When Sitting is a Pain in the Neck

Over the last couple of years, the health and fitness communities have been investing time, money, and research in determining how prolonged periods of time spent sitting may be having adverse effects on both life expectancy and health.  Depending upon which study you read there seems to be a window of three to six hours per day that is safe to be spent sitting.  Extend this period of time beyond that time period and strong correlations can be found between sitting and an increased risk of injury, chronic pain, and even shortened life expectancy.  Some studies indicated that sitting more than six hours per day may shorten life expectancy by as much as five years.  This does not bode well for a society that spends most of its waking hours plopped down behind a desk at a computer or in front of a TV screen.

As far as death prevention and increased life expectancy are concerned the solution is simple: move more.   If work circumstances prevent an increase in movement then stand.  Stand as often as possible, while on the phone, reading, talking with someone in the office; stand instead of sit.  The simple act of standing can offset the amount of time spent sitting.  As a bonus, standing keeps the brain more alert than sitting, by standing frequently you will feel like you have more energy.  On the days that work keeps me behind a desk for several hours on end, I still make a point of getting up at least once an hour for a minimum of five minutes.  During this time I will find an excuse to walk around, or at the very least, stand behind my desk while I work.

Perhaps one of the most common problems associated with sitting for prolonged periods of time is neck pain.  This often results from poor posture while sitting; this in turn causes stiffness, which if not addressed, may quickly become more serious issues such as shoulder tendinitis or impingement, tennis elbow, neck compression issues resulting in nerve pain, or simple muscle tightness and loss of mobility throughout the neck, upper back, and shoulders.  Keep in mind, that for this discussion, it is assumed that all of the vertebrae are in proper alignment, no issues such as bulging disks, or pinched nerves exist.  Also, we are not considering spinal alignment issues such as scoliosis, kyphosis, or lordosis.

Neck and Upper Back pain due to prolonged sitting usually result from one of, or a varying combination of three things: Overreaching, Use of Incorrect  Heights, and Unbalanced Work Stations.  Overreaching refers, not to reaching to far, but to too many things and all on the same height level.  As a result, the arms stay in an extended position, pulling the shoulders out of their natural position and straining the neck.  The use of incorrect heights refers to constantly viewing things that are not placed at eye level, such as a computer monitor.  By constantly looking too low to read or watch something, the head is pulled down.  Hours spent in this head extended down and forward position may, over time, pull the neck vertebrae out of alignment or weaken the muscles in the back of the neck.  An unbalanced work station refers to having to stay in a partially rotated position with either the neck, or entire spine, to perform work.  So without even considering exercise, here are some simple ways to reorganize your work space to bring some relief.

Overreaching

·         Adjust the position of the mouse and keyboard so that they are not on the same surface or at the same level.  The height disparity will keep the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and upper back from tightening up in one position

·         Make sure that items that are frequently used, like a keyboard, mouse, or phone are at varying distances from your body, forcing you to shift positions to reach them

·         Make sure the chair supports healthy posture and is adjusted for your height and body size

Use of Incorrect Heights

·         Adjust the seat height to support proper posture through the back, hips, knees, and ankles.   The hips, knees, and ankles should all be at a 90 degree angle.

·         Adjust the computer monitor height so that the top of screen is at eye level; not too high or too low.

·         Set up the work station so that different activities are at different height levels (computer, writing, reading)

Unbalanced Work Area

·         Keep items that you must reach for, to the left or to the right, balanced so that you are not reaching to one side more often than the other

During prolonged periods of sitting, following all of these tips will help keep your spine in a position of proper posture, reducing the likelihood of developing chronic upper back or neck pain.  While all of this is helpful, ultimately the best way to prevent upper back and neck pain is to keep these muscles strong.  Weak muscles are far more likely to allow the body to move out of proper alignment while sitting.  Keeping the muscles strong will help prevent this problem.  The program below is a great starting point to help strengthen these muscles.  As always, consult your personal physician to make sure you are healthy enough to perform these exercises.  The links below will take you to videos providing demonstrations of the exercises.

Exercise	Sets	Repetition Range
Bridge w/ Shoulder Reach		12 per arm
Y-Raise	2	12 to 15
T-Raise	2	12 to 15
Incline Row	3	8 to 12
Standing High Band Pull	4	15 to 20

 Bridge w/Shoulder Reach

Y-Raise

T-Raise

Incline Row

Standing High Band Pull

Myofascial Release

                The final important aspect of dealing with chronic upper back and neck pain has to do with the myofascial tissue.  Myofascia is a thin connective tissue that covers all of the muscles of the body.  There are a variety of factors that can contribute to pain in the myofascial.  The most common symptom is the forming of “knots.”  The knots are broken up, resulting in pain relief using different tools such as a foam roller.  The most commonly used tool is a foam roller.

Upper Back Foam Roll

Upper back and neck pain associated with poor posture and prolonged sitting is not something with which you must live.  So take a little time and address the heart of the problem.  Do not just settle for popping pain pills to hide the underlying problem.

My Fitness Goals for 2014

I am a planner; I always have been and always will be.  As a part of a process of better understanding myself and, thereby making my personal journey towards self-improvement a smoother road, I have taken several personality tests.  Some traits have changed over the years, some have disappeared while other traits have grown stronger, and new traits have emerged.  But one of the few traits that have always been there is planning.  It is a trait that has only grown stronger as I grow older.  So, despite the hectic hustle and bustle of the holiday, it should not surprise you that I have already designated my personal goals for the New Year and am drafting a program designed to reach those goals.

In September of 2013, I hit a plateau of 350 lbs. on the Back Squat and 315 lbs. on the deadlift.  Not my heaviest lifts on those exercises by any means.   I am not a competitive power lifter and considering that the vast majority of my training in 2012 was based on HIIT and body weight training I was pleased with this progress.  I did not place much emphasis on either of those exercises during 2012, so going from performing those lifts starting at 225lbs in January 2013, after not doing them for most of 2012, is a pretty good strength improvement.  But, after straining my lower back during a workout in September of 2013, and being forced to take 10 days off to recover, it was time to evaluate the quality and safety of my training.  The 10 days off gave me plenty of time analyze the situation, make adjustments, and prepare to fix the problem so that in the long run, these plateaus could be overcome. 

As I said, towards the end of 2013 it became apparent to be that on big lifts, specifically, back squats and deadlifts, that my ability to lift heavier weight was plateauing.  This was not caused by a lack of will or desire but by a neglecting of little details of my training.  The choice was simple: ignore these little details and allow a slight strength imbalance to continue to grow and set myself up for a serious injury somewhere down the road.  Or, back off the intensity and specifically address these weaknesses, and, ultimately come back stronger than ever.  After slowly addressing these weaknesses, I am prepared to return to heavy lifting at the start of 2014.  Four months may seem like a long time to take a break, especially without having had a surgery or physical therapy program.  But four months is nothing compared to a lifetime; far better to take four months now then to never do it again.

The main priority of 2014 will be to place a stronger emphasis on strengthening the muscles of the posterior chain; the hamstrings, glutes, hip extensors, and lower back specifically.  I am not going to go into the specific detail of my programming because I have not finished writing the program.  However, here are the six measurements I will be using to evaluate the effectiveness of my training.

1.       Maintain bodyweight between 170-180lbs.  The reason for this is simple; it is in this weight range that I feel the most athletic and fit.  To maintain a weight below 170 lbs., I end up sacrificing strength I do not want to lose.  Above 180 lbs., I feel that I begin to lose athleticism and quality of movement.  The overall goal of 2014 is to continue addressing the aforementioned posterior chain priority and become as strong as I possibly can in this weight range.

2.       Good Morning my bodyweight for sets of 10.  The good morning is one of the best accessory exercises for training the posterior chain.  Increasing my strength on this particular exercise to 170-180lbs for a set of 10 is going to wonders for improving the back squat and deadlift.  Currently this would be roughly a 50lb improvement over what I have been doing on this exercise.

3.       Deadlift 350lbs.  This is what I deadlifted prior to 2012.  Time to get back there or heavier.  This would make my deadlift right around twice my body weight.  The long term goal is to get the deadlift up to 2.5 times body weight.  Did I mention I don't train with a weight belt?  I view weights belts as a crutch for people who, will not do as I have done the past four months, and train their weaknesses into strengths.  But that is just my opinion.

4.       Back Squat 400lbs. I do powerlifting squats not bodybuilding squats: I train for strength and athleticism, not aesthetics.  I am not going explain the difference here.  Since September of 2013 (during my little rehab phase) my best squat was 260lbs. If you do not understand the difference, then the significance of the ambition of adding 140lbs to the squat in twelve months eludes you.  I don’t say that to be condescending, so please do not take it that way.  But, for those who do understand the difference, this is easily recognized as my most ambitious and challenging goal of 2014. Accomplishing this would be to squat more than twice my body weight. In all honesty, this one is a little intimidating.  Again, no weight belt.

5.       Clean my bodyweight for sets of 10.  The clean is one the best strength training exercises to improve overall coordination, explosive power, strength and athleticism.  Performing this with your body weight or heavier for sets of 10 is something only people with a scary level of strength can accomplish.  I can currently do this for sets up 2-3 reps, time to bump up the reps.

6.       Sprint at 12 mph for 20 repetitions.  Sprints are the only form of “cardio” that I do.  My sprint program is simple: elevate a treadmill to a 10% incline and sprint for 20 seconds, rest 40 seconds, repeat for the prescribed number of sprints.  Currently I am doing 10 sprints at 11mph.  The treadmills at the facility where I work are capped at 12 mph so, once that speed is obtained; increasing the repetitions is the only way to increase this challenge.

I have talked about goals in another post, specifically how to create SMART goals.  I you want more information on that click the link below.  Set goals for 2014 and develop a plan to make them happen.  Good luck, and may 2014 be your healthiest year ever.

http://www.bornagainfitnesslr.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-new-year-is-rapidly-approaching.html

Intensity or Duration: What makes fit happen faster?

It is a great question and, an important one because more and more it seems like there is less time in the day to get things done.  In a world of time crunches and deadlines, life is too busy for time to be wasted.  This is no truer than when working towards a healthier life because every moment we live takes us one step closer to death.  To obtain the highest quality of life, we must make every moment count. Exercise is no exception to this. So how does intensity and duration play into this? Are these interchangeable topics or do they exist independent of each other?

                This conversation can be viewed in two ways: what is best to achieve short-term goals and what will result in a lifetime of healthy living?  The second part of this question is the simplest to answer.  It takes a lifetime to live a healthy life.  Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.  If you believe anything different, I have beach front property in the Himalaya’s I would like to sell you.  Commit to making exercise a life time priority and you are one step closer to maximizing your health and quality of life.  Durable people last, it is that simple.

                The question then becomes; what is best for hitting specific goals along that journey and what is the best method for training to accomplish those goals?  On a side note, breaking down the overall goal of living a healthy life into several Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely (SMART) goals makes achieving the big goal doable.  After the goal is identified duration is measured in two ways: the number of training sessions or weeks or months that will be completed between the initial establishing of the goal and the first progress evaluation.  The second consideration of duration is the length of time for specific training sessions.

                When I help a client establish a SMART goal, the time frame between initial evaluation and first progress evaluation is typically somewhere between four to twelve weeks after beginning the program.  If the client’s goal is to lose body fat, we test body fat percentage and take measurements every four weeks.  For someone looking to improve strength on a specific exercise or as a part of a sports performance program, evaluations are typically every eight to twelve weeks.  Specified goals with consistent, periodic evaluations are crucial to building a life time of health and fitness.

Among fitness professionals, the debate of the importance of Intensity and Duration in improving overall fitness can be quite heated.  The answer to this debate lies in another question: what is the desired performance goal?  The emphasis on intensity or the duration of training sessions is determined by the performance goal.  A person who runs marathons has a different performance goal than a power-lifter.  A person looking to lose ten pounds has a different goal than a person looking to lose one hundred pounds.

                It is pretty simple to understand that a person who wishes to successfully run 26.2 miles needs to focus, first and foremost on duration by basing training on building endurance.  Whereas a power-lifter needs to perform at a maximal intensity for just a few seconds, clearly high intensity training is more important than high levels of endurance.  So what is the average person, heading outside or into a local fitness center simply looking for a healthier body, to do?

                Two concepts of how the body responds to individual training sessions need to be understood: Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) and the hormonal response.  EPOC refers to the amount of oxygen the body needs following a training session.  During exercise the body needs more oxygen to aid in supplying energy for performance than when the body is at rest.  This is also true immediately after training. EPOC is a scientific way of referring to both the length of time and the extra amount of oxygen the body needs to return to its preexercise state.  In laymen’s terms this is called “sucking wind.”  How long and how much “sucking wind” a person does following exercise is one method of measuring the intensity of exercise.  The hard and longer a person remains in an elevated state of EPOC or, the longer you suck wind, the faster fitness levels, and overall health, will improve.

                Before establishing a specific length of time for an exercise session, a basic understanding of hormonal response to exercise needs to be understood; the hormonal goal of exercise is to create an anabolic response.  To put the body in an anabolic state, that is a state in which the body will become stronger and healthier as opposed to a catabolic state in which the body breaks down, becoming weaker and less healthy.  Excessively prolonged duration of exercise can take the body past an anabolic state and into a catabolic one.  Anabolic hormones promote healthy tissue growth and recovery from exercise.  The important anabolic hormones are insulin, insulin-like growth factors, testosterone, and growth hormone. The catabolic hormones are cortisol and progesterone. 

The objective of a quality training session is to work at an intensity that creates of high level of EPOC in short an enough amount of time that the hormonal response of the body stays in an anabolic condition.  So what is an appropriate time frame to maximize the mix of intensity and duration?  Testosterone, the most important of the anabolic hormones, peaks at around forty-five minutes into a training session and is beginning to drop off by sixty minutes.  If an exercise session goes beyond sixty minutes this drop off happens at a faster rate than if the session stopped at sixty minutes.  Prolonging exercise beyond sixty minutes accelerates the process of the body becoming catabolic.  If a training session lasts for two hours testosterone levels have dropped lower than testosterone levels would be one hour after the end of a sixty minute training session. 

The take away from all of this: for most people an intense training session lasting duration of forty-five to sixty minutes is the most beneficial combination.  This exercising at a high intensity for this time frame is more effective then decreasing intensity to the point of prolonging exercise beyond an hour.  Do forty-five to sixty minutes of challenging work not two hours of playing around.  Get in, get out of breath, break a sweat, and get on with life.

My Top Ten Exercises

It seems to me like every month a new list of the best exercises comes out.  Some times this list focuses on a particular body part, or incorporates only one facet of training like body weight exercises.  Usually these lists are set up address a specific demographic group.  It is rare for me to come across a list that utilizes exercises that can address all the aspects of fitness: agility, speed, power, strength, and endurance.  It is even harder to find such a list that provides exercises from different training modalities: body weight conditioning, heavy strength training, plyometrics.  Most such lists target one or two aspects of fitness through just one modality.  This list is different because these ten exercises, alone or in combination with two or three, can be used to train all aspects of fitness, resulting in more complete development of physical fitness and conditioning. 

This is not just about lifting heavier weights or increasing endurance, it is about improving overall fitness and conditioning. As always, consult your doctor before incorporating any of these exercises into a program and be sure to error on the side of caution.  Proper form will create the best results so choose resistances that allow for mastery of form.  This promotes both safety and effectiveness.  Never sacrifice form for heavier weight; doing so is training the ego, not the body.

10.          Push Ups this body weight exercise is typically thought to train primarily the chest, shoulders, and triceps, and it does.  But with proper form the entire group of core muscles: abs, obliques, hip flexors, lower back and glutes will also be engaged, making it an effective total body exercise.  Variations in hand positions, repetition speed, and total repetitions can make this more than just a strength exercise, training agility, upper body speed, power, and endurance.

Push Up Video

9.            Box Jumps this body weight exercise is typically performed as a plyometric, to improve lower body explosive power.  However, changes in starting foot position, midair movement, or completing high numbers of repetitions can change this into an agility or endurance exercise.

Box Jumps Video

8.            BOSU Plank takes the standard plank position and significantly increases the challenge. A standard plank works the chest, triceps, abdominals, hip flexors, glutes, and lower back.  By performing this exercise with a BOSU, these muscles are challenged further by maintaining balance.  It is a great way to provide an extreme challenge to both the strength of the core muscles and the sense of balance.  The ability to maintain proper balance is directly tied to the strength of the core muscles.  This exercise trains both.

BOSU Plank Video

7.            Horizontal Pull Ups when most people think pull ups they think of hanging vertically, which is a great way to train the upper body.  However, by utilizing the Olympic bar in a rack, and changing the position to a horizontal one, the pull up now becomes a direct counter move to any push up or chest press.  Most guys make the mistake putting an emphasis on training the chest more so than the back, creating a rounded shoulder posture.  The chest may be stronger but it appears to be smaller, not larger despite all of the chest work.  Horizontal pull ups directly target the muscles of the upper back that work to keep the shoulders back, opening up the chest, and allowing it to look bigger.  Balancing the strength between the chest and the back is an important key to maintaining proper alignment of the spine, thereby improving posture.

Horizontal Pull Up

6.            Battle Ropes what are battle ropes?  Simply put, probably the best conditioning tool that you are not using.  Like most guys, I find the prospect of running on a treadmill, or using an elliptical to be absolutely mind-numbing and boring.  The little old ladies can keep that kind of boring cardio (no offense to lovely ladies of the geriatric stage of life).  Battle ropes are an incredible to for improving both cardiovascular endurance and explosive power.

Battle Ropes

5.            Pull Ups are one of the best upper body strength exercises, period.  Anyone can sit down at a weight machine and pull a handle down to their chest; it takes far more strength and coordination to pull the body off of the ground and up to a bar.  Typically performed for a low number of repetitions, improving physical strength to perform endless repetitions gives pull ups the potential to vastly improve upper body endurance as well as strength.

4.            Sprints are one of the most effective ways to train the ATP and anaerobic glycolytic energy systems; the systems that perform short-burst high intensity activity. In most sports, the fastest person wins.  If you are looking to improve overall athleticism and sports performance sprinting is a must.  For a person looking to lose weight a short duration-high intensity sprint workout will blast more body fat than any steady-pace endurance activity.  Who sprints? Just the high level athletes and incredibly fit people.

Sprint Video

3.            Squats properly done squats recruit more muscle tissue than just about any other exercise. During a squat every single muscle in legs are working, the abdominals and low back are working to stabilize the core, and the upper back , shoulders, and arms are working to keep the weight balanced in the correct position.  This one exercise engages upwards of 80% of the muscle in the human body.  This translates into incredibly efficient strength training and a lot of calorie burning.  Drop it deep to maximize the benefits: touching the grass at the bottom of the squat will translate into an incredibly mobile and strong body.

2.            Burpees easily the most challenging body weight exercise, burpees combine box jumps, push-ups, and planks into one quick, and explosive motion.  Of all the exercises that utilize just body weight for training, burpees deliver the most bangs for the buck, training both upper and lower body explosiveness as well as hip mobility and flexibility.  The intense nature of this exercise creates a significant elevation in heart rate resulting in cardiovascular and endurance training.

Burpee Video

1.            Deadlifts and squats are often debated between fitness professionals as being the two greatest strength-training exercises.  Usually squats come out ahead in this debate.  However, I rank deadlifts as number one because it is a more technical lift.  The form requires a higher level of mastery and technical skill to lift really heavy weight safely.  Also, with deadlifts, grip strength can be a limiting factor whereas it is not with a squat.  Finally I rank deadlifts as number one because it is way more satisfying to the ego to put a bar on the ground, load it with really heavy weight and pick it up than it is to squat heavy weight.

Deadlift Video

Twenty LessonsFitness has Taught Me that I Wished I Knew at Twenty

This past June I turned thirty, and for the first time in my life I have found myself spending a lot of time reflecting upon how my life has gone thus far.  A lot has happened in my life during the past ten years: graduated from college and began my career in the fitness industry, got married, became a father, job transitions, and family challenges have all played a role in how I have matured during this time.  Major life changing events have taken place and I found that by looking back at how I have handled these changes, particularly in the times I screwed up, allows me to better prepare myself for the future.  Over the past ten years I have found that most problems and challenges in life can be minimized or avoided completely with a little forethought and planning.  Keep these words from Arnold Schwarzenegger in mind,

“What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.”

I do not agree with every that Schwarzenegger said or did; I certainly do not condone steroids as a healthy way to enhance the body.  But he is right about this: the journey to health and fitness is not just about looking good in the mirror or being a smaller size.  It is one of, if not the best way, to learn a lot of little lessons that add up to one important lesson: WE ARE ALWAYS STRONGER THAN WE KNOW.  So now I will share with you twenty little lessons that I have learned that build into that one big lesson.  These are not ranked in any particular order; I do not consider any one lesson to be more valuable than another because they are all valuable.

1.       Mirror Muscles Are not the important ones, everyone wants to improve what they see in the mirror but it is the muscles that are hard to see, and more often ignored, that will cause problems.  Emotions or muscles, ignoring what cannot be easily seen and leaving it untrained is a setup of injury or problems.

2.       Strength is Balance Just as income must equal or exceed expenses to avoid poverty; so too should the body be balanced: front to back, left to right, top to bottom, one foot to the other; strength is about balance the anterior chain muscles (front of the body) must balance in strength with the posterior chain muscles (back of the body).  If not, from top to bottom, the entire body will be out of alignment resulting debilitating pain.    A life out of balance is a life that fall apart under the stresses of life.

3.       Have the courage to train weakness Know that exercise you really hate doing?  You hate it because you are bad at it.  You are bad at it because those muscles are weak through that particular motion.  That elephant in the room that your friends and family know about but no one wants to mention? It is getting bigger because nothing is being done about it.  Avoiding weaknesses does not make them go away; it makes them worse.  Man up, attack the weakness, and turn it into strength.  Cowards cop out, heroes train.

4.       Deadlift Sometimes life gets heavy and burdens become hard to carry, DEADLIFT.  Nothing builds self-confidence like loading up a bar with heavy weights and then picking it up off the ground.  If you can deadlift more weight than what you weigh, life’s burdens will not weigh you down.

5.       Foundational Fundamentals The three greatest strength-training exercises are deadlifts, squats, and pushups.  Always be able to drop low to pick up heavy loads, stand tall under great weights, and pick your body up off the ground.  Life will require carrying heavy burdens, standing under great strain, and getting back up after being knocked down.  Don’t just do it, be ready and destroy it.

6.       Maintain Mobility It is not lost because you are getting old; it is lost because you have stopped moving.  If your two-year-old can squat his butt to the ground with perfect form but his grown father cannot, his father is getting stiff.  Quality movement is a natural skill that does not need to be taught.  Correcting poor movement patterns learned during times of strength imbalances is time consuming and annoying.  Stay loose to move well. Blessed are the flexible, life may force them to bend but they will not break.

7.       Use it or lose it Agility, speed, power, strength, endurance and flexibility are lost or improved by how you train.  If something seems harder it is because it not receiving the attention that it should.  Problems arise when attention to detail is lost.  Build a life that trains what needs improvement not what feels comfortable.

8.       Master Technique when in doubt, return to the fundamentals and seek to improve the basics.  If it seems too complicated or requires too much thinking to be instinctive, back up, return to your roots, and remaster the fundamentals.  Technical and form mastery will create more positive change in one session than a hundred sessions of sloppy work.  If you do not learn to do it right the first time, when will you find time to do it over?

9.       Work smart not hard A lot of time and effort get wasted by aimlessly throwing around energy into every single activity or opportunity that comes along.  Avoid this trap, ask: What is the priority?  Identify it.  What is the goal? Name it.  What is the program? Plan it. What is the time commitment? Schedule it.  Now, work it.  Any other method is a counter-productive waste of time.

10.   Variety prevents plateaus Work a specific priority for a specific period of time and then focus on a different goal.  The body adapts, so does the mind.  Stimulate but do not annihilate either one. If the process has become boring or lacks challenge it is time for a change.

11.   Patience Building a healthy life requires a life time.  It is a lifelong commitment.  If that shocks you, pick your jaw up off the floor.  Speaking of floors; everyone hits one of two floors in their life time.  You can hit the gym floor or you can hit the hospital floor.  One you can hit today; the other you hit in those last few moments of life, hopefully surrounded by loved ones.  Which floor do you want to be on?  Either way it will take a life time to get there.  Good health does not come to those who wait.  It comes to those who work their butts off. “When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no ‘I’ll start tomorrow.’ Tomorrow is disease.”- V.L. Allinear.  Be impatient to get started on becoming healthy but stay patient on the journey.  It is a process, it will take time.

12.   Better than Yesterday That is the primary goal: what have you done today to make yourself better than you were yesterday.  Ask yourself this every day, and do something about it.  If you do, life will always get easier.

13.   Redefine Competition See that person sitting across the room, yeah, that man or woman who is younger, more attractive, and in better shape than you? FORGET ABOUT THAT PERSON.  Who cares what he or she looks like?  That individual is not you, nor your competition, nothing positive be gained by comparing yourself to that person.  Do you want to get to know the competition?  Step up to a mirror.  See that face staring back at you?  That is the only person you need to become better than.

14.   Bad genetics is not an excuse High Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, and Diabetes is in my family history.  So should I say that just because I have a family history of these problems that it is inevitable I will too?  Should I just give up and do nothing. NO! Doing nothing is stupid, all of these problems can be reduced or even eliminated with a healthy diet and regular exercise. Blaming genetics is denying responsibility for your own actions.

15.   It is impossible to out exercise poor nutrition Junk food makes a junk body.  If you are wondering why you are putting all this time and effort into exercise and your body is not changing the answer is simple: Your diet sucks!

16.   Food is not a reward Are you a dog to be rewarded with treats for performing a trick?  Food is fuel.  Do you want your body to run like a Ferrari or a Pinto?  I am not saying you can’t give yourself a treat on a special occasion but if food is a reward for every good little thing you accomplish, do not expect to operate like a high performance machine.  No amount of exercise will overcome a crappy diet.

17.   Drop it to keep it hot Even a fat loss of five pounds may drastically improve physical performance.  Keep the intensity high in the gym and the intensity will stay high at home.  Trust me; your spouse will thank you.

18.   Become a machine Do not waste time on them.  Everything that can be done on a cardio or weight machine in the gym is far more effective if done with free weights, dumb bells, body weights, or outside.  Forget the machines; BE THE MACHINE.

19.   Fitness mimics Life I am constantly reminded of how much fitness mimics real life.  It takes perseverance and dedication to succeed.  It takes believing that end goal is worth the present struggle.  A healthy life requires courage to say no to all of the negative influences around you and stay true to your hopes and desires.

20.   Attitude determines success Every person will exercise at some point in their life.  A person will either do it out of choice or because of a doctor’s orders.  Which person sounds like he or she has a positive, winning attitude?  People who freely choose to do something about their health will ultimately succeed.  A person chooses to win the moment he or she chooses to accept reality:  it is your life, it is your body, and it is your responsibility.  Good or bad you will live with the consequences of your choice.  It is never too late to choose health.  Choose wisely.

Bodyweight Blitz

Bodyweight Blitz

                Bodyweight training has grown has popularity over the last few years, particularly within the realm of the at home workout DVD.  P90X, Insanity, Zumba, and Tae Bo, just to name a few, are among the best-selling fitness programs ever.  The common element of all these programs is that the individual person’s own body is providing the resistance.  So the question is: can body weight alone provide enough stimulation to increase a person’s overall fitness, or are programs like this just a bunch of clever and gimmicky marketing?  And, why not?  There are several advantages to this type of training.  My apologies for sounding like an infomercial:

·         Convenient:  Body weight training can be done virtually anywhere, including at home, no gym required

·         Improved overall Conditioning: Strength, Coordination, Increased Muscle-Mass, Fat-Burning, Endurance, and Quality of Movement can all be improved by training using body weight as a resistance

·         Very little space required: don’t waste space by cluttering it up with bulky equipment

·         No Spotter Needed: It is safe to do by yourself

·         Combine Strength Training with Endurance Training

The short answer is: YES.  Body weight conditioning can be a great way to build a program by itself or as an addition to a weightlifting or cardio-based program.  The great thing about body weight training is that it improves Functional Strength.  That is a term that has been thrown around a lot the last couple of years without a lot of clarity given to what that means.  To say that training is creating an improvement in functional strength means that the training activities being performed mimic a specific movement pattern of a sport or other physical activity.  This is more than just being able to perform an exercise with heavier weights or the same weight for more repetitions; it is direct improvement to the quality of movement on the playing field during the competition.

               

Just about every person’s fitness goal falls into one of six categories: hypertrophy (muscle-building), maximum strength, maximum power, maximum speed, fat loss, and endurance.  A training program can be designed to maximize any one of these goals and there is some overlap between some of the goals.  However, any program based in body weight training or not, should be created with the intention of focusing on primarily one goal at a time.  The key to successfully utilizing body weight training to accomplish these goals is to understand four things: 1) Appropriate repetition range or time duration for activity; 2) Appropriate Rest Period; 3) Work to Rest Ratio; and 4) Real-life training examples.  The table below outlines how to classify and design a program aimed at achieving these goals.  It is important to understand, when designing a program that having the right balance of repetition ranges, time durations, and rest period maximizes the efficiency of training for the desired goal.

Goal	Rep Range/Duration	Rest Period	Work to Rest Ratio	Real-Life Example
Hypertrophy	8 to 12/45-60 seconds	45-90 seconds	1:1-2	Body Builder
Max Strength	1 to 6/0-30 seconds	2-3 minutes	1:2-3	Power Lifter
Max Power	1 to 3/0-15 seconds	3-4 minutes	1:3-4	Olympic Lifter
Max Speed	1/0-10 seconds	45-60 seconds	1:4-5	Sprinter
Fat Loss	30 seconds to several minutes	Equal or less than activity	1:<1	Everyone Else
Endurance	15+/60+ seconds	No Rest	1	Marathoner

The key to reaching these goals using body weight training is identifying the primary goal and design workouts using the appropriate protocol.  One of the problems that people run into with body weight training is that body quickly adapts to moving itself.  Without increased stimulation a body weight exercise that may have originally started as a power exercise can quickly turn into an endurance exercise. 

Take a box jump as an example; it is great exercise for improving explosive lower body power.  The box jump is performed by starting on the floor, and with both feet together, jumping on to an elevated platform.  To perform this exercise to improve power, a person would only need to complete 1 to 3 repetitions or for less than 15 seconds. Resting 3 to four times longer than the amount of time required to perform the activity.  Performing the exercise for more than a few repetitions or shortening the rest period would change this from power training into hypertrophy training; enough repetitions or inadequate rest periods when turn this into an endurance exercise.  When training for power increasing the number of repetitions per set or increasing the time duration of the set is counterproductive.  To increase power with a box jump, increase the height of the jump, not the number of reps.

A bodyweight workout does not have to target just one goal; it can target two goals.  A well designed bodyweight, power based workout can actually be designed to train three or more goals.  Here is how to do that.  Keeping the primary goal as power training, the second goal will be fat loss with the third goal being endurance.  To accomplish this, the workout will be designed as a circuit, training the entire body in one workout.  This will allow the workout to train for power while keeping the body moving enough to burn plenty of calories for fat-burning and building endurance.  Perform each exercise for the desired number of reps, rest for the specified time, and then begin the next exercise.  Follow this pattern until all exercises have been completed.  Doing this will allow adequate rest for the muscle groups to meet the intense demand of the low repetitions while keeping the body moving with short rest between exercises, creating a fat-burning effect.  To build endurance, simply complete as many rounds as possible.  Remember to follow the designated rest periods.  Eliminate the rest periods will turn this into a strictly endurance workout.  Prolonging the rest periods will eliminate the power training aspect.

Exercise	Repetitions	Rest Period	Work to Rest Ratio
Box Jumps	1 to 5	15 seconds	1:3-4
TRX Push Ups	1 to 5	15 seconds	1:3-4
Skater Jumps	1 to 5	15 seconds	1:3-4
TRX Row	1 to 5	15 seconds	1:3-4

Box Jumps

Begin by standing with the feet shoulder-width apart.  Lower into a squat while simultaneously swinging the arms back behind the body.  Explosively swing the arms forward while at the same time jumping and lifting both feet off of the ground, and, keeping the feet shoulder-width apart, land on the platform with both feet at the same time. Upon landing lower into a squat to cushion the pressure of the landing, then, step of the platform, one foot at a time, or, jump off with both feet together.  If jumping off, lower into a squat upon landing to cushion the pressure.  That is one rep.

Skater Jumps

Begin by standing with the feet shoulder-width apart.  Jump to the right as far as possible and land on the right foot with the left foot off of the ground.  Jump back to the left, landing on the left foot with the right foot off of the ground.  That is one rep.

TRX Push Ups

Adjust the TRX straps so that the handles are level with the knees.  Firmly grasp the handles and place the body into the top of a pushup position.  Lower the body into a push up and the press the body back to the top of the push up position.  That is one rep.

TRX Pull Ups

Adjust the handle length of the TRX straps until they are level with the chest.  Grasp both handles firmly and walk the feet forward until the handles are positioned directly above the chest.  Keep the body in a straight line from the head to the toes.  Contract the muscles of the back and pull the body up until the chest is directly underneath the handles. Return to the start position.  That is one rep.

Bodyweight conditioning is a great tool to have in your fitness tool bag.  It is a great way to build an entire program or works as a substitute for those times when you are too busy to get to the gym.  If your program is stuck in a rut consider adding body weight training into the mix.  Below is a list of fantastic body weight exercises that can be adapted to meet any training goal.

Body Weight Exercises

Chest/Shoulders

Push Ups on Knees

Push Ups on Feet

Push Ups w/Feet Elevated

Clapping Push Ups

TRX Push Ups

Handstand Push Ups

Back/Biceps

Chin Up

Narrow Grip Pull Up

Wide Grip Pull Up

TRX Pull Up

Horizontal Pull Up

Horizontal Towel Pull Up

Horizontal Pull Up w/ feet on a crunch ball

Legs

Squats

One-Leg Squats

Forward Lunges

Backward Lunges

Sideways Lunges

Skipping

Broad Jumps

Skater Jumps

Box Jumps

Squat-Jumps