Young Guns Working on the Guns

      Certain things are gym lore, these are almost universal truths. For example, Monday is international chest and bench day, 9 out of 10 women will start their workout on a cross trainer, most endurance athletes would rather squirt energy gel into their eyeballs than do any strength training, 50% of guys are unable to do any leg training because they already play football (that's soccer if you are an Americano) and they have a mysterious knee injury which will result in their legs exploding if they do a squat or deadlift; and most young guys want to work on their chest and arms.

Some young guns make it and some end up getting arrested in hotel rooms free-basing with a hooker

Now, making the decision to come to the gym or starting weight training is a laudable decision, especially for a young guy with so many distractions, and some come along to improve for a sport but most just want to get big. Same as it ever was. It seems in recent years more and more young guys (and by this I mean 14 -18 year olds) have been subjected to peer pressure and media pressure to have a certain body shape (i.e. get muscles, get hooge, get buff) whereas most girls want to lose weight regardless of how much they weigh (but that's a whole other story).

The initial conversation between the instructor and the young gun normally goes something like this:

World Weary Fitness Instructor: So, what would you like to achieve?
Young Gun: Improve my fitness and work on my chest and biceps
WWFI: Ok, have you done any weight training before?
YG: I've got some weights at home, I do some bicep curls & chest work
WWFI: Do you do any leg work, do you want to work on any other body parts?
YG: I play football so I don't really need to do any leg work and/or I have this knee injury which means I can't really do any weights for my legs. Mainly want to work on getting my upper body bigger and do some running for my fitness.
WWFI: I see, exercises like squats and deadlifts are really total body exercises that are going to help your whole body bigger & stronger....
YG: (Blank look)
WWFI: Ok, lets have a look at your nutrition, what would you normally eat throughout the day
YG: Cheerios for breakfast, then maybe a Dr.Pepper and a bag of quavers mid morning, a sandwich if I remember, whatever my mum makes for dinner and a bottle of lucozade during football training.
WWFI: If you want to put on muscle you really need to eat more, like double the amount of calories your eating now. Try and eat protein and vegetables at every meal.
YG: I don't want to get fat though, I want to keep my six pack
WWFI: With your body shape and type it's going to be pretty difficult to put on muscle without going into calorie surplus and maybe putting on some fat, I mean currently your bodyfat is like 8% and with all that football training and running you want to do it's going to be hard without eating a lot more.
YG: Hmm, I see, so what you're saying is I need to take creatine and buy a protein supplement
WWFI: No. you need to eat more and eat better first, and maybe focus on one goal at a time. If you get stronger you're probably going to be increasing muscle mass at the same time, but you need the nutrients for your muscles to grow.........(pause/silence). So how many times a week do you want to come to the gym
YG: Maybe 2 times week, maybe 3 times, I was thinking everyday to begin with.
WWFI: Ok, well if we aim for weight training 3 times a week that's a good place to start. We can go for a total body routine, using mainly compound movements, all the research and years of experience from old time lifters show that you should hit a muscle twice a week for optimal results. So we might hit chest on Monday with some flat bench press and low reps and then maybe hit again on Friday with some incline dumbbell presses with the classic 3 x 8-12. Same with back and shoulders and legs.
YG: Hmm, but I read in Muscular Numbnut magazine that I need to split my routine up and do chest one day, and back another day and biceps and triceps.
WWFI: Yeah you can do split routines but then you are only hitting your chest once a week. All the research shows you can hit it twice, and you maybe only need 1 or 2 exercises per body part per session. There are loads of ways of splitting your routine, total body, upper/lower body split, push/pull etc. And yeah, maybe if you want you can throw in a few sets of bicep curls at the end of your session, but I really wouldn't bother with much more than that for biceps to begin with. Focus on the basic, big compound lifts and get good at them. And most of those 6 day split routines are done by genetically gifted guys on anabolic steroids, they can practically do anything and get results. Anyway, we better hit the gym floor and do some exercise.

etc etc and so it goes.

Now at this point we get round to the routine. Now I know that there are quite a few basic routines that are going to work, the basic strength routine outlined by Rippetoe consisting of basically squats, bench press, press and deadlifts, any 5 x 5 variation, all the things outlined by Brooks Kubik in Dinosaur Training, some of the deceptively simple training routines outlined by Marty Gallagher in The Purposeful Primitive - some of which were used by the best of the best in the pre-steroid era, and some of the ideas outlined by Stuart McRobert in Beyond Brawn for the ectomorph hardgainer.

And I also know what the research shows. (If you haven't got a couple of years spare to read Supertraining or trawl pub med  I would recommend reading Lyle McDonalds series on weight training which encapsulates it nicely or get Matt Perrymans ebook - which is free if you don't feel like donating to him you cheap skates).

And I also know that if you are young and untrained, pretty much anything will work if you train with the right intensity, progressively overload and eat enough. 

BUT, I'm also not naive and I'm realistic. Doing only deadlifts, squats and presses can be boring when you've got a gym full of equipment around you. And nearly everyone is going to throw in some bicep curls and tricep isolation work whether it's on their program or not. And to be honest, anyone I ever met with decent biceps did some isolation work at some point (Hey, we all like to do a few bicep curls on a Sunday, it's beach muscle day, okay 4 different exercises for biceps using the cable, dumbbells, barbells and preacher bench, oh lord I want 20 inch guns, the preacher curl bench is a cruel mistress, it promises so much and delivers so little!).

The preacher curl - a cruel mistress

And the other factors to consider are the lack of strength and mobility I encounter with this population. These are not necessarily overweight kids, but your typical skinny ectomorph, its surprising how many of these can't do a decent press up or bodyweight squat, and most can't do a bodyweight pull up or chin up. I think some of the awkwardness displayed with the squat might be because they are still growing, the 14-15 year old can look like they have legs or a torso that is too long for the rest of their body, because they haven't finished growing yet. And many have hyper-kyphotic postures (I was that kid, so I know what it's like). This all informs the exercises I prescribe.

Listen carefully young padawan (warning: star wars reference)

So this might be heresy to some strength coaches, but I normally end up using a combination of machines, bodyweight and freeweight exercises. If I'm feeling really optimistic I might even do some mobility work like scapula wall slides and prisoner squats and hip bridges and hip flexor stretches - though mostly I'm wasting my time here because I know the young padawan is not going to do any of this when they train by themselves. Then I might do some goblet squats for to groove that technique in and work on their squat pattern before going near a barbell or I might even do some lunges or step ups. Then there will be some basics, if they can't deadlift from the floor without rounding the back, I might start with rack deadlifts, and there will be the bench press or dumbbell press in there somewhere. And for back there might be some assisted chins and pull ups on one day, and the latpulldown on another and then either the machine row or dumbbell row on another day, and maybe some cable face pulls for posture. And even one bicep exercise to keep them happy and some dips or assisted dips. And one day might be a strength day, down at 5 reps and another a classic 3 x 10 with some different exercises and another maybe some bodyweight press ups, lunges, and some plank to press ups to strengthen the core etc. Not normally anymore than 4 to 6 exercises in a workout.

And then I tell them to go and train hard and stick to the basics and progress on the compound lifts, and don't be drawn into doing loads of pointless isolation work and not to be swayed by their friends and get sucked into endless bicep curls and partial movements.

And two weeks pass and it's welcome to the gun show.

At this point collective teenage wisdom and group think have kicked in. And now there are group of them doing synchronised bicep curls (or more like synchronised partial rep, disc herniation, erector spinae curls). The rationale being: If I haven't seen results in two weeks then there must be something wrong with the routine and I need to do more. The weekly training split now looks like this

Monday: Chest & Triceps (except the bench is really busy, so throw in some bicep curls while waiting
Tuesday: Back & Biceps, must use lifting straps in the latpulldown
Wednesday: Leg day (which means football training), before football training go to the gym and do traps, (because can't quite decide whether it should be done on back or shoulder day), throw in some wrist curls for forearms as well
Thursday: Shoulders, man alive shoulders are complicated, need to do side, front, rear raises, as well as dumbbell press, Arnie press, machine press and as many redundant exercises as I can think of. Biceps are looking small do some more curls
Friday: Pre night out pump, curl and bench press high reps to get pumped up for night out
Saturday: Man, I drunk too much last night and eat that kebab, looking fat, need to go to gym to sweat toxins out and burn off those calories, 30 min treadmill run and 1000 crunches should do it
Sunday: Play football, this counts as a leg workout
 

when in doubt, load up the weight and go partial (image staged for dramatic purposes)

And then at some point it becomes about how much weight you can lift with terrible form. Hmm, just can't seem to lift anymore on the flat bench press... hang on why not do a decline smith machine partial rep partner assisted press? Bingo! I just increased my one rep max, my chest is bound to get bigger now. (It's a well known fact that both Arnie & Ed Coan used the decline partial rep smith machine press - that's a joke by the way).

Decline smith machine partial rep partner assisted press. Partner shouting 'It's all you' is optional. Recreated here purely for dramatic purposes, don't try this at home kids!

Then they come and say something like this to you. "I don't think I'm doing enough for my chest, I read on anabolicarsehole.com that to really shape my lower outer pec I need to do cable flyes angled at 37 degrees" And you say "Kid, you ain't got no pecs yet, you're shaping bone, go and do some full range presses and drink some chocolate milk."

At this point you know they've been lost to the cause. Maybe they'll see the error of their ways in a few years time, maybe they'll get chatting to a guy in the gym who's been training the right way and looks the part, maybe they'll see something on the Internet or maybe they'll be watching Anchorman and something in their brain will click.

Ron Burgundy training: Much like Sex Panther, the concentration curl is actually illegal in 9 countries

Or they'll stop playing football because their knees hurt, and realise their legs look like a couple of pipe cleaners and then maybe they'll think about doing some squatting

It seems hard to believe in this day and age that people can't access the right information on training. When I was younger all there was was Muscle and Fitness and Flex magazine and Joe Weider, all you read about were split routines and bodybuilders. The information about how old time strongmen and athletes trained just wasn't available, those books weren't in the shops, there was no internet to find them on, to research anything you had to have access to an academic library. Now, all that information is readily available but still in gym culture young guys gravitate to the bodybuilder split routines, one body part per week. And there is a time and a place for these routines, but as outline there are other ways and roads, some quicker and more direct for the non drug using trainee. But sometimes the right path is the hardest. Is there too much information available now, too much info, not enough knowledge, it's difficult to know who to believe if you're new to the whole thing.

But I see glimmers of hope, guys using the power rack more, women lifting weights, Olympic lifting rising from the underground and instructors who want to coach rather than press quickstart. Time will tell. One things for sure though, the bicep curl is here to stay!

Now, go and watch this clip of the film Network, just because

The Back Pain Show 2010 (tales of knee side to side, abdominal hollowing, swiss balls & faith healing)

A few weeks ago I attended The Back Pain Show in London with my colleague Pablo (ok, that's not his real name, I am concealing his identity to protect the innocent). In case you haven't guessed it's an expo all about back pain and attracts physios, chiropractors, osteopaths and the now ubiquitous vibram five finger stand. As well as the stands and people trying to sell you stuff it has free seminars about back pain, exercise, how to manage it, as well as exercise demonstration sessions.

I waited a few weeks before I wrote this review to allow myself to calm down and consider whether I had harshly judged what I witnessed. Having given it some thought I can say that my views of what I saw haven't changed, and the state of back pain care in this country is saddening. Now, I'm sure people are doing things with the best of intentions, but that's no excuse when so much research and information is readily available.

I have an interest in lower back pain, me and my colleague Pablo (ok, he's actually called Nick) run classes for people with chronic lower back pain, as well as doing one to one sessions. And without blowing our own trumpet we have had a fair amount of success in helping people. We generally follow the evidence based approach outlined by Stuart McGill in his two books and his two dvds. This forms the base structure of our approach if you will, and then we will build on that using methods that we think are appropriate to that individual, always trying to use logic and evidence based exercise as our guide.

Before I start remember that I am talking about a show that is aimed at practitioners working with people who have back pain (specifically in most cases, lower back pain), not the general population. The show also attracts lay people and members of the public who have lower back pain, they are looking for answers. Also, I have left out the names of people and organisations as it is not my intentions to bash individual people or make them look bad, and also I don't want to get sued! Though, I can back up everything I'm about to say.


Swiss Balls, Spinal Mobility & Knee Side to Side

The first seminar we attended was given by a physiotherapist/osteopath who also works with Olympic athletes. A good start we thought. First piece of advice is sound, avoid forward bending. This is simple but effective, it's easy to try and complicate things and get too clinical, but people with back pain really just want to know what to do to make the pain go away. And this is supported by McGills work

"It is becoming clearer that repeated spine flexion - even in the absence of moderate load - will lead to discogenic troubles." (McGill, 2002:127)

In short stop bending over and stop crunches as well fools.

The next point our friendly physio makes is that a lot of people with back problems have poor mobility and need to increase their spinal mobility & flexibility, cue demonstration of lateral flexion and then a picture of someone on a swiss ball hitching their hips side to side. Hmmm, this is more troublesome. As McGill (2002;216) states

"...greater spine mobility has been associated with lower back trouble in some cases. Further, research has shown that spine flexibility has little predictive value for future low back trouble."

The joint by joint approach outlined by Boyle (2010) seems a more logical approach to me, and clients seem to grasp the concept when explaining it to them. I have seen more people than I care to mention who had lost mobility in their hips and thoracic spine and were using their lower back to stoop down, pick up objects and get out of chairs, and who squat using only their knees. Boyle (2010;31) outlines a series of mobile and stable joints stacked on top of each other

Ankle - mobile
Knee -stable
Hip - mobile
Lumbar spine -stable
Thoracic spine -mobile
Scapula -stable
Gleno-humeral -mobile

For most people with lower back pain I would contend we need to get them more mobile in the hips & t-spine while keeping their lower back in neutral and stable.

The next classic piece of advice from the presenter was to sit on a swiss ball to help your posture throughout the day, I've heard this regurgitated numerous times. Aside from the fact that there in no one best posture, according to McGill (2002; 260) sitting on a swiss ball

"greatly elevates spine load through increase muscle coactivation. For this reason, non patients should avoid prolonged sitting on gym balls, and patients should use them only once they have achieved spine stability and increase load bearing capacity."

We then moved onto the exercises the physio/osteo recommended. The first one is of course on a swiss ball. Essentially a seated bird dog (or chair dog as I like to call it). At this point he gets a woman from the audience to demonstrate it, which of course she can't without losing her balance. Then we get a superman over the swiss ball (see the picture below, these are not from the day, they are pictures I took afterwards purely for illustrative purposes). At this point, the physio actually loses his balance and can't demonstrate the exercise properly. So, why would you give an exercise to someone with low back pain, that you can't even do yourself?!

And why would you move someone straight onto an unstable surface when this increases spine load (McGill, 2002, 2004), and the individual could be doing the chair dog or bird dog on a stable surface, which would actually be more effective and allow them to get the technique correct; and you know, might actually help their back.

If you fall off, maybe you should try it on a chair first

Look, the chair doesn't move, good news for the 60 year old with back pain

Swiss ball supermans - if your physio falls off while demonstrating this, maybe you should get him to show you 4 point kneeling bird dog on the ground first

The next exercise is the all time classic, second only to the knee hug stretch in the list of exercises given by physios to clients with lower back pain. It's the knee side to side/ windscreen wiper mobility exercise

No instructors were harmed in the taking of this photo

At this point, me and Pablo look at each other in disbelief. We then have a question and answer session after the presentation, in between questions from the public about what size swiss ball to get I manage to ask my question. Now, I don't want to have a show down or try and call the guy out and maybe he can justify the knee side to side move, so I ask him what his thoughts are on McGills work on rotation and twisting of the spine and knee side to side, and I throw in Sahrmanns name for good measure. Now, he's only aware of  McGills work on bracing and not the work on rotation. (If want to see something cool, watch McGills latest dvd where you can see a disc bleeding when put under rotational stress). And then he gives me the all time classic line "You can get research to prove anything." Now at this point, I should say I've been in this situation before when a fit pro instructor demonstrated the exact same exercise, I asked the exact same question and got the the exact same answer. But this guy isn't a fit pro instructor he is a physiotherapist and osteopath working with back pain patients and Olympic athletes. He should be on the cutting edge of research, or at least give me some answer about spinal ligaments stabilising the spine like Gray Cook does in his primitive movement patterns dvd (though personally, I still would not give this exercise to back pain patients).

Yes, he does say the spine is designed to rotate, but this isn't the complete picture and obscures the reality from the public. I don't pursue the argument. But the anatomy should be clear to someone with that many years in formal education. The spine rotates mostly in the cervical and thoracic areas with some rotation in the L5/S1 region. But we should try to limit rotation in the lumbar spine. Sahrmann (2002;62) states

"Rotational ranges of 3 1/2 degrees have been show to tear the annulus of the disk."

 The abdominal muscles should limit rotation in the lumbar spine, they should provide anti-rotations and we should try to lock the pelvis to the ribcage

"A large percentage of low back problems occur because the abdominal muscles are not maintaining tight control over the rotation between the pelvis and the spine at the L5-S1 segment." (Sahrmann, 2002;70)

 And the final word to Sahrmann again

"Rotation of the lumbar spine is more dangerous than beneficial, and rotation of the pelvis and lower extremities to one side while the trunk remains either stable or is rotated to the opposite side is particularly dangerous." (Sahrmann, 2002;72)

 So in short, the answer given to me about you can get research to prove anything is a junk answer and a lazy answer. Notice, the texts I refer to are 8 years old. This is not recent stuff. I don't know everything and always want to learn more, and am surprised at how limited my spinal knowledge is when I read some research papers and texts. But I'm shocked that people leave physio school and never learn anything new or never questions anything they have been taught, or don't think logically or outside the bounds of clinical wisdom.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those trainers who avoids lifting heavy stuff because it's dangerous. But we are talking about people with lower back pain here not 20 year old Olympic lifters.

Pilates & Physiotherapists - why are they all Australian?

This post is already longer than I wanted it to be, but I've got more ground to cover. In the exercise zone of the show I watched some Australian physio/ pilates instructors going through some exercises. They managed to combine an abdominal crunch with abdominal hollowing to give the spine extra instability while in flexion. Just in case you're wondering, see the first quote from McGill as to why you should avoid repeated flexion of the lumbar spine. Why hollowing makes it more unstable and you should probably be bracing is also pretty well documented, so I'm not going to go over that ground again. And why are they all Australian? Is it because that's where the original research was done showing transverse abdominis dysfunction with lower back pain and started everyone erroneously hollowing, because they only measured one muscle and didn't measure all the others which can also be dysfunctional. Or maybe they have too many fitness professional in the antipodes, as fitpro, bts, half these physiso and personal trainers in London seem to be Australian or Kiwis. And if I was from the land down under i'd probably live there rather than rainy old England, but maybe no ones got back pain in Oz or New Zealand because they are always out surfing or bungy jumping. But I digress.

Then I got healed

Mixed in with the chiropractors and massage therapists were a few more esoteric stands. I looked at one labelled 'healing', when asked if I had any pain I told a woman who was wearing a t-shirts that said 'healer' that I had some knee and mid back pain. Then one of her colleagues grabbed my hand and invoked the power of jesus to rid me of my pain ( I kid you not ), and then when I said it hadn't gone completely he commanded the pain to leave and for me to be 100% pain free, I then lied - said it was gone and got the hell out of there. Pablo said it was the funniest thing he had seen, the bemused look on my face said it all. Now there is a time and place for everything and people can believe whatever they want to believe and somethings are beyond the realms of science. But, faith healing seemed a tad incongruous in amongst the physios and seminars by spinal surgeons. It's a sad fact that people with back pain can be desperate, and having been let down by the standard medical profession will try anything to make the pain go away

I have to say I keep an open mind even if something hasn't been supported by research. I can see the benefits of massage, Qi Gong, meditation, relaxation, positive thinking (some of which have research behind them for certain things). But invoking faith healing is a step too far in my opinion, though probably no more bizarre than the Bowen technique.


Another Australian

Another Australian physio was there, she did an exercise class demonstration. And though I had never heard of her she had the endorsement of Prince Charles and a lot of people were watching and seemed to know who she was. She was dressed as if she was about to get on a yacht (probably paid for by her back pain clients, hey if McGill can start his dvd sitting on a boat then it's possible) and definitely knew how to market herself. Then she started to use phrases that didn't really add up, like 'increase the metabolic rate of your disks' (?what??), now you can increase disk nutrition for sure, but I was unaware that disks have their own metabolic rate?!

I watched a few exercises, including the classic knee hug and a statement that forward bending is ok (who needs research) and left.

This exercise session especially and to a lesser extent the Australian pilates one showed the power of marketing and the media. Where, people assume pilates or some other persons method is best because of the media exposure it gets and not because of research, evidence or results.  Gray Cook sums it up nicely in new book Movement, that I am currently reading

"The sad truth is that media and advertising interests have greater influence on the fitness culture than the professionals dedicated to fitness, athletic development and rehabilitation." (Cook, 2010;51)

One more physiotherapist and I finally lose respect for an entire profession

The last presentation I went to was on the ageing population and implications. Again we start with some good quotes about the benefits of strength training for the older population. Then we move onto a confusing statistic that was probably explained wrong, apparently for every additional hour of TV I watch I'm 26% more likely to get diabetes. Which begs the question, additional to what? And if I watch four hours extra I'm 104% likely to get diabetes.

Then we see if we can touch our toes and then we see how many squats we can do in a minute. Except, what the physio demonstrates aren't squats, they're more like partial knee bends with a back in forward flexion with not much hip movement combined with a toe touch. At this point we left and went to the pub (true story).

The fact someone in the business of rehabilitating people can't do a decent bodyweight squat should come as no surprise to me. I've met too many physios and medical professionals who were overweight, injured and obviously didn't exercise in any fashion. I used to think that there were some good physios out there, doing the right stuff, staying ahead of the research curve, practicing what they preached. Now... I'm not sure, it seems like an entire profession surrendered themselves to pilates because they couldn't think of anything better themselves. They then started saying any exercise was going to benefit back pain, hey you can swim or cycle, lets not bother to see if you have specific needs or issues or if you are forward flexion intolerant. But most of all, I'm shocked that they can trot out the same advice they learnt twenty years ago and which hasn't worked. Maybe, I'm being too harsh and I'm hopeful that there are still some quality professional out there.

Anyway, my back actually now hurts from sitting down so long to type this post. I will see you at the back pain show next year, where hopefully I'll have my own stand and be giving my own seminar on evidence based exercise and strategies for chronic lower back pain.

References

Boyle M (2010) Advances in Functional Training. On target publications. California, USA
Cook G (2010) Movement. On target publications. California, USA.
McGill S (2002) Low Back Disorders. Human Kinetics. Champagne, Illinois.
McGill S (2004) Ultimate Back Fitness & Performance. Wabuno Publishers. Ontario Canada
Sahrman S (2002) Diagnosis & Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes. Mosby. St Louis, Missouri.

Also see my recommended resources page for details of McGills dvds'

Top 5 most pointless fitness fads and gimmicks

These are the things that make me want to go on a palm striking spree.

When someone claims something is the next biggest thing, it usually isn't. Sometimes the thing that annoys me most is not the actual fad or piece of equipment but the hyperbole, when fitness gurus tell you how this particular invention will change everything, when patently it wont  In this post I will show you how to dissect fitness guru speak that makes no sense, and how you can create your own fitness trend.

Number 1 - The ViPR

The website for this piece of equipment says that it is the "evolution of free weights" and mimics barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells. No it doesn't.  At the recent leisure industry week in Birmingham where equipment suppliers hawk their wares, my friend said to one of the Fit Pro clones that he thought the vipr was a gimmick, at which point the guy said the whole industry is built on gimmicks - yeah it is, thanks to fools like you!

If you're thinking 'that looks like a piece of rubber with some handles cut into it' - you'd be right!

According to the Vipr website, this piece of equipment

"uses the four pillars of human movement: gravity infused, stretch-to-shorten, tri-planar and integrated."

Lucky for me it uses gravity infused movement because I normally train in the weightless environment of  outer space and don't usually have to deal with gravity (insert sarcastic laugh here).

Apparently it's also safer that normal steel free weights, because hey, dropping 20kg of rubber on my head is obviously lighter than 20kg of steel dropping on me.

Currently the vipr gurus have developed over 9,000 exercises. Which means they have developed approximately 8,990 pointless exercises. Check out the website videos where you can see people doing tri-planar movements like toes taps/ step ups on the thing or pushing it side to side.

Here's a piece of pvc pipe I covered in tape, it costs about £5 to make. I call it the Cobra, its a multi planar myofascial release device, you can buy one off me for £80

If they just said, this is a new piece of equipment that you can use in a circuit classes as one of the stations, or you can do a few exercises with this that you can't really replicate with a barbell or dumbbell, I'd be fine with that, but they always have to over hype and over price.

Do yourself a favour. Make yourself a slosh pipe, a piece of pvc pipe filled with water which makes it unstable to carry and you can adjust the weight by adding water. First time I read about this was an article by Dan John here, far as I can tell he invented it. Recently I've noticed a website that offers professional slosh pipes, this misses the point of home made equipment! The point is you're mean to get all McGyver and make the thing yourself.

Slosh Pipe - pvc pipe filled with water, make it yourself

Look out for a personal trainer using the vipr in a gym near you and making outrageous claims, then go home and make a slosh pipe to beat him with.


Number 2 - kettlebell fusion and kettleworx

I like kettlebells, I think nearly everyone could benefit form doing swings, goblet squats and turkish get ups. However, their recent popularity leaves me with a dilemma, everyone's trying to do them these days or claiming to be an expert. Back to Leisure Industry Week, about 5 years ago I went to it and there was not one kettlebell in sight, I had one at home that I'd bought from a guy he'd forged himself,  but the equipment manufacturers were selling the usual machines. Fast forward a few years and everyone is selling them.

The problem I have is people swinging around 2kg kettlebells. Hello, I've seen octogenarian women on GP referral schemes lateral raise more weight, therefore you can't do a swing with it - it's too light! Stop doing crazy exercises with it, stick with the basics. In my opinion anything less than 8kg and you shouldn't be doing kettlebells in the first place.

Now I see in Health Club Manager magazine certain enterprising individuals are creating fusion classes like Pilates and kettlebellsand yogabells. To take a phrase from Pavel (the guy who probably started the whole kettlebell thing) - the dishonour! If you're doing Pilates, do Pilates, don't try to latch onto the coat tails of the latest trend to keep your class numbers up. Please stop doing kettlebells badly, people who wouldn't normally even do a dumbbell press and haven't lifted a weight in their lives are jumping straight into snatches. Oh, and for the record I got people to do body weight 'turkish get ups' in Pilates 2 years ago, so I already invented Pilates kettlebell fusion, so there!

Here's how to create a fusion class/ concept. Combine two things, and then use some fancy words and marketing speak that doesn't make any sense. I just made these up, I hope they don't exist!


'Hotbells' - kettlebells in a hot room, combining the benefit of saunas, Bikram yoga (see below) and kettlebells. This class will literally remodel your muscle fibres and re-align your fascial trains, while burning fat at an unprecedented level.


'Great balls of fire' - take your hotbells to the next level. We heat up the kettlebells. They're literally so hot you can't hold them, as you throw them away you will develop plyometric power and rate of force development, train like the Russian Inuit special forces. As used by the national Finnish sauna team.

Okay, maybe I'm just bitter because something I like went mainstream.


Number 3 - Bikram yoga

Please note that this does not refer to yoga in general - but specifically Bikram yoga. I think yoga in general has many benefits when used in the right way and in the right context.

Bikram yoga was 'invented' by a guy in the 1970's, he had the bright idea of performing yoga in a room that is heated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. It doesn't bother me that the founder of  it lives in Beverly Hills and has 40 Rolls Royces (according  to this article in The Times). And even the spurious health and fitness claims don't bother me that much (several Bikram yoga websites claim that it makes your body burn fat more effectively and redistributes fat in the muscle structure - hmm, so if I sit in a sauna I'll burn more fat). What mainly bothers me is a bunch of guys wearing Speedo's. Sorry, but I don't want some dude in a pair of swimming trunks doing a down dog in my face and spraying sweat all over me!

The only time you should be wearing speedo's is if you are in a swimming pool in an actual swimming competition

Okay, I lied the spurious health claims do bother me. As does standing on someones back while they are in full spinal flexion, McGill is somewhere in Canada, probably in his spinal lab shedding a tear. Bottom line, I don't think overstretching ligaments and tendons in a hot environment is a good idea.

Here's a picture of Mindi Smith to help erase the last picture from your memory. If your retinas are still burning from seeing the guy in swimming trunks, this should help with the pain

Let me repeat for those of you who skim read - this is specific to yoga done in a superheated room, not the yoga that has been practised for 1000's of years.


Number 4 - Underwater spin bike -  hyrdorider aqua bike

Cycling is a low impact exercise, but it turns out that it needed to be made even more low impact but putting the spin bike underwater. But hang on, doesn't water have more resistance than air, yes it does, so even though movement in water is harder, don't worry because the aquabike is

"Making it easier to work harder... the unique feature of the aquabike is its variable resistance facility letting you decrease the resistance of the Aquabike prior to a class beginning so you can even bring your granny along."

So it's easier but also harder, and you can decrease the resistance but the resistance can't be less than a bike on land, because air has less resistance than water, so the aqua bike is always going to be harder, right?! And bikes on land have gears and resistance levels, so you can make them harder too. Cycling is a movement without much eccentric muscle action, therefore not much muscle soreness, but don't worry with the aqua bike you can cycle backwards too. And don't forget that according to hydro fitness "water creates a massage effect", what like swimming does, or if I was in the water moving without the aqua bike?

Don't try and be all things to all people.

Number 5 - Functional training that is not functional

Somewhere along the line functional training jumped the shark. It metamorphosed into people standing on various objects filled with air while doing a rotational lunge matrix. I was hoping this stuff was dead, but only a couple of weeks ago I saw a guy trying to stand on a swiss ball, and last year in a London gym I saw a trainer with his clients standing on the bosu with a medicine ball.

Functional Clown Training

If something is functional, what is it functional for. Unless your clients spend their lives standing on bags filled with air then there is very little functional carry over. A quick summary of the research on unstable surfaces goes like this: Standing on these objects may help if you have previous history of structural instability in the ankle, sprains and so forth - if you haven't its not going to help and it may actually cause more problems in the knees and ankles. It may fire off a few stabilising muscles and make you better at balancing, but this is unlikely to carry over into everyday activities, as in life the surface is normally fixed. It is probably more applicable to upper body training, where the feet are fixed on the ground, and may help in a deload phase, for example a dumbbell press on the ball because you can't lift as much weight basically (hint: you don't need a deload phase if your aren't lifting any weight in the first place). However, for your fat loss client who can't lift any weight to begin with and who is now standing on the bosu with their ankles inverted, their knees bowing and their lumbar spin flexing it's going to do diddly squat for fat loss and probably make them more unstable. And before you say, what about sports where people are on an unstable surface, I don't see many pro surfer clients. And even then, people need to get strong first and move in the right way.

Functional should relate to the task at hand. For example, with some elderly GP referral clients, things like squats from a bench (getting out of a chair), step ups (for walking up stairs) and suitcase deadlifts (for picking up shopping) are all functional to their needs.

There is no need make clients start doing rotational lunges in the transverse plane with a flexed spine, when probably 90% of clients when I first see them do a squat completely with their knees and lower back rounding and have no hip hinge ability. It's also surprising how many people can't do a lunge in the sagittal plane (back and forward to you and me, fitness gurus like using terms like this with their clients to look impressive) to begin with. And please don't tell me we have to train the back to lift while rounded and twisting because that's what happens in everyday life. It happens because of poor mobility, why groove in poor movement patterns, why not get people to move right in the first place, and minimise dangerous loading in joints and ligaments and maximise the spine sparing effect. Core pendulum theory states that, yes, the back should be able to fully extend and flex, but ideally we want it resting in the middle, in a state of equilibrium. We know from McGills work that continuously flexing and extending and twisting the back with low load will cause disc problems. It's the repetition that causes the problems.

The tools aren't the problem, it's how you use them. If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail, but please don't try and use that hammer if you haven't got a screw driver, get the right tools. I can think of one good exercise on the bosu, so for me it's not worth spending £70 for the one exercise I'm going to do with it, I can find something else to do the job. And to the guy on PTonthenet who says the bosu is "not just a product, it's a philosophy", err no! It's a tool, it's half a blue ball filled with air.

In short, most of our clients want to lose fat, need to get strong, be fit for everyday tasks and gets some additional muscle mass; do all of this before you start doing crazy gimmicks because you can't think of anything else to do, because you think it makes you look cool and you're worried your clients going to get bored..

Numpty - or £50 per hour - you decide

A few things that didn't make the list


The bodyblade and power plate (vibration training) didn't quite make the list. The work of Charlie Weingroff has helped convince me of the benefits of vibrational training for certain injured populations. However, this doesn't mean you should have rows of them in health clubs with otherwise healthy individuals standing on them when they should really be focusing on weight loss and strength. You are not going to vibrate your way to a size 8 dress size.

A note on bodypump - why it didn't make the list.

A few people wanted me to put bodypump on the list. However, I don't have too much of a problem with bodypump. Anything that gets women and some men to lift weights is a good thing. I might have a few misgivings about the exercise technique they use on some of the movements, but at least they are lifting weights. I have as many misgivings about some peoples deadlift and squat technique in the gym. And using high repetition weights all the time is not the way to go, but then again neither is the standard 5 day body part split countless gym rats follow with no apparent leg day.

The problem with any system is when people don't progress, if you are lifting the same weights as you were lifting 5 years ago, you haven't progressed, if you're body shape is the same, you haven't progressed. If you only do high repetitions or low repetitions you need to do the opposite every so often.

So with that in mind, bodypump can be used as a training tool as long as its not the only thing you do. You can use it as a high repetition day, or as a change of pace if you normally do explosive movements. You can even see it as more of a glycogen depletion type workout (to steal someone elses phrase) to aid with fat loss. If you want to hit your legs and you don't normally do legs, give it a go. Overall, more women lifting barbells is a good thing. If it introduces them to free weights that's good, and we can iron out any technique differences when they start lifting heavier in the gym.

Top 5 greatest fitness things

Ok, I've covered the worst things, here are the top 5 things you should be using

1. Body weight (ok, a cop out, but your body was designed to run, jump and move, body weight exercises can be some of the most effective
2. Barbells
3. Dumbbells
4. Power rack
5. Kettlebells
6. Ab wheel

Ok, that's 6 things, but i don't count bodyweight as equipment. Basically if you had a gym with only these things in, or trained at home with only have of these things you would get results. It doesn't need to be complicated or expensive. Choose things that have been proven to work over and over again. I need to go and lift some weights now.

From Discectomy to Deadlift - A True Underdog Story

Ryan Binge is 23 years old, he can deadlift 195kg, snatch 90kg and clean and jerk 110kg. But only four years ago he could lift zero kilos due to debilitating back pain.

This is a story of how someone can come back from injury and multiple surgeries. How they can go from sitting at home in pain to running, progressing to half ironman triathlon and eventually lifting heavy things over head Olympic style.

It begins in a tree – surgery no.1.

At 18 years old Ryan was a full time tree surgeon. A physical job that involves lifting objects in awkward positions, climbing, and looking cool while holding a chainsaw.

Chainsaw - the main reason people become tree surgeons

Six months in, he started to get lower back pain. He toughed it out but the pain gradually got worse, until eventually Ryan sort help. The back consultant diagnosed disc prolapses at L3 and L4. Surgery was proposed, and a micro discectomy was performed on L4. And after just 12 months, Ryan’s tree surgery career was over.

Things get worse – surgery no.2.

Unable to work, Ryan sat at home in pain, in his own words

 “Feeling sorry for himself.”

While off work, he was continuing to receive physiotherapy for his back as he still had a significant amount of pain. During one of the physio sessions the therapist lifted his knee in a simple mobility exercise, Ryan experienced immediate searing pain, pins and needles shot down his leg.

Ryan was referred back to the consultant. This resulted in another discectomy being performed on L3, a mere 6 months after the first one. He had undergone two spinal surgeries before he was even 20 years old. Things were not looking good. Ryan stopped physiotherapy. All in all Ryan says he basically sat at home for one and a half years.

Micro discectomy - how its done

Micro discectomy - with part of disc removed

Tree surgery was no longer an option. Realising he had to do something about the rut he had found himself in, he started to look for a way forward. He decided to do a lifeguarding course and things began to change. He still had back pain, but sitting at home for the rest of his life just wasn’t an option anymore.

Lifeguarding, Running, Triathlon and shin splints.

After completing his lifeguarding course running secured a full time job. Realising he needed to get his fitness back Ryan started running.

Then a strange thing happened, Ryan says

 “Running made my back better, I was in less pain”

Buoyed by his new found fitness and confidence, he started to enter some races and completed his first half marathon two years after his first back surgery.

He then decided to try triathlon, bought a bike and added in swim training. His work ethic and diligence soon saw him promoted to duty manager, and he applied the same principles to his training. Unlike some people who spend more time talking about training than doing it, Ryan just got on with it.

He soon completed sprint distance, Olympic distance and at 21 years old he completed a half ironman triathlon.

In 2009 his shins started to hurt. Like a lot of endurance athlete he continued to run with pain. Also during this time he was probably in a state of overtraining. The term overtraining is banded about too much by weight trainers who think hitting their chest more than once every 7 days is going to be too much. But endurance athletes can end up hammering their bodies everyday; with no deload weeks or periodisation. The demands of triathlon can mean multiple training sessions per day, for several hours, and most triathletes have to fit this around a full time job.

Being proactive about his training and always keen to learn more and how to fix himself, Ryan went to a see a sports physiotherapist and local sports medicine doctor who has worked with professional and Olympic level athletes. He also got a professional gait analysis, and adopted a series of corrective exercises and moved his running style from a severe heel strike to more of a forefoot style.

However, the pain continued and probably wasn’t helped by a reluctance to rest while training for the half ironman. In October 2009 after the half ironman, Ryan stopped running.

Surgery no.3 - weights to the rescue.

During this period he was also starting to get pain in his shoulder, mainly during swim sessions and it was restricting his ability to do swim training. This is not uncommon for swimmers and triathletes engaged in hours of training, after all there is a condition called ‘swimmers shoulder'.

At this point he started a standard bodybuilding split routine in the gym. Around about this time I also showed him how to do the Olympic lifts.

In January 2010 Ryan had a diagnostic arthroscopy on his right shoulder which showed there was no impingement. He was given rotator cuff band exercises to do and stopped swimming.

He believes strength training has helped his shoulder. He now avoids movements like lateral raised and wide grip bench press. But thinks the Olympic snatch has helped his shoulder – as it has increased his shoulder strength, stability and mobility.

Around this time he started to focus more and more on the Olympic lifts. As flexibility and mobility were a weak point for him, he really worked on them as much as he could, as well as building up his strength in the deadlift.

Ryan practising the overhead squat - he's really had to work on his mobility

Now, I have to point out that I take no credit for Ryan’s increase in strength and improvement in his back pain. Even though I teach evidence based exercises for chronic lower back pain I didn’t actually show him any of these. I coached him on his Olympic lifting technique and how to keep a neutral spine while deadlifting, and that’s about it. All the credit goes to him.

Back to the woods

Ryan had decided that his back was now strong enough to go back to tree surgery. He wanted to be back in the outdoors and not stuck staring at a swimming pool. He could now deadlift 195kg and clean and jerk 110kg overhead with no pain, both feats that he couldn’t do when he was originally a tree surgeon. His strength had never been better, and his back felt stronger than before.

In June 2010 he returned to tree surgery. He still has numbness behind his left knee and hamstring after the original disc prolapse but otherwise has no problems. His back aches sometimes after a hard day, but then so does everyone’s, and he now sees the tree surgery as functional training.

The future is unwritten

Ryan is looking to compete in an Olympic lifting competition in December. His goal is to snatch 100kg and clean and jerk 125kg. He has recently gone through a bodybuilding type phase, training 5 x week, but is now focusing on the Olympic lifts for December.

He is also looking to join the armed forces within the next year.

And he wants to complete an ironman distance triathlon within five years, ideally the ‘forest man’ in the New Forest.

Weak points and 20/20 hindsight.

When I asked Ryan if he would have done anything differently. He says without hesitation

 “I would have gone to exercise quicker.”

 And when he first started triathlon he would have

“had more rest days or light days and paid a triathlon coach from the start”

This is an interesting point, so many people think they can train themselves and don’t need any help. However, every pro athlete has a coach in some form. A coach can save you years of trial and error and keep you on track.

Ryan says his weakest point is his nutrition; he needs to work on food preparation and increasing protein intake.

Flexibility has always been an issue, and Olympic lifting mobility drills have helped. (See the videos where  Ryan is in the overhead squat position, this was slightly unfair as I asked him to demonstrate these exercises with minimal warm up, also note that he is wearing Nike frees in these videos and not Olympic lifting shoes and with no bumper plates he has to control the weight down).

Wrap up

This story shows that spinal surgery doesn’t have to hold you back. Am I suggesting everyone with back pain start Olympic lifting? Of course not, this was Ryan’s choice. However, don’t be afraid to start moving your body. Exercise works for back pain, I have a whole bunch of testimonials from people who attended our 8 week chronic back pain course and it transformed their lives, using evidence based exercises and back sparring strategies for everyday living.

I have no doubt Ryan will reach his goals. He’s one of those guys who doesn’t moan or complain, he gets on with it. He’s unassuming, one of those genuinely nice guys (and he’s single ladies!) but deep down has that competitive streak. The desire to push himself to his limits, compete and see how far he can go, like all successful athletes.

There are inspirational people around us all the time you just have to look for them. They’re not in the media, they’re not famous and they don’t have PR companies promoting everything they do. They’re just out there doing it. And it may be a truism, but all you have to do is start, take that first step – it’s always the hardest one. Don’t be afraid to admit you can’t do it by yourself, seek the help of those who have already made that journey, the ones with a proven track record. This doesn’t mean the journey will be easy but you’ll get their quicker and with a lot less diversions along the way.

I’ll keep you posted on Ryan’s Olympic lifting numbers and competition in December.

Take responsibility - stop lying to yourself

People want to blame. They want to blame everyone except themselves for their failures. If they didn't reach their goal it was because the program wasn't good enough, no one told them what to eat, the gym wasn't open when they wanted it to be, they didn't have enough time, no one told them what to do, blah blah.

This is another way of saying they lied to themselves. And it's surprising how many people think I am lying to them on a daily basis, when I'm not. Maybe it's because they've been lied to their whole lives, the government lied to them, big corporations lied to them, the media lied to them, reality TV shows lied to them (chances are you're not going to be a famous singer), the medical profession lied to them, their teachers and lecturers lied to them, the guy on the end of the phone at the call centre lied to them. There's a good chance their parents lied to them, sometimes with the best of intentions.

Their teachers and parents may have told them do this and this, go to this university and you'll be successful. Then they leave university or school and life slaps them in the face. Then the media tells them to buy this house, buy this car, buy this product and you'll be happy, but they're not. And they get depressed, so the medical profession gives them some pills, which are mean to help, but they don't. Most people live lives of quiet desperation in a sea of mediocrity punctuated by fleeting moments of vitality.

And they go to gym, and after a few weeks of training twice a week they don't lose any weight, so they think the fitness industry lied to them. And in a way, it did.

And maybe it's me, or maybe it's the economy, but people seem to be getting angrier and more frustrated, I think it was Sandra Bullocks character in Crash that said "every day I wake up angry". And people realise there's nothing they can do about the big lies, they feel impotent in the face of government lies and wars and  collapsing economies; where those responsible accept no blame and everyone else has to accept the pain.

We've become a nation of complainers and whiners, quick to apportion blame, but rarely looking to ourselves. Refusing to accept that we are complicit in many of the big lies. So people start to focus on the things within their sphere of influence, people who are forced to listen them, the woman at the supermarket they can complain to, the person in traffic who pulls out in front of them and the person who was meant help them lose weight.

And the fitness professional who was meant to help them lose weight, it must be their fault why i didn't lose weight or get fitter or failed to attract more members of the opposite sex. Because no one wants to blame themselves. And the reason most people think everyone is lying to them is because they lie to themselves on a daily basis. You ask them what they eat, of course, they don't eat biscuits or cakes, they only ever eat lean protein and organic veg, yeah right. And yes, they exercise every day but somehow don't get any stronger or lose any weight. So it must be the program.

The people I've seen who were successful at weight loss or strength training or sport didn't do anything magical or secret, in fact some of them followed what I would consider sub optimal programs. But, they were consistent, they didn't miss training sessions, they put weight on the bar, they pushed themselves, they pushed away the dessert and the alcohol until they had reached their goals. They worked hard.

But people don't want to work hard, they want someone else to do it. As Morpheus from The Matrix said  "I can only show you the door, you must walk through it". So they go to self help gurus, who tell them to visualise themselves thin, and they 'deserve it' and they are 'special', because who wants to be normal. And it doesn't work, and they search for meaning and direction and latch on to the latest fads or trends.

And then you tell them doing steady state cardio twice a week isn't probably gonna do shit for weight loss, and they think you're lying, because no none ever told them that before.

How to tell I'm not lying to you

It is surprising how many people think I am lying to them or telling untruths. Here's how to tell if I am lying or not. If I have nothing to gain from what I've said, if there is no financial reason for me to say it, then I'm probably telling you what I believe. If it was actually easier for me to sell the status quo and tell you what everyone else has, then don't you think I would do it? If I'm telling you something that could actually make me look bad, why would I say it? And if I say something that goes against what most people are doing, then it's probably true. (caveat to this: this doesn't hold true for everything, lots of people believe in conspiracy theories and new age crap like waving crystals around, this doesn't make these things true, see the next point).

And what I say can be supported by research and evidence. People like to bash science these days, you often here that in relation to nutrition and exercise in the media, you here comments like "You don't know who to believe, one day somethings good for you and one day something is bad, so I carry on the same".



Some people like to blame the messenger. It's the messengers fault for telling them the truth and not sugar coating it. It's surprising how many people ask questions they already know the answer to, or think they know the answer to, they don't actually want you to answer the question, they want you to agree with them, to validate their belief in what they should be doing. And if you give the 'wrong answer' they go and find a trainer who gives them the right answer, which matches what they want to hear.

Too much information, not enough knowledge

There is more information than ever before, but true wisdom and knowledge has become lost in the deluge. Educate yourself, think for yourself, use critical thinking, seek out real experts, people with a proven track record who aren't just trying to sell you something

If you fail no one cares, if you succeed no one cares.

If you don't reach your goal, guess what happens? Nothing, the world carries on the same. If you do reach your goal, guess what happens? Nothing, the world carries on the same, except you changed. Make yourself accountable, no one is going to do this for you, you could have the best personal trainer in the world, a personal chef and a PhD in exercise science, but if you don't get off your arse nothing is going to change. You are the only person who really cares about your goal. Others can help you, but you have to live and breathe it.

If you failed, you failed yourself. And I'm not going to sell you some self help shit, chances are you aren't going to get half the things you want, however hard you try, some people make money, some don't, some business's fail and some don't, some marriages fail, some don't; and the reasons are complex. And some people have got the talent and piss it away, and some people have below average talent but never let go and 'get lucky'.It's a fine line between success and failure, and sometimes the reasons why some people succeed are purely random (see the book The Drunkard's Walk to find out why ). Life is not black & white.

There is no correlation between financial and career success and life success. Some people have jobs they love and make money from, they are in the minority. Some people have jobs they don't really like to make some money to live a life they don't really like, they are in the majority. And some people have jobs that are a means to an end, they live a life outside of their work, their live is given meaning by other things like family or meeting goals.

There are school caretakers in their seventies running ultra-marathons, there are postman working to save money to climb 8000m metre peaks, and there are millionaires sitting at home watching TV.

Living a life of quality, that is authentic is the only way forward.

Not everyone is going to be a millionaire, not everyone is going to have a job they love.

But exercising 3 or 4 hours a week is achievable right now, without question.

Eating less junk, is achievable right now, without question.

Doing 5-10 minutes mobility and stretching while watching TV is achievable right now.

Fates right hand

Now, of course, there are things out of your control, if a tsunami hits your house then the random chaos of the universe has slapped you in the face. And maybe you'll get struck by lightning or win the lottery, but don't waste your life waiting for destiny. There's nothing you can do about entropy and chaos, but you can control your reaction to it, assuming you survived.

All too often people want to blame fate or in the case of exercise and disease they blame genetics. Yes, the reason you had a heart attack was because of genetics, but in the majority of cases you could see it like a slow train a comin'.  Of course, it wasn't because you were sedentary, a smoker, had a poor diet, didn't eat omega 3's or vegetables, and your homocysteine levels were through the roof. And don't think your doctor is doing any better than you, they have access to years of medical training, the latest journals, constant visits from pharmaceutical reps, do you think their life expectancy is any higher than yours?

You must educate yourself, and arm yourself with knowledge and the right tools to succeed.

Upton Sinclair said

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

To paraphrase, it is also difficult to get a person to understand something when them staying in their comfort zone is dependant on them not understanding it. Doing nothing is easy, action requires risk and uncertainty.

I think it was Charles Staley who said something along these lines. Look at what most people do in the gym, most of them stay the same year after year. That don't change shape but continue to do the same workout. Therefore, do the opposite to what most people do.

Take responsibility for your actions, realise when you're lying to yourself. Don't blame others for your failures, and to quote Donny Shankle

"Go maximum, everyday!"

Go on, do 20 press ups right now. You know you want to, what's stopping you; and who are you going to blame when you don't? Live life like you mean it!

Gym with escalator - who are you going to blame when you fail?

Are the people who work in the fitness industry fit (or even healthy)?

Some gym members and PT clients are under the impression that you must be super healthy and superfit if you work in the fitness industry. They’re under the impression you knock out a 20k run, deadlift 200kg and then go home and eat an organic chicken you raised yourself and some quinoa from your own personal vegetable patch. And if you enter an event, they expect you to just be able to ‘do it’ because you’re a trainer.

The truth doesn’t always match reality. I’m not talking about the occasional cheat meal or someone who is following John Berardi's 90/10% rule, eating well 90% of the time and for the other 10% having the occasional snickers or glass of red wine or missing a training session when on holiday.

I’m talking about people who are the very opposite of what the public would expect. And it not only applies to the fitness instructors & personal trainers in a health club or centre but even more so to the managers, duty managers, receptionists, lifeguards and studio/class teachers. Also, I should point out that this doesn’t only apply to where I work now but is common in other companies I have worked, clubs I have been a member of and trainers I have met who work elsewhere.

Fitness Instructors

I’ve met several fitness instructors who smoke, and even met a manager who though smoking was ok in moderation, you know, like the occasional glass of red wine, and not a cancer stick.

More common is instructors who binge drink, now this could be because they tend to be younger or it could be something to do with British culture, either way it’s seen as acceptable.

And when it comes to junk food, only the other day an instructor was eating the left over domino’s pizza from the night before for lunch (you know who you are!). On the plus side, most fitness staff tend to workout and train in some way, but some don’t.

Personal trainers

This group can be worse than fitness instructors for working out. They have clients that are spread throughout the day, so the trainer spends a lot of time sitting in their car driving to appointments while snacking on the go – hoping their natural ‘awesomeness’ will pull them through, because hey, back in the day they could deadlift 250kg and run 100m in 10.5, but they can’t do it now because of that pesky knee injury and not because they don’t do any exercise and live off energy drinks. And in between working 12 hour days, getting their hair highlighted on a weekly basis and buying industrial amounts of hair gel & wax they just don't have time to train. Of course, I also know trainers who put there money where their mouth is, and live the life, they live and breathe fitness & nutrition 24/7.

Managers, lifeguards

In all my time in the industry I’ve rarely seen a club manager actually use the gym facilities or go to a class (and some of them don’t even come out of their office when they are actually working and you know, actually talk to their customers, but that’s a whole other story). Now some of these people may have been training outside or participating in a sport. And I’d be the first to admit you don’t need fancy facilities or equipment to train. But these guys weren’t training at home or doing a sport, they weren’t doing anything.

I know managers and lifeguards who have regular cigarette breaks throughout the day and don’t eat any proper food or snack from the vending machine (more on this later) or don't eat anything in an 8 hour shift.

The dark side

Studio instructors can be someone of the most compulsive about exercise but some of the worst eaters. It’s not unusual to see then have a pre workout coffee and then a post workout coffee, living of the adrenaline and caffeine. And I’ve known studio instructors whose idea of a big meal was a piece of broccoli and half an apple. Some are easily doing 15-20 hours a week of classes, mostly not lifting a weight heavier than a shuttlecock. They end up with that skinny fat, studio instructor look, high fat %, no muscle. This is what Charles Poliquin calls the 'chunky aerobic instructor syndrome'. Their paranoia about putting on weight and their addiction to cardio exercise can sometimes push them over the edge. This is the group in the fitness industry most likely to suffer from eating disorders. Now this is a minority,  but I would like to see some research on this to see how much of a problem this is, and how we can address it.

And I’ve seen studio instructors do an exhibition class at a fitness conference and then go round the back of the stage and have a cigarette!

Pre workout & post workout meal for some studio instructors

Nutrition

Many people in fitness work shifts, or weird hours, and sometimes duty managers can’t leave the building. And they end up making poor food choices, now most of this is due to bad planning and meal preparation, as in they don’t have a plan.

You may be surprised to find out the food choices on offer in the average health club/ leisure centre are rubbish.

For dinner I will be having A3 and B6

They still have vending machines, and cafes with muffins, cakes and basically no healthy choices apart from the occasional protein bar or shake. Managers & staff on shift can end up living off the vending machine.

Sugar & Fat - all the colours of the rainbow

Also, on a side note, I’ve seen parents taking their kids to the vending machine after various swim lessons and clubs and buying junk or buying a donut in the café

The argument seems to be that we should give the customer what they want and not what they need. But all these cakes and sweets are available elsewhere, in fact, nearly everywhere, they are pervasive. Maybe, we should provide the alternative.

Right now, Jamie Oliver is crying into his homemade ravioli.

Only the other day I saw a fitness instructor/ trainer who happens to be diabetic, and also runs weight loss classes, drinking a bottle of coke and eating a bag of crisps ( potato chips if you’re American) for lunch. Now, I’m no expert on diabetic nutrition but I’m thinking this is not the best choice. And then to go into a weight management class and say one thing and then do the other, ever feel you’ve been lied to? So if the people preaching the message of healthy eating aren't doing it, it's no surprise that some parents & kids are having a hard time following it.

Members are fitter

We’re in the situation where a lot of the members and clients of our clubs are training more and eating healthier than the very people running the health & fitness business.

I’m going to sell you a car that I wouldn’t drive

Can you imagine going to a car dealership and the sales person trying to sell you a car, but then saying ‘Of course, I wouldn’t drive this car myself’ or going into a restaurant and the staff saying ‘I wouldn’t eat here’, err, then neither will I.

But this is happening everyday in fitness. Many of the staff who work in a centre or club have free access to the facilities but never use them! And I wouldn’t mind if they were going for the occasional walk or bicycle ride outside, but they’re not.

Of course, if you work in a place all day it’s the last place you want to spend your leisure time. But this doesn’t hold up, because the people who use the gym the most are the fitness staff, who are in there all day, and some of the other staff don’t set foot in the gym all day.

If we can’t even get our own staff to use our gyms and classes, how can we expect to get the public in?

Currently, the penetration of the UK fitness market is about 10%, add in all the people who do personal training and bootcamps outside and maybe you’ve got 11% of the UK population exercising. That means about 90% of people don't go anywhere near a gym, health club or leisure centre. But most our staff don’t use our facilities or believe in the product, so why should the general public?!

To find out why the public don’t exercise, all we have to do first is ask our staff why they don’t. And not only why do our staff not exercise, but why are so many of them smoking, binge drinking and eating junk. Is it a cultural thing or human nature?

Now I should finish by saying not everyone in the industry is like this, I know lifeguards, receptionists, café staff and sales staff and even some managers who attend classes or the gym on a regular basis or participate in sport and eat healthily; and some teach classes as well. But I would go as far as to say they are in the minority.

And I’m not saying I’m perfect, I have the occasional beer or dessert. And I’ll admit right now I like to have one cappuccino a day ( ahh, sweet caffeine, okay sometimes 2, but normally on a really bad day, and as long as I drink green tea that okay, right? ) but I generally eat healthily 90% of the time and exercise on a regular basis

And again, I’m not saying you have to be superfit, but you need to be a role model to a certain extent and be fit and healthy to prove the product works. If we don’t believe in our product, who else is going to?

Diagonal Cable Pulldown (for the lats & teres major)

I don't really see anyone else doing this exercise, so I thought i'd post it. I used to give this exercise out a fair amount about 8 or 9 years ago, but then stopped doing it, mainly because I didn't have access to the 'old skool' cable crossover machine.  This exercise doesn't seem to work on the narrower dual cable pulley machines, the angles are wrong  and the tension gets lost at the top of the movement. But recently, I've had access to the cable crossover again, and have been giving this exercise out more & more, and I'm liking it more & more as well. Here's why.

Latissimus Dorsi - notice the angle of the fibres

What do the lats & teres major do?

 The main actions of the latissimus dorsi are  – extension, adduction and medial rotation of the humerus. And the teres major assists with these actions. This means they basically bring your upper arm down to your side, extend your arm behind you and internally rotate the shoulder

Teres Major - notice the diagonal angle it pulls at

Most people don’t think of adducting or extending at the shoulder when they do a latpulldown ( and by the way it's not called a lateral pulldown, for all those people who keep using that name, the reason why should be obvious!) or pull up. They kind of just pull themselves up or pull the bar down to their chest or worse behind the head. Most of the time they're struggling to get their chin over the bar and not thinking what the muscle are actually doing.

But if you focus the movement on pulling the upper arms into the side of the body and slightly behind you can target these muscles more effectively.

What I also like about this exercise now is how it mimics the action of the scapula wall slide, but it's weighted. In fact one way I cue clients is to think of it as a scapula wall slide. This way they focus on puffing the chest out and pulling the arms into their sides. So much like the wall slide we’re also helping to set the shoulder blades down and activate the lower trapezius muscles.

Now, to be pedantic we can see that both the lats & teres major help with internal rotation of the humerus, so you could theoretically get more muscle action by internally rotating the upper arms at the end of the movement. But seeing as most people are already chronically rotated and have the janda ‘upper cross syndrome’ of tight pecs and under active muscles in the middle back I would avoid this.


If you're in to anatomy trains you can see the line of pull for the diagonal pulldown matches the upper section of the back functional line.





How to do it

1.    take a tall kneeling position in the middle of the cable crossover, with space between the knees
2.    brace abs, neutral spine, and try and set the shoulder blades down
3.    pull the upper arms down in to your side and even think of the elbows going slightly behind the body to extend the humerus
4.    avoid collapsing into the chest or rotating the arms forward or trying to cheat the final part of the movement with the wrists bending
5.    keep tall & keep the chest puffed out like a scapula wall slide

Simple as that. Do this as part of your upper back corrective work or as an accessory back exercise. It should complement your pull ups & chins and help improve your technique when you do these exercises. And it's going to hit your lats in a slightly different way. Go try it!