Author: taro
By taro

Six Revelations Towards a Solution for Elbow Pain

There is a lot of confusion in regards to elbow pain. Every purveyor of health products and services  has a different perspective. Don’t be confounded by all the clamour. Read the following six revelations and get on the path to clarity.

1.  The primary cause of most elbow pain is muscular overuse. Muscular overuse causes muscles to get tight. Tight muscles are vulnerable to inflammation (known as tendonitis or golfer’s/tennis elbow), cramps, strains and tears. Tension also pulls the skeleton out of alignment which can cause arthritis and/or neuropathy.

NOTE: While your case of elbow pain is most likely the result of overused muscles, always get a proper diagnosis from a medical doctor!

2.  Overuse injuries are caused by weakness.  Working muscles assist each other to create movement. Should some muscles within a group become weak, their lack of work has to be  assumed by those which remain strong. The burden of compensating for weak muscles causes strong muscles to become overused!

3.  Strength is the most powerful solution for overuse injuries:  End the burden of compensation by strengthening weak muscles and overused muscles recover. Recovery is fast and profound! Most people will feel an immediate reduction of pain and tightness. Often only two or three strengthening sessions are required for complete resolution. Strengthening weak muscles also increases tone helping to balance tension around joints. Improving skeletal alignment with strength is critical when managing arthritis, pinched nerves and ligament health. Strength is more powerful than stretching, myofascial release or rest! (however, the ultimate intervention combines all four).

4.  Weak muscles lie adjacent to the strong. If you have an overused elbow flexor its weak partner will also be found within the elbow flexor group. Likewise, if you have an overused elbow extensor the muscle you need to strengthen will also belong to the elbow extensor group. No need to venture far from overused muscles to find weak partners or synergists.

5.  Your left side must be trained in a manner opposite to your right side: If you are unlucky enough to have pain in both elbows – what you stretch on the left must be strengthened on the right and vice-versa. For example, if your extensor carpi radials is tight on your left it will be weak on your right! It does not matter if the pain feels identical. Only a very precise assessment can determine the exact needs of individual muscle fibres. Tarodo stretching actually isolates the individual heads within a muscle. The muscular needs of your body vary from front to back as well as side to side.

6.   Blame posture: Posture is the placement of bones to compensate for the effects of gravity. For a bone to move (and remain in position) some muscles need to be active while others need to be inhibited. Active muscles become strong muscles and inhibited muscles become weak. Stop blaming yesterdays workout for your pain! Postural stress is relentless – continuing even as we sleep. Gravity never ceases – victimizing our backs, necks, shoulders, hips, knees, elbows, hands and feet.
By taro

Seven Reasons Why You Can’t Build Muscle

Some people have a very difficult time developing muscle. Hardgainers, despite their greatest efforts, yield little progress. Conversely, “growers” reap amazing results despite what seems like minimal effort. The disparity between the two is often ascribed to genetics but the typical hardgainer has flaws in their approach to building muscle.  Below are ten of the most common.

  1. Conflicting Goals: Most of the hardgainers I meet want to build muscle and lose fat. While successfully addressing both goals at the same time is possible (especially for those new to exercise and gifted), the potential for change is smaller in comparison to addressing the goals separately. Maximum muscle growth requires increased calorie intake and minimal activity (especially aerobic activity) outside of muscle-building workouts. Maximum fat loss, conversely, requires reduced calorie intake and high levels of activity outside of muscle-maintaining workouts. To avoid nullifying their efforts, hardgainers need to go hard in one direction at a time. For example, they should focus solely on building muscle for three months and then switch to focusing on fat loss for three months. Separating goals into distinct periods of time (known as periodization) should be the foundation of all programs.

2.  Having a phobia of gaining fat. Clients often jeopardize their muscle building efforts to pacify their fear of gaining fat. Closet cardio and fatty food abstinence are common, highly counterproductive behaviours. The key to building muscle is to support your body’s anabolic drive. Aerobic exercise is catabolic and fats (as well as other nutrients) contained in meat, fish and whole eggs are necessary for a vigorous metabolism. Your self-esteem needs work If the thought of gaining half a percent body-fat frightens you. Favour the identity of a goal assailing beast as opposed to a pretty (and procrastinating) princess.

 

3. Pusillanimous Exercise Choices: If you need to find a group of hardgainers in your gym, just venture over to the functional trainers and inflatables – preoccupy yourself with these devices and just maintaining your physique will be a major victory! Pusillanimous exercises have common traits:

a. They occupy the extremes of the stability continuum. That is, they are either too unstable (involving wobble boards and balls) or too stable (involving machines). Too much instability limits target tissue strain by sacrificing load. For example, most reasonably strong people (with their feet well based on the floor) can strain their biceps with a curl equalling fifty percent of their bodyweight. However, if that strong individual compromises their base by standing on a wobble board their ability to curl will drop to pusillanimous poundages. Someone with good balance might be able to tax their biceps with twenty percent of their bodyweight – lifting toddlers requires more strength than that! (note: never lift toddlers while standing on an unstable surface) Too much stability, on the other hand, limits whole-body strain which is important for eliciting a general physiological response (the release of testosterone, growth hormone etc.). Machines, which feature benches, supports and guided resistance eliminate much of the muscular engagement necessary to control posture, base and movement.

b. They feature plastic or rubber.

c. Are often unilateral. The best leg exercises for muscular mass use both legs and both arms at the same time. Single limb leg exercises simply do not support enough load for hardgainers. Less load means less tension on postural and target muscles. No legitimate hardgainer will satisfy their need for leg development by using lunges, step ups, split squats or pistol squats.

Effective exercises also have common traits:

a. They occupy the middle of the stability spectrum (neither too unstable nor artificially rigid). Free weight and bodyweight exercises place an enormous demand on muscles. Maximal muscle engagement is required to support posture, base, movement and load. The high level of whole-body strain triggers a big physiological response. With little practice, effective exercises allow the use of functional loads – loads stimulating enough to cause growth in target muscles.

b. They feature bodyweight and iron.

c. Are usually bilateral. As mentioned above, static leg exercises should be supported by the optimal placement of both feet. You are most stable when you can support the most weight. Bilateral barbell deadlifts and back squats are the most important exercises for the hardgainer. There exists no other alternative.

 

4. Horrendous Technique: A hoisted weight does not mean successful stimulation of the target muscle. I am amazed at the ability of some individuals to complete a repetition despite completely bypassing the appropriate musculature. Watch out for inappropriate leg drive, swinging, bouncing, kipping, non-existant negatives and minimal change in target joint angle. The vast majority of exercisers need to reduce the amount of weight they are using and slow their tempos until they improve their technique.

 

5. Piss-poor programming: All muscles have an adaptive niche. That is, a specific level of stress that causes the greatest result. For example, the lats respond best to fairly frequent training featuring low reps, heavy weights and multiple sets. Don’t settle for the generic prescription of 3 sets of 10 reps. Find the adaptive niches for your muscles through careful planning, observation and documentation. These programming “sweet spots” will greatly accelerate your results.

 

6. Inconsistency: Gifted exercise responders can miss workouts, swing from program to program and still build an awesome body. Hardgainers, without consistency, will achieve nothing. If you are a determined hardgainer, missed workouts must be rare. Plan on having to grind (with joy) on effective programs for a long time before making a switch. Hardgainers, trying to build muscle, have to battle just as hard as overweight people trying to lose fat.

 

7. Lack of Aggression: The gym is society’s most important emotional outlet. Challenge heavy barbell and body-weight exercises. Dig out your life’s bane and use it to ignite fury just prior to your most demanding lifts. Stop interrupting your drive and focus with moments on the phone as well as social dilly-dallying. Not only will your results improve – your mind and spirit will thank-you!

 

Compared to those gifted, it is very challenging for hardgainers to change their appearance. However, every hardgainer I have worked with has built major muscle after addressing the flaws above. Have patience, be methodical and you will persevere!
By taro

The Most Overlooked Muscles in MMA

All the glorified MMA conditioning videos and articles have one thing in common – none of them make an in depth attempt to properly train the hamstrings or calves. The knee flexors are crucial for striking and grappling performance as well as career longevity. Consider the following muscular functions:

 

– Drives the hips and propels the body forward
– Provides the mass necessary for impact and knockouts
– Powers the legs ability to clamp and squeeze opponents in a wide variety of grappling situations
– Lowers the centre of gravity
– Reinforces and aligns the knee

 

Every striker I have ever spoken to repeats “you hit with your hips”. Despite this mantra no one considers what is responsible for snapping the hips forward. Enlightenment only occurs after a fighter suffers an injury to either a calf or hamstring. Pain at the back of the leg completely inhibits hip drive and punches as well as kicks become anemic. Fighters often lament how increased muscular bodyweight makes them feel slow and sluggish. This perception won’t occur with appropriate ankle training. Powerful, well conditioned calves will make you feel light on your feet.

 

Strikers rely on the weight of muscles as much as they rely on their ability to generate strength and power. Would you rather get hit by a eight ounce bat or a thirty eight ounce bat? Calf mass provides the momentum that converts head kicks into knockouts and leg kicks into shock. Leg mass also serves as an anchor from which it becomes possible to accelerate the hip. Momentum and inertia are terms from fundamental biomechanics that should be familiar to all fighters.

 

In grappling, the legs are an awesome tool for controlling opponents. The hamstrings and calves are heavily relied upon to squeeze out any space behind the knee and clamp down on legs, necks, hips and torsos. Imagine trying to take and maintain back control without knee flexors. Attempts at arm-bars and triangles would be fruitless! For Judokas, hamstring and calf development is a major asset. If your uchimata is impotent, training the back of your legs provides an edge.

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For a world champion, Marcelo Garcia has a physical structure that seems relatively unremarkable – until you see his calves. It looks as if fifty percent of his bodyweight is below the knee! Like those punching bags which right themselves (thanks to a heavy base of sand), Professor Garcia’s low centre of gravity makes him hard to sweep. Marcelo always returns feet to floor. Muscle provides more than strength and power, it can be used to strategically distribute weight.

 

Both the hamstrings and calves have muscular heads which cross the knee joint. These muscles directly influence the strength and alignment of the leg. To minimize the chance of knee injury it is imperative to have a high strength to length ratio. Long legs which are narrow and weak will be prone to injury. Physics favours those with strong, thick and short legs. Size and strength, however, do not guarantee good knee alignment. Good alignment helps prevent the occurrence of injuries by evenly distributing stress. Poor alignment concentrates stress and structures that bear the greatest burden become vulnerable. If you want your knees to support a long martial art career you had better learn how to manage (stretch and strengthen) your hamstrings and calves!

 

Haphazard performance of deadlifts, hamstring curls or kettlebell and sled exercises will not improve your martial art performance. Proper hamstring and calf training demands an in-depth analysis of movement and muscle function. The right muscle fibres have to be targeted with effective exercises and programs. Any errors and your efforts will be fruitless. Hopefully this brief discourse inspires more coaches and athletes to comprehensively contemplate the calves and hamstrings!
By taro

On the Path To the Most Effective Leg Workout

It’s all about the deadlift. If you struggle to build leg mass your only hope is to hoist heavy weights from the floor. Squats alone aren’t enough – they need to be potentiated by weekly deadlifting.

The deadlift is key for several reasons:

  • Deadlifts are the ultimate stressor. If you disagree with this statement you have too little horsepower to tax your fuel tank. Using your whole body to lift gland busting weights is guaranteed to trigger adaptation. Your metabolism will boost muscular growth and your nervous system will become more powerful. Deadlifts make you more capable at all physical tasks.
  • It is the ultimate spinal erector exercise. A weak back will limit the development of massive legs.
  • Deadlifts feature a low centre of gravity. This facilitates greater stability. Stable exercises allow greater loading then unstable exercises. Greater loading means higher levels of tension within target muscle tissue.

Complete muscle activation is another major key to leg growth. Always stretch the antagonists of target muscle tissue prior to a set. The increase in activation will result in better growth and muscular balance. For the quadriceps, try stretching your calves prior to sets of squats. Although most believe the hamstrings are the only antagonists of the knee extensors, if the heads of the gastrocnemius are tight they will also impede quadriceps contraction.

Add maximum mass to your thighs by including this routine in your program:

 

Monday

A1. Perform a lateral gastrocnemius stretch for 30 seconds. Rest 30 seconds.

A2. Perform a set of full squats with your heels on the floor for 10 reps. Rest 3 mins before repeating A1 and A2 three more times.

B1. Medial gastrocnemius stretch 30 seconds. Rest 30 seconds.

B2. Perform a set of 3/4 squats, with your heels elevated by 1 to 1.5 inches (omit the top 1/4 of each repetition), for 10 reps. Without rest, repeat B1 and B2 three more times.

 

Thursday

A1. Perform an Iliacus, psoas or abdominal stretch for 30 seconds. Rest 30 seconds.

A2. Perform a set of bent-knee deadlifts for 5 reps. Rest 4 minutes before repeating A1 and A2 six more times.

 

Insert this routine into a complete, periodized program. While it is very simple it is also brutal – requiring very high dedication to recovery. Avoid spine extension intolerance. If you survive, it will provide the greatest gains possible.

 

Old timers will tell you. The gains were greatest during the glorious days of the deadlift!
By taro

Five Revelations Toward a Knee Pain Solution

Knee pain is the achilles heel of many sport, work, exercise and armchair warriors. Typical (and often unsuccessful) treatment consists of the big three: strengthening the vastus medialis, prescribing orthotics and taking anti-inflammatory medications. When they fail, consider the revelations listed below.

  1. Weak muscles cause most cases of knee pain! Weak muscles require strong muscles to compensate for their lack of function. This extra work causes strong muscles to become tight. Tight muscles can be painful and their tension changes joint alignment. Misaligned knees are prone to ligament and meniscus damage as well as arthritis.If your medial knee pain is being caused by a tight vastus medialis, the solution is to find out which of the remaining three quadriceps heads are weak and strengthen them. The vastus medialis will recover and lengthen once the burden of compensation is removed. Furthermore, strengthening weak muscles counters the pull of strong muscles and alignment improves.
  2. Your knee pain may be caused by tight hamstrings. Tight hamstrings, wrongfully associated with back pain, are too often overlooked in regards to knee health. An overworked lateral head of the hamstrings (biceps femoris) is often the origin of lateral knee pain. Tight hamstrings also shut down opposing muscles within the quadriceps and hips. This initiates the cascade of issues associated with compensation. Again, strengthening the weak heads (without affecting the strong heads) within the hamstrings group will reduce pain and dysfunction. As an aside, stretching the hamstrings as a group is a waste of time – each head must be isolated. The heads of the hamstring have very distinct functions!

3) Knee pain can originate at the hips. Their distance from the knees often precludes the hips from consideration in issues regarding knee health. However, a tight gluteus minimus or tensor fasciae latae can radiate pain far from their origins – extending all the way down the leg to the knee. Strengthening weak weak synergists as well as corrective loading restores hip balance and alignment. Using the foam roller on the IT band is a (less than) half-assed solution. Strength is the key!

 

4) The calves are a major key to knee health! Somehow health practitioners have forgotten that gastrocnemius crosses the knee joint. The calves directly affect knee health! Tight gastrocs alter knee alignment and reciprocally shut off heads within the quadriceps muscle group. Try stretching your medial and lateral gastrocs prior to squats or leg extensions and you will notice a significant improvement in strength – this practice alone can eliminate knee pain.

 

5) The look of your legs lends clues. Postural tendencies such as bow legs or knocked knees are part of the knee health puzzle. From the shape of your legs you can deduce which muscles will be strong and which will be weak. Ligament and meniscus stress is also predictable. Legs that tend to be knock kneed, for example, will feature a weak vastus medialis (a chief “anti-valgus” muscle) and will be prone to ACL and lateral meniscus injury. Postural tendencies are the result of the body balancing itself over its base. Corrective loading, which moves our centre of gravity, is crucial to the management of leg appearance.

 

The above revelations have their basis in very simple logic. What is obvious is very often overlooked. However, with fundamental knowledge in functional anatomy anyone can start to see the connections. If you want to learn more stay tuned to tarodo.com or connect with me via tarokurita@hotmail.com. Seminars and certifications are coming soon!
By taro

Strength and Conditioning For BJJ – Five Points to Ponder

The concept of strength and conditioning is misunderstood by the majority of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu   practitioners. This misunderstanding is resulting in injuries, wasted effort and jaded athletes. Below are a few points to help define the role of strength and conditioning in your quest to improve as a BJJ warrior.

POINT ONE

Strength and conditioning for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is not bodybuilding, powerlifting, olympic lifting, gymnastics or crossfit! These are all sports that are only concerned with their distinct physical activities. Their intentions are definitely not to improve BJJ performance! A strength and conditioning program for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is specifically designed to condition BJJ muscles and BJJ energy systems.

POINT TWO

A strength and conditioning program is not just lifting weights. A program may address several fitness components including strength, power, general endurance, muscular endurance, muscular balance and mobility. Tools used by a strength and conditioning coach include barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, bodyweight, rubber bands, gymnastic rings, resistance training machines and more. Exercise choice is based on effectiveness and is not limited to any particular discipline. Exercises associated with gymnastics, olympic lifting, calisthenics or even yoga can be part of a strength and condtitioning program provided they are relevant to the sport and athlete.

POINT THREE

Strength and conditioning is not about skill development. The primary concern of strength and conditioning is the development of the body’s energy systems (muscles and metabolism). Some exercises may resemble actual BJJ techniques but the intent is to strengthen the muscular system. Skill work is ALWAYS best addressed  in actual practice under the supervision of a qualified BJJ coach! Unless a strength and conditioning coach really knows jiu-jitsu, mimicking movements in the gym may ingrain bad habits or simply be a waste of time.

POINT FOUR

BJJ training is a complete workout which improves strength and cardiovascular fitness. Serious practitioners do not need the additional burden of an extensive strength and conditioning program. Most will benefit from a program that is limited to a short list of specific needs. For example, poor grip endurance, bridging power or hip mobility may be hindering an athlete’s success. To address these needs a  strength and conditioning program would only require an hour of extra work per week. Bear crawls, burpees, Tabatas and agility ladders won’t be necessary!

POINT FIVE

The intent of strength and conditioning is not to turn BJJ athletes into untechnical goons. Efficiency should always be the ultimate goal of jiu-jitsu athletes. However, having a high reserve of energy is a definite asset in practice or competition. Furthermore, consider the unpredictable realm of self- defence. Outside the dojo, battles are not controlled by weight classes and time may be limited to milliseconds. You may need a big burst of energy to compensate for imperfect conditions and imperfect technique. Going into battle, all warriors need to be as prepared as possible. Arm yourself with an astute strength and conditioning program!
By taro

Six Tips For Preventing Injuries and Staying Fit For Life

Len At Nearly Seventy

Len At Nearly Seventy

1. Periodize

Legitimate fitness programs are periodized. Periodization, quite simply, is change. Fitness programs must change to rotate stress. Continually stressing the same joints, muscles and physiology leads to injury. Make a plan that regularly changes your short-term goals, exercises, rest intervals, volume and intensity. Periodized exercise programs cannot be created haphazardly – too much change and you will lose sight of long-term goals.

2. Manage Your Posture and Muscular Balance

The foundation of musculoskeletal wellness is posture and muscular balance. A well aligned body with balanced strength will evenly distribute stress. This resilience is lost when the body shifts alignment to compensate for gravity. For example, when a load is held in front of the body the spine will curve toward the front. When a load is held to the right side of the body the spine will curve toward the right. A load to the left side of the body shifts the curve to the left. Finally, a load held behind the body results in the spine curving towards the rear. Spine movement is controlled by the coordinated action of muscles – some becoming tight while others relax. Unfortunately, shifts in alignment tend to persist causing a host of problems. Tight muscles become overused and injured. Uneven wear occurs on bony surfaces and joints become either too narrow or spread apart. A return to good alignment and muscular balance requires the introduction of corrective loads as well as a system of stretching tight muscles and activating relaxed muscles. Simple postural cuing (such as “keep your chest up with shoulders back”) will accomplish very little. Tarodo Gravity is the cutting-edge system for managing posture and muscular balance. Stay tuned to this website for seminars, videos and future articles.

3. Warm-up properly

The most effective warm-up rehearses target movements while activating weak muscles. For example, progressive squatting (multiple sets of squats which get incrementally heavier ) is the best way to prepare your body for high-intensity squatting. With each warm-up set, improve strain distribution by activating weak muscles (those that are specific to your posture). Warming up in this manner can turn a brutal squatting session into a workout that actually helps heal!

4. Eat Well

We all know eating well is essential for losing fat, gaining muscle and performing intensely. However, I believe many people fail to make the association between nutrition and injury prevention. A prudent diet should include quality whole-foods from both animal and vegetarian sources. Eat whole eggs, organic red meat, fish, dark greens and berries to ensure a vigorous quality of life! Specific foods and nutrients that have shown up in research regarding soreness and recovery include: tart cherry juice, caffeine, blue berries, curcumin and tomato. Cycle foods and nutrients into and out of your diet to discover which works best for you.

5. Find a Great Soft Tissue Practitioner

Not all soft tissue techniques are created equal and practitioner ability varies tremendously. Personally, I have found Active Release Techniques, as developed by Dr. Leahy, to be a great tool. Find a master of ART and stick with him/her. Combined with the concepts above, no soft tissue issue will be insurmountable!

6. Be Patient

Know when to delay striving for a goal in favour of rest and recovery. Value your longevity above all else. A planned short-term layoff is always better than an unplanned long-term layoff!
By taro

How to Achieve Goals and Make Changes

Reaching goals and making changes can be hard. Many won’t budge despite sitting in boiling water. This inertia is caused by a lack of emotional awareness. To begin growing strong enough to make progress, become aware of the following:

  1. Thoughts and feelings can change: Most people believe their thoughts or feelings are legitimate and immutable. In reality, with a little desire and insightfullness, large (even extreme) changes in how we think and feel are possible. For example, my ten year old son feared and hated water. He would dread every session his class would spend at the school pool. Tears would flow at the slightest splash! However, with a little exposure and the discovery he could swim (after some practice) my son now loves (!) going to pool class. As simple and innocent as this story seems, its lesson can applied to adults in most circumstances.
  2. Expectations can become a burden: In anticipation of a new job or reponsibility don’t demand perfection upon arrival. Set your mind to try your best but also accept that most new endeavours are works-in-progress. Every ability gets better with practice. Your current capabilities only apply to today’s version of you. Tomorrow’s version will be much more capable!
  3. All staircases have steps! Any plot to conquer the world should start with the recruitment of the first soldier. Similarly, take the initial steps when wanting to change jobs, careers, educational paths or even spouses! Discovering solutions for your first set of concerns greatly enhances confidence in your abiliy to make a change.
  4. You can build yourself: Many people are overly influenced by perceived weaknesses as opposed to personal strengthes. Practice taking stock of past achievements and use them as precedence for future challenges. Little victories should be celebrated. A small feeling of personal potential can initiate big progress.
  5. Wrongful associations: Here is a common scenario – John broke up with his partner three months ago. To move forward in life, John adopts an exercise and diet program. Two week in, John begins to feel lack lustre, off-kilter and a little anxious. He blames his new exercise and diet program for his feelings and promptly quits. In truth, John’s symptoms were the result of emotional issues caused by the end of his relationship. Although John was perfectly suited to his fitness program (it would have brought many great benefits!) it fell victim to wrongful association. If you feel uncomfortable, off-kilter or anxious, don’t automatically blame that which is new in your life. Check your emotional environment (composed of profound influences such as finances, relationships and the health of those important to you) for the real culprit. Emotional issues are sneaky. They show up at odd times in unexpected manners. This year, make sure your goals don’t become casualties!
By taro

How To Find a Good Personal Trainer

A personal trainer can have a profound impact on your quality of life. Exercise is the best medicine – capable of improving and maintaining physical and emotional health. Unfortunately, personal trainer quality varies tremendously. Luckily, good trainers leave clues. Due diligence begins by following the steps below!

STEP 1 Drop Your Biases

Physical Bias: Try not to immediately gravitate toward the prettiest or best built male or female in your gym. While this can be tempting, remind yourself that great genetics (and chemicals additives) can easily mask horrible training practices. Less spectacular looking specimens often have to fight tooth and nail to achieve moderate results. Genetically challenged individuals cannot make mistakes in their training and are intricately connected with methods that work.

Academic Bias: A degree or diploma does not automatically qualify someone as the best trainer for your goals. Even a trainer with a post-graduate degree may have little practical experience in your field of concern. Fitness and health information is evolving rapidly – trainers must keep their knowledge contemporary. Without maintenance, a degree quickly becomes obsolete! Balance your perspective and consider the tremendous value of experience as well as passionate, self-directed learning.

STEP 2 Observe

If you want to choose a trainer within your current gym environment, take some time to watch him or her in action. All behaviours give clues and you should take note of the following:

Professional Behaviour: How the trainer behaves with clients. Try to answer the following:

– Does the trainer arrive on time?

    • Are they preapared?
    • Are workouts preconceived or improvised on the fly?
    • Are observations and results documented?
    • Is their posture alert and attentive?Disqualify trainers that are consistently late, sitting, laying down, texting, preoccupied with themselves or their surroundings. Trainers should be active and engaged with their clients, either spotting, assisting with stretching, taking notes, mentoring or managing equipment.

Leisure Behaviour: How the trainer behaves when not with clients. Good trainers can often be seen doing the following:

    • working on fitness blogs (!)
    • creating programs
    • reading to improve their knowledge base
    • experimenting with exercises
    • managing their businessDisqualify front-desk flirters, perpetual phone-scrollers and general lollygaggers.

STEP 3 Interview

Speak to a few of the prospective trainer’s clients. Find out how long they have worked together and their general impressions. Good trainers have long-term relationships with many of their clients.

Most trainers will offer a free, initial consultation. Use this session to ask the following questions:

  1. Do you perform an assessment ? (to determine a client’s state of physical readiness, prescribe a course of action and to document starting statistics)
  2. What fitness skills and certifications do you have?
  3. How do you keep your knowledge current? (a great indication of a good trainer is an immediate ability to name several inspirational authors, fitness leaders and publications)
  4. Have you worked previously with someone like myself? (in terms of goals, attributes and circumstances)
  5. What are your goals for the future? (keen trainers have clear, industry related ambitions – half hearted trainers can’t wait to move on to becoming real estate agents, insurance brokers or interior designers)

STEP 4 Weigh Personality Wisely

Beware! First impressions are performances and the best performers are often miserable.

Even though your personal training candidate survived the first three steps of scrutiny make sure their personality suits yours. Throughout the years I have defined several trainer personality types:

  1. The Narcissist: Narcisists are drawn towards becoming personal trainers. They can be quite astute in their fitness knowledge but have the character of an overgrown baby. When you form a partnership with someone make sure there is at least one adult.
  2. The Cheerleader: These are the trainers which spew a continous loop of baseless, positive drivel. If you can tolerate a lack of meaningful insight from your fitness leader then the simplicity offered by this relationship is bliss!
  3. The Drill Sargeant: The type most featured in media, Drill Sargeants can be great motivators. However, constant shouting and dirision gets tiresome – you will probably want to drill the sargeant in the head after a couple of months. Great choice for short-term bursts of intensive fitness.
  4. The Fitness Nerd: Ususally underdeveloped trainers who compensate by having vast knowlege. Knowlege is great but if its application failed to render results in the Nerd it may also fail to render results in clients. Consider a nerd if all you want is a few sessions of basic, exercise information.
  5. The Believer: These personality types buy into every new trend and gadget that hits the fitness market. They love rubber, magnets, vibration, inflatables, electronics and other gizmos. Unfortunately, few trends stand the test of time and followers lose time, money and dignity.
  6. The Adaptive Personality: The very best trainers adjust their personality to best suit the changing needs of the client. They can be tough, gentle, loud, quiet, personable or professional. Their character and mood are consistent from day to day and workout to workout. The best personality for most.

Without regulating bodies or standards the responsibility of finding a high-quality trainer is entirely up to the consumer. Use the steps outlined above to cut through the fluff. Don’t commit to a large number of sessions at first and try several trainers. Look for honest referrals. Never underestimate the value of a good personal trainer!
By taro

Fallacies in Fitness – Episode III

1. The chin-up is a great exercise for the biceps.

Contemporary fitness articles are continuing to promote the chinup as a great exercise for building the biceps. This fallacy contradicts basic functional anatomy – the biceps are muscles which flex the shoulder joint, the chinup is an exercise which extends the shoulder! Every year, I set asisde a couple of months to target my pulling ability and devote myself to chinups and pullups. During this period of specialization I eliminate or greatly reduce all other upper body exercises, including biceps curls. Although my chin up performance improves, my upper arm girth always shrinks (by at least half an inch!). For further proof consider an independent study the next time you have biceps tendinitis (not brachialis or brachioradialis tendinitis). Despite the biceps soreness, performimg chinups and pullups will be tolerable. On the other hand, proper dumbbell curls will be excruciating (due to the superior level of biceps recruitment). Choose biceps curls if you want biceps development!

2. Compound movements are more functional than isolation exercises

This blanket statement drives me nuts for three reasons:

First, no exercise is universaly functional! Functionality is limited to a specific goal; that is, an exercise which improves one type of physical task may be irrelevent or even detrimental to another physical task. The chin-up, for example, is an invaluable tool for grapplers – strengthening sport-specific muscles, reinforcing key movements and serving as a tool for managing injuries. For boxers, however, the chin-up is largely irrelevent – it does not strengthen key muscles or reinforce any pertinent movements. In fact, weight gained from dedicated pulling would be detrimental to endurance and making weight.

Second, isolating and strengthening an individual muscle can unleash enormous potential in complex movements. Most clinicians (countless times I am sure!) have observed marked improvement in strength, power and efficiency when a single, performance limiting muscle has been activated. If your isolation exercises are not improving a specific ability you are probably not strengthening the correct muscle.

Finally, many people confuse complexity with function. An exercise is not automatically “functional” just because it requires inspiring skills. Physical tasks are made distinct by the muscles used, the physiology that is engaged, balance type, timing, co-ordination, environmental cues, state of mind etc. etc. Most flashy attempts at functional training are completely irrelevent to any goal.

3. Quadriceps to hamstring strength ratio is crucial for injury prevention

Incorrect notions in regards to muscular balance are often used to explain the occurence of injuries. Most often, it is the strength relationship between angonist and antagonist that is blamed. In truth, the strength relationship between synergists is much more important. The vast majority of muscular injuries (that are not the result of violent trauma) are the result of strain born from compensation. The hamstring has four heads – each reliant on the other to help with functions at the knee and hip. A weak or inhibited head (caused by postural issues) forces the active heads to pick up the slack. Overtime, the active muscle fibres become overstressed and tight. When the final straw imposes its stress the vulnerable heads are either strained or torn. Balance the strength amongst synergists and the incidence of injury will go down!

4. Just About Anything Overly Esoteric

Esoteric health and fitness trends often prove to be fallacies. When promised effects cannot be readily observed, experienced or logically validated there is good reason for strong skepticism. I am not sure where the threshold for skepticism exists for some followers of esoteric ideas but it seems to be way too high. Novel ideas are great (I hope to share a few!) and certainly don’t require published, peer reviewed data to at least be contemplated. However, reality tends to be grounded in the fundamental sciences of anatomy, physics, chemistry and biology. Some fitness and health trends that should provoke healthy skepticism:

  • breathing interventions
  • cold exposure (I would bet 20 minutes of sun exposure is more beneficial)
  • bowel interventions
  • physical therapies which don’t feature physical contact at the affected area
  • mostly anything that requires batteries or is made of plastic

5. Some types of exercise build long and lean muscles

Another fallacy that drives me nuts every time I hear it. Leaness is forever determined by the balance between caloric ingestion vs expression! No exercise will build a “lean muscle” in a fat environment. If special exercise classes built long muscles then the instructors would have muscles that exceed the length of their bones! Their muscular system would drag behind their skeleton like an oversized sweater or fallen socks. If I had a special power it would be to evoke a world-wide reflex to think twice before adopting any notion as a belief!

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