You know what I’m talking about Guys! You lay off of the gym for a while, take a road trip, get injured or just flat out let yourself go. Now, when you feel your arms, chest, legs and abs they’re no longer nice and firm…they’ve become soft and perhaps taken on some body fat…perhaps more than just some. It happens to the best of us and it doesn’t take long for your body to do a 180 degree turn from putting on lean muscle to muscle atrophy and fat storage.

Even I have to admit that I’ll sneak a feel of myself when I’m well conditioned and firmed up. It’s a matter of appreciation for the results I’ve earned from strength training and conditioning – so why not cop a feel of those guns I made! After feeling yourself with a nice tone muscular physique however, it’s hard to allow yourself to lose that and become unconditioned.

The message here is don’t allow yourself to get out of shape long enough to start reversing the positive effects of exercise. Disuse and living a sedentary lifestyle is a sure way to see the softer side of you…it’s just a matter of time. To combat this, exercise regularly…simple, right? Well, what if you travel a lot, don’t have time for the gym or don’t know what you’re doing? The answer lies within the TRX, a lightweight and portable fitness tool conceived in the Navy SEAL teams and now a popular new way to train that’s been adopted worldwide.

With the TRX, your able to get in a full-body workout within a single station. There are over 300 functional exercises possible and routine options like core training, sport-specific, weight loss or strength building are endless. Every TRX comes with an instructional DVD and there are several videos on how to use TRX, including some from my website www.VirtualWorkoutPartner.com.

So fellas, there are no more excuses to not managing your firmness. Get a TRX and armour yourself againt that not so firm version of yourself.

Men's Health Votes TRX as the Best

Short and simple this week.  A great total body exercise that focuses on ‘extensor chain’ strength and endurance along with active flexibility and balance.  Remember to go slow, avoid momentum and do not use your back to stand up, use your leg and Hip.  As always 3 sets of 10-15.

Squat reach to a Row

It was a quiet Sunday, yesterday. I got back from my morning clients and the gym, had lunch and discovered a “Rocky” marathon on TV.  I watched the end of Rocky I and the entire RockyII movie.  (Personally, I think these two were the best of the bunch.  Sly looks VERY good in these!)

Anyway, I concentrated on what Mickey, his trainer, had him do to get in shape.  Now, realizing these movies were shot in the 70’s, it was amazing how many functional exercises he had Rocky do!

What are Functional Exercises?  They focus on building a body capable of doing real-life activities in real-life positions, not just lifting a certain amount of weight in an idealized posture created by a gym machine.  It’s about teaching all the muscles to work together rather than isolating them to work independently.

So, in boxing, besides hitting the speed and heavy bags and bench pressing a ton of weight, Mickey had Rocky chasing a chicken for speed.  We see Rocky wielding a sledgehammer on a pile of scrape metal for shoulder, arm, back and core.  He balances a huge log on his shoulders while he does squats.  These exercises keep him off balance and make his whole body work FOR him and with him.

More and more trainers are incorporating functional exercises into their clients’ workouts.  It’s the smart thing to do.  A simple bench press can make you stronger and shaplier for that one area, but moving an odd-shaped kettlebell or medicine ball will incorporate core work, arms, legs, etc, so you can lift that box of books to put on a high shelf or grab a bag of heavy groceries from the cart and twist to the side to place them in the trunk of your car.

A combination of functional, strength and stretching exercise will give your body the best chance to work to it’s maximum capacity and decrease your chance of pulling muscles or tearing tendons.

Of course, eating right will help you LOOK like a million bucks, but that’s another blog…

Talk to you later.  I think I’ll go run some steps and pump my hands in the air.

Rona

Burn fat and look great too with this whole body exercise known as the Get Up.

One of my favorite applications is to set a timer for 5 minutes and do Get Ups alternating arms each rep.

You can also plug them into a circuit.  For example:

20-30 Kettlebell Swings Followed by                          10-20 Alt. Renegade Rows

and finish with Get Ups for 5-10 reps each side.

Dont lollygag!  Work hard, push yourself and youll look and feel great!  If it was easy everyone would be doing it!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!

Get Strong Be Strong!

Chris

So you think that you’re healthy?

Becoming healthy often seems to be quite easy to acheive these days, especially if you go by many organisation’s guidelines these days. For example to be healthy we are told to eat five pieces of fruit and vegetables a day combined with large amounts of fiber with each meal and cutting calories. Or we are told to do at least half an hour of cardiovascular exercise each day to stay fit and healthy.
So we follow these guidelines, in fact so many of my clients come to me and say they eat a healthy diet, and say ‘I have cereal for breakfast, brown bread sandwich for lunch and pasta and vegetables for supper,’ they also exercise doing plenty of cardio each week, yet still find it difficult to achieve their targets of losing weight, gaining more energy or getting rid of their long standing back pain. But they think they are being extremely healthy, however there are many hidden stressors that they are not aware of.

Here’s why, most of the advice that people receive from media and some organizations is flawed! Modern living provides us with many stressors that the body has to overcome to achieve homeostasis or reach equilibrium of the trillions of cellular functions. Furthermore each and every one of us has specific needs for nutrition, there’s no such thing as a healthy diet and to follow a healthy diet for one person will lead to disease in the other. Take a look at the diagram below and you can get a snapshot of the many stressors that the body is exposed to on a daily basis.

Physical

Physical stress can be divided into two categories anabolic/building, or catabolic/destructive. Our body is exposed to gravity on a daily basis for which we have to overcome. Poor posture from excessive seated position, cardiovascular exercise and machine weights can be categorised as catabolic. Good quality primal pattern exercises that encourage the squat, lunge, bend, twist, push, pull can be categorised as anabolic as long as the body is well aligned to complete the exercise without deleterious effects. If physical stress, say from a painful knee is not relieved when we sleep, it creates additional chemical and psychic stress which can impact on your choice of nutrition, when you fail to get adequate levels of good quality sleep.

Chemical

The chemical stress that we experience has multiplied by thousands of % with the advent of the industrial revolution. Randolph States that there are over four million chemicals registered in the US (and that book was written in 1971!) You only need to open your cupboard under the sink to see the myriad of inorganic compounds in the sprays and detergents that we are supposed to clean our houses with. Within our foods your only need to look at the back of most food packaging to see unpronounceable chemical names to see the exposure to further chemical stresses. Tap water now contains tens of thousands of chemicals that we are told have no impact on human function. Ames & Gold state that low level doses of these chemicals do not create lesions on human DNA which create cancers! How can an assay accurately predict how thousands of chemicals interact, when there are such large fluctuations at any given time, with any degree of accuracy?

Electromagnetic

With the advent of harnessed electrical power our bodies are exposed to high levels of stress that we will not fully understand the implications of, for maybe twenty years. In fact some experts are likening the exposure of Wi-Fi, mobile telecoms and the like to becoming the new lung cancer epidemic seen in the last century. France has now taken the step of banning all Wi-Fi from all schools and nurseries due to the concrete research of the interference to the developing brain. Try this for a test, my girlfriend pointed out, when she used to log onto our Wi-Fi, there were 9 other Wi-Fi signals beamed into our flat. Now add the mobile phone signals multiplied by how many service providers there are in your area to give you an idea of electromagnetic stress. The Sun provides with a positive form of electromagnetic stress that creates life, it also provides the human body with vitamin D.

Psychic

Psychic stress is presented to us as soon as we are able to understand the notion of criticism or an inability to process thoughts that create negative thinking. The way we perceive that criticism can be largely due to our programming as a child in the formative years and so memetic dysfunction occurs. It can also be formed by positive or negative experiences that impact on how we process our emotions. Consistently focusing on negative aspects of our lives is a form of negative psychic stress, instead of focusing on positive aspects of our lives. Failure to set goals and achieving can create a vicious cycle of negative psychic stress.

Nutrition

Have you ever eaten a food and not felt the best after eating it. You may have thought nothing of it or carried on and just got used to the sensation or emotional dis-chord from eating a poor choice. However nutrition isn’t as simple as watching the TV and hearing that these bran flakes are good for your health, or this soy product contains natural plant estrogens, so must be good for you! Our nutritional have been shaped by millions of years of evolution. Our current food choices have been dictated by the last 5,000-10,000 years of industrialized farming and years of marketing and deception. A simple self test for understanding genetic adaptation for food choices is to eat a food or selection of foods and note how you feel 1-2 hours after eating those foods. Try eating a meal high in fat and protein or a high carbohydrate meal. What have you experienced? An uplift of emotional well being, increased energy levels, improved focus and clarity? No? Chances are the food choice is a poor one or needs a change of ratios of fats, proteins and carbohydrates to get the most from your food!

Thermal

Any temperature that causes the body to increase or decrease in temperature is a form of thermal stress. Temperature of the body is inextricably linked to how acidic or alkaline our body’s are. Cold causes the body to be more acidic and often creates a faster metabolism, that’s why Eskimos can get away with eating a diet that has 80-90% fat and protein content and remain a paragon of healthy living!

Key steps to restricting your exposure to stress

Managing your exposure to these stressors is a key part of your goal setting for achieving your health and wellbeing targets. Follow these key steps to keep on the road to optimal health. Also consider having key clinical lab test such as digestive and hormonal tests to identify how strong your immune system is, what hormones are predominating over your body balance, and to determine what strategies you need to undertake to avoid wasting your time, energy and money which will create more stress!

Physical – Do strive for physical alignment, do complete a variety of exercises that create energy, do change your program at least every 6-8 weeks

Avoid doing an exercise just because you friend thinks it’s good, avoid working through pain!

Chemical – Do throw out all the chemicals in you flat create a toxic environment
Avoid any foods that create inorganic substances. Do Eat organic foods and avoid tap water.

Electromagnetic- do switch your mobile phone off when possible and do not carry in your pocket. Switch from WI-FI in your house back to cable, and spend time in nature. There are still plenty of places to go that don’t have Wi-FI and mobile phone signals.

Psychic- Do take 10 minutes out of your day to think about the positive things in YOUR life. If negative psychic stress is a constant in your life, set yourself targets to change that cycle.

Nutrition- Do read the metabolic type diet or get metabolically typed to understand what food choices build health and which don’t.

Thermal – Do get hot and cold, using an cold shower for one minute then a hot shower for a minute 3-5 times to help the body adapt to thermal stress and also help the body feel great after a training session. This will also help to eliminate any stiffness from a good dose of positive physical stress from a functional training program!

Here’s to reducing that stress!

Serious.  Do it.  Every day.  It is a great exercise.  Get down on the floor and get up again.  Over and over.  At least 10 times.  For some of you it might be easy, fine then, make it challenging, put a book on your head, hold a glass of water, chew gum, don’t use your arms, do it on one leg, who cares, just make it an exercise for you that challenges your body and your brain.  That way your brain will be trained and it will know how to get up.
 
If it is already a challenge, then do it.  And do it again.  Start off however you can.  Use a couch, a chair, a person, a cane, a dog, whatever . . . .just get down, and get up at least five times.  Keep doing it every day until you can do it more and without help.

Whether it is a challenge or not, while you are doing it, think about it.  Think about what muscles you are using to get up.  Try to get down on the floor differently every time, think about all the different muscles you are using.  Also, try getting up differently, thinking about all of those muscles.
 
No, this will not increase the size of your muscles, for some of you it won’t even tone them, but if you try to make it a challenge it will challenge your muscles.  Balance and being able to get up are a key part of health that we just either don’t think about or we take it for granted.  But it really is a great exercise, right up there with the push-up, but maybe more functional.

Of course this is just ONE exercise of many that I believe qualifies as a functional exercise.   And for a lot of you it should not be your only workout, but for some it might be a start and a good start.

Why is it that people often fail to hit health and fitness targets?
Well, more often than not, most people tend to focus on superficial aspects such as getting a 6 pack, or gaining more muscle as well as more health driven goals like losing weight. However there are 6 key principles that can change the way you feel and think that pave the way to physical, chemical and emotional health.

The first one is thinking right. So often people set the pace of their strategy to setting effective goals that can be revisited on a regular basis, to check progress and enhance motivation. Unfortunately there are many negative thoughts that creep into indivividuals mind sets as to their own self worth and destructive patterns can emerge, engaging in self destructive habits and the like and throwing them off the course that they originally set.

Focusing on positive aspects of your life is often something that we forget to to do or take for granted but focusing on the things that make us proud or that bring a smile to our faces is a step to helping us acheive our goals and dreams.

The second factor is our breathing pattern. The way we breathe should not be taken lightly, as an inverted breathing pattern has the capacity to cause postural problems, pain syndromes, increase anxiety levels and even alter the acid/alkaline balance of your body. Literally the pain in your knee could well be related to the way you breathe. Therfore having your breathing pattern assessed is key aspect in your health, fitness and wellbeing goals.

Drinking good quality water is getting harder to do these days. the amount of chemicals that is found in our water supply is burdening our bodies and has been cited as a major contributer to infertility, cancer and a host of other issues including parasite infection. Drinking water from plastic bottles shouldn’t be considered a taboo if you can’t afford to have a decent water filter fitted to your home water supply.

Getting Metabolically typed, helps you to get a good grasp on what foods build health and which foods are a bad food choice. Based upon gentic needs such as pysiological, psychological and dietary traits, metabolic typing helps to build health and reverse disease as well as balancing energy emotions and body weight.

Functional exercise is the way to exercise that incorprates key movements, such as push, pull, lunge, twist, bend, squat and gait or running. Forget about exercising on machines that shut off key stabilising muscles and lead to injury. Why is that most people sit at a desk all day and then go and sit on an exercise machine in a very similar position?

Going to bed at 10pm might seem a little early but the longer you stay awake past this time increases the amount of stressful hormones that not only have a destructive effect on the body, they also speed up the aging process. getting to bed early helps our body to rest and regenerate and helps us recover for the adventure of the next day ahead.

Try following these six principles or find someone that can help you with these key health points!

www.balancedbodymind.com

This is a great little exercise routine (inspired by Gary Gray)that involves multiple planes of motion, multi level lifts and doesnt take a lot of time.  So, if someone tells me they dont have time to exercise, I say Bull@#$&!  I have an answer!  The Matrix.  It only takes about a minute and a half!  And if they still say they dont have time, I tell them to just do it faster!  Or I know they really dont want to exercise.

THE MATRIX       Alternate reps for 6 for each movement in each plane.  Move as quickly as you can with full range, good form and control. Try doing multiple sets with 1-3 min rest between.

Shoulder to Overhead Series

Waist to Shoulder Series

Lunge and Reach Series –  Chest to Knee or Floor (if able)  Do sagittal then frontal then rotation   

Lunge and Reach Series 2 – Chest to Knee/Floor and Return to Overhead Position

Do sagittal then frontal then rotation

Some variations are to use 2 diff size weights and/or do with one or both eyes closed

Have fun and enjoy!!!!

Get Strong! Stay Strong!

Chris

By David Westerman LMT, FAFS  

Are  we  utilizing  “authentic”  principles  of  Function  when  designing  our  strength  and  

power programs?  

Is  there  a  special  population  that  might  be  missing  two  of  the  most  important  bio‐ 

motor abilities in their training and rehabilitation programs?  

As  a  former  collegiate  and  professional  strength  and  conditioning  coach,  strength  

and power were (and are) the two most emphasized bio‐motor abilities.   

Take,  for  example,  the  “power  clean”  in  an  athletic  weight  room.  This  is  one  of  the  

most  utilized  exercises  in  “power”  training.  The  typical  strategy  is  to  put  as  much  

weight  on  the  bar  and  successfully  lift  it  one  to  four  times.  Let’s  see  if  we  can  use  

part  of  our  litmus  test  of  “authentic”  strength  and  power  principles  to  better  

understand its carryover to three‐dimensional Function.  

  Is  it  three­dimensional? 

  The  power  clean  is  a  sagittal  plane‐dominate  

movement.  Most  activities  require  three‐dimensional  movement  in  all  

muscles and joints. 

  Is  it  specific  to  activity?  

Considering  most  sports  and  activities  have  a  

horizontal component to load, the power clean is mostly a vertical load.  

  What  is  the  neural  input  and  range  involved?  

If  the  weight  is  too  heavy  

and  we  go  through  long  ranges,  we  may  actually  slow  down  the  neural  input  

which will inhibit our power and strength transfer to activity.  

  Are  we  taking  advantage  of  the  Transformation  Zone?  

The  fact  that  

most  of  our  power  is  utilized  at  the  zone  in  which  a  direction  is  reversed  in  a  

motion needs to be considered (i.e. – plyometrics).  

Above  are  a  few  key  questions  that  we  can  use  for  any  population  or  exercise  we  

choose to work with.     

Typically  we  associate  strength  and  power  with  athletes.    However,  the  population  

that  may  need  it  the  most  is  our  senior  population.  With  the  baby‐boom  explosion,  

more  and  more  of  this  growing  population  are  getting  injured  and  becoming  more  

sedentary.  Consider  the  following  scenario  and  proposed  training  /  treatment  

approach:  

Scenario:  

A  75‐year‐old  woman  has  balance  problems  when  walking.  

Through  functional  assessments,  the  practitioner  finds  abdominal  muscles  

are  weak  and  significantly  lack  the  ability  to  move  in  all  three  planes  of  

motion.  

Potential  strategy 

:  Position  client  in  a  small  stride  position  with  the  left  leg  

forward  in  front  of  a  wall  for  support  and  as  a  target.  To  create  a  load  in  the 

abdominals  we  want  to  reach  with  the  left  shoulder  posterior  (backward)  at  

shoulder  (height)  towards  the  wall  in  a  short  range  of  motion  at  a  moderate  

to fast speed.  

Rationale: 

  This  facilitates  tri‐plane  loading  of  the  abdominals  in  the  

Transformational  Zone  of  walking  with  an  exercise  that  replicates  the  

activity,  while  creating  more  power  that  will  transform  into  better  strength       

of the entire kinetic chain by using a short (safe) range and increased speed.     

Whether  you  seek  strength  or  power,  our  strategies  and  exercises  need  to  be  based  

on “authentic” principles of Function. 

Get Strong! Stay Strong! (and be functional)

Chris

Name: Tonya Mitchell, DPT, ATC
Role: Director of ePersonal Training
Favorite functional exercise: Walking Lunges
Why walking lunges? This is an exercise that will shape and tone your entire lower body. It is a functional exercise as well as a shaping exercise. You can do them anywhere! I absolutely love walking lunges and recommend to everyone who not only wants good looking legs, but also a shapely derriere. They are great for strengthening the legs for walking, running, sports activities, or just being able to transfer from a sitting position to standing.

How to execute a walking lunge:
1. Start position: Stand with feet hip width apart.
2. Step forward 2-3 feet forming a 90° bend at the front hip and knee. DO NOT allow front knee to extend past the big toe – may cause injury.
3. Push body up and move the back foot beside the front foot. Alternate feet and repeat.
4. Remember to keep head and back upright in a neutral position. Shoulders and hips should remain squared at all times.
5. Watch for proper knee alignment – do not let front knee extend past big toe or deviate laterally or medially. Back knee should not come in contact with floor.
*To make this exercise more challenging try it holding a dumbell in each hand.

Click here to read about LiveLiving ePersonal training. Access ePersonal trainer profiles and enroll in an ePersonal training program with a special offer to lose 7 – 10 pounds in 30 days or get your money back guarantee.

Barbell Russian Twist  Alt. 20-30 reps     

                Pivot Feet!

Kettlebell Swings   20-30 Reps                

            Watch your Toes!  Shoes???

Box Jumps    20 reps                                           

Physioball Plank to Push Up   20 reps        <———->   

Complete 3- 5 rounds.   Rest 1-3 min. between rounds (or longer as needed)

Get Strong! Stay Strong!  (Have Fun!)

Chris

Exercise to improve your baseball and golf swing, tennis stroke, and hockey slap shot. —Mens Health Magazine

A powerful rotational turn will give you an extra 10 yards off the tee or 10 mph on your fastball. Exercises to boost that strength are overlooked but important. “Most sports require stabilization, strength, and power through some type of rotation,” says Tyler Wallace, NASM-C.P.T., of the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Here are the exercises Wallace recommends for powering up some key sports moves.

Baseball Swing    Standing cable rotation.     Stand between the weight stacks of a cable station. Grab both ends of a rope handle attached to the midlevel pulley. Keeping your elbows bent, rotate your body to the left. Pause, then return to the starting position. Do three sets of 10 reps on each side.

Baseball Pitch     Medicine-ball lift.     Lift a medicine ball from your chest to above your shoulder, rotating your hips and pivoting your back foot as you go. Pause when your arms are straight, then lower the ball. Do three sets of 10 reps on both sides.

Golf Swing          Swiss-ball Russian twist.    Lie with your shoulder blades and head on a Swiss ball and your feet flat on the floor. Hold your arms straight above you and clasp your hands together. Slowly rotate your shoulders to the left until your arms are roughly parallel to the floor. Pause, then rotate to the right. Do two sets of 15 repetitions.

Tennis Stroke    Standing medicine-ball rotation chop.     Hold a medicine ball overhead with your arms straight. Keeping them straight, swing your arms down as if to throw the ball to the outside of each foot. Do four sets of eight repetitions on each side.

                 (couldnt find pic of someone doing this laying on swiss ball)

Hockey Slap Shot    Single-arm Swiss-ball rotation row.    Grab a dumbbell and lie facedown on a Swiss ball. With the weight in your right hand, let your right arm hang down. Place your other hand on your hip. Pull the weight up toward your chest as you rotate your upper body to the right. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position. Do two sets of 15 with each arm.

Great examples of matching an exercise to a specific activity to improve performance!  The same can be done for almost any activity.  Be creative and break out of the body building mentality!

Get Strong! Stay Strong!

Chris

Due to the sedentary nature of many peoples lifestyle, the hip (among other things) gets very tight and restricted.  This leads to compensatory movement and muscle imbalances that effect movement and performance.  So, as they sing in the movie Madagascar…you’ve got  to move it move it!

Here are few examples of hip mobility/strength exercises moving in various planes/directions.

Ant Lunge w/ Ant Reach                      Single Leg Stance w/ Opp Arm Cross Reach

Posterior Lateral Lunge w/ Rotation    Single Leg Stance w/ Overhead Post. Reach

Single Leg Stance w/ opp. Arm OH                  Lateral Lunge

Lateral Reach

After mastering controlled ranges with body weight move to increased ranges of motion, increased speed and / or adding weight.  Also think of the various other planes you can move into and how you can drive the hip more with variations of arm and leg reaches.  These movements are also a great active range of motion series for hip mobility and can be use to to maintain mobility after passive stretching or mobilization techniques.

Get Strong! Stay Strong!

Chris

I tend to get asked a lot by friends and strangers alike what I do for my personal workouts.  I love sharing information with everyone, but I have also learned that most people will never take action on the advice I give them.  A prime example of this occurred yesterday in between church services. 

While in the ladies restroom, I was approached and asked how long my workouts typically take and how often do I exercise.  Well, my workouts will range from 30-45 minutes and I exercise 5-6 days a week.  I then asked her what her routine was like.  She proceeded to give me a number of excuses as to why she had stopped working out recently but she was ready to get started again.  She usually just jumps on an elliptical trainer for an hour, 3 times a week at the local high school gym on her way home from work. She also told me that she used to use the machines but then developed tennis elbow and had to stop.

She could have developed her tennis elbow from using the machines since I don’t think you can get it filing papers and answering phones every day, but I could be wrong.  I am not a doctor by trade.  She seemed to be surprised to hear that the machines could have caused her injury and I’m quite sure she didn’t believe what I had to say after that due to the look on her face.   Here’s what I told her:

Machines are useful in certain situations.  Maybe you need to work on one muscle to strengthen it after an injury, you’re only interested in asthetics rather than function or you are too lazy to do some real physique changing exercise.  Machines only work one muscle a a time.  Doing these same movements every day with weight can cause the same overuse injuries you find in cashiers or tennis players.  Most machines are designed for one body type and although they are adjustable, they are rarely a good fit.  Most people really have no idea how to adjust them correctly and are afraid to ask gym staff how to use the equipment properly.  Also, all machine exercises are done sitting or lying down.  Not good for burning fat.

I like to train muscle movements.  Most movements in life do not occur from a seated position as all exercises are performed when using machines.  We are usually on our feet when we lift something off the ground.  We are standing when we lift something over our heads to put it away.  We use a large number of muscles and more than one muscle group when we do a variety of things throughout the day. 

Functional exercises will better enable you to squat without back pain, grab things out of a higher cabinet without hurting your shoulders and take groceries out of the trunk of the car without throwing your back out.  All important movements for day to day function.

Another benefit to using functional movements when training rather than isolation machines is the higher caloric burn you get while exercising this way.

Your workouts become more effective and more time efficient which means less time spent at the gym.  Most people are busy and when using isolation machines you will spend more time in the gym trying to hit every individual muscle instead of hitting all of them in as little as 6 exercises. 

So, although helpful in some cases, exercise machines are not always best for getting fit and lean fast.  For a free workout using only the best fat burning exercises fill out the form located at the top right side of this blog.

Examining the characteristics of the human body further assists in understanding function.  This allows for better understanding of human movement for improved program design and rehabilitation programs.  For e a more depth explanation and further discussion check out my freind and colleague JC Santana’s book Functional Training; Breaking the Bonds of Traditionalism.

 The proportions of the human body are distinct from one person to another.  Therefore we all have unique movement patterns that are consistent with our strength, weaknesses and utility.

Our bodies are made to fit us.  They are a product of what “function” we have dictated for it.  That is why athletes look like athletes and couch potatoes look as they do.

The next two concepts probably have the most significance to training.

Our bodies have the ability to adapt.  This was first discovered by a Canadian endocronologist (Hans Seyle).  He was looking at the adrenal response of rats and stress.  He developed the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)  We have the ability to adapt both neurologically and morphologically.  Neurologic adaptations are what allow us to gain strength minute to minute.  Its due to synchronization, rate coding and proprioception.  Whereas morphologic changes are actual increases in the actual size of the muscle (hypertrophy).  This can take 6-12 weeks.

Lastly, proprioception is the communication system for reaction and interpretation of input from the body and its surroundings.   The body/brain uses all the proprioceptive info to make a decision on how and when to perform a specific movement or task.  Remember that muscles are dumb, they rely on proprioceptive and mechanorecptor info.  Proprioceptors are also a safety mechanism to inhibit harmful forces.  I think of proprioception as the foundation to human movement.  The muscles are slaves to the brain.  Power is nothing without control.  Most people are only concerned with strength without a thought to training balance.  I like to use the analogy that i would not put them in a formula 1 race car without brakes or a steering wheel.  Brute strength in function and sport is not as important as rate of force development.  Can you utilize the strength you have at have right time in the right amount to successfully complete the task or skill?  If you cant, your 300 pound bench press or 500 lb squat is meaningless (in function/sport).

So, based on the characteristics of the human body it becomes more clear the need to train the body functionally using more life/sport specific types of exercises.  Train the body for the task it is intended for using movements and positions that closely resemble the task to react /respond to gravity, ground reaction forces and momentum.

PS…unless your goal is body building.  In that case the body building approach is still the best way.

The question to ask yourself is are you training for “show” or “go”??

Get Strong! Stay Strong!  (But do it functionally!)

Chris

ANOTHER THING THAT WATCHING WORLD-CLASS ATHLETES PERFORM DOES IS CONFUSE MEN AS TO HOW TO EXERCISE…FORGET THE STANDARD HEALTH CLUB CIRCUIT WORKOUTS….FOUR PACKS FOR OGGIES RECOMMENDS FREQUENT DAILY ISOMETRICS CONCENTRATING ON THE CORE MUSCLE GROUP CENTERED ON THE RECTUS ABDOMINIS MUSCLES…

BUT NEW WORKOUT REGIMENS THAT ARE “OUTSIDE THE HEALTHCLUB BOX” ARE APPEARING…THIS TIMESONLINE.COM IN THE U.K.:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4538649.ece

“Called functional exercise, the idea is that you work out doing things your body is designed to do, rather than sitting on a machine in a gym. It’s a back-to-basics approach using items that usually never come through the door of a modern healthclub: climbing ropes, large tyres, kettlebells, medicine balls, Olympic rings of the sort gymnasts dangle from, even sledgehammers. The aim is to make your body more efficient at natural activities such as pushing, pulling, running, jumping, balancing and throwing.

(This)…class is run by Spartan Fit of Brighton, one of a growing number of physical training companies to reject the high-tech gym approach. The class got its name because it uses similar training techniques to those that were used to prepare the actors for last year’s movie blockbuster 300 – a retelling of a battle between the Spartans and the Persians – for their roles as muscular ancient warriors.”

A SAMPLE OF THE WORKOUT:

“The class begins with kettlebell swinging. A kettlebell is like a cannon ball with a handle on it and has been a popular conditioning aid in Russia for years. It is a test of explosive power, balance, co-ordination and cardiovascular fitness. The technique is not too difficult to learn with an 8kg weight, but when Liszkaa gives me a 24kg weight I can feel my body having to work to flip the kettlebell up. After the kettlebells it’s on to a circuit of sandbag carrying, pulling tyres on ropes and tyre flipping (that’s flipping as in flipping exhausting). It nearly kills me, as does the wheelbarrow workout, in which your partner takes your legs and you walk on your hands for 50 yards. If you want core training, throw away the Pilates ball and try a few of these. After about 30 yards I’m chewing turf. The exhaustion is intense.”

Here are a few “functionally based” core exercises to follow up my Death Of A Sit Up post. Take care not to overextend the back.  I like to use wall to limit excessive motion.  Can progress to holding medicine ball.  Make sure to stretch the hip flexors as a tight hip flexor will limit hip extension and cause you to compensate by extending the back more.  Some cues I give are to squeeze the butt, push hip forward and dont reach back too far.  Remember,  most daily activity only requires small efficient amounts of trunk motion.  If single leg is too challenging then toe touch opp. foot or keep both feet on ground.  Have fun!

Get Strong! Stay Strong!

Chris

Many years ago the sit up was king of abdominal training.  Today in the world of rehab, function and performance training the tide has shifted away from the sit up.  Our study of the human body, how it works and how it responds to various training modalities has led to a shift in our training methods.  Also, Stuart McGill PhD has shown the shear and compressive forces on the lumbar discs while doing a sit up to be quite detrimental to the health of the spine.  Now, we don’t just train the “stomach,” we see the body as a link system and the trunk, front, side and back collectively make up what is now referred to as the “core.” Most abdominal activity occurs while in the upright position working against gravity, ground reaction forces and momentum.   In fact clinicians and trainers, in the know, very rarely train muscles.  They train movement.  Activities like walking and swinging a golf club are engrained in our brain as patterns.

Think of this, people do thousands of sit ups to work their abdominals for the almighty six pack or what they consider “core” training.  If you think of this functionally, while standing, do you really need your abdominals to forcefully pull your shoulders down to the floor?   Of course not, gravity will do this for free!  So what is the “function” of the abdominals?  The rectus abdominus eccentrically controls back bending and the obliques eccentrically control rotation.  This all works together (with the back buscles) to control posture and produce rotational torque for efficient walking and more powerful activities like throwing a baseball or catching your child as they jump into your arms.  It is the rotational and side to side activity that drives us forward.  A bicycle moves forward only because the wheels are rotating.

Current abdominal exercises consist of arms overhead, reaching back, chops, diagonal chops and rotations using various modalities such as medicine balls and bands. We use kettlebell swings, waiter walks, snatches, cleans and windmills.   Also, variations of push ups, planks and bridges are utilized.  Assymetrically loaded squats, deadlifts and lunges are great abdominal activators.  Many want the washboard ab “look”, but the real question is are you training for show or go?  It is possible to have both!

Get Strong! Stay Strong!

Chris

It should, this is a Split Squat.  It is a fantastic Functional exercise for the lower body and ab’s.  The Back leg gets a stretch, the back glute is stabilizing.  The front leg is the prime mover and stabilizer all at the same time.  If you do not contract your ab’s there is little chance of maintaining a straight spine.  No machines or weights needed, a stretch and strengthen all at the same time.  This can be done on duty to promote strength and flexibility.  As you get stronger do it while walking…a lunge walk.  If you are really advanced jump as you switch legs.

Functional Leg Exercise....The Split Squat

This will be my last post for the upcoming holiday.  I am traveling tomorrow, the stock market is crazy and I am just tired (had a sick field workout).   This a a great total body exercise, advanced, but is an example of how simple proper functional exercise can be.  Perform this in a push up position with Neutral spine, reach under to your hip, hold for 5 seconds and reach out and hold for 5 seconds, then switch sides.  Do 10 reps each side.  Keep your hips still, knees locked, feet square and chin tucked.

To start off the week and with spring a few days away I will give you a great full body functional movement to start off with. The exercise is a reverse lunge row.  Simply go into a split leg stance with the back in neutral and head up.  Be sure that the hips are in line, perform the row with the same side leg that is behind you.  This exercise is fantastic for back strength and hip/shoulder flexibility.

Reverse lunge Row