated to be mobile. It is a must to at least jot down quick notes on what you sense and which movement and body side is having trouble.

You can check out an example of my own asymmetry circuit here.

Yoga Versus Exercise

Shamefully this is what the people I meet on a daily basis see. Yoga is the feel good stuff and exercising is for people who want to look like bodybuilders. May seem funny to some but this is seriously the feedback I get from lots of people from all over the world and all walks of life.

Even worse are the studies that place yoga against "conventional exercises" for hypertension and overall health improvements in the elderly. I simply can not believe people who study the science of exercise can not see the big picture here. They literally are in the middle of trees but can't see the friggin' forest.

There is not a difference between yoga and exercise. Yoga is a specific and generally dynamic form of exercise. Yoga is not just stretching and breathing. That is like saying gymnastics is just swinging and jumping. Gray Cook once brought up a good point about complex movement patterns creating an environment where the body stabilizes, balances, stretches, and contracts all during one exercise. Yoga is quite similar to this. I personally do not call myself a raving fan of yoga, but I know that yoga is just another form of exercise or movement patterns we should not attempt to segregate from other forms of exercise.

My Six Weeks Body Comp Results

The next two weeks I will be hard pushed to update my blog. Getting ready to do some traveling and making sure "loose ends are tied" before I leave. At this point I am closing in on a solid 12% BF. I probably could push for 11% but the cost would be lowering body weight even further. Not feeling right in skinny mode and I do not want it enough right now. I do know from getting to this 12% area again I do not have the genetics for a cool Bruce Lee or Usain Bolt 6 pack. I would need to be at single digit body fat to see something close to that. So here are my six weeks results for body composition. Going to try to record the 405 raw deadlift. Hopefully that will be up on Wednesday or Thursday.

(click image for better view)

Nutrition for Last 8 Weeks

 Alright for this final stretch here I'm going to need to sharpen my nutrition intake a bit. Loads of partying over the holidays has placed me at approx 13.5 - 14.5% BF. I was at 12% but no longer. Now I want 11%. I'm going to just follow this hybrid guideline. Some of it is my experience. Some of it is from other coaches. Some is just experimental.

1. Keep my nutrition logged at least every other day on Fit Day. If  I end up eating the same stuff day in and day out even less logging is necessary. You can see my log here 
2. Keep to the basic guidelines 90% of the time and 100% for the first week. I agree with bodybuilding types who state the less you have the cheat the less you think about it. Therefore the less you will be inclined to rip open a box of chocolate chip cookies.
3. High protein diet. The only way to go. I'll start at 1 - 1.5 g per body lb. I may end up at 2g by the end.
4. All carbs minimized. I just want vegetables for carbs. Fruit is fine around workouts. Everything else is a cheat even the brown organic high antioxidant low H1N1  pasta or rice stuff.
5. Cheats can't be anymore than the low calories of a normal snack meal. So no more than 200-300 k/cal per cheat. No back to back cheats.
6. Increase water to about 6-8 liters daily. I'm around 5 liters now.
7. Vegetation until I turn green. Just load it up. Right now I'm using a green supplement hopefully that will change.
   

 As far as calories go, I calculate I will need at least 2100 k/cal to keep basic bodily functions functioning and shouldn't go above 3300 k/cal. Since I need to sustain as much muscle as possible, I'm going to drop the max calories to about 10% less and stay there (3000).

 Shouldn't take too long.

8 Weeks Left

I have about 8 -10 weeks left in my year periodization for training. My goals were pretty simple.

- Drop to 12% BF - I did and found out I can really maintain a low bodyfat when I focus more high levels of activity and recovery. Also found out when I just make sure I'm eating decent for my goals I don't need to count the calories or get crazy with macronutrient percentages. I'm sure that this would help, but I am definitely not a bodybuilder type, so I don't measure and calculate....just chew.

- Increase Max Strength - I did BUT I found if I go too far I end up losing too much. I lost a lot of strength with my deadlift and now I'm looking to get it back.

- Maintain a more alactic/lactic dominant energy system - Failed at this one. My environment demands my energy system be dominated by lactic/aerobic. No biggie.

- Increase power potential - A very deceiving trait. I did in some areas but lost it in others. I think I gained the potential but actually being able to use it.... that is quite another issue in itself.


Now I am wrapping up this training design. I am going to work my way up to a point of "over-reach" training. Over-reach phases are tricky. You really need to be aware of all your problems before starting. However, when you start it all these problems must be pushed to the back corner of your mind and you drive forward into the over-reach training program with a "fuck it...I can't be stopped" type of attitude.

For me I will do this for 1 week of training. The final week. My year ending goals are a higher standard so I have to rise to the challenge.

1. Drop to 11% BF
2. Deadlift 405lb "raw"

I try to get video of the training sessions in the final week.

My Decade Top 17 List of Fitness Stuff that Works

Really I should say things that work for myself and my clients. I just put together a list of what I have learned in my many years as a trainer. I either learned these things by being successful or something failed miserably. All I know is this stuff works for me so far and it has been close to a decade now since I really have been full time training. So here is my list from my success and mistakes with fitness:

In no particular order

1. If you're going to a training program or diet do it all the way. We definitely cling to what persuades us the most regardless if the idea or method is right or wrong. Add a celebrity to a training system or diet and suddenly it is the holy gospel. Whatever fitness idea persuades you make sure you REALLY do it by following the protocols and lasting through the duration of it. Then you can judge from there. Most systems work at least partially.

2. Sleep is essential for dropping fat and maintaining overall health. More sleep before the strike of midnight the better, Cinderella.

3. High protein diets with low carbs still are the best diets for fat loss and maintenance of muscle. The closer you stay to just protein source and vegetables the better. Make sure to really load up on the vegetation.

4. 6 packs are genetics, diet, and cardio. Generally a person needs to be at or below 11% body fat to be this ripped. You can do an infinite number of crunches on a nice baby blue swiss ball and never see the six pack if your fat percentage is too high. Even this is not a guarantee if your genetics are not quite up to par for having a sixpack.

5. The better your support group is the more successful you will be at most challenges. Hang out with people opposing your goals or success and you will most likely fall short. So ditch the loser friends (kidding...slightly).

6. Doing any exercise past the point of exhaustion will generally push the body to hypertrophy (build muscle mass). Whether you use lots of weight with low reps or baby weight with super high reps, they body will adapt by developing more mass. Big muscular thighs can come from heavy barbell squats or come from spin class.

7. As we age we lose the ability to move fast, jump, and upkeep basic functional ROM (range of motion). So train with speed in mind and maximal strength for the reps you use to hold these effects at bay. That means leave the fluorescent dumbbells alone.

8. When training Olympic lifts have the patience and wisdom to train the body up to par before going for it (progress). Nothing worse than a crappy CF style clean and jerk.

9. A person will burn more calories exercising in either the standing or plank position (pushup position). So when going for fat loss use these body positions A LOT.

10. Drinking a protein shake or eating a handful of nuts will help to curve the appetite before going out to eat or grocery shopping. So you don't feel crushed by not ordering the the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream sundae and a slice of mocha cheesecake. Oh, I've been there.

11. Marathon wannabes and long distance joggers should look at the posture of the elite class long distance runners and attempt to mimic while out running so you don't "plod around and end up getting a bonehead injury".

12. Never miss a workout because you are pushing for time. Do something in the timeframe you have. Something is most definitely better than nothing and that is what my downloadable program Firestarter is all about. No more excuses. Just friggin' do it!

13. The first three weeks of being consistent will be your hardest. If you make it past that you will continue to push.

14. People who hire a trainer or keep a journal of their training and body composition are generally more consistent than most and will more likely succeed.

15. Read one article a day from different fitness and medical sources and you will be smarter than most bonehead personal trainers in this overcrowded industry.

16. Do not attempt to train body parts like a bodybuilder (unless you are a bodybuilder). Best way is to train the movements (i.e. push, pull, full body push (think squats) and full body pulls (think deadlift)).

17. "Raise your sail one foot and you get ten feet of wind". Motion is what the body is created for and it creates emotion. Meaning you have to get started to be successful and be motivated. Don't spend too much time B.S.ing around with over-planning and buying supplements and cool tight shirts. Start moving and you will learn along the way. Success is contagious and motivating. So do it and move always forward!

New Twist on My Fitness Assessment

For years now I have separated kinetic and strength assessments with actual training. I had a good reason for doing so. I have always felt that basic assessments needed to be done when the body is rested and the mind is focused only on the task at hand. Of course there are reasons out there why a coach would want to assess his client while not fully recovered or focused (especially for high endurance athletes). Up until this year I have felt assessments need to be kept separate from the stress brought on by training.

This year I have been assessing while hitting clients with hard training. Actually, there is microphase separation in the training. Corrective exercise and reassessment sessions on opposite days of "goal" training sessions. What I have found or verified for myself is that asymmetries throughout the kinetic chain are easier to detect/fix and easier for the client to sense and understand when the client hits a point of slight to mid level discomfort. What I mean by this, is at the point the breathing and heart rate hit a high level and the muscles are beginning to feel pain of lactic acid build up, the client has hit a point of slight to mid range discomfort. I arrange certain basic test within an AA (Anatomical Adaptation)and corrective exercise session. I find the different training days is a big help to keep the sessions motivating, and really justify to myself and to the client why we choose certain exercises.

I do this type of session only a few times a week for clients who are beyond the beginning stages of training. Clients who are not beginners and trying to pack mass and strength, drop fat, and/or perform better in a sport need more sessions to handle these goals without the kinetic assessing/re-assessing. This especially goes for training near maximal load or power output. A client will need to keep "readied" for handling the trauma of this training and the assessments will most likely show negative progression as muscles tighten and bones get compressed during these high intensity sessions. Again, that motivation factor is kept high if I don't bore the hell out of them with corrective exercise drills for their given asymmetries, everyday.

The assessment is given the time it deserves and improvement or lack of improvement can be noted weekly along with progression towards personal goals. Also, the training goes uninterrupted by corrective drilling. So far, this type of assessing/re-assessing, corrective training, and goal training takes up to 12 weeks to run its course. Around the third to fourth week I can really see what the client can do. One primary reason is this is the point the motor patterns are corrected, which eliminates false plateaus or positive signs for kinetic issues. The way I can tell if this phase has worked is there is less of asymmetrical training within the program by the final weeks. If you're a little confused let me show an example:

Say I have a client with a ROM (range of motion) problem with her right shoulder. The left shoulder does the movement just fine. It would not be optimal to attempt to train both the shoulders equally since one has less ROM than the other. So, the exercises I choose to develop better ROM in her shoulders, she will do by performing more sets on the right shoulder (usually two more sets at first), which needs most of the focus. As the training continues, the asymmetrical training should become more symmetrical (meaning the right shoulder is becoming even with the left shoulder in ROM and the sets are equal on both shoulders). This progression can also be justified by the "goal" training days. Hopefully the exercises where shoulder mobility is necessary show improvement. Once a re-assessment shows ROM is equal in both shoulders the hybrid phase for that particular assessment is done.

Currently, I am doing this on myself and you can see what I mean by following my journal on FES forum.

Giving Away the House!

Hey guys and gals. I need your help with something. I have created two training programs that work "like a charm" but I want more feedback on them. So if you could:

1. Go to my forum HERE
2. Register yourself for access. Chill-ax, your info is safe. I have no intentions of spamming you and it is required so you can give me feedback on the training.
3. Download either Hydra Training System or Firestarter.
4. Start the program and keep me informed on how well or how not so well it is working for you.

I created the Hydra Training System two and a half years ago. It was created for those looking for serious amounts of strength endurance. The side effects are the usual:
- fat loss
- increase in strength
- decrease chatting on the cellphone while at the gym

This program was first tested on myself,a few of my athletes, who were in need of higher threshold of endurance and the mental strength to push through the "burn"; and a few clients with morbid ideas of training. We all gained kick ass results from the testing phase and when I put the program out to the public.... generally folks loved it. The program is named Hydra Training System because ..... because its a cool name. It is very much a straight forward "linear" type of training model. Time tested and ready for use.



HYDRA TRAINING SYSTEM

The second one named Firestarter was created to eliminate excuses of why a person can not train. The excuses typically revolve around time and disliking gym environments. I first tested this out with an online gaming community. Very mixed reviews for those who commented on the training. So, I worked out the kinks and created the improved version that solved all the problems. Many people still use this system because it does not get any easier and you do get decent results. No excuse training if you are interested.


FIRE STARTER

There you have it my two training systems ready for you. Give one of them a shot and let me know how it works for you.

Mucho Gracias in advance

Fried the Back of My Legs

Last Monday I tinkered around with the notion of using a T-Bar to work the entire back through to the hamstrings. Personally, I'm really not so keen on the t-bar or any constraining piece of equipment. However I decided to throw the exercise in to my Monday routine. The result was my legs and side area of my hips (gluteus medius and minimus most likely) were totally obliterated. It did not take long for the effects to be felt. The next day I was a guy who walked around like C3PO and cringed at the idea of sitting down. The only problem is today is fucking Saturday and I am just healing up enough to get back into a decent routine!

I am quite happy I performed this hybrid exercise on the T-Bar, but quite upset that it diminished my legs to wobbly weak god-fearing limbs. I don't think I would try it again quite yet, but I will sometime when I am ready to put my legs back to the test.

In case you wanted to try it here it is:

Ty-Bar Hybrid

1. Load up a T-Bar with 80% of your guesstimated max.
2. Straddle the t-bar and lift it. MAKE SURE YOU ARE ABLE TO KEEP YOUR LOW BACK ARCHED. If not don't do it.
3. Your feet should be in a dorsiflexion position (toes are facing up and heels down - think opposite of being on the balls of your feet). You may need to grab a few small plates or a small board to place your toes on if the t-bar does not allow for dorsiflexion. Knees should be slightly bent.
4. Keep the body very tight and "white knuckle" the grip. This point you should be standing tall with your "war face" on.
5. Hinge your upper body downwards through your hips. Do not allow any movement except the hips hinging.
6. Using your arms and concentrating on squeezing the shoulder blades together, bring the weight up towards your chest.
7. Now bend the knees more and hinge the hips back as far as possible. Hold for 1-2 seconds.
8. Straighten your arms and return to the standing position.
9. Repeat the sequence and get ready for a shock to the hammies.

Michelle Obama's Arms

First off, I must say I am happy to see arms with muscle mass considered stylish and goal setting for women. It wasn't to long ago that many women were pursuing skinny Paris Hilton or Angelina Jolie starved down arms. I remember a few potential clients coming up to me asking about Halle Berry scrawny arms. I gave them the best way to get that. Starve yourself by day and go for the Celebrity Champagne-Cocaine diet by night and you should be headed in the right direction. Needless to say none of them signed up for my training.

Getting back to Ms. Obama. I was very happy today while watching the Today show and seeing a segment on her great arms. It was very good to hear that women want... well... muscle mass on their arms. So I stopped what I was doing and watched the segment of what her personal trainer is doing with her. Well my friends, my gleeful smile soon changed to a stoneface grimace. What I saw was a trainer (I think) telling the viewers of Today show Ms. Obama picks up cute little paper weights and curls one way and then another. Then she goes to the cable machine and does tricep extensions one way and reverse the hand grip to really isolate, stimulate, antioxidate the triceps. Teeth clenched I walked away from the tv and sat down to vent in my blog. I'm not going to go off on the toning and sculpting muscle comes from superlight flourescent weights is absolute bullshit. Nope not gonna do it. I am just going to state how I believe a woman would get a physique like Michelle Obama (deep breath). Keep in mind this is my humble opinion after training a few female clients here and there to get the "Oh My God I am Fucking Hot!" results.

Michelle training by Ty:

- First off our dear First Lady has pretty good posture. You need this to look good. No one likes a defeated looking posture of the insecure. Flaunt your health lady! Good posture will help keep up what we "health and science book readers" call the kinetic chain. Before you can have proper functional movement you MUST have proper posture. A HUUUGGEE bonus is good posture keeps the "core" (starting to really hate that word) active and strong. I constantly cue proper strong posture checkpoints so much that, we changed all the music in my training studio to just my voice saying the following again and again:

" All work and no play make Jack a dull boy"

Just kidding, really these are my cues:

" Keep your head back with chin slightly tucked..."
" Keep shoulders back and down as if you are squeezing your shoulder blades together..."
" If you are unsure if your "core" is strong and ready, simply cough...feel that mid torso contraction?....now replicate that tight feeling in the core and breathe normally with it held like that (Ninja'd from Stuart McGill).

- For the main event, the arms are quickly trained up in comparison to the rest of the body. By default you can check out your arms to see how much the body is changing. If you have flabby waving good bye amplifiers attached to your triceps, then you probably have the same deal with the whole body. It is because of this isolating exercises such as a curl and tricep extensions are kept to a minimum. We want more caloric burning and metabolic driving points per exercise. We want as much muscle going to work in a single exercise as we can get. So go for the gusto. Let's get primal baby! Pushups, dips and chinups. If you can't do the exercises, not a problem. These primal monsters are easily regressed:
1. Pushup becomes a plank (not the sissy plank on your forearms...a real plank on your hands). There are plenty of ways to progress from a plank to pushup. The easiest being placing a cushion under you and slowly lowering your body onto it. Get up however you want. Oh ya, don't even think about those sissy-chicken-baby pushups on your begging knees.
2. Dips become dips off of chairs or any elevated surface. If that is still to hard bend your knees until it is manageable.
3. Unmerciful chinups become squirmy kicking chickens as you convulse to pull yourself up. Please don't really do that instead you will get yourself to the top position and hold yourself there. Better yet, lower yourself down slowly. It is absolutely amazing how quickly the body adapts and you will be able to knock out serious chinups. Oh ya, if you really have to you can use the assisted lame chinup machine ( I really hate those things).

The quoted trainer's recommendation was some generic crap like three sets of fifteen. My recommendation to really get you there is the following:

- If you are a newbie in the battle to look good naked, then simply do one set to form failure per exercise. Take as much rest as you need and hit the next exercise. That's it....just one set. When I say form failure, I mean you can no longer properly do the exercise. Now write your results down and because I like kidding around a lot I lied about one set.. so do another set to form failure with attempts to beat your last score and lower your rest breaks and that is one session your done.

- If you have been in the trenches of training for a while and can handle this, go for a circuit. Rest breaks are active so do active stuff in between (jumping jacks, jumprope, squat thrust etc). Complete one circuit take a minute or two and do it again. Keep going in circuits until you no longer can pop out a decent amount of reps per exercise. Mop up all your sweat and your done.

Just to reiterate I am very happy about the movement for more healthy and muscular arms for women. Hopefully my advise helps. If you need additional help or have crits/comments go to my forum and let me know. If you don't trust me because I am a guy, here are some women who can get you going in the right direction:

Cassandra Forsythe

Rachel Cosgrove

Goodluck and train hard

The Verdict for My Trail Running Trainers

A few weeks back I did a quick post about coming off of some deserved Vay-Kay and purchasing new trail-running shoes from Under Armour. I paid a decent price for these suckas' so they better work.

Well a few weeks later I am fully sold that these shoes are not just to style at a "state of the art" gym while running on a treadmill next to scantily clad fitness model.


( I don't knock the idea...but still)

No sir (or ma'am) this be "the real deal". I took these trainers out on a few uphill mid speed sprints to check comfort and gripping. If you want you can check out my training on my forum. You may even want to keep an online journal there as well. First thing I noticed was the good grip of the heel to midfoot portion. When my foot hit the ground it was..STABLE... I could easily put good amount of force into my stride without fearing a miss step (which can easily become an annoying twisted ankle). The only fallback is the bulky shoes has some weight to them. Even though I easily adjusted, the sturdy neutral positioned sole and heel cushion came with the price of added weight.

Another point here, I ran with these shoes on a one mile trail tempo run. The terrain was pretty rough. Once again no problems I must say and at that point I was very used to the added weight. I even tested out the gripping after a nice "downpour". I found myself a muddy uphill track and took off in sprint intervals. My friends I did not feel one slip.

So the shoe checks out and has the Ty Ferrell stamp of approval.


(HEREBY APPROVED BY TY FERRELL)

So there are Myths About Exercise...

I just finished reading an interesting article in Time magazine. It was titled "The Myth About Exercise" (by John Cloud). The highlighted point was vigorous exercise does not always deplete weight. In fact, it contributes to adding weight. I did appreciate the good use of references to back up the authors certain points. From what I read, the article just proves people in general need to be more active.

Even though it is quite tough to stay unbiased when reading, I did my best to bite my lip and show the good points and flawed points of this article. To make this easier to read, I'll just list them with the authors points and mine.

1. Vigorous workouts can create a strong appetite after completion. A person is more likely to eat junk food (author mentioned examples of french fries and muffins) and have a higher caloric intake than expenditure.

I agree the appetite is usually increased. This goes along with the increase in metabolic rate, which is a really good thing. There is definitely a certain discipline needed after training to eat properly, but not much. I find most people will want to do the right thing after training.Also most fitness professionals know that the nutrition factor makes up 70% or more of the weight loss challenge for most non-athlete trainees. With proper nutrition protocols placed around training times this should not be a problem (at least not directly after training). From my experience those who eat diets higher in protein and fiber are able to satiate the need for grabbing crappola on a stick. Also, if a person is going to cheat then cheat after training. The body is more forgiving on sugar addiction around this window of time. The problem comes in when a person simply does a form of aerobics (such as jogging) that his or her body has already adapted to and then attempts to indulge. Not to bash on simplistic aerobics too much, but alone, aerobics has a very limited influence on the potential EPOC (excess-post exercise-oxygen-consumption). Point being the metabolism is really stimulated while doing the aerobic activity and not after.I definitely agree on the notion of being more active means having a higher temporary metabolism and subsequently appetite.

2. A person not going to a gym can lose close to the same amount of weight as someone in the gym for up to 194 minutes a week.
This was a heavily flawed point. The studies referenced by the author were to vague to understand the training protocols the study group was exposed to. Also there is no information about the nutrition or lifestyles the study group had. Another flaw here is not knowing the body compositions of the group starting and finishing. Other than the flaws I would agree results will be all over the place for any average person for weight loss. The problem is a person depending on a gym training session as the magical answer to weight loss. That is simply absurd but it is the warped perception of some. The author, like others, sees the gym as a replacement for loss of activities in life. This is partially correct, but we still have primal bodily systems and the demands outweigh the desires. Doing crunches in the gym and running for thirty minutes to an hour is a small demand placed upon the body in comparison to what a person will do with the other twenty-three hours a day.

3. Self control diminishes as used. People can not stay in control.
You know I think I heard this exact argument in a serial killers defense case. Discipline is a huge part of getting to a weight loss goal. Motivation is the next factor that needs to be stronger than deterrents. This goes along with the idea if you want "change" you need to "change" your lifestyle. People set themselves up for failure when they look to lose weight, but still want to party like it's 1999 every weekend or cook up big pasta dishes every night. There is a point of diminishing self control and motivation. When I worked in a commercial gym we used to take bets on what new member will fall victim to the "3 week this shit don't work" syndrome. Very evil but true. Change has to be embraced and a person has to be ready to do what it takes. If not it is inevitable the person will fail and I will win another ten bucks.

4. Total activities are more important than the gym to lose weight.
NO SHIT! Now we are getting somewhere! I do agree. We are not the active mobile hunting survivors we once were. We are rush hour driving, computer typing, bad back griping, pill popping evolved humans. The body is still pretty primal. As stated before, it comes down to the demand placed upon the body. If we place demand to sit alot and browse the internet, well we get big ole' booties and sessions at the chiropractors office for kyphotic posture. If we take the time to stand up, walk around, hold good posture and enjoy whatever activities we want (biking, weightlifitng, kayaking etc.) ... 'Lo and Behold our body's begin to adapt to the imposed demand we put on them and we can actually look into a mirror after a shower and smile at the awesome active specimen staring back at us.

Wrapping this up, I can see the frustration this author feels from getting suckered into a 30 minute "ab attack" special deal from his gym. I can see the overwelhming frustration in many people who want to be picture perfect in "6 weeks or less", who think jogging around the block at tortoise speed and then buying organic and junk food from Whole Foods will make them Angelina Jolie thin, or who hire a trainer to handle the weight loss burden but refuse to change his or her lifestyle. This frustration has inspired articles like this Time magazine one. Here is my final point:

- There are no magic pills or perfect answers for weight loss. To lose weight make sure all factors are good to go (training, nutrition, recovery and being active).

- Body transformations can take sometime. As Berardi puts it 6 week goal is more like 52 week goal. There needs to be enough demand for weight loss and these things take time (short of liposuction).

- Consistency, frequency, motivation, and a decent life balance will reap greater rewards than mind numbing treadmill jogs and chocolate cookie dough ice cream with dark chocolate "super-antioxidant" sprinkles. Frustration is what it is. Frustration over genetics, fitness programs, and foods. We all get it at some point. If it were easy every guy would have a body like Terrell Owens and every gal one like Jessica Biel.

Back Off Break to Go Right Back On

So I went on vacation for a few weeks. Spent my time enjoying great food and drinking different ales. While I was away, I made sure to do some activity. I put together all in one dynamic warmup exercises, I did a bunch of pushups and luckily my folks own a crosstrainer cable machine, so I took full advantage of that (not to sound like I am that disciplined... because I am not). My daily caloric intake blew away my daily activity. As one coach put it, " I was doing a 5 mile workout and taking in 10 miles worth of calories". I did enough to keep the mobility up to par. I was hoping to get back to the island and hit the gym hard. Repent for my disturbing fetish with food. Well, that did not happen. I even bought some snazzy new Under Armour shoes to tackle hardcore trail running.

Here is a look at these things. I'll keep you posted on how well they handle the trails:




My reason for not going all out just yet... I really need a break from training. At least in the gym. I sense my body is not ready to kick arse on the barbells and my mind is focused on too many other things. Now usually I would raise the bullshit flag on anyone else who came up with this, but this is one of those moments when I have scratched a bit deeper into the confusing and thick surface of exercise science. I need a week before slamming the weights around to recover and (excuse the wacky voodoo talk) unify and balance mind, body and CNS - central nervous system (or spirit). So this is now my plan and hopes. I will not lift weights yet. I will continue to train outdoors and do active patterns of mobility drills such as those used in yoga and pilates. I'll give it a week or possibly longer. I am sure the results will be far greater than the short loss of gym time. Will have to see though.

Bench Press is Back to a Decent Poundage

Many moons ago I forsaken ed the barbell bench press. I no longer required its benefits and I despise the consequences. A little over four years ago I peaked my bench press around 335lb. Nothing glorious about the amount but for me, a guy with long spider arms, it was a PR breaker. The only downside was the annoying injuries that came with it. No injury was serious but it did force me to abruptly discontinue benching.

My stats for this peak weight:
6'3"
215lb
15% BF

Well, today I just put up 315lb again without any problems. I probably could have repped with the weight if I didn't burn myself out with multiple sets of lighter weights. It felt great and I am back in business. Just 3-4 months ago I was actually struggling with 225lb. I'm not at 335lb but I really don't care, I'm close enough.

My current stats:
almost 6'3" (spinal injury...lost some height)
203lb
13.5% BF

Now, how I got to this point involved a lot of factors. Just to name the primary factor, I do pushups with different hand positions on a daily basis. I average around 60 pushups daily. The pushup is arguably on of the best upper body exercises ever. So I put this primary exercise to work for me. You can check out the loads of pushups I have done and my training to this point on my forum

I have now revisited the bench and will add it by to my devilish exercise toolbox. I have no goal with it anymore, perhaps to be able to rep 315lb like I rep 225lb.

Uphill Trail Running

I have discovered a new hobby for myself. The funny thing is I actually should hate it. Now, when I say "hate it", I mean should really FUCKING hate it!! Interesting enough it actually is growing on me instead. Now I am liking (not to be confused with loving) my new hobby, trail running. I do not like it quite enough to put some serious mileage on my sneakers, but I do like it to continue to do it.



Trail running alone is not what I find likable,it is where the trails are located. I run on some steep ridges overlooking an amazing and tropical valley. I have seen trail running on television but this is unbelievable. An added bonus is the landscape. The landscape changes with hard rains. On this island, a hard rain hits just about every month. The ground is volcanic debris and shifts a good deal with the rain. So just about every month, I have a new trail to run.



My primary running routes are on steep uphill portions of the ridges. When I say steep I don't mean you have to use your hands and feet to get you to the peak. This is a high enough incline that you really need to pull your knees up to make headway. Full out sprints are just about impossible though. This is a bummer for a guy like me that rather deal with max speed than max endurance. However, the great side effects of serious caloric expenditure is good enough for me to overlook the speed issue.

Now, I do not track the runs very closely. I have extremely hard days and very light days. I just use how my body responds as a guide. I do keep track of my body composition and the biggest reason for liking the runs is the fact I stay at 14% body fat or lower. So I'm all for the running that I once hated with a passion.

Don't Get Crazy With Squats Young Skywalker!

Through my career as a trainer and trainee I learned a great deal about squats. I have tried many variations myself. As a trainer I have seen many variations. What I find that works for the general public is to use specific squatting techniques to reach certain goals. If you want to lift a lot, there are squats to improve that. If you want to jump higher and run faster, there a squats for that. If you are looking to boost energy expenditure in training, there are squats for that. Also, there are squats that simply just suck. The squats that win the suckiest squats of all time awards are the notorious Smith Machine Squat and the Swiss Ball Squat (with the stupid ball against your back and the wall). These two annoying squats really do nothing more than cause improper squat technique and damaged joints. However I still see them being prescribed to trainees who are new or who state "squatting hurts my knees". My answer to that is "Oh really, so I guess you must be the only person in the world who takes a dump standing." This is for those new jedis looking to squat properly and not perform the wrong squats.

So, many newcomers to training have amazingly awesome hopes and goals. What we know is before this highly motivated individual embarks down the fitness road, he should build a proper "functional" foundation. All the exercises including squats should recruit perfected movement patterns, strength endurance, and neuro-muscular efficiency ( AT FIRST!). Once this point is complete the sky is the limit. So for the newbies the squat should be what I call the perfect learning squat.

The perfect squat is more focused on posture throughout the motion than on load or reps. The checkpoints:
1. Feet straight forward and hip width apart.
2. Shoulders back and down with a slight chin tuck.
3. Lower "core" area tightly brace (this includes preservation of the low back arch).
4. Form is maintained throughout motion.

Now, dropping the glutes below parallel is not part of the checkpoints for new guys and gals, because it simply is not as important as holding the posture. If he can do it... fucking great! If he can't drop that low ...oh well...it will come in with proper training.

This perfect learning squat is also the key to hip extensor progression. Master this and you will be a better squatter, runner, and jumper.

Just to make it perfectly clear on what a new guy or gal shouldn't be doing, the following are types of squats that work well for more advanced trainees with reason to squat like this:

1. No box squatting with a external load (barbell, dumbbell, bands etc) - The only guys and gals out there that should do box squats are those looking to squat the most amount of weight possible. Mainly, the big powerlifters and powerlifting wannabes fall into this group. Box squat just causes all kinds of trouble with the low back. People who box squat may put up impressive amounts of weight, but most likely they all get out of bed like Fred Sanford in the morning.
2. No jumping onto high plyo boxes - This is absolutely fantastic for building reactive power in jumping athletes, but looks like shit when a new jedi jumps up to a plyo box practically pulling his knees to his ears and lands with a big crash. I see it a lot and it must feel as miserable as it looks. Before you get to jumping squats, Skippy, make sure you have a damn good squat working for you. In fact you better be at the point where you can do some one legged squats without much trouble.

Lastly, let me leave you with the smart way to progress your squats:
1. Perfect Learning Basic Squat
2. Deep Squats
3. Deep Squats with Hands Overhead
4. 1 Leg Squats
5. 1 Leg Deep Squats
6. Jumping Squats
7. From Plyo Box Drop Down and Immediately Jump Up to Stabilize in a Squat


Of course there are exceptions to this rule. New trainees with flat feet or damaged ankles will need to widen their stance. If that does not work, raise their heels. Those who have already sustained some traumatic knee injury will stay at partial squats and do more one leg squatting drills than others. A rule of thumb is to get a decent assessment from a damn good trainer or sports therapists.

Now use the squat wisely young Skywalker.

Chance for Learning

Well really it is a time for realizing what I knew but, for whatever reason, did not put into practice. Many changes taking place since the global recession and I am in the middle of launching my new website/forum . Also I took some time to feel out what direction I really wanted to take my personal fitness endeavors. While I'm getting all this together I begin stumbling about on things I should already be doing because I already know it but just totally disregarded it (like a moron).

Right now I'm sitting at 12.5% Body Fat, a scrawny 200lbs., and more endurance than I would ever need in life. What I want is 12% - 11% BF (anything lower and I would never be disciplined enough to hold it)., 220lbs of mass on my bones and more power and medium (lactic) endurance (high endurance usually comes with the great side effect of not being able to get out of the "scrawny" rut).

Now here is what I know but have not used to get to these goals:

1. Hypertrophy training - I was getting to complicated with this. Hypertrophy is pretty simple to evoke. Simply train the muscles past the exhaustion point with enough overload so the reps are not out of control high ( I like 8RM and lower). Recover well and eat like a king. Simplistic stuff I already knew. Tons of methods out there but the premise needs to be pretty much the same.

2. Max Strength and Power - This point I just totally broke my own golden rule. If you lack the mobility in the involved joints DON'T TRAIN WITH MAX WEIGHT UNTIL YOU GOT IT!! My deads are a lot better looking now that I took the time to increase my lower body joint mobility. Also, to me, develop max lift to transition into the power lift. For instance, the deads need to be developed to transition into cleans. Soooo.... I do not lift like a "power lifter" who simply seeks to gain leverage for maximal weight. I train like an Olympic lifter looking to develop a better power clean. If you haven't witnessed both lifters you should. The deads for a powerlifter is a whole world apart from the dead for Olympic lifters.

3. SAID rules over everything- Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand can not be changed regardless what I do. My life has changed where I am know doing strenuous hikes up and down mountains daily. I also train various people and take runs with my running clients. I went from 215lb to 195lb in a matter of weeks. I fought tooth and nail to regain some mass. Still have a way to go. I feel the Michael Phelp's caloric trouble now. I have to put done at least 2700 k/cal to keep functioning and 3300 k/cal at least to maintain current muscle. Add 500 calories to that and that is what I need if I want to gain. My body is now geared to high endurance climbing activities. I am trying to change it to a bigger more powerful thing. SAID principle says hell no.... not without changing the demand of high endurance my life currently has. DAMN YOU SAID!

Learning to go back and review what I know and actually apply it. I'm sure I'll remember more as time goes on

A Bit About Me

Hey, thanks for stopping by my blog. In this blog , I'm going to tell you a bit about me. I have been in the fitness industry for quite sometime now and still find things about it that are surprising. I created the website called The Fitness Road to keep people like myself informed on solid principles and ideas in the industry. As we all know, there are a lot of fitness sites and so called gurus out there giving out a lot of information and a lot of b.s. It is pretty hard to decipher between the two at times. The Fitness Road started as a site to help decipher the crapola from the stuff that works. We are certainly not the only site to do this. In fact, I rather like the idea of standing with truthful sites and professionals who cut through the garbage and bring you the facts.

When I thought about making a blog about me, I found that much of what I pursue and have accomplished is highly influenced by the philosophy behind The Fitness Road. I really like looking into complications of strength and conditioning. There is A TON of information out there. I take this information and simplify into its basic components. For the most part, every experiment, training philosophy and guide will follow basic principles in fitness. Hell, life is pretty much the same way. Basic principles bind us all whether we like it or not. One major principle I use as a filter of all other information is SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand). The principle simply means people (and animals) adapt specifically to their daily life and changes. In my eyes, life throws some serious obstacles at you. To overcome the obstacle it usually takes a change in simple patterns in life. Whether that is waking up earlier, eating more or less, being more patient, or whatever. It is a change that must happen to overcome the obstacle and "adapt" to the new environment (stimulus).

Obviously, I like to go off on rants from time to time. To keep from ranting anymore, I'm going to wrap this up with a little overview of me:

I'm a active guy who is either up and training or "rehabing" old injuries. I am a huge ancient history buff, there is some crazy stuff that went on in those periods (pretty close to crazy stuff that happens now). My goal right now is to bring my clean and snatch lift over 225lb. and to bring my deadlift back up to 450lb. From my experience in the fitness industry, I am wise enough to seek out "functional" methods of training. Train hard but be smart. I only hope when I turn 50 I am not the guy who says "If only I knew then what I know now...".

Thanks for tuning in, see you in the next blog