I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving, I know I did.  Instead of the traditional Thanksgiving meal I dined in Chinatown with friends and family, enjoying a dim sum feast.

Yesterday, after training two of my favorite clients, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with my visiting sister and girlfriend to view Art of the Samurai, which was totally awesome.

When leaving the museum I noticed a banner outside stating that they had Vermeer’s “The Milk Maid”, I chuckled at the banner as it reminded me of the great article I recently read at Precision Nutrition.  The article, All About Milk was quite eye-opening.  I haven’t drank milk since high school, at which time I drank chocolate milk everyday with lunch.  My father has always said “milk is for baby cows”, and at some point I realized he was right and switched to soy milk after high school. Fast forward more years than I’d like to admit and now I drink either almond or hemp milk, as I feel that they are better for me than soy or cow’s milk.

Currently in the strength training community there has been a resurgence of classic strength training programs, like Starting Strength, Bill Starr’s 5×5, and the newer Wendler’s 5/3/1/.  Many people are obtaining great results from these simple and effective programs, myslef included.  Along with these no frills programs usually comes no frills nutrition advice, like if you want to gain weight drink a gallon of milk a day. Wendler even goes as far to say that if you are lactose intolerant “Buy baby wipes.  It’s gonna get dirty.”  The fellas over at 70’s Big certainly agree, and of course an additional 2400 calories (1 gallon whole milk)  a day will put weight on anyone, but is it the best choice?  All the talk over at 70’s Big, made me realize that I don’t like milk, and have been giving it a bad rap for years, but I don’t really have a wealth of knowledge to back up my stance, besides to me, it just never made sense (to drink it).  “Milk is for baby cow’s”.  So, I went to Precision Nutrition and read All About Milk and I encourage you to do the same before you decide if it’s right for you.   Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“The number of dairy cows in the U.S. decreased from 18 million to 9 million between 1960 and 2005. Total milk production increased from 120 billion to 177 billion pounds during the same period. This is due to strategic breeding and pharmaceutical aid.”

Also, Precision Nutrition is having a sale!  Check it out here.

In my last post, I spoke about the use of rythmic stabilizations as a warm-up activity for the rotator cuff and included a video of a body blade variation.  At the Testing, Treating, and Training the Shoulder Seminar we learned how to perform them using manual resistance, here is a video of this version from Eric Cressey.

This past weekend was spent working, ice skating (I’m horrible), and reading everything posted on 70’s Big.com.  Although you won’t catch me drinking a 1/2 gallon of whole milk or eating meat sides with meat entrees I do enjoy their content.

“It’s currently in vogue to have a spindly, thin appearance which is typically accompanied by a low body fat percentage. Regardless of why this has come to be, those who have such an appearance are not very useful. Imagine asking someone of this “stature” to help you move your car out of the road, haul some lumber, or even fend off a potential zombie attack. It simply wouldn’t be feasible.”  To read more check out 70’s Big.com.

This past weekend was spent primarily traveling to and from Hudson, MA for Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold’s “Testing, Treating, and Training the Shoulder” seminar.  The seminar was great; two four-hour bus rides on either end of an eight hour seminar, however, was not.  A special thanks  goes out to Mo Bro Jim and Erin “Crossfit Girl” for the lift to the train station and Lee for the lift to Cressey’s.  “So, what did you learn?” has been the common question this week, and I really  don’t know where to start.  I learned a lot, but I don’t think anyone really wants to hear me ramble on about the dangers of superior migration of the humerus or glenoid retroversion.  But, if you really are interested, here’s some of my notes:

• European soccer players throw like girls.  The reason for this is that throwing sports are not popular in Europe and therefore they are not exposed to a large volume of throwing as children.  Throwing during the developmental stages, when growth plates are open, increases the amount of external rotation one can get with their throwing arm, a good external range of motion is essential for a good throw.  This is the same reason why girls who don’t play sports as kids will “throw like girls”.

• Mike Reinold has a strong stomach and loves what he does.  He once dissected a cadaver, to get a good look at the posterior shoulder capsule on Thanksgiving morning and was still able to eat that evening.

• If your client presents with a shrug like this when he/she raises their arm.  Refer them out — their rotator cuff is not working.  Do not work  through a shoulder shrug like this.

Photo from mikereinold.com

• The function of the rotator cuff is to center the humeral head within the glenoid fossa, as you see that’s not what’s happening above.

• Don’t burn out the cuff.  Heavy sets of cuff work  will fatigue the cuff, keeping it from doing its job (centering the humeral head on the glenoid fossa).  Once the cuff is fatigued the humerus will migrate superiorly, succumbing to the upward pull of the deltoid, decreasing the subacromial space.  This will cause impingement  which can lead to irritation, inflammation, fraying, and tearing.

• When working with a client who has a rotator cuff pathology it is important to identify what stage they are at, i.e.: irritation, inflammation, fraying, and tearing.

• To be safe, put your classic cuff exercises at the end of the workout and avoid fatigue.  Side lying external rotation has been shown to have the highest EMG reading.

• If you’re looking for some good pre-workout cuff exercises try Rhythmic Stabilizations.  I will have to film a video of this, as I can’t seem to find one demonstrating the manual version taught at the seminar, in the meantime if you have a Body Blade at your gym try this:

• Learn how to bench press.  There are numerous articles out there, and I don’t care how many years you’ve been doing it because you are probably doing it wrong and your shoulders are suffering from it.  Keep your feet on the floor.  No, not on those little pegs.  Keep your feet under your knees or further back.  Squeeze the shoulder — and read here: Yo, How Much Ya Bench?

• Pull more than you push.

• This is still Eric’s favorite pulling/rowing exercise:

I could go on and on, as it truly was a great seminar.  If you are interested in learning more, check Eric’s site in the coming months as a DVD of the event will become available soon.

Friday the 13th!  In honor of this special day I’ve included a few scary photos for you.  First, as promised:

My 'stache, Day 13

Man if I knew it would only take me 13 days to look this awesome, I would have done this a long time ago.  To support my ’stache, prostate, and testicular cancer, click here.

The next photo is of a scary exercise I saw at the gym the other night.  This one doesn’t scare me so much because this guy is risking his life, but because he is so misguided.

Scary Rack Usage

Wow, this is ridiculous — too bad he totally thinks he’s the coolest.  I mean look at all the thought he put into this one.  He’s even got a little pad mounted up there for his lil’ ankles, and using those god forsaken ab wings, which always seem to attract idiots, so that he can sculpt the ultimate abs of steel.  Well buddy, that exercise sucks and I think it’s so funny that I took pictures of you.  This clown was also holding me up as I needed the rack.  The rack is the cornerstone of every great gym.  My gym only has one, which is not optimal and it usually attracts people who don’t seem to know how to use it.  Let’s take a look at a better gym.

Ah, isn’t that pretty and look no hanging ab doo-dads.  Why have so many racks? Well, because pretty much every exercise worth doing takes place in the rack.  If you are busy listing machines right now, “What about that one for my thighs?”, “The fly machine is good though right?”, you are proving my point.   Oh and you can bench press in there too — now are you happy?  Stick to the basics, no circus tricks, no machines, nothing that involves a lot of set-up time, a step ladder, or a helmet.  You will see better results, less injuries, and fewer pictures of yourself online.  Have a good weekend.

Week one of Movember has come to a close.  In my previous post about Movember I mentioned that I was a part of Team Fanny Duster, we have since become Team Rip Curl.   You can check out our site here and Twitter here.  At the end of week one Team Rip Curl is in first place nation wide, having raised over 33k!  Thank you to all who have donated.  This post was also supposed to include a photo of my current moustache progress, but I’m currently at home with the flu and haven’t eaten in a day.   The combination of this gaunt look and sketchy ’stache are just too scary to post.