Author: taro
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!
By taro

Program: Volume and Intensity Cycling

Good old VIC. Volume and Intensity Cycling programs have existed since people started counting reps and sets. VIC has been called many names – Heavy/Light, High Reps/Low Reps and even Oscillating Intensity Training. Regardless of name the basis remains the same; that is, alternating workouts of low volume and low tension (or low intensity) with workouts of high volume and high tension (or high intensity). While VIC is old, it can still kick the butt of most fancy pants programs out there. Adding advanced methods to the basic template make VIC invincible. Volume and Intensity Cycling is highly effective for several reasons:

  1. It frames a desired performance level. Let’s use sprint training as an analogy. Improving 100 meter time necessitates addressing aspects of endurance and strength. A sprinter would therefore train both 120 meters (to address endurance) and 80 meters (to address strength). Applied to resistance training, if your goal is to improve the amount of weight you can lift on an exercise for 8 repetitions, you would frame that goal by training aspects of strength (using 6 repetitions and relatively heavy load) and aspects of endurance (using 10 repetitions and relatively light load). With both high rep days and low rep days included every week, VIC addresses both ends of the performance enhancing spectrum!
  2. VIC uses multiple pathways to build muscle and strength. VIC causes metabolic stress, improves motor skill and imposes high tension on muscle fibre.
  3. By alternating long, heavy days with briefer, lighter days VIC smashes muscle yet facilitates recovery.
  4. VIC eliminates guess work. Every muscle has an “adaptive niche” – responding better to either higher repetitions, lower repetitions or a combination of both. Since all levels of repetitions are addressed with VIC, your target muscle is guaranteed to receive optimum stimulation (at least part of the time).

BELOW is a basic VIC program dedicated toward developing the quads, lats, chest and biceps. This example should be integrated into a properly periodized program.

MONDAY – Legs, Back

(Group A) – 3 sets each, 60 seconds between sets

Squats 10 reps

Pull ups 10 reps

Hamstrings Stretch 30 secs

(Group B) – 3 sets each, 60 seconds between sets

Belt Squats 10 reps

Pullovers 10 reps

Calf Stretch 30 secs

(Group C) – 3 sets each, 30 seconds between sets

Calf Raise 30 reps

Rear Delt Raises 30 reps

Pec Major Stretch 30 secs

TUESDAY – Chest, Biceps

(Group A) – 3 sets each, 60 seconds between sets

Barbell Bench Press 10 reps

Dumbbell Standing Twist Curls 10 reps

Rear Deltoid Stretch 30secs

(Group B) – 3 sets each, 60 seconds between sets

Dumbbell Bench Press 10 reps

Dumbbell Preacher Twist Curls 10 reps

Lat Stretch 30 secs

(Group C) – 3 sets each, 30 seconds between sets

Shrugs 15 reps

Laterals 15 reps

Wrist Curls 15 reps

WEDNESDAY – Off

THURSDAY – Legs, Back

(Group A) – 6 sets each, 60 seconds between sets

Squats 6 reps

Pull ups 6 reps

Abdominal Stretch 30 secs

(Group B) – 4 sets each, 60 seconds between sets

Belt Squats 6 reps

Pullovers 6 reps

Coracobrachialis Stretch 30 secs

(Group C) – 3 sets each, 30 seconds between sets

Calf Raises 30 reps

Rear Delt Raises 30 reps

Pec Major Stretch 30 seconds

FRIDAY – Chest, Biceps

(Group A) – 6 sets each, 60 seconds between sets

Barbell Bench Press 6 reps

Dumbbell Standing Twist Curls 6 reps

Rear Deltoid Stretch 30 secs

(Group B) – 4 sets each, 60 seconds between sets

Dumbbell Bench Press 6 reps

Dumbbell Preacher Twist Curls 6 reps

Lat Stretch 30 secs

(Group C) – 3 sets each, 30 seconds between sets

Shrugs 15 reps

Laterals 15 reps

Wrist Curls 15 reps

***Repetition speed should reflect the goals, abilities and status of the athlete. In general, strive for a tempo which allows maximal strength expression while maintaining good technique.

On paper, VIC may not seem very novel or impressive. It is an old program, which (like an old friend) reappears every once in a while. Don’t take VIC for granted, however, as it is powered by very important muscle and strength building concepts. Frame your performance goal, target multiple growth pathways and be aware of muscle specific adaptive niches – your ambitions will become achievements!
By taro

Change Your Posture

Somewhere I read (in an article, forum or dream), that holding a barbell behind the back could help manage excessive lower-spine curvature (known as lordosis). Initially, the idea failed to evoke any interest and it was filed into my subconscious. A few months later, while watching a huge construction crane in operation, I was suddenly struck by a moment of clarity: our skeletal system compensates for our center of gravity! When our center of gravity is consistently drawn forward of our hips (when we deadlift or lift boxes like a crane) our body maintains balance by shifting weight to our rear (behind our hips). Unlike a crane, with its huge counterweight blocks, the human body increases back-end load by tilting the pelvis forward. Anterior pelvic tilt, one of the hallmarks of postural lordosis, extends the moment arm behinds the hips and puts the glutes and hamstrings into a strong position to exert force.

To reduce lordosis, therefore, it makes sense to move the body’s center of gravity behind the hips. A load behind the hips (provided by a barbell for example) eliminates the need for a postural compensation. The pelvis would tilt toward the posterior and a more neutral posture would be restored.

 

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Anterior tilt of the pelvis caused by a load being held in front of the hips

 

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Posterior tilt of the pelvis caused by a load being held behind the hips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the crane model applies most obviously to a posture affected by lordosis, all levels of the skeleton will move to offset loads and create balance. The scapula, for example, shift in a manner similar to the pelvis. A load forward of the thorax shifts the scapula into anterior tilt and a load behind the thorax shifts the scapula into posterior tilt. Similarly, the spine, knees, elbows and feet will all change alignment to balance the effects of gravity.

The theory of skeletal compensation for center of gravity is a vital clarification. Posture, it seems, is a motor program controlled by the nervous system and not merely an arrangement of tight and loose muscles. Just stretching and strengthening individual muscles will not change the motor program and significant posture change will not occur! The ultimate solution to postural stress is to combine stretching and strengthening with modification of the body’s center of gravity. Come to a Tarodo Gravity seminar to learn emerging details of this process!

The ability to modify posture is a vital tool. Postural stress results in conditions which include tendinitis, muscle pulls, muscle tears, nerve impingement, osteoarthritis and inter vertebral hernias. These conditions can become chronic. Modifying postural tendencies can help relieve pain as well as improve resiliency, appearance and performance.
By taro

Strength and Conditioning for Punching Power

The development of punching power is largely the subject of lore. Lore dominates whenever valid scientific data is sparse. Rather than wait for the academics, I believe reasonable conclusions can be made using logic, dedicated observation and everyday tools. To answer the question “what physical attributes are required for great punching power” the real-world scientist can use a number of methods to find a reasonable solution. One method, popular in manufacturing, is reverse engineering.

Rather then build a high performance car based on pure theory or trial and error, the process of reverse engineering takes an existing vehicle and breaks it down to reveal its working components. Similarly, take an elite level athlete and put them in the weight room – their physical attributes become readily apparent. Having had the opportunity to watch and even train a few world-class muay thai athletes a few observations stand-out:

a. They are terrible on agility ladders and wobble boards. Even the most elite of strikers, gifted athletically to the highest degree in their sport, look inebriated when first introduced to these gadgets. Obviously, the skills required for powerful striking are completely distinct from the skills required to balance on a wobble board or run an agility ladder. Contrary to popular assumption, there exists many different types of balance and many different types of agility. Skill work needs to be highly specific to affect sport performance (this is especially true at the elite levels of sport). Strength and conditioning sessions should address the development of energy systems and not resemble a second-rate repeat of practice.

b. Performance on basic strength exercises is modest (though definitely not pathetic). Even with a little practice elite level strikers put up moderate numbers on the squat, deadlift, bench press and chin-up. Great strength in these exercises seems to be of little significance to great punching and kicking power.

c.They have tremendous knee flexion strength. Without prior experience, powerful strikers put out incredible numbers on hamstring curl machines. This makes sense as the calf and hamstrings are probably the most important muscles for launching the hips. It is no coincidence most muay thai practitioners have great calf development! Thick calves also serve as a club at the end of a shaft – providing the mass necessary to penetrate soft tissue and shatter bones. Hard kickers also have extremely strong thigh adductors – necessary for turning the hips and femurs. Absorbing impact against bodies and heavy bags also requires reinforced musculature.

d. Heavy hitters excel at biceps curls. The biceps are often dismissed as non-functional, beach muscles but they are well developed on fighters! I am graced with the opportunity to watch Jorge Blanco train (Spanish kick-boxing champion and trainer of many UFC champions). He has amazing biceps development. I have seen him playfully curl seventy pound dumbbells despite never having formally trained biceps. Strong biceps development makes sense on powerful punchers as upper-cuts and hooks perfectly match the functional characteristics of the biceps. Whether high levels of biceps strength is necessary for accelerating the arm or simply absorbing impact is unknown.

e. Strikers kick butt at situps. While this finding may be biased as situps are routinely performed as part of traditional practice, there is little doubt powerful abdominals, obliques and hip flexors are consistent attributes of great strikers. This makes sense as these muscles have to accelerate the significant mass of the upper body via a very long moment-arm (the spine!).

f. Heavy hitters tend to do very well at triceps exercises, especially skull crushers. Whether this is due to the hard elbow extension required to launch a fist or to absorb impact with a heavy target is unknown. Exceptional performance on skull crushers may also be due to the demands of holding targets for training partners – especially muay-thai pads.

Reverse engineering offers great insight into the physical attributes of powerful strikers. However, there exists much more to the process of training athletes than simply performing the exercises emphasized above. Always consider individual style as well as physical status. Focus on strengthening energy systems that still have capacity for training stress. Repair, or allow to recover, energy systems that are over-stressed. Mindless, debilitating workouts are the last thing hard-training athletes need.
By taro

Top Tips for Fat Loss

The heat is here. The desire to get in shape, buried deep within our unconscious mind, is suddenly uncovered by a lack of clothing. In the excitement, fat-loss folklore and marketing hype claim many victims. In brief, reject immediately any program which mentions “low-fat”, “aerobics”, “take three pills a day”, “fifty exercises in one machine” or “twenty easy minutes three times a week”. Continue Reading

By taro

Posture – The Foundation of All Exercise Programs

Perfect posture suggests a skeleton with perfect bone placement. Every bone would be optimally aligned and symmetrically spaced. All stresses imposed on the body would be distributed evenly – minimizing wear and energy expenditure. Unfortunately, perfect posture does not exist. Every human on the planet is off kilter! Differences in limb length and the need to maintain balance result in misaligned and asymmetrical bones. Features most people associate with posture include uneven hips, hunched shoulders and exaggerated spine curvature. However, posture also includes the position and status of the ankle, knee, scapula and hand. Off-kilter posture can cause a number of problems:

  1. Strength imbalances: A shift in posture requires a bias in muscle activity. Some muscles remain chronically active while others are turned off. Not only do active muscles bare the burden of postural maintenance they also tend to bare the burden of movement and physical work. Hard working muscles are prone to overuse conditions such as tightness, strains, tendonitis and tears.
  2. Development imbalances: When active muscles become tight they shut down the muscles opposite to them. “Reciprocal inhibition” stops muscles from firing optimally and creates “stubborn muscles” – muscles which will not grow or change shape despite dedicated exercise.
  3. Inappropriate bone on bone contact: Off-kilter posture means bones are out of optimal alignment. Poor alignment causes contact on sufaces not designed for high amounts of frictionor impact. The damage to bone and other connective tissue results in conditions such as osteo-arthritis and chondromalacia patella.
  4. Impingements: Nerves and tendons become squeezed when the spaces they occupy become narrowed by bone movement. This can cause a host of problems including shoulder impingement syndrome and sciatica.
  5. Intervertebral hernias: Curved spines result in vertebrae that are squeezed together on the concave side and spread apart on the convex side. High pressure between vertebrae on the concave side cause intervertebral discs to bulge toward the convex side (where intervertebral pressure is lower).

Since muscle tension affects bone position, these problems can be easily ameliorated or aggravated by stretching and strengthening programs. The key is knowing which muscles to stretch and which to strengthen! Programs which successfully manage the effects of posture improve muscular balance as well as bone alignment and symmetry. Athletes, clients, patients and workout warriors will experience enhanced recovery, resilience, performance and aesthetics. Posture, without a doubt, should be fundamental knowledge for anyone who designs exercise programs!
By taro

Micro Spiel: Exerhazing?

HAZING is the practice of rituals and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group (Wikipedia). I have witnessed many workouts where the coach, trainer or martial arts instructor pushes their athletes to extreme exhaustion.These workouts feature drills, skills, times and energy systems that obviously do not fit the goals of the victims. Without a foundation in exercise science, to whom is this type of practice benefiting? The needs of the athlete or the coach? At its best, hazing rituals in fitness can build team unity and bond individuals. At its worst, participants may get sick, injured, humiliated and discouraged. Coaches need to know where to draw the line. Hazing should not be confused with legitimate training!

Fives signs you’re being hazed:

  1. The workout features endless burpees
  2. The workout serves no purpose but to create extreme fatigue
  3. The ritual lasts five times longer than the actual event you are training for
  4. This is no evidence of a plan and no one is recording results
  5. The next time you workout you feel increased fatigue and fragility. You’ve also become weaker and slower.
By taro

A Personal Trainer’s Truest Test

We all appreciate the world class athlete. The kind of individual that challenges our flashiest tools and methods. Athletes justify all those hours spent dwelling on olympic lifting minutia and multi-planar periodization. Having high level athletes as clients is prestigious and makes us credibile in the public eye. However, experienced trainers know that champions generally come as extra-ordinary packages; that is, they are highly motivated, disciplined and gifted enough to hide all manners of training and dietary errors. The world class athlete, therefore, is hardly a measure of a coach’s mettle. A truer test of a coach’s abilities is the client who is the opposite of a gifted athlete. Unlike extra-ordinary packages, the individuals within this category (we will call them True Test Clients or TTC’s) are near total dysfunction. TTC’s are old, fat, diabetic or prediabetic, at major risk of cardiovascular disease, have multiple musculoskeletal health issues and have poor motor skills. On top of it all, TTC’s are often depressed, stubborn and cynical. At stake, instead of medals, is their very existence. Coaches have direct influence on the quality of life of TTC’s as well as the quality of life of those close to them. To have success with a TTC a trainer must have the following qualites in spades:

1. Compassion

Compassion is our greatest trait. Great coaches have enough wisdom and confidence to eliminate the need to judge, deride or dismiss others. Compassion promotes co-operation, tolerance and understanding – essential values for members within a community. Great trainers, driven by concern for their clients, search hard for solutions and get reults.

2. Leadership

All people should strive to be good role models. Younger generations and those who have fallen from the path need guidance. Role models are proof that living well and making good decisions results in great benefits. Personal stories of patience, problem solving and perserverence are powerful motivation for clients.

3. Gameness

Great trainers are warriors. Prior experience has equipped them with formidable tools and weapons. Not only do game warriors expect challenges in life – they welcome them.This attitiude has to be transfered to clients. The ability to surmount obtacles is vital on any path towards a goal.

4. Creativity

The physical disposition of TTCs demand innovation. Exercises will have to be modified and created. Trainers will truly test their understanding and application of “functional exercise”. Forget bosu balls and wobble boards – they are a catastrophe waiting to happen. Unlike gifted athletes, TTCs quickly validate as well as disprove fitness methods. New directions must emerge for every dead end.

The above traits are invaluable in helping any client achieve their goals. However, they must be truly formidable to succeed with a TTC. World class athletes are pure gold as clients. However, their patronage is not the basis of a personal trainer hierarchy – not by a long shot.
By taro

On The Path to The Most Effective Core Workout

No topic stirs more nit-picking than training the core. The trend of late is to cast as evil and purge from contemplation any exercise that causes the slightest degree of flexion or rotation of the spine. This intolerance is justified, say the pundits, in the name of spine safety. Yet, in sport and life, mega-spine flexion, extension and rotation occur frequently. Is there room for middle ground? A philosophical compromise? From my persepective, moments of spine motion and moments of spine stability should be alternated – the ratio depending upon individual circumstances. People need to pause for thought before reacting with derision and closed-mindedness. Lower back injuries are largely avoided with proper technique, astute program design and an understanding of spine health. With that said, here are seven MANDATORY elements required to have The Most Effective Core Workout:

1) A definition of “core”

The term “core” drives me nuts. It lacks precise meaning and suggests a muscular order of importance. What muscle or group of muscles deserves the title of core? The abs and obliques? What about the glutes and spinal erectors? Or the psoas? No muscle is universally more important than another. Functionally, peripheral muscles like the finger flexors and calf muscles can easily trump core muscles in many situations. For example, six-pack abs will be of no use to you on moving day if you drop your side of the couch (due to a weak grip). From a resiliency perspective, an injury to the periphery is just as disabling as an injury to the core. Why isn’t neck stability just as vaunted as “core stability”? Core is not a word which belongs in the vernacular of serious fitness folk!

2) DATA

How can you have your best core workout if you haven’t any idea what constitutes beating your previous best? Hard work alone never guarantees success. Fitness must be measured! Hard numbers guide us towards the path of success. Abdominal exercises and workouts are notoriously devoid of essential numbers. The Most Effective Core Workout must feature numbers indicating load, speed, distance and time!

3) Highly Effective Exercises

Most popular core workouts use runty exercises featuring meaningless movements and a lot of cheap “feel the burn” isometics. Effective exercises have common traits. These traits include:

  • The ability to generate incredible muscular tension at optimal muscle length
  • Ease of measurement (you can accurately monitor load, range of motion, moment arms etc.)
  • A lack of complex devices which corrupt muscle recruitment
  • A high degree of relevence to the goals of the athlete (ie kicking power, punching power, naked power)
  • Ease of learning. Tension on the target muscle is not lost due to instability and excessive skill.

Two examples of advanced, highly effective abdominal exercises:

Valslide Full Extension (Top Row) and Barbell Rollout (Bottom Row)

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4) The Right Number of Sets and Reps

The most effective workouts match set and repetition schemes with the physiology of the musculature. The rectus abdominis, charged with moving major moment arms (the hips with extended legs or the torso with extended arms) is predominantly composed of muscle fibres capable of high force production. They respond best to low repetions, heavy loads and multiple sets. In general, advanced trainees seeking rapid abdominal devlopment should keep repetitions at six (or below) and sets per exercise at six (or above). Hit a muscle’s “adaptive niche”and your progress will soar beyond expectations.

5)Antagonist Management

No skeletal muscle in the human body will reach its potential if its opposing partner (in terms of location and function) is overly tight and hyperactive. Tight antagonists inhibit the activation of target muscles resulting in weakness and poor development. For example, if your spinal erectors are tight, they will shut off your abdominals and obliques (despite hard, isolated exercise). The short-term remedy is to stretch or release (using myofascial release techniques) the antagonists of target muscle just prior to your highest intensity sets. The long-term remedy is to improve muscular balance. Balanced strength distribution eliminates compensation (active muscles taking on the tasks of inactive muscles). Compensation is the primary cause of muscle tightness. Honestly, precise antagonist management is the most powerful tool currently available in the gym. Come to Tarodo seminars to fully harness its potential!

6) Emotional Management

Your greatest workouts will undoubtedly occur when you are riding the energy of unleashed fury. Proper “psyching-up”can easily boost performance fifty percent – far greater than any pre-workout supplement! Use visualization and music to turn repressed anger and aggression into increased repetitions. Proper venting of emotions will improve your workouts as well as the mood you present to your friends and family.

7) Anatomical Intelligence

Effective core workouts (regardless of definition), require a high degree of physical awareness. Learn to anteriorly and posteriorly tilt the pelvis as well as bend the spine in all three dimensions. High level exercise requires conscientious opening and closing of joints to maximally stretch and contract target muscle fibers. Anatomical intelligence ensures true muscular fatigue – eliminating reliance on the body’s elastic properties and momentum (two major reasons why so many people do so many repetitions with so little result).

Build your glute, abdominal, hip flexor or spinal extensor program on a foundation of knowledge, logic and open-mindedness. Define your goals. Stay objective. Use powerful and relevent exercises. Invest time in learning movement. Soon, you will find yourself On the Path to the Most Effective Core Workout!
By taro

How To Know If Your Fitness Program Is Legitimate

Contemporary physical fitness is lost. Nowhere, in any human endeavour, is there more misunderstanding, bias and fraud. Current marketing pracitice is to generate and promote exercise methods which are novel, quick and entertaining. This “revenue before results” fitness information saturates the media and distracts people from legitimate exercise methods. The cost of missinformation is very high – people spend less time exercising effectively and more people become discouraged. Exercise, one of our greatest weapons against pain, mood disorders and morbidity, is in deperate need of a higher standard. To be legitimate, your fitness program should meet the following expectations:

  1. It must make mathematical sense

    For the average participant, twenty minutes of exercise performed three times a week will not compensate for the usual caloric surplus – regardless of improvements in metabolic rate or degree of intensity. Likewise, a device or program which solely targets the abs will never substract sufficient calories from your diet to improve definition unless you are starving yourself. The first step toward choosing any exercise program – check the math!

  2. It must stress all joints of the body

    Every joint in your body must be stressed by your fitnesss program. This ensures uniform development of muscles, strength and bone density. This means your feet, ankles, knees, hips, whole spine, shoulders, elbows and hands must have dedicated exercise. Stop being sold by programs which only target one part of the body. (thigh squeezers, ab swingers, butt blasters etc.).

  3. It must be measured

    Hard work is absolutely no guarantee of progress. I often see extreme efforts result in decrements in fitness. The effects of your workouts need to be monitered. Legitimate fitness programs include meaningful testing, tangible progressions and precise record keeping. Don’t fall victim to baseless esoterica. Always look for numbers indicating load, speed, distance and time.

  4. It must be periodized

    Fitness programs have to change. The same movements, volume and intensity of effort will eventually wear you out. Hyper-macho, vomitous programs will only be sustainable for a short period of time – your body and mind has to recover. Much of the art of fitness programming lies in the creation of training phases which are less demanding. These phases allow physical and emotional recovery while still improving factors (such as muscle balance, flexibility, strengthening secondary muscles etc.) relevent to the overall goal. Unperiodized fitness programs are unsustainable fitness programs.

  5. It must be planned

    Haphazard fitness equals haphazard results. The best fitness programs follow successful systems. Systems, of course, are the result of plans which have been designed, executed and documented. Without a solid plan, chances are you will fail or have to work ten times as hard as necessary. Catch terms like “instinctive” or “confusion principle” are just excuses for being ignorant and lazy..

  6. It must be intense

    A physical activity cannot be called “exercise “ if it is not sufficiently intense. Sufficient intensity can be described as the minimum level of exertion required to stimulate improvements in muscle mass, strength, metabolic rate, cardiovascular health and bone density. Most physical activity programs fail to meet this criteria. Non-Exercise Physcial Activity can still be beneficial as it burns calories and time (which would have otherwise been spent sitting and eating) but participants will still require real exercise. Legitimate fitness programs feature high-intensity, intermittent bouts of effort which are planned and periodized.

Three Overt Signs of an Illigitimate Exercise Program

1. Your exercise device burns more watts than you do

Generally, electricity in an exercise program is a bad sign. Unless the device is a cattle prod, rely on manual activity as much as possible. Legitimate fitness programs feature solid iron, bodyweight exercises and glycogen consumption.

2. It is endorsed by a celebrity

How can anyone still believe celebrity endorsement is proof of legitmacy? Here are some thoughts for those easily persuaded by a famous face:

a. Most elite level athletes and screen idols are tremendouly physically gifted. They would have to work very hard to look bad.

b. Exceeding in sport or acting leaves little room for expertise elsewhere. Legitimate coaches and trainers are preoccupied fulltime with developing effective exercise programs. Do you go to personal trainers for advice on acting?

c. These are people who specialize in being paid to speak and seem credible. This fact alone should deter trust.

3. It features highly skilled, flashy maneuvres

People looking to enhance sport performance commonly fall victim to this one. Fancy is not necessarily functional. Movements that appear relevent to your sport are very often dissimilar in terms of muscles and physiology. Furthermore, highly skilled, acrobatic exercises take time to learn, involves greater risk and can mess up your sport-specific technique. Skills (footwork, agility, timing, balance, co-ordination etc) are very unique to your sport! Skills training should only be conducted under the supervison of an expert. The primary goal of any exercise program is to prepare your body to accept and express energy at a level approptiate to your sport – not to serve as a second rate repeat of practice.

Real exercise reduces the incidence of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and high blood pressure. It also benefits mental health and keeps you physically able. Exercise is the single greatest anti-aging tool available. Choosing a fitness program or product should be taken seriously, mandating research beyond a book cover or thirty second infomercial. People need to stop buying into programs based on image, entertainment or fashion appeal. Health and function is more than sufficiently inspiring. People, pierce through the gaudy fluff pushed in your face and uncover the undercurrent of legitimate fitness!

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