Implementing Phases into your training..

So, I have been MIA for the last little while. My life has been changing, and I am learning to make time for myself and a new special someone in my life. It has been great - but the only downside is that my training has taken a bit of a seat on the sidelines. It's my own fault. I have still been eating well, but my time is the gym is not what it was 2 months ago.
 I had been training heavy since the Warrior Dash and have seen significant increases in my lifts - but my waistline is taking a bit of a beating. Now that the "Train the Trainer" event is actually happening, I know I need to get myself in better shape anaerobically to be able to withstand the beating I am going to get in a few weeks.
 Ernie just started training an MMA fighter and is putting him through a fight circuit made by JC Santana at the Institute of Human Performance in Florida.
 I have always been in shape, and I kind of pride myself on my cardio. So, when I saw this workout, the old Bryan (pre-warrior dash) in me, decided that I could easily complete this workout and I would use weights even heavier than this 205lb fighter.
 Well, the new Bryan, accustomed to lifting very heavy and taking nice, long breaks did not agree. The first 5 minute round went great, my recovery wasn't as good as I remember... but halfway through the 2nd circuit is where I started to see the fog. I had to go lie down on the table out back, then run outside for some air, then get some emergency juice from the fridge. I had the shakes for a good 10 minutes and was very humbled... Needless to say, that was a depressing day and I went to the corner store and bought pizza pockets and wallowed in my own self pity all afternoon..

 Why am I telling you how terrible my workout went? Because we all do the same thing. I have runners that come in, bragging about how strong their legs are because they run, and I get them to do 2 sets of lunges and they walk around for the rest of the session like a newly born giraffe - then, they can't walk for 2 days. I get powerlifters in here, who brag about their numbers, and 10 minutes into a small circuit they are running to the bathroom.

 Well, that's what we do at ACF. We take you out of your comfort zone. We have phases to our training styles that take roughly 4 weeks at a time and make sure that your body does not adapt. You see chubby runners, you see strong fat guys - but the rule still stands.. "If you keep doing what you are doing, you are going to getting what you've got."
 Your body is very smart and will adapt to most any stimulus that you put on it. If you lift too heavy and your muscles can't lift the weight, then your body will recognize this and become stronger in case this stimulus is brought on it again. If you run and get very, very winded - same thing happens. Your body increases your cardiovascular fitness for the next time you run. Eventually though, your body becomes used to what you are doing to it, and the response becomes less and less.
 If you come through the door here and want to be a better runner, I am not going to run with you. You do that enough already. I am going to make you train like you have never trained before and your running will just get better. 6 months ago, I took 45 minutes off of a marathon runner's time in just 7 weeks. He changed nothing about his running prep. It was what we did in the gym that made the difference.

 All I am saying here people, is get out of your comfort zone. Try something new - whether it's weight training, Zumba, crossfit.. whatever floats your boat. Your body will become a stronger, faster machine if you just challenge it.

Question everything.

I am writing this post, not for the people that we train, but for the not so lucky people that are being trained by these "trainers" in commercial facilities. Now, let me preface by saying not all of them are terrible. I've seen more than a few trainers who know what they are talking about and can actually defend what they are doing.

 That has not been the case this week. For those of you who know me, I study a lot. I also put that study into practice and come up with (what I believe to be) the best programs that I can come up with for that particular situation. Everything is specialized, and I never write the same workout up twice. I use similar exercises, but your exercise selections are greatly dependent on your specific goals.

 Now, saying that - I have recently decided to get a membership at a commercial gym. I will not tell you which one as I don't want to step on any feet, but I did it for 2 reasons.

 1. I was getting distracted lifting here on my own. I have paperwork to do, filing, reports... a lot is on my mind here and it makes concentrating on breaking my personal bests kind of hard.

 2. I need to work out around people that are as strong or stronger than me. It's motivation. I am pretty happy with my lifts, but seeing the guy beside me toss up some heavier numbers is good motivation.

So, earlier this week I was in the gym, getting ready to do some deadlifts when I overhear a trainer tell a client who is roughly 225lbs, female and very nervous looking, that she should be doing these ridiculous step ups that required her knee to go into this weird rotation and he was MANUALLY FORCING rotation from her knee while her torso/hips were bouncing up and down in every direction.

 Anyone who has any basic anatomy knowledge KNOWS that the knee is a hinge joint and requires stability. It flexes and extends and has a *tiny* bit of eversion and inversion. His defense to her was that the reason people get these ACL and meniscus tears is that they don't have enough rotation in their knee. WOW. A real reason that people get these injuries is excessive rotation forced from the knee.. .the same thing he is doing to her on this bench. Your hips and ankles are the mobile joints and if they are lacking mobility, the joint in between does all of the extra work - and in this case, that is the knee, and I could tell just by looking at her that she had no movement in her hips and was really compensating by moving from the knee..  but that's what he wants her to do. This is almost guaranteed to cause an injury sometime in the near future. Repetitive strain movements like that take time, but I can assure you that bad things will happen to this woman's knee.

   I don't understand where these trainers get their cookie cutter programs.. It appalls me that they are allowed to work with the general public. The worst part is that I was at the gym for about an hour and a half that day, and I saw him doing the exact same exercise with 2 other people!

  So, my advice to you is that if you have any sort of reservations doing ANY exercise, get another opinion. Even if you are training with me, let me know if you have any questions about ANYTHING we are doing and I will be sure to have a smart answer. I get very frustrated with my profession as it is people like this that make me afraid to say, "Yeah, I'm a personal trainer." I watch people roll their eyes all the time.

  I believe that everyone here at All Canadian Fitness is different. We are smart. We are changing the way people get trained and I love my job.

  Just please be careful you moronic trainers, it's not a piece of clay you can just throw away if you mess up, it's a person's body. They have to live with these problems that you are creating. It's the only body they have. Turn them into a machine - don't destroy their gears.

                                      "Ok, ready? It's all you bro! The chicks are gonna love this!"

-Friday rant over-

More than just a warm up

Ok, I've been slacking with this whole "blog" thing. Time to get back on track.

The first issue I want to talk about is dynamic warm ups. I've been asked by a couple of people how to "correctly" warm up. Anyone can walk out on the gym floor and hit the treadmill up for 5 minutes. Sure, that will increase your body temp and get some blood flowing, but will it get you ready for your lifts?

No. It's pretty useless in my opinion.

I always start my clients out with some foam rolling. If you don't know what this is, don't worry - you aren't the only one. It has been around for a while, but only over the course of the last couple of years is it finally getting the recognition it deserves. If you don't have one, buy one. If you have one, use it.. . because I know you aren't using it as much as you should.

It hurts. But - it's a good hurt. Basically, what a foam roller does is decrease tissue density. It allows for the breakdown of scar tissue and adhesions that can occur in the fascia over time.

What does this mean to you? Well, depending on the quality of your tissues, it can mean a lot. I have seen knee pain disappear with the addition of foam rolling into a warm up, and the risk is injury is lessened as foam rolling tricks your muscles into allowing a more full range of motion while you are exercising. Now, it doesn't happen overnight, but there hasn't been a program I've written up in the last 3 years that hasn't started with foam rolling.

My advice is to begin with rolling your;

Quads (front of legs)
IT Band (side of legs - you know you hit it when it feels like hot needles. Don't worry, it get's better with practice)
TFL (small muscle right in front of your hip bone)
Mid Back
Adductors (inside of your legs)
Glutes (butt)
Lats (long muscles under your arms, that run laterally down to your ribs)

Next - mobilize the joints in your body. Another thing I hate about treadmills is that they are so linear. You walk in a straight line. Now, if you are warming up for an intense power walking session, then sure, walking is great. Our hips are a very complex joint providing a center where our upper bodies meet our lower. They are responsible for a multitude of movements. So, warm them up that way. I tend to always warm up in accordance to the workout I will be doing that day. So, if I am squatting or deadlifting, I start at my ankles and move my way up, spending a bit more time on the areas I am concentrating on that day. This is typically my general warm up.

I start out with my static stretching. I know, you have been led to believe that static stretching before exercise is bad.. but recent studies have actually shown it to be beneficial. I like to do it before my dynamic warm up.

Chest Stretch - Find a doorway. Bring your elbows up to a 90 degree angle against the frame (think getting arrested) now press your chest forward through the frame. Hold that for 30 seconds.
Hip flexor stretch - Get into a kneeling position. Bring one leg forward so that you are in a half kneel position. Keeping your upper body tall, lean forward with your hips, elongating that back leg. Squeeze your glute on that side and feel that stretch on the inside of your back leg.

Now, for mobility. I have stolen these over the years from multiple sources - I just took the ones that I felt were the best.

#1 - Ankle mobility drill - Notice how he is going in multiple directions here. Don't force the range of motion, the more you do this, the better you will get at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H-wU5b5bWA

#1 - Split stance adductor mobilizations - now these start to work your hips through a natural range. .. even though it wont feel natural at the beginning as you have probably lost this movement over time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL64ceQfi_4&feature=player_embedded

#2 - Half kneel adductor dips - I also like these to promote a greater range of motion through the groin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaxG6hOj2pk&feature=player_embedded

#3 - Scapular wall slide - This is one of my favorite upper body mobility drills. It looks very basic, but does the trick, especially if your job requires you to lean forward over a computer, or drive constantly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k2kqyzz3Ug

These are very basic, as I didn't really want to write a novel, but I hope you begin to understand that hoping on the treadmill for a warm up isn't going to do anything for your performance, and may even hinder you or cause an injury.

If you have any questions, you know where to find me.

Majoring in the Minors

Ok, I am back to gaining weight. For those of you who don't know - I got bored with my training last year. I was 157lbs and could run like the wind. Unfortunately, I looked like Christian Bale in "The Machinist" . . . so I figured it was time to amp it up. My idea was to see how much weight I could gain in 6 months. I didn't care if some of it was fat, I just wanted to be bigger. My initial goal was another 25lbs. So, with the help of my Costco membership and their abundance of steaks, I put on the 25 lbs in about 3 months. Why stop there? So, I gained another 25 in another 3 months. I called it hibernating - everyone else called me fat. :) I hit 205lbs in January of 2011. That's almost 50 lbs! None of my clients understood what I was doing, and frankly, neither did I. I was stronger than ever, but couldn't navigate a flight of stairs without taking 6 breaks.

Now, it was time to cut weight. I knew I had put on some muscle, but I guessed about half of it was fat. So, what to do now? Count calories? Figure out my lean body mass, add in my daily activity expenditure, and figure out all of my macros? No. I just started eating better. I cut down on the bad fats I was eating, reduced simple sugars and ate more complex carbs. The result? I lost about 29 lbs in 3 months. I am now 176 and quite comfortable.
Why am I telling you this? Because I have seen it time and time again. I don't know where the term came from initially, but I love the phrase, "Majoring in the Minors". It can be applied to almost everything you see. Whether it be nutrition, exercise or relationships, society feels the need to make things more complicated than they really are.

Take my situation. I wanted to gain weight, so I ate more and lifted. Then, I wanted to lose weight, so I ate more supportively, and increased my cardio. I did no calculations. I knew what I had to do and I did it. I get questions all the time from clients and friends that are way beyond where they need to be. Not that I don't like the questions, but they usually aren't too impressed with the answer I give them. It's basic.

I see it in commercial gyms quite a bit. People flailing their limbs, trying to do this inane exercise that they saw on t.v last week - because they saw a celebrity doing it and it was supposed to get them "rock hard abz.." Meanwhile, that same person can't get on the ground and give me 1 full range push up with good form. Don't get too advanced with your training or nutrition. Take a step back and just try to figure out if you are over complicating things. Normally the solution is right there in front of your face. Our minds are very smart, but don't over-think. Simplify.

Program Design...

This will be a quick blog post - I've got 10 minutes to spare before my next client.

I am writing this in regards to almost every person I see at commercial gyms. With the exception of the ones who are doing some sort of split (upper, lower - Chest, tri's - whatever it may be) please just start designing programs that will hit the OTHER muscles in your body that maybe you can't see while looking in the mirror in front of the dumbbell rack. You DO have more than just a chest, biceps and abs.

Here is an easy solution if you decide to do a full body workout at the gym later today. Don't think in terms of "muscles worked" . .think more in terms of the motions that your body goes through.

If I get bored with my training, or just want to beat myself up with a random workout- I only need to follow a few guidelines;

Quad Dominant Movement - Whether it be squats, lunges, leg press - just something to work those muscles above your knee that seem to be quite useless to some... Remember, women like men with legs, not men shaped like candy apples. :)
Hip Dominant Movement - Deadlifts, pull-throughs, rear leg elevated split squats - Again, you may think that not having an ass is great, but a strong, powerful behind is something to be proud of.
Horizontal Push/Pull - Chest press, bent-over row, 1 arm row, chest flyes, face pull - If you pick some compound movements here, you can hit a lot of muscles in a short period of time.
Vertical Push/Pull - Chin ups, lat pulldown, shoulder press, military press - Same thing here, you can hit almost everything in your upper body with these push/pull movements.
Core exercise - This, I will leave blank. I train core different that most people do, and I don't want to get into the whole crunches vs. anti-flexion debate. There is a time and place for everything, and I only have 5 minutes left. ;)

So, there you have it. Throw yourself together a workout from this. I have gotten great results for people who have very limited time with workouts based off of this platform. The first time I saw this was in a book by Ian King, I forget the name now, but I am not taking credit for this. It was probably around long before Ian King's time, but just stick with the basics movement patterns and you will look and feel better than you have ever felt.

And, next time I am doing deadlifts and let out a war cry/yelp at the top of my lift, don't judge me! Stop curling the 35's and come over. There is no greater feeling than lifting as much weight as you possibly can off of the floor. Then, dropping it and doing it again.

Surround yourself with positive people

Negativity is everywhere. It's on the news, it's in the paper, and it's made it's way into our lives. I encounter so many people everyday who are constantly producing so much negative energy. But, the worst part is that it is contagious. If I spend enough time with these people, I start to think like them.
Now, I consider myself a very happy person. I tend to look on the bright side and see the cup as half full. I also like to be around people that think the same way. Now, I know what you are thinking - What does this have to do with training?

Everything.

I have many clients that walk through the door here at All Canadian Fitness that are very excited. I mean VERY excited to get started. I can see it in their eyes. As soon as we are finished with the consultation and I convince them that they CAN and WILL succeed, they leave here with their heads held high. There was even a woman a few weeks ago that actually pointed to a blank spot on our success wall and said, "That's my spot." - Which I thought was amazing.
They start their training full force and throw everything they have into their own success. But, then something changes. A few sessions in, I see that motivation start to falter. They start to be late, have bad excuses as to why they haven't worked out this week, and even worse, have made terrible decisions when it comes to their nutrition. Now - I am no idiot. They had success in the first few weeks - even losing a few inches. So, what has changed? That's what we always take some time to sit down and figure out. Unfortunately most of the time, it is their support system at home. It could be a number of things making the people around them act the way they do when they start to see their spouse/partner changing in a positive way. Whether it be frustration at their own lack of motivation, the stress of now having to change their own nutritional habits to begin to support their partner or jealousy in seeing the physical changes being made by their better half - it all takes a toll.

Now, it's usually (I say usually because I have seen a few instances in which the sedentary partner actually agrees to make some changes) the person that has been having success ,that has to switch back to the way they were in order to make their spouse happy. I have heard every line as to why this person shouldn't be making a positive change.

"Why do you need to get fit? You are already in a relationship, who are you trying to get pretty for?"
"You are sore all the time, how is this helping you?"
"You've tried things like this before and always failed, why are you bothering?"

And, it's this type of negativity that people don't forget. It unfortunately manifests itself as a little voice in your head that you hear all day - when you are eating that supportive lunch, on your drive to the gym, when you are sitting on the couch debating having that bowl of sugary cereal before bed.. and you feel defeated.

It doesn't have to be this way. I'm not saying split from your partner, but make it known that you are making these changes for yourself and no one else. Take the POSITIVE things that others are saying about you and write them down. Read them everyday. Know that you have the power to change and the will to make it happen. Just picture yourself at your ideal weight or measurements and imagine how good it will feel. Buy new, smaller clothes. Do it now.

There are always going to be negative people. Don't feed into it and don't become one yourself. If you need some positive reinforcement, send me an email! I'll tell you that you are a rockstar and nothing can stand in your way. Surround yourself with incredible people and you will soon see yourself start to change.

I guess that's enough of my motivational, hippy nonsense for now. :)

Goal setting

This weekend taught me a lot. For those of you who don't know - Ernie, Kristen, myself, and a bunch of our clients were up in Barrie this past weekend competing in an epic event called the Warrior Dash. It consists of a 5km run (mostly uphill) and combines that with about 12 different obstacles. I wont go into too much detail, but you should all take a look at the website.

Anyway, my point is that I had originally just wanted to beat my time of 34 minutes last year - but after beginning our training class, I figured it was time to shoot high. I had done almost no training last year and to beat my time wouldn't take too much effort. So, I trained. I told myself that I would get top 50 in my age group. I told myself I would get under 29 minutes. I set out some realistic steps to get there according to the time frame that I had. Guess what? I got 28 minutes and 50 seconds and came 44th in my age division.

What I am getting at, is that if there is one thing that is lacking in the majority of people that I see walk through the doors of ACF, it's a lack of short term and long term goals. Don't get me wrong, weight loss is great, so is putting on some quality mass... but I am talking about goals here. Most of my clients who have been the most successful are the ones who have a specific goal in mind when they come in for the consultation. Whether it be a wedding, a vacation, a sport specific goal. . whatever the case may be - everyone works better with goals.

Go home tonight. Think about where you want to be physically, in your professional life, even in your personal life - and write it down. It could be 3 months, it could be a year, hell, I have goals written for myself for 5 years. Now, this isn't "The Secret" and I'm not going to tell you to write yourself a cheque for 300,000 and post-date it for 3 months from now. . then just sit back and wait until the date comes.. then BAM! Profit! No, now it's time to write down some steps to get you there. Set up a time line. What are you going to do differently today, that is going to get you closer to your goals tomorrow? Start short term. I'm telling you. . time flies. A year can pass with no changes and only you are to blame. Do you have any idea how good it feels to accomplish a goal that you have set out for yourself that actually means something to you? When I saw my time and place in the race - I was truly happy with my results and effort. It does wonders for your psyche. And the best part is, once you attain one goal, you will set more.

I'm not trying to be Captain Motivational Speaker here, but just try it. Set one 3 month goal. It doesn't have to be in the gym. If you take the necessary steps, it will come into fruition.

Next year, for me at the dash - it's top 50 overall, and top 10 in my age group. :)