Recently I received an email from an old client, which went something like this:

Joe,

Lately, I’ve restricted my gym routine to body-weight exercises, staying away from heavy lifting. Basically, I do variations of pull-ups, push-ups, dips, squats, ab work, and some additional stuff with a TRX. This might be a loaded question, but what do you think of the general philosophy? Is TRX legit or BS? If it’s easier for you, perhaps you can just direct me to a book or some literature?

Thanks,

MZ

Thanks for the question and thanks for offering to let me just send you some literature, but I’d prefer to field this one.  When the TRX (Total Body Resistance EXercise) burst onto the scene a few years back I didn’t think much of it, at least in a positive sense.  I thought to myself, ” Big deal, I’ve got rings and my friend has a jungle gym.  It’s just the same thing with some cheesy marketing and a get “Navy Seal fit” mantra.”  Then, it seemed like every moron that got certified online and owned an Under Armour shirt had their clients tangled up in one.  Instantly it began to leave a bad taste in my mouth.  But, it can be used well, and like anything else it can be used very badly.  The TRX is simply a tool; sometimes it’s right for the job, sometimes it’s not.  To use the TRX properly, it should be used as part of a sound and properly progressed program.  For example, before any of my clients do even one of the most basic TRX moves, the push-up, they will first have to complete all of the following progressions (without the TRX):

Hands Elevated Push-up (hands on a bar in a rack or on a bench)

Regular Push-up

Feet Elevated Push-up (feet on a box or low bench)

One Foot Elevated Push-up

Loaded Push-up (weight plates, chains, or weight vest)

Loaded Feet Elevated Push-up

Loaded One Foot Elevated Push-up

Now could you have someone perform TRX or any other suspension trainer push-ups before mastering all these progressions?  Yes, but I like to err on the side of caution. I want my clients’ push-ups to be perfect, and if I program the TRX prematurely things could get ugly.  If this happens I then have to regress them and nobody’ss ego can stand this.  Unfortunately, the TRX is not always used in this vein and seems to attract the “enter-trainer” as it looks flashy and complicated, and must surely help with “core strength.”  So, if anyone out there is using the TRX to help sell their bogus services or telling you it’s the only workout equipment you’ll ever need I’d have to disagree.  If you are, however, looking to pick up a suspension trainer I do highly recommend the TRX as I find it to be much easier and versatile than the rings and jungle gym.

Have a question or comment that might make good blog fodder? Let me know via email or in the comments below.

Until next time,

Joe

We are all sold out of Pedialyte.

I recently got back from a 5 day trip to Mexico with my girlfriend.  We’d heard the horror stories and the warnings, but non of that would happen to us, right?  We wouldn’t get sick, however,  here I am over a week later and still not right.  With a doctor’s appointment scheduled for tomorrow, I assume this should be “fun”.  We must not have been the only ones though to fall ill from Montezuma’s revenge, as the fridge at the resort was stocked with Pedialyte, and yet by day two of being sick they were completely sold out of them.

Can you hear me now?

Liftrestrepeat was down for awhile…I renewed the site over the phone, and got stuck with LiStrestrepeat for a couple of months and couldn’t access this site as it was put on back-order.  Awesome.  Funny thing, I also ordered a product over the phone around the same time (I usually do everything online) and guess what?  I got the wrong DVD; I ordered Kettlebells From The Ground Up, but received Kettlebells From The Center.  This was not as big of a deal as LiStrestrepeat, as I ended up keeping the DVD and I think it’s great.  However, I’m one to often complain about the lack of human interaction in today’s world, but now I’m not so sure how I feel about that.

Thug Muscle

Yesterday after leaving Titan Fitness I found myself walking behind a group of suits, one clutching vary large protein containers in each hand.  This looked very out of place, and  as I got closer I noticed what appeared to be a shirtless image of 50 Cent on each container.  Huh?  I got closer…”Street King” was emblazoned on each container.  “Excuse me,” I said to the gentleman, “is that a real product?”  He paused for a moment….”It will be,” he responded.  So, there you go, ground-breaking news: 50 Cent has a protein powder coming out called Street King.  WTF?

Training

It’s challenging when you’re battling Montezuma everyday, but yesterday I got it in.  I performed the following:

-SMR-everythang.

-Rib Roll-10-15 breaths per side x 2

-Half-Kneeling ankle mobs 15 per side x 2

-Half-Kneeling KB Halos 10 each way per side x 2

-Rollbacks 8 x 2

-1LSLDL with dowel

-Half-Kneeling Lift 10 per side x 2

-Some pull-ups

-Some push-ups

-Stretch some

And then followed it up with some post workout protein and Immodium.  The whole workout was performed barefoot, but I really have been enjoying my Men’s Merrell Barefoot Trail Glove Shoes.  I got these a couple months ago based off of a recommendation from Brett Jones.  Next I will be trying out the New Balance Minimus, which have a little heel (really tiny compared to other sneakers, but the Trail Glove has none).  I think these maybe a little better for cruising around the concrete jungle that is Manhattan.

Until next time.

Last year Michael Boyle released his infamous “The Death of Squats;“ it caused a bit of controversy to say the least.  A couple weeks after that my friend Jonathan asked me, “Have you heard the new death of?”  I replied, “No.”  “The death of push-ups.” he said.  “What!?” I exclaimed.  “Yeah, Boyle’s going after push-ups now,” he replied seriously.  He caught me a couple of times with jokes like this, then it just became a daily thing — every day would be the death of a different exercise or a piece of equipment.  Hence, today I bring you the death of the Bosu balls.

Why do I hate the Bosu ball?  You know that “little half-ball” that all the regulars in your chain gym are always looking for?  “Excuse me, do you know where the Boosoo ball is?” Huh?  “You know the blue ball, with the flat side…it’s for your “core”…”  At this point in time I usually bite my tongue, point in the direction of one of the stupidest things in most commercial gyms, and then my client and I begin laughing and making fun of whoever just asked for it.  Thankfully I’m no longer in this setting, but I was for years and tolerated a lot of ridiculousness like that and this:

That’s right; after finding the Bosu ball stupid exercises always ensue.  The most popular exercises to do on this waste of time are usually performed with pink dumbbells. I know someone out there is shouting “Not me!  I go heavy!  I do push-ups on three of them!”  This is the other problem with this device: it attracts “look at me” types and their circus-trick exercises.  So, there you have it; you can yield pink dumbbells and wobble around and wonder why you never get stronger, lose weight, or obtain the “core” that you’re working so hard to achieve.  Or you can look like a jackass, or possibly some other dude will think you’re awesome (that’s right I don’t think chicks care about your Bosu skills) and  then proceed to waste his time doing the same absurd exercises. There really is no good way you can go with this thing.  Even worse, if you’re an athlete and spend your time training on one of these things, you could end up decreasing your performance as Cressey et al. found in their study, “The effects of 10 weeks of  lower-body unstable surface training on markers of athletic performance.”

But what about for rehab,  you may ask? There is some research to say that it’s effective in this setting, but I never see anyone come into a gym take off a shoe, and stand on a Bosu ball to rehab an ankle injury.  And why the Bosu? I hope PTs quit wasting their money on these things, as there are other less ridiculous-looking and cheaper devices for this type of training.  I also feel that this is something we need to kill the use of, even if there are two good things you could do with it. Is it really worth the purchase?  There is an infinite number of stupid things you can do with it and as an industry (both performance and rehab), we need to get this thing out of the picture — the people have been lied to for too long.  Death to the Bosu ball.

Happy Monday.  In case your dragging today, I’ve included a motivational image; look at those guys getting after it with bars loaded with barbwire.  If you’re still thinking your gym sucks because they don’t have a glute ham raise get over it, or maybe you just need to watch this video.  No excuses.

In my last post outlining my goals for 2011 I forgot one thing: to increase my use of social media.  I don’t know why I said increase, I don’t really use it at all, but that’s about to change.  I’ve gotten myself a Twitter account now and need to update the Facebook account which I haven’t really touched in a couple of years.  I’ve been one of those stubborn types who criticizes social media and wishes for the days of no cell phones and books that had actual, tangible pages.  Well, I don’t think I can hold out any longer, after listening to a recent podcast and hearing Michael Boyle say this about social media:

“What you realize is that the influence is being wielded by the people who are using the internet, whether you like it or you don’t like it…You’ve got to be on Facebook, you’ve got to have a blog, you’ve got to be on Twitter.  If you’re not doing this stuff then you’re falling behind…if you don’t embrace the current marketing with in that business, then you’re probably doomed to fail.”

Doomed to fail!  We don’t want that, so social media here we come, from now on every time I bench press, go to the bathroom, or write a new blog post, all of my “friends” will know!  Not quite, but Boyle is right it’s time to step up my internet presence, I’m falling behind.

This might seem ironic, as I’ve had a blog for some time, but I’ve never gone out of my way to tell others to read it.  And I always thought having a bunch of “friends” I don’t know on Facebook was kind of weird, but if the guys who don’t train people are getting all the praise simply because of their web presence, well we can’t have that then.

In other random news, I’ve finished Dan John’s new book Mass Made Simple.  I will write a review once I do the program.  It will probably be a little bit until my body can handle the squatting load in the program.  Bodyweight for 50 reps!

Also, Eric Cressey put out a nice blog post last week entitled 5 Reasons Direct Rotator Cuff Work is Necessary in a Strength Training Program.  Check it out, and remember to program your traditional cuff work like cable external rotations after all of your upper body lifts, to further prevent impingement.

Pittsburgh - City of Bridges

Professional

• N’at is Pittsburghese for “and so forth”.  I moved back to Pittsburgh for the next several months to work as an intern with the strength and conditioning program at California University of Pennsylvania.  So, my first goal for 2011 is to be a kick-ass intern and learn as much as I can about coaching in the university setting.

• My other professional goals are to attend three seminars, gain one certification, visit three new coaches, therapists, and/or trainers, and complete another semester of school work.

Personal

• Help my Mother lower her cholesterol.  This has already been much more challenging than I thought, talk about an emotional eater!

• Monitor my eating for 12 weeks, I’m three weeks into this one, the goal is to follow Shelby Starnes Lean Gain Principles for three months.  This is the most structured eating I have ever followed.  So far so good though.  The goal with the diet is to gain weight but limit body fat accumulation.  Last year I did pretty good in the weight gain department, but gained a little bit more body fat than I wanted.  The goal is to weigh 200lbs by the end of the year with minimal body fat accumulation, currently I weigh 190.  The low-carb days in the program seem to be having a pretty dramatic impact on me, so I confident this is possible.  By the way the goal I set for myself is only three months, I plan on doing more, but this way it doesn’t look so intimidating. 

• Get organized/simplified.  I’m currently working on the habit changes in the book Zen To Done or ZTD by Leo Babauta.  So far so good, I definitely prefer this approach to GTD (Getting Things Done by David Allen), which is a great book/system, but never really helped me get much done.  This book is great because Leo knows exactly why GTD doesn’t work for many – they become obsessed with lists, systems, and software, but don’t get things done.

Athletic

• Pick up the skateboard again or kickboxing, I don’t really have this one figured out yet, but I plan on bringing one of these things back into my life.

• Get my leg issues all sorted out, I’ve been battling some chronic pain in my hamstring for over a year now, the goal is to get this back to 100%.

• The goal after that is to follow Dan John’s new program Mass Made Simple.  I just ordered the book, and I’m anxiously awaiting it’s arrival.  This book should serve as good motivation to get my leg “fixed”.

• After that I will focus my training on either an olympic weightlifting meet or a power lifting meet for the rest of the year, I would like to compete in 2012.

So, there you have it.  Did you make goals for 2011?  Possibly the beginning of your year was hectic like mine, no worries make them now.  If you don’t know what to focus on, I would highly suggest working with a nutritionist or dietician and tracking your food for awhile.  It’s quite the learning experience.  I’m currently using Fitday to track everything and keep a journal, it’s an awesome product and it’s free.