Charlie Reid BS, CSCS, CPT

The Bench Press is the Prince of barbell lifts for developing absolute strength and size–The King and Queen being the Squat and Deadlift of course. As much flack as it has gotten from the “functional training” crowd, the Bench Press is still THE best exercises for developing upper body mass and strength. However, form aside, one of the most common problems i see is an inability to recruit the back muscles during the lift. This seems foreign to some folks as i explain that these muscles are the wizard behind the curtain in improving your bench numbers.

Stronger Back = Stronger Bench.

When bench pressing, the lats and shoulder blade muscles need to stay contracted for the duration of the lift. This provides a firm foundation for which the pressing muscles can do their job. The goal of any good coach is to turn the Bench Press from a 2-wheel drive lift (just using pushing muscles–the chest and triceps) to a 4-wheel drive lift (using the lats and shoulder blade muscles).

Even SMART cars can be converted to 4 wheel drive. Don't get too smart, just use more muscles when you bench.

The cueing/visualization i like to use is to squeeze your shoulder blades into the bench and contract the armpit muscles hard throughout the lift. As one presses the barbell up from the bottom position, visualizing pushing the bar away from the body as opposed to pushing the bar up off of the chest tends to prevent the shoulder blades from losing their position on the bench.

This is often hard to coach using verbal cues alone, so i have devised an easy drill for you to try out that was inspired by Gray Cook’s RNT (reactive neuromuscular training) work. Essentially, we can use applied force via a miniband to elicit the proper recruitment and timing in a certain movement.

It’s interesting how, in fitness, we use bands for the lower body all the time to help recruit the glutes in squatting  and other lower body movements, but we don’t think to use them for the upper body.

This drill can be used as a warm-up drill prior to benching, or you can add dumbbells or kettlebells as assistance work after your barbell bench press work. Kettlebells, due to their offset handle are particularly sinister because they pull the shoulder into external rotation, which requires more stability and strength from the muscles of the shoulder girdle.

Give it a try and i’ll be looking forward to the onslaught of ‘Thank You’ emails i’ll be receiving from all the Bench Press personal bests that are about to be shattered!

Long gone are the days of charm school yet there is still much value about simple postural awareness in regards to health, vitality, and the subsequent performance that can be gained by a more aligned body. Posture is the quiet giant of health care, because how we carry ourselves every minute of the day can have profound implications towards our health, however, we often gloss over this detail in lieu of other quick-fixes.

Dear Office Jockey: Those migraines might not be "hereditary" after all.

Posture is not clearly defined nor agreed upon with dozens of methods out there talking about posture and how to achieve the golden ideal of alignment. As a coach, i also understand the value of distilling complex concepts into more simple and digestible ones. This article shall attempt to help you define what posture is and how to apply it to your movement practice.

Why should i care about posture in the first place?

Many aches and pains can be hypothesized to derive from postural faults from improper sitting, standing, sleeping, walking, and moving. Wouldn’t you love to save time on stretching, foam rolling, and decrease overall body tension? Then starting to become aware of posture and how you move is one of the most valuable components of your health. Also, building better postural habits long-term can prevent degeneration in your joints.

Posture-What is it?

Static-The body’s ideal neutral position where the joints are aligned and the least amount of muscular work is used to support the weight of the body while not moving. This includes standing, sitting and lying. A common misunderstanding is that the muscles need to be actively “engaged” or squeezed to maintain posture and, in a perfectly aligned body, where the bones are stacked in an ideal relationship to gravity, the muscles don’t need to do the work. Unnecessary tension from muscular holding patterns is what leads to a lot of aches, pains, and trigger points in the muscles. Find the “free” space in your static postural practice and you’ll save yourself a lot of time on stretching, foam rolling, and overall tension in your muscles. Hell, you might even recover faster between workouts.

*For static posture at rest, the most ideal alignment can be easily evaluated by using 90 degree angles. Pete Egoscue does an excellent job of teaching this to clients since we all should know what 90 degree angles look like. It’s not rocket science. Barring any body deformities, which are extremely rare, the body’s load joints should be stacked in 90 degree angles to one another–level shoulders stacked over hips, which are stacked over knees, etc. Feet should be pointed straight ahead with the knees pointing straight ahead. From the side view, you should be able to drop a plumb line between the center of the joints from ears to ankles.

The Egoscue Method's "Function Freddie" displaying the 90 degree angle rule of posture

Dynamic-This includes tasks such as walking, bending over, squatting, lifting, twisting, etc. A general guideline here is to start with a neutral spine and understand that deviation outside of neutral spine increases risk for injury-especially when loaded. I’m not saying to stay in neutral all the time, however, one must understand when to be in neutral and when one should deviate from neutral. When loading the body with weight, it is most ideal to keep an aligned spine.

Breathing

Breathing is the keystone that holds the arch of a healthy, erect posture. Without a functional diaphragm, the body develops patterns of excessive tension and collapse. I like to think of the diaphragm as a ballon that, with each inhalation, fills the torso with air, creating a lifting and relaxing effect to the external muscles of the body. During lifting tasks, creating adequate intra-abdominal pressure allows a firm base for which the muscles of the trunk can contract against to create spinal stiffness. This is essential for spine health and optimal performance in lifting heavy weights. Some other great benefits to diaphragmatic breathing include better digestion, circulation, and relaxation. This is why Yogis focus so much on Prana (the breath) during Asana (yoga posture) practice. Good breathing helps focus the mind while also releasing tension and holding patterns in the muscles.

How to Breathe Diaphragmatically

A common postural fault-Sticking Chest up and Squeezing shoulder blades together: I know a big arch and strong shoulder blade retraction and depression helps for bench pressing, but it adds excess tension to the spine and shoulder blades which can lead to trigger points, neck pain, and tension in the mid-back. This also positions the diaphragm at an oblique angle, which doesn’t allow natural breath to travel downwards into the pelvis. A better strategy is to separate gym movement from life movement. Arch the back and squeeze those blades for a big bench, but relax the back, lengthen the spine, and let the shoulders widen on your upper back when you exit the gym.

Arnold says save your chest puffing for the stage or at the beach.

Can Exercise change posture?

Exercises and stretches to release tight tissue structures can aid in bringing awareness to postural misalignment, as well as helping to melt unwanted muscular tension/soft tissue adhesions. That aside, what changes posture for the long-term is better movement habits cumulatively as well as engaging in a healthy self-concept. Mindlessly doing stretches and exercises for posture with a disconnect to one’s movement awareness is a waste of time. If this is the case or you are not ready for the undertaking, then don’t bother. Use foam rolling, stretching, massage, chiropractic, and whatever other means necessary to return to a resting state of ease, but the pyramid of good posture is built upon the foundation of good movement habits and postural awareness over time.

Technology

I admit that i’m not a big product pusher, however i believe there are some ergonomic products out there that can help with maintaining ideal joint alignment during tough times or times that you know you’ll be sitting for prolonged periods. Posture can be affected by fatigue and when the mind or body gets tired, lack of sleep, illness, injury, or depression can cause the body to slump and fall out of ideal alignment. It is these times that we can use technology to our advantage to elicit neutral joint position without too much effort. I would like to also present a word of caution that tools such as sitting wedges and lumbar rolls should be used as an assist to good movement and postural habits, not as a crutch. We should be able to move, sit, stand, and sleep without much assistance, however, knowing when to use technology at the right time can help get out of a bad situation when the body needs to heal.

1) Cervical Pillow-Most people have gnarly tightness in their necks (me included). Getting a cervical pillow really helps to keep the neck in a neutral position during sleep. I’ve also had clients that have decreased their snoring volume or have eliminated it completely through a good cervical pillow. A definite plus! I like the double core models that have inserts where you can adjust the hardness based on whatever is most comfortable to you. They also make anti-snoring pillows for those that sleep on their sides with a little conduit to put your arm through so it doesn’t fall asleep.

2) Sitting Wedge-A sitting wedge can be useful to maintain a neutral curve in the the lower back when a chair is not ideal. This could be great for office workers where one doesn’t have much choice about the chair they are sitting in. Although more and more offices are getting ergonomic evaluations for their employees, you can be proactive and convert your grade-school desk chair into a more functional chair with a wedge.

3) Mattress-An excellent test i got from Kelly Starrett, Physical therapist based out of San Francisco, is to lay on your matress face up. If within 1 minute you have to shift or move a limb to avoid extension, your matress may not be suited for you. Movement is the sub-conscious way for body to avoid excess muscular or joint stresses. I know matresses are expensive, but quality sleep is priceless.

4) Airplane Cervical Pillow-With flights being such a hassle, the neck can easily fall prey to discomfort from misalignment for long periods of time. I like the memory foam cervical pillows because they seem to have better support, however, they aren’t as portable as the inflatable models.

5) Bed Spectacles-When sitting in bed it’s easy to prop your head and neck up in a kinked position. This further adds to the forward head posture and rounded upper back position that is so common in today’s society.

6) Lumbar Support-Let’s face it, a lot of chairs and seats are built by the lowest bidders. I always mention flights because those are the hardest times to get up and move around, let alone sit comfortably. This is when having the right ergonomic support can help maintain a more neutral spine. I like this inflatable lumbar roll because it is portable and can be inflated to the right amount of comfort for you. Again, it’s important to not have to depend on the lumbar roll all the time, but when long international flights are on the agenda, bring out the heavy artillery. You can also substitute in a pinch by using a rolled up towel, jacket, or blanket in place of the lumbar roll if you forgot to bring it or happen to be reading this blog post while on a flight.

Floor Sitting Practice

Unfortunately, sitting in chairs for most of our lives limits our range of motion in the hips and spine. I wrote a blog post several months back on creative sitting, which discusses the value of sitting on the floor. Especially as we get older, we start to lose mobility in the hips and spine. This is often the root cause of symptoms such as hip, knee, back and neck pain. Moving postures frequently and spending some time on the floor in various positions can help maintain or improve hip mobility, while also being a more active way to sit. In countries where squatting to use the toilet or sitting on the ground to eat is common (i.e.-asian countries), we see very little knee, hip and back problems. Maybe we should take note and start injecting a floor sitting practice in our daily tasks. Do work on your computer on the floor, eat dinner picnic-style on the lawn outside with your family/friends, etc.

Resources to further your Posture Education

Dynamic Alignment through Imagery by Eric Franklin (Best book on using imagery and developing a better self-concept for postural improvement)

Ageless Spine (Best book on how to improve activities of daily living like sitting, standing, bending, and walking)

Pain Free by Pete Egoscue (More thoughts on the human condition as it relates to posture as well as some postural exercises that may help with pain symptoms as well as help guide you to a more relaxed neutral alignment)

ATTENTION: The following post is for super movement geeks and may be too heady or obtuse for those in the fitness world. I make no apologies, but please do NOT feel obligated to read on…

I have a confession to make: I have a secret obsession with the human body. I’m fascinated in how certain practices/disciplines can inform the body to develop higher quality and more effortless movement. I also love strength athletics and fitness.  As a competitive strength athlete (powerlifting, olympic-style weightlifting, kettlebells, and highland games), i love picking up or throwing heavy objects. My work and personal research passion for the past 5 years or so is to investigate ways in which somatic disciplines can help those in the fitness world develop a more intelligent, and therefore more resilient body. Unfortunately, i feel like both worlds have much headway to make before bridging the gap between the two seemingly disparate worlds.

After attending the DNS Sport Course a couple weekends ago by the Prague School, several light bulbs went off in my head in regards to better understanding the various somatic disciplines and how they relate to body function/efficient movement. I know i still have a long way to go in really getting a grasp on this stuff, but as this work-in-progress assembles itself as a puzzle in front of me, it’s motivating to more clearly make out the picture at the very least in my fractured amalgam of somatic bodywork and fitness. In fact, so fractured it is, that most somatic practitioners wouldn’t touch the strength game with a ten foot pole and most Powerlifters wouldn’t blink at the somatic world unless it came with a dianabol stack and a promise for a quadruple bodyweight deadlift. But in my mind, the two are not so opposite to one another. I have to believe they can inform one another through awareness of better movement, if anything, which is often lost in the pursuit of obtaining higher and higher levels of performance. Usually people won’t pay much attention to quality of movement until they are injured or their current strategy stops working for them. This is unfortunate, because i also feel that my own foray into somatic exploration has helped me quite a bit to improve performance in the strength game. More work to be done of course, but here are some observations on some of the various somatic disciplines:

Alexander Technique: Posture needs to be developed organically, not through forcing one’s musculature to hold up one’s structure. Structural support should be relaxed, allowing the position of the bones to rest upon one another with as little muscular effort as possible. Many contemporary views of posture focus on creating change by overusing the erectors to sit up straight, as well as pulling the shoulder blades back. This is not how the body is designed to hold itself upright with minimal effort. Not sure an Alexander practitioner would care much to talk about the muscles, opting instead of directing one’s awareness and intentions, but posture needs to be relaxed and effortless, not forced. In fact, too much force tends to blow past the subtleties of movement and deep inner awareness of one’s structure. For fitness folks and athletes, Alexander principles are important for activities beyond the barbell. So much of strength gains are about recovery and maintaining the natural integrity of our structure. Learning to conduct oneself outside by sitting, standing, walking, and moving throughout our world effortlessly could perhaps offer better recovery. Also, the Alexander concepts of head/neck position is essential for core function and joint centration during spinal loading. For example, i’m a big proponent of keeping the chin tucked and the neck packed during movements like the squat and deadlift. This is essential for healthy spines, and could also allow for better signals from the CNS to the rest of the body through better spinal alignment.

Moshe Feldenkrais

Feldenkrais Method: Moshe Feldenkrais was a Physicist and Judo practitioner who actually spent quite a bit of time observing how babies develop. He, much like the developmental kinesiological underpinnings of the Prague School, observed how we all develop the same but deviate from this model as a consequence of bipedalism, injury, self concept and imbalanced movement habits over a lifetime, etc. Body learning and better use of the self is a central theme in most somatic practices, and Feldenkrais is no different. Even contemporaries of Feldenkrais like Thomas Hanna (Hanna Somatics), use terms like “Sensory Motor Amnesia”, or SMA, which essentially means that the body forgets how to function the way it was designed to function–the most efficient and organic way. We can speculate that because our conscious minds are fraught with such anxiety and stressful living, our bodies can often go haywire on us in an attempt to regain order or homeostasis. This is something we do not necessarily see in other mammals. Our movement practice, therefore, should be a way to return ourselves to center, to bring us back to the point where we are free of mind and body–to allow our movement to be uninhibited. In the strength game, maximal effort is essential to produce the amount of performance that sets records, however, returning to baseline again is the way we recover for the next attempt. Holding patterns of tension between attempts, events, training sessions, etc is wasted energy and could actually slow progress down. My good friend and Powerfliter, Deric Stockton, calls this “action potential”. Essentially, and i’m paraphrasing, the nervous system and muscle tonus must relax completely in order for it to have the ability to contract fully during an attempt at a max effort lift. Most lifters go up to the platform already in a pre-contracted state. This theory states that, the more relaxed a muscle, the more potential it has to produce force.

Pete Egoscue

Egoscue Method: Pete Egoscue was a Vietnam war vet who was badly wounded in Vietnam from a gunshot to the leg. After recovering, he found that he was still in pain with no explanation by the medical community as to why he was still in pain. From my understanding, Pete studied anatomy and attempted to hold himself in what he considered an ideal posture as displayed in the anatomy texts. This was an exhausting task, however, after coming out of trying to hold this ideal posture, he noticed that his symptoms felt better. This was the genesis for his movement protocol that he has developed which is centered around restoring the body’s natural alignment. The principle or theory to understand here is that when the bones are aligned, the body function functions better through better. Even if the structure is abnormal from injury, congenital defects, etc, it still needs to function as if it were in perfect alignment. Therefore, restoring this alignment can, and often does, lead to mitigation of symptoms, improved strength through better position of joints, ease of movement, and even more subtle forms of health such as improved circulation, mental clarity, and self-esteem.

Franklin Method: What i have learned from this method is that posture is a collection of our past movement habits, beliefs, self-concept, and culture. You can temporarily change one’s structure through getting the muscles to contract and hold the structure in a certain position, however, if one does not change the aforementioned attributes, the changes will never stick long-term. For example, if someone presents with a slouched posture, rounded spine, and forward shoulders, this generally denotes someone with low energy, perhaps depressed or lacking purpose. You could do some exercise to extend their spine and bring their shoulders back, however, if their lifestyle and vision of themselves as aligning with this postural ideal isn’t set mentally, they will eventually fall back to their old postural presentation. Successful interventions need to simultaneously address the mental and physical, and the person in question needs to own their physical and mental health if they wish to change their posture.

Tying it all in…

As esoteric as somatic work can be, i’d like to attempt to distill down some important points that we can use in our practice as athletes and fitness enthusiasts. Fitness and performance are primarily consumed with quantitative achievements (how fast, how high, how much, etc), however, longevity as well as performance improvements can be achieved by also paying attention to qualitative measures. This is exactly what somatic work has to offer. The top 3 take home points so far that branch out across all somatic practices are:

1) Body Awareness. Emphasizing and improving upon the basics of movement both in life and in sport. This means better joint centration, postural awareness, core awareness and function, alignment, better breathing, etc.

2) Balance. Pushing the envelope of performance puts us on the “yang” side (the masculine) of the equation, however we also need some “yin” practices in our toolbelt to speed recovery, decrease the risk for injury, and keep us in a relaxed state until it’s time to train hard. Training should be focused and intense if one wishes to make gains, however, the rest of life should be as effortless and relaxed as possible. One should attempt to find this balance in whatever modality most closely aligns with their beliefs, accessibility, and understanding. Yoga, Qigong, meditation, long quiet walks, autogenics, etc are all examples of a releasing practice to quiet the mind and body and return one back to a resting state of ease.

3) Ergonomic Considerations. Because our culture sits so much and exhibits such poor movement habits (or lack thereof), we need to be keenly aware now more than ever of our environment in relation to our musculoskeletal health. This means that positions of rest need to also be optimized. Learning how to sit, stand, and sleep are often overlooked factors in assessing one’s ability to heal and maintain integrity of our structure. Check out my blog on creative sitting for some creative ideas to help with your own mobility!

Plenty of athletes have pushed the limits without this stuff, however, if one’s goal is longevity and a more embodied experience in fitness, i suggest considering some of the above as a means to balance the practices that we pursue for performance.

More to come, and please, feel free to comment ad nauseam! I have much more to learn in this arena, but always look forward to hearing what others have come across in their own studies.

You don't HAVE to be this guy every time you go out with friends.

Let’s face facts for a second: losing weight and staying healthy can be a pain in the ass, This is especially true when our culture seems to be particularly well suited to sabotage a healthy lifestyle. From holiday parties, football games/sporting events, and dinner dates, these are all the breeding ground for indulgences that can often leave us de-railed on our quest to lose weight, stay healthy, and feel good. Losing weight can often pose some social distress and backlash. My goal with this blog post is to provide some solutions or practices that will help you pad the social uppercuts that may catch you off guard when trying to lose a few pounds. I truly believe that you don’t have to hide in the attic while your friends and family are all out drinking champagne mimosas on Sunday and attending happy hours in the middle of the week..

Tip #1: Write down your goals. A goal that is not written down is just a wish. Write it down, put it in your wallet, on your fridge, or a place where it is constantly visible. You’d be surprised what you can accomplish when you set your intentions right and make it visible.

Tip #2: Let as many people know about your goal as possible so that you can create a social hammock to support you as you go through the change. Friends, colleagues and family members should support you, not try and bring you down by tempting you with some peppermint bark and egg nog shooters during the holiday season. Healthy relationships should expand you and make you want to be a better person, not limit you or bring you down. Surround yourself with the expansive types of people as much as possible.

Tip #3: Handle your saboteurs with grace and patience. A lot of people will try and de-rail you with their comments simply because they are not happy with their own choices and thus project their own frustrations onto you as a mirror to their own unhappiness. Resist the temptation to react negatively, even though it may be tempting. If your co-worker gets mad at you because you won’t toss back a few pints with him at the bar, just smile. Remember the reason that social situations don’t (and shouldn’t) have to revolve around alcohol and junk food, the core of why we meet up is to enjoy each other’s company and relate to one another in a positive way. At the same time, don’t make a big deal out of the fact that you are not drinking. Just smile and enjoy their company, Take part in the jokes, the jabbing, and all the enriching stuff that comes with friends. Share an affirmation with them and be the stronger person by acknowledging others in a way that shows that you enjoy their company, but you really don’t need the alcohol. This is an art and a practice, but i promise it will get easier the more you practice.

Tip #4: Over-exercising to compensate for bad eating is not a good idea. Most of us are already working long hours at work, eating sporadically, and not sleeping as much as we should. This stress compounds over time and by over-exercising, it only puts us in a worse place. Exercise can be a good stress, but on a body that is already exhausted from bad habits, it can be counter-productive to our health and fitness. If you fall off the train from bad eating, don’t stress, just brush it off and get back on it without resorting to extremes. Remember that extreme behaviors are what throws us out of balance to begin with, so trying to do one extreme to neutralize another only ends up in a perfect storm of imbalance that will lead to exhaustion and ultimately failure to reach one’s goals in a healthy way.

Tip #5: Learn to modify your habits during certain social events. We all need strategy in order to stay lean and still be social. The biggest key is to limit alcohol, starches, and sugars. Most social events are loaded with booze, chips, cookies, pastries, and other sinful saboteurs to the fat loss crusade. Below are a list of some common social gatherings and some ways to deal with them.

Football Parties/Sporting Events

Eat a small meal before, bring veggie sticks/hummus to snack on, get some good quality protein as well to help with satiety. If you have some food in your stomach before hand you wont be as likely to snack. Also, sipping water can help any false signals of hunger that might be popping up.

Happy Hour

Drink club soda with a lime. Looks just like gin and tonic. Or, if you must, have  1 drink and nurse it. Best choices are wine, vodka/tonic, gin/tonic, whiskey/club soda. After that drink  water or club soda. If you are going the beer route, Guinness has the least calories with belgian/european beers and hefeweizens being higher on the sugar content. It’s usually not the alcohol that is the problem if you keep it to 1 drink, it’s the poor decisions you make while drinking (and i’m not just talking about the misplaced comments, pick up lines, and DUIs). Heavy drinking usually accompanies poor food choices.

Date Night

Order the steak, eat the veggies, ditch the potatoes, fries, chips, and dessert. Don’t ride the insulin roller coaster that will leave you feeling worse the next day. Remember that it is the protein, veggies, and fats that nourish the body, the starches only provide quick fuel and we often don’t need as much as we think we do. I always say you have to earn your carbs and unless you are exercising for long durations, you really don’t need a ton of carbohydrate. Even so, the carbs you do eat should come from veggies, some fruits (although limit if you are trying to lose weight), and slow-burning carbohydrate like sweet potatoes, wild rice, etc.

When you apply a healthy mindset, you can eliminate suffering from discordance between your intentions and your actions. Here are some lessons from Taoist philosophy applied to physical culture:

1) Harmonious action:

seek first to take away what you don’t need before adding more.

It is not uncommon to always be looking to add more of what we think we need instead of taking away what we don’t need. Adding more into a system that isn’t balanced to begin with throws us off balance, in disharmony with ourselves and our surroundings. In the case of exercise, some think that more is better, however, there are consequences for over-exercising such as: stagnation in progress, overtraining syndrome, overuse injuries, mental exhaustion, adrenal fatigue, etc. There needs to be a balance of work and rest in order to elicit a healthy change in the body. Yielding to challenges and trying not to control what we can not is a virtuous lesson indeed.  In the case of eating, many seeking weight loss goals look to add supplements instead of first taking away the poor food choices that are taking them further away from their goals. It seems to simple at first, however, supplements will never make up for good quality food. Seek first to add quality whole foods to balance the diet, then add what you feel is needed.

2) Dynamic Balance

Choose movement that balances your lifestyle, not just what some expert thinks is best for you.

Even though research can be important in helping us improve our health and fitness by providing statistically safe protocols, there are still many variables that cannot be controlled for. This is where instinct ultimately comes in handy. The body has a clever way of telling us what it needs if we learn to listen in. Even if a certain workout or nutrition program has been proven in a lab or by a certain group to be effective, it may not be ideal for you. The highest levels of health and fitness come from tuning into those instincts and finding where the balance lies within oneself. Some people can handle more cardiovascular exercise than others, whereas others can handle heavier bouts of resistance training. If it resonates with you and you feel good, you’re probably on the right track. We need to be cognizant of our lifestyles and choose a movement practice that complements our goals and supports our ambitions in the present.

Stress comes from disrupting the dynamic balance within oneself. Stress, for the purpose of this article, is measured by the distance between what one believes they should be doing and what one is actually doing at a given point in time. If you feel good, then go hard. If you feel tight, overworked and exhausted, maybe a light warm-up, some foam rolling, and mobility with some meditation/breathing thrown in might be a good call. Ultimately, no amount of super athlete workouts, precision set/rep schemes, or carb counting can account for the accuracy of instinct when one learns to tune in.

3) Oneness

You are not separate from the rest of the world, you are connected to the rest of the world.

How does your health and fitness choices relate to family health, friendships, social health, community, and/or global health? Does the exercise you participate in involve others or help to enrich the lives of others besides your own? Even though our society is more individualistic than ever before, it is important to stay healthy and do so in a way that helps raise the health of all those around us. Instead of going for a walk or going to the gym alone, why not call a friend to join you once in a while? Health and fitness practice should expand you and those around you, not limit.

4) Cyclical Growth

Even though we have recreated an artificial environment for ourselves, amidst fluorescent lighting and manufactured air being pumped into to our houses and offices, we still are affected by the change in seasons.

Change up your routine, eat seasonally, always have a random variable in place. Specificity has a price and overtraining and overuse syndromes are directly related to repetitive stress by doing the same thing over and over again without variation or deloading. The human animal is the most diverse animal on the planet, having the ability to run, jump, skip, swim, climb, crawl, etc. Even though we are not the best at any one physical task, our movement should reflect the celebration of the myriad of movement possibilities. This will not only break the monotony in movement practice/training, but it will also help make a smarter motor system, resistant to injury, overtraining, and boredom. Even if one wishes to train for a specific event, such as a marathon or strongman competition, it is still important to vary the stimulus among training sessions and have a dedicated off-season of varied movement (e.g.-between workouts, change the movements slightly such as replacing a barbell bench press with dumbbell incline presses). I use the off-season time to try new things, recover, clear up any injuries from hard training, and have fun without filling the mind with competition.

There are several variations of this guy and just like the stick, there are even smaller versions to keep at work or on travel. Known as the BodyBackBuddy, Theracane, or BackNobber, this device is well suited for upper body work including, but not limited to, upper traps, rhomboids, and scalenes. For myself and a few of my clients this thing is great for relieving tension in the traps that could be causing tension headaches.

As far as progression goes, you should always strive to maintain a supple set of tissues and by challenging the ability to relax your muscles, you are going to open up a world of better recovery, lower stress levels, and better performance! Just rolling on a squishy foam roller mindlessly will not get the job done. Progress by moving to harder implements when the time is right and be mindful of the areas of your body that need the most attention. If an area is really tight and/or sore, give it some loving.

And finally, i’d like to say that anything can become a soft-tissue tool. A doorway, a dog chew toy, a bottle, etc. The above are just a standard list of stuff that i like to use, but you can channel the spirit of MacGyver as much as you’d like in regards to soft-tissue tools. The most important point is to actually do your soft tissue work frequently regardless of the tools you have available.

Here's one way to combine fitness and music: Run the piano stairs and make music each time your foot hits the stairs.

For those of you that may or may not know, Music is my first love in life. As an overweight teen, i never gravitated well to sports. Even the counter-culture sports so popular in my youth like aggressive inline skating and skateboarding posed even bigger challenges as i practiced my 50/50-grind-to-faceplant. Needless to say i quickly traded in my skateboard and oversized JNCO jeans for a guitar.

Oversized pants. What the hell were we thinking? Might as well wear a denim dress, eh?

As i started getting in to fitness, music was an integral part of my workouts. I quickly started planning my workouts with my music choices, and i still reflect fondly on some of the best workouts i’ve ever had as i bring up a tune that i haven’t heard in a long time.

This blog is to serve as a guideline for you to select the most appropriate music for workout to improve enjoyment, motivation, and maybe even help you focus more. I’d also like to preface by stating that much of this blog isn’t necessarily backed by research, as there is still much research to be done, but my empirical findings should serve as a good jumping-off point to find the best-fit-match for you and your workouts.

I’ve divided each musical section into 4 categories: Low Skill/Low Intensity, Low Skill/High Intensity, High Skill/Low Intensity, and High Skill/High Intensity. I figure this is a good starting point to assign music selections to, as each category requires a different amount of mental attention and/or arousal.

Low Skill/Low Intensity (i.e.-Long, slow distance running, rowing, bicycling, etc)-Choosing a rhythmic form of music that matches the intensity of your pace to the cadence of the music is a good choice and can help limit fatigue and improve enjoyment. Research by Karageorghis et al. shows that when music is synchronized with submaximal exercise, it can actually improve work output. Concomitantly, music can help ameliorate the affects of fatigue by lowering the rate of perceived exertion. Hence the use of a “power” song during the final stretch of a road race or end of a spin class. Depending on how your workout schedule is set up, you may want some slower tempo songs for your recovery workouts and some faster paced songs for your harder workouts.

I would select "Free falling" by Tom Petty for his Power song.

Low Skill/High Intensity (i.e.-Interval Cardio/Sprints)-These are activities that are fast-paced but don’t require a lot of movement proficiency, skill, or balance. This could be sprinting up hills, cycling sprints, pushing a weighted sled, etc. I would choose a style of music that is higher tempo. Research form Szabo et al. showed in a study on cycling to exhaustion that slow-to-fast music yielded the best results for efficiency (workload/heart rate reserve ratio), as well as produced a higher workload. This is in contrast to the other test groups which went from fast-to-slow, just slow, and control. I’m not sure what this means really, although it may be worth experimenting with slower music as a warm-up and then ramp the intensity up as you start your intervals, then inject some slower music for cool-downs.

High Skill/Low Intensity (i.e.-Practicing a new movement you’ve never done before, Gymnastics, Olympic Weightlifting). This is actually the category that i’m most fascinated with as i have yet to find any research discussing this category. It’s also the category that i spend a lot of time in as i coach my clients new movements in the gym. Could certain music be a distraction to motor learning? Yet to be determined, but i’d be willing to venture a guess that turning your gym into a mini-rave with loud techno music is probably not the best choice for teaching someone the nuances of the Squat.

Most research is done on submaximal exercise, or high intensity exercise with a low-skilled movement like running or cycling. This is most likely because these modalities are easy to test and most Universities are plenty comfortable with cycle ergometer and treadmill tests (especially when you have unskilled/unmotivated college students looking to participate in a study for 20 bucks so they can buy more keystone light for their fraternity kegger). My suggestion is to choose music that has no words as lyrics can be the most distracting (my opinion), and take particular care of the volume of the music. It shouldn’t hinder your ability to think and tune in to how your body is moving. When in doubt, just turn the music OFF.

John Belushi may have been the test subject for a lot of exercise science research. Just sayin'.

High Skill/High Intensity (i.e.-Max test day on a particular lift, Olympic Weightlifting, Gymnastics, etc). If you are testing your 1-rep max in the deadlift, for example, and you are already very proficient in the lift, i suggest you find a song that brings up your arousal level before the lift. However, when it comes time to lift the weight, i recommend silence. The reason i say this is that maximal exertion with full body movements require concentration and micro-adjustments during the lift itself. This is especially true with the Olympic lifting variations which are much more technical in nature. This is of course my opinion, but it’s one that has served me well over the years. The Power lifts (Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift) can usually handle a higher arousal level with more intense music, especially if you are already very proficient at the movement, however, the Olympic lifts are much more technical and may need slightly less arousal to maintain focus and form during the attempt. This is something you will have to personally experiment with to find your optimal arousal rate. I’ve even experimented with listening to calmer classical or atmospheric forms of music during max attempts, as i often found myself too aroused to keep my focus. It’s worth the pursuit to stay focused and driven during maximal exertion. Experiment and have fun with it!

Now it’s time to play DJ! Assemble your best playlists based on your workouts and do not discount the power of music during exercise. It can be a powerful ally in keeping your workout intensity high or, if you are stressed out/fatigued, maybe put on some lighter music and relax while you do some mobility work or foam rolling.

The other day i decided, in the spirit of Henry Rollins, to write one statement about what i perceive strength to be in between sets of deadlifting. I guess you could call this “active rest”.  This is what training has taught me about strength, and it changes all the time based on my experience, understanding, and development. Many have espoused the more literal definitions of strength, but i’d like to point out some more philosophical surroundings that makes strength a more rich concept. I encourage you to read on and see if you can form your own ideas about what strength means to you.

Cool Hand Luke: Strength to never back down. "A natural born world-shaker" -Dragline

Strength is…

A feeling. Muscles don’t matter when mind and spirit aren’t on board, forged by a clear purpose.

Not falling in love, but fighting to stay in love when challenges arise.

Delayed gratification: Learning to delay pleasure now for greater gains later.

Not avoiding fear, but inching closer and closer to it.

Being able to let go of yourself to help others.

Quiet assuredness, not loud exhibitionism.

Stripping away the unnecessary elements before adding necessary elements.

Learning to make complex things simple.

Salvaging “impossible” odds.

Understanding how the subtleties in life can equate to the most profound changes.

In my quest to be a better coach, i’m always looking for ways to distill complex ideas and make them more digestible for my clients and those that come to me for advice. I’m not the smartest kid on the block, but if i had to narrow down three philosophies that have survived the test of time thus far in my career, it has been these: Train like a man, eat like an adult, and play like a kid.

1) Train Like a Man-Now before Star Jones slaps me on the wrist for my chauvinist statement, i’d like to reiterate by saying that EVERYONE should train in a way that builds movement quality AND strength. This is not gender-specific as there are plenty of men who don’t emphasize either quality nor strength even if they think they are. With that being said, many of the female trainees i encounter are averse to training with weights, especially if the weight gets over what they would perceive as “heavy”.

Most commercial gyms, as an example, are filled with gadgets and well-cushioned machines to help people “get fit”, but long term, i’d argue that they are hurting more than helping. This only prolongs the problem of not learning how to move one’s body in space safely and efficiently, and caters to those who’d rather have a comfortable machine that they can get on easily, turn on the Kardashians, and tune out. If you need specific exercises to do, they should be in the squat, deadlift, and pressing family. We’ll call those our movement vegetables. After those are on your plate you can add those cool new exercises you read in SHAPE or Men’s Health magazine for your movement dessert.

Turn of the century ladies getting their lift on!

I’m not saying you have to squat 700 pounds, but having an ample amount of strength can help whatever fitness or health goal you are wishing to seek. Don’t let the superheavy weightlifting competitors scare you with their big guts. They didn’t get that way from strength training, they got that way from eating massive amounts of food (and most likely foods that aren’t related to Broccoli). On top of this, as a special note to women who are afraid to lift heavy weights for fear of getting big, the reality is that you would need a lot of “Chemical help” in order to see changes in your physique that err on the side of bulkiness. Weights will actually make you more shapely and this should be a horse that has been beaten into the ground long ago. What’s even worse is seeing commercial gym-goers head to the gym and do countless hours of steady-state cardio in the cardio theater in an attempt to work off the weekend’s load of chicken wings and and light lagers. This is a horrible strategy and really just leads to more exhaustion, muscle wasting (thus decreasing metabolic rate), and possibly leading to thyroid dysfunction. Here’s an excellent article by John Kiefer on this very topic from Elite FTS.

Treadmills were invented for torture, didn’t you read my blog post on it?

2) Eat Like an Adult- The average American diet is overrun with too many starches and sugars and not enough healthy proteins, fats, and vegetables. Starches and sugars cravings are the result of crisis eating that one reverts to when stress hits hard or they need a quick energy fix. The mark of an adult eating profile is to learn about delayed gratification, and to develop an understanding that healthy foods  may not give you the initial energy spike, but they satiate and rebuild the body long term. Preparation is the key here. Starches and sugars are also rampant in our culture because they are cheap. They are an easy way to sell what appears to be more value for the money. Just look at your average breakfast place, selling you a veggie omelette with potatoes, toast, and fruit. Now the only thing worth eating that really nourishes the body is the veggie omelette, but restaurants will pile on the potatoes to add more value because they are cheap! Learn to eat what your body needs and not what it wants, and you wont have to worry about being overweight, lacking in energy, and/or suffering in your performance goals.

Marathon runners and recreational endurance folks are the worst culprits of child-like eating habits. I swear, people join running clubs and train for long road races just so they can eat more junk food. And by the way, those powerbars are nothing more than candy bars with an athletic-looking wrapper. In a similar analogy, just because you wear a bat suit, doesn’t make you a superhero. Dig it?

Moral of the story, ditch the fruit snacks, sodas, cookies, etc and eat like an adult!

3) Play Like a Kid-This is my favorite one, and an often overlooked component of total health. Adults sure know how to take a good thing sometimes and completely ruin it. Fitness is the same way. We constantly show up to the gym to try and burn off the fat, but we forget to find enjoyment in movement. Goals in training are great, however, it’s also important to learn how to move for the sake of moving. Our body is a movement machine that needs constant and consistent doses of the stuff to keep our cells functioning at optimal levels. There i go, using adult-speak to explain a beautiful thing! damn. When was the last time you tried to learn something new? When was the last time you played with your kid? I mean REALLY played, not just toss a ball back and forth while you tweet about how long you had to wait in line at the DMV. PLAY more, try new things, learn to dance, learn to not take yourself so seriously, and you might be surprised that your stress levels are dropping and you find more enjoyment in your life. If only corporate wellness was centered around play and not on weight loss challenges, we’d probably be better off in more ways than one.

When was the last time you swung from a rope? climbed a tree? played tag?

As 2011 comes to a close and we welcome a new year, i figure it’s important to reflect on the development that takes place over the past 12 months. It’s amazing to me how much can happen in a year, especially a year of tremendous growth. 2011 was definitely one of those years for me, and as i’ve worked long hours, commuted upwards of 3 hours round trip, and spent much of my free time reading, researching, and answering e-mails, i’ve definitely walked away with a much better understanding of the human experience and would like to share with you what i’ve learned. But, most importantly, i also realize that the more i uncover, the more i realize i don’t know. It is with this humble mindset, that i am just thankful for the opportunity to live in a country where i am free to pursue my passion and share it with everyone who may read this blog (yes, all 3 of you!).

1)   The importance of Cooperative Care: In the words of Thomas Merton, no man is an island. I realized that having a good network of health practitioners to support the goals of each client not only reduces stress for both parties, but helps them get better FASTER! Things happen much faster when complimentary services are provided. Case in point: if you have an older gentleman who wishes to start exercising but is locked up like a rusty Mexican burrito truck, I’d rather send him out for a month of soft tissue work to help the movement work we are doing in the gym be much more productive. Having a good manual therapist (or many, because the good ones are busy!), physical therapists, acupuncturists, and movement therapists are great assets to my health and fitness army. It is my goal in 2012 to continue to build my army.

2)   Behavioral Change Coaching: After attending the Long Beach Perform Better Summit, I had the privilege to watch John Berardi speak about his Precision Nutrition program and what struck me, and most of us attending, is that (exceptional) personal training is about making lasting behavioral change. Frustration, stagnation, and burnout are often blossoms from the seeds of poor planning and logical implementations on the part of both the trainer and client. Trainers get frustrated when clients don’t adhere to the program, but whose fault is that? The trainer. Yes, the client should be a part of the process, but it is the trainer’s job to find a solution that can be manageable by that person at that time. You can have a perfect workout routine and diet plan, but if you can’t follow it, then it aint that great. Needless to say, I signed up for John Berardi’s Precision Nutrition Certification and have already been implementing his strategies with much better success and peace of mind.

3)   All Battles Cannot Be Won (Right now): Rare is the client that comes into a personal training environment with specific goals in mind. Often, they unveil a laundry list of needs/wants/desires that spew into the lap of the trainer like that girl from the exorcist spewing pea soup as her head spins 360 degrees. Unfortunately, as I am  a people pleaser, I try and accommodate all those needs/wants/desires into one program only to come up short on all of them. As the old saying goes, when you try for everything you usually get nothing. I’m not saying that you can’t train for multiple goals at one time, however, it should be stated that the more stuff you add to the pot, the more probability for lackluster results in each. The more specific the better. For example, if you want to gain muscle mass but also want to decrease your bodyfat, you may have a harder time getting either. It’s not impossible, but those that have been successful gaining muscle have to train with high volumes, sleep, and eat a lot! This isn’t the same recipe for those that want to lose weight, seeing that weight loss requires calorie restriction.

Even the Exorcist girl can change, right?

4)   Being OK as the middle child. This is  perhaps a silly metaphor, but I see personal training as being sandwiched between the Physical therapy world and the Athletic Strength and Conditioning world. In fact, personal trainers get a lot of their information and research from these two communities. However, these two communities often tend to make recommendations to personal trainers as if they know better than the trainers do and it is unfortunately unfounded much of the time. I appreciate the important contributions and mentorship that I have received over the years from both of these communities and acknowledge how important they are. However, these siblings of health and fitness often times have never worked in Personal training and do not understand the nuances inherent with this context. For example, if a strength and conditioning coach writes that general population folks need more heavy lifting, I’m usually all for it, however, a lot of clients are a long ways off from heavy deadlifting. Some good S&C coaches are aware of this, however, the message often gets misinterpreted as other trainers try and get grandma to start pulling heavy singles in the deadlift when it just aint appropriate. Or the physical therapist playing on the safe side trying to avoid squatting below parallel for fear that it will blow someone’s knees out. Instead, context needs to be provided as to what a good squat should look like ass-to-grass, and/or if pain is present at any point during the movement. If so, then absolutely nix it and refer out. Or, at the very least, keep asking why. In summation, I’m thankful for the wisdom handed down to me from these two camps, but all things being considered, I’ll do my job and they’ll do theirs.

5)   Fitness is one thing, Movement is another. Many folks coming into training look to fitness to solve more than just it’s stated intention: to get stronger, improve stamina, manage weight, etc. In our modern age, with increased sitting and sedentary lifestyles, most personal training clients come in with a menagerie of aches and pains that they are hoping will clear up with exercise. This may or may not be true, but there is also a whole world of movement (or lack thereof) outside of the gym that needs to be paid a good deal of attention. For example, someone that has lower back discomfort may or may not see relief from basic pelvic and core stabilization work. This is likely only one piece of the entire movement equation. I do believe that ultimately, for most people, movement is the solution for the majority of musculoskeletal pain issues, however fitness is really only a small slice of the pie. Especially if exercise is only done for 2-3 hours a week, the cumulative effective of poor movement habits, posture, and breathing are much more important to making long term change. What would be a more sustainable strategy for most Is to learn how to carry themselves outside of the gym to maintain a healthy body, free from chronic aches and pains. It is my goal to not only educate the client on how to move properly in the gym, but to also encourage them to move better OUTSIDE. How to walk, stand, sit, go up and down stairs, etc. And if it is beyond my reach, there are plenty of great movement therapists in my area that can assist (See: Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, Anat Baniel Method, Etc.). Fitness in the gym is about expending energy and getting stronger, but this should also be coupled with relaxed and efficient movement outside of the gym. This is often overlooked as one tries to use gym strategies outside of the gym. This means you shouldn’t be squeezing the crap out of your abdominals when you walk! Work hard, but learn to relax and move efficiently, as well. This, to me and many others that are hip to this idea, is the future of the health and fitness industry.

Baryshnikov, Russian Ballet Dancer, is strong AND efficient. Gym movement should encompass both efficiency and effort.

What have you learned in 2011?