While flipping through the pages of this issue, I saw photos of kettlebells so I stopped to investigate. What I saw startled me. I blinked and shook my head to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. Like witnessing a car wreck, I couldn’t look away. Yeah, I was right, evil Ken & Barbie had hijacked kettlebells. There was a photo of the fitness model doing arm curls with two kettlebells. Further down the page, the same model was shown doing pec-flyes on a bench with kettlebells. I felt the rage really take over my body when one of the photos showed the model standing on one leg, with his knee pointing out to his side while performing a one arm shoulder press. He looked like a circus act reject.

If I had purchased the magazine, I would have ripped it, stomped on it and then set it on fire. But since I had not, I returned the magazine to the rack. With my hands still shaking, I walked away muttering to myself. To those around me, I must have appeared to be a very upset homeless person yelling at some one in a parallel universe. Needless to say, I was pissed.

I did, however, take the time to look in the front of the magazine to find out who the idiot was who wrote the article and where did he receive his kettlebell training. In the paragraph about him, I found that he had no formal kettlebell training and it simply stated that he was a personal trainer who really liked kettlebell. Gee, sounds like an expert to me. That would be like a Playmate stating on her datasheet that she really liked to look at stars in the night sky and from that we were to conclude that she was an astronomer.

As I have stated many times before, the Russians evolved the kettlebell for over 300 years to be a brutally effective tool for developing strength, power and mutant work capacity. The necessary skills and exercises were developed and refined over a long period of time. The kettlebell was just re-introduced to the American fitness culture, after a long absence, in 2001 by Pavel Tsatsouline through www.dragondoor.com. More recently, the Russian influence continued when Valery Fedorenko, ten time kettlebell competition World Champion and Honored Master of Kettlebell Sport, came to the United States to build interest in kettlebell sport. The kettlebell is their tool and that is why I have studied with Russians. Who better to transmit kettlebell knowledge than the people who created it?

As one of the early kettlebell instructors and having been an instructor for 8 years, I have yet to meet anyone who has gotten it right by self-instruction (DVDs and books). Now, we have personal trainers with little to no formal kettlebell instruction attempting to teach others. Due to their lack of a proper kettlebell education, they just seem to make stuff up. Because they have the title of personal trainer, the public assumes these trainers know what they are doing. In this case, the public would be wrong and the concept of trainer expertise is another long rant. Most trainers do not have a clue what a kettlebell is all about and they are too arrogant to admit it. Sadly, the client and the kettlebell become victims of misinformation and improperly instructed technique. The kettlebell is too important of a tool to the strength and conditioning world to be corrupted in this manner.

You wouldn’t give a three year old a loaded .357 because you know somebody would get hurt if you did. All of you clueless trainers and gym rats, who are throwing kettlebells around without proper instruction, put the kettlebell down and back away. Please ignore any use of the kettlebell where a dumbbell or barbell would work better. And if you are really serious about using kettlebells, seek out someone who knows what they are doing. Here is a big clue; it is not Ken & Barbie!

A Real Brief History

The kettlebell has gotten a lot of recent traction in the fitness marketplace. This cast iron cannonball with a handle on top dates back over three hundred years to Russia and Eastern Europe where it began as a scale weight to determine fair value for goods in the market place. Give Russian males enough free time and vodka, they’ll turn almost anything that has weight into a way to create and demonstrate strength. “Hold my vodka and watch this!”

The kettlebell made its way to United States with the European immigrations, especially during the mid-1800s. They were commonly found in the German “Turner Gyms” but began to disappear after World War l which also happened to correspond with the introduction of the adjustable barbell and dumbbell. As those who knew how to use kettlbells passed on, there was no one left to instruct how and what to do with them. At least two generations passed before Pavel Tsatsouline and John DuCane brought them back to America in 2001 along with the Russian Kettlebell Challenge book and video tape. 2001 also was the beginning of the RKC Instructor certification which was established to bring proper kettlebell instruction to the grassroots level.

I was part of the small eclectic group of fitness nomads that first became involved with the kettlebell. Wandering out of the desert of fitness sameness, there was excitement about being involved with something exotic, from a distant time in history and a culture whose strength training secrets were just beginning to emerge. Strange characters collected at that Oasis, power lifters, former bodybuilders, strongman competitors, martial artists, special force/swat team members and gymnasts whose bodies had out grown their sport. What we all had in common was this cast iron ball with a handle and the joy of being part of something new and a step away from the familiar.

At first, the numbers were small. We stayed in touch on the Dragon Door forum and anytime kettlebells were mentioned in the media it was posted. Such exposure was viewed as a sign that kettlebells were gaining acceptance in the fitness world and of course we would go out and purchase the magazine or at least track the comments on the internet.

It was also common to get strange looks and negative comments when the subject of kettlebells was brought up, especially from training traditionalist whose sole joy in life seemed to be pissing on new (to them) ideas. But in spite of them, the kettlebell movement grew. In fact, it didn’t take long before kettlebell competitors to Dragon Door appeared on the fitness scene with their own kettlebells and certifications. Of course, it is the great American way, if something works, copy it.

Kettlebells – Crap vs. Quality, Classic vs. Competition

The Dragon Door kettlebells set a very high standard for design and production quality. They were considered by many to be too expensive and that left room in the marketplace for someone to come along and offer a cheaper product. Cheaper would be viewed by some to be a good thing but cheaper has its own cost and that is usually quality. These early non-Dragon Door kettlebells also suffered from the delusion that the kettlebell should and could be redesigned. Without kettlebell experience, the handle diameter, handle height from the bell, the bell shape, post casting finishing and paint were changed without regard to how it felt to the lifter.

Trust me. You get really connected to your kettlebell with your hands gripping the handle for thousands of repetitions and those design changes can drastically affect the lifting experience. You can grow to hate the budget based choice in short order. In fact, I have had friends brag about the price they got on an internet kettlebell only to admit later that the purchase was a mistake because they felt like crap when compared to a Dragon Door model. Take home message, you are going to own the kettlebell for a long time so there is no substitute for quality and don’t buy a kettlebell that you can’t try out first.

Most of the junk kettlebells are found in “big box”/discount outlets and of course on the internet where they are sight unseen. The price is cheap but so is the production quality. However, enough time has passed for a few other quality kettlebell manufacturers to surface besides Dragon Door but the promise of “better for less” didn’t survive. The better kettlebells are priced fairly close to each other. If you’re interested in quality, you can’t go wrong with a Dragon Door kettlebell.

In the last few years, there has been a growing interest in kettlebell competition and correspondingly the competition style kettlebell has appeared in the marketplace. The Dragon Door kettlebell represents the “classic” style of kettlebell, where the bell is solid cast iron and the size of the bell changes with each weight increment. With the “competition” style kettlebell, the bell size remains the same. The bell lands the same in the rack position and the handle feels the same regardless of the weight. The rational is that no technique adjustments need to be made when moving from weight to weight. With the high rep counts of competition lifting and where precise technique is critical, the sameness of the kettlebell feel from weight to weight is very important.

How you intend to use the kettlebell determines whether the classic or competition style would be the best for your needs. If you’re after power, strength and your rep count is going to be low to moderate, the classic style would be a good choice. However, if you are more attracted to endurance-strength, higher rep counts and the prospect competition, then competition kettlebell would be the way to go. Or like in my case, I bounce around between strength/power and endurance-strength so I have both styles. At last count, I had twenty-three kettlebells and that number keeps growing. I’m afraid to turn the lights out in my gym at night because I think they’re breeding in the dark. Something I don’t want to see.

Instruction – Get It Right From the Start

In the seven years that I have been a kettlebell instructor, I have yet to meet anyone who has gotten it right through self-instruction (book, DVD, etc.). I may be wrong but I don’t think it can be done. The skill set is so new to our culture that we lack enough living examples for the “see, do, learn” process. There are just not enough brothers, uncles, neighbors or “kettlebell guys” in the gym to watch. Nor is there anyone qualified present to correct technique while it is being learned. Skilled people to watch and certified instructors to teach are critical for skill based learning. For now, seeking out qualified instruction is the only method that I believe works to insure that your kettlebell investment in time, money and effort is truly safe and productive.

As a kettlebell instructor, I realize the above sounds self-serving but I am a living example of what can go wrong without that instruction. In the beginning, there was just the Russian Kettlebell Challenge Book and Video Tape (yes, video tape) and no direct, one-on-one instruction. With the video on the TV screen, the book in one hand and the kettlebell in the other, we were on our own. No one was there to demonstrate, critique and correct. What we did soon became patterns that had unforeseen downstream consequences, in my case, serious shoulder issues that required surgical reconstruction.

American males have a tradition of believing that they don’t need outside help and that they can manage to somehow figure it out on their own, especially in the ego realm of fitness activities. This hubris and ignorance is a “go directly to the emergence room, do not pass go” card. A small investment in instruction at the front end can insure that your kettlebell experience is even more rewarding then you imagined when you decided to give it shot.

By the way, women are easier to teach, perform better technique and retain it longer than men. They are not heavily invested with a “look what I can do” ego and they are not concerned about impressing anyone with their physical prowess because they don’t have that cultural expectation of themselves. The focus is on really wanting to get it right and then they are later surprised by their performance. I can almost guarantee you that after you teach a male a technique, they will come back two weeks later with something that does not even resemble what you taught and swear up and down that is what you said Must be the genes.

Style versus Style

If you search long enough on the internet about kettlebell training, you will come across the concept of which of two main styles of kettlebell training to pursue. The camps are divided into two main approaches: hard style and soft style. Both present compelling arguments for following their style and unfortunately some individuals from each side have taken it upon themselves to trash the other side and have made it personal, “us versus them” with the “them” being uninformed, ignorant and/or perhaps even dangerous.

The ‘50s long shore philosopher, Eric Hoffer, referred to such individuals as True Believers who live in a black and white myopic world where the comfort of their chosen group allowed them to stop seeking knowledge. Unfortunately, the energy they could have spent for personal growth was spent creating intellectual defenses with reason and logic being the first casualties of their imaginary war. The good news is that the extremists are few in number. The bad news is that they are loud and at times very distracting.

Let’s filter out the static noise of marketing and ego and examine what this is really all about.

Imagine a fitness continuum where on the far left side of the line are found power lifters and strongman competitors and at the far right are marathon and ultra runners, tri-athletes and long distance cyclists. Moving in from the left, we will find Olympic weightlifters, track & field throwers and likewise moving in from the right, 10K and half-marathoners. Eventually, as we move toward the center, we arrive at activities and sports that are more balanced between strength and cardio. Very few of us are gifted to be best at either end of the continuum. The body structure of a world class power lifter is totally opposite of that of a class marathoner. The unique body structure of each athlete draws them to sports and activities that they have the best chance for success.

The best of the best from various points along the fitness continuum are sliced out of context and held out as examples of health and fitness for the rest of us to emulate. They become the road map for us to follow on our fitness journey without regard to its validity for our own unique situation. Each end of the continuum sincerely believes that if only others would follow their training concepts, the world would experience the greatest rewards of exercise and doing anything else would is, well, just dumb.

“If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

In the kettlebell world, the left end of the continuum focuses on strength and power. The skill of the proper use of tension and breath are taught to enhance performance and to provide a safe structure for the body to express strength and power. Heavier weight and low to moderate reps are the norm for hard style kettlebell training and exercise choices are numerous.

Soft style, at the right end of the continuum, focuses on the basic kettlebell competition lifts: the one arm snatch, the jerk and the long cycle (clean & jerk) and assistance exercises that contribute to the success in competition. Tension is reduced and movement technique and efficiency are stressed. The breath is not held but moves in and out with the natural bellows effect of the bodies’ movement. Each of the kettlebell lifts are done for 10 minutes in competition so reducing tension and proper kettlebell sport technique is essential for success.

This would be a good time to point out that there is nothing “soft” about soft style. Take a light weight for any exercise and do it non-stop for 10 minutes and you’ll soon get the idea. The term soft style is only good to draw distinction from the 800# Kettlebell World Gorilla – Dragon Door/RKC’s hard style approach. In fact, the practitioners of the soft style training would prefer the term Kettlebell Sport to replace soft style. In reality, it is more accurate. Competition techniques are the foundation of what they teach and around which their workouts are structured.

I am very familiar with both kettlebell training styles. I am certified by both and I use both in my own training and in the programs I develop for my clients. My decision about which to use is based on my client’s individual’s needs (i.e., training history, short term and long term goals, past and current injuries, etc.). I refuse to fall solely into either camp at the exclusion of the other. That would be like trying to decide to keep only one foot. Go ahead, look down at your feet and tell one of them good-bye and tell it the decision was based upon compelling marketing and/or group peer pressure. I don’t think the rejected foot would be impressed by such weak rationale. Devout followers of each side may have a leg to stand on but two legs would be a lot stronger. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

Big Finish.

The kettlebell began as a practical tool used for purpose unrelated to strength and fitness, a balance beam weight for marketplace fairness. 300 years later, it has become an important tool for developing strength and conditioning and as a stand alone sport. After a long absence, the kettlebell was re-introduced into the American training culture by Pavel Tsatsouline and John DuCane through Dragon Door Publishing along with the first kettlebell instructor certification, the RKC. Within a few years, other manufacturers began offering their own kettlebells and other sources of kettlebell certification surfaced as well.

Back in 2006, a highly respected fitness authority predicted that the kettlebell was over and the fitness public had lost interest and would move on to the next shiny new toy. He was wrong. The interest in kettlebells and kettlebell training is still growing. Strength and conditioning coaches are using kettlebells at the professional, college and high school levels. Even the kettlebell sport is growing each passing year.

Despite direr predictions of an early demise, kettlebells are firmly entrenched in the fitness world. Quality equipment and proper instruction are keys to getting the most of your kettlebell experience. I believe the RKC represents the best of the hard style approach to kettlebell training and the WKC/AKC (World Kettlebell Club/American Kettlebell Club) is the best of the competition style training. The kettlebell certification programs have been around long enough that you should be able to find an instructor within reasonable driving distance for one-on-one instruction and kettlebell workshops for group instruction are scheduled throughout the year and posted on various Kettlebell training websites. Man-up (or woman-up) and purchase quality equipment and seek out proper instruction. As David Letterman says, “You will be glad you did.”

I’m not going deep into the story line but for this discussion I am going to focus on the author’s experience with running injuries and a surprising finding that pissed him off.

His attempt to become a serious runner was met by chronic injury roadblocks. Each specialist he sought out informed him that he was injured because he ran and if he wanted the pain to go away he should stop running. Not exactly the message he wanted to hear. Being resourceful, he went outside the sports treatment box and found the “barefoot” running movement and the Tarahumara Indian tribe who run the mountains and canyons of Mexico in flip-flops.

Weaving throughout the story is the idea that the very running shoes that were purchased to avoid injuries were in fact the cause of those injuries. Halfway through the book, McDougall drops the hammer on Nike and the running shoe industry with an in-depth discussion of the issue which includes the results of a European running injury study done in 1989. Of all the variables examined, running shoes stood out by far and away from the rest. An interesting finding was the more expensive shoes (> $95) were twice as likely to be related to injuries as cheaper shoes. It seems that the advanced technologies to cushion the foot and control motion was disrupting natural foot function and by encouraging heel-strike running exacerbated the injury potential.

When I stopped running years ago because of injuries, it never occurred to me to question the shoe. I thought it was just me. I assumed the shoe companies knew what they were doing and that they had my best interest at heart. Now it seems that either they didn’t know how their expensive injuries magnets were affecting the human body or, even worse, didn’t care. As long as the shoe was not in question, injuries and customer frustrations were part of their marketing plan. The suckers would buy another pair of shoes in search for relief so they could continue with their running addiction. Cool strategy unless the public connected the shoe–injury dots. Well, I believe Born to Run connected the dots and the running community will soon be grabbing pitchforks and torches to run (or hobble) after Nike and the other purveyors of injury time bombs. The wheel of Karma rolls corporate toes, too.

During a presentation regarding the endocrine response to resistance training at the recent NSCA National Conference, William Kraemer mentioned Heat Shock Proteins. I asked for his response to some supplement companies releasing products they claim increase the activation of Heat Shock Proteins within the body. His eyes rolled up toward the ceiling and with a heavy sigh he explained that the many varieties of Heat Shock Proteins are sight specific and even if such a product could be developed, how would it make through the digestive system.” Mmmm…”

One of my clients is a former head of a research department at a large pharmaceutical

company who had conducted considerable research involving Heat Shock Proteins.

When I mentioned supplement companies and Heat Shock Proteins, he rolled his eyes

toward the ceiling and with a heavy sigh he explained the role of Heat Shock Proteins in

the body and seriously questioned the science behind producing anything that would activate Heat Shock Proteins beyond the body’s ability to produce its own, on site and when needed. “Mmmm…”

It seems that scientist roll their eyes upward and sigh and I make the “mmm…” sound when serious bullshit is drifting through the air. Supplement marketing both is very entertaining and scary. It is entertaining to observe how a market segment is targeted; everything from the visuals of the ads to the informational content. We all want results from our training efforts and the faster the better. When someone really wants something they are easier to manipulate. The fitness world wants bigger, faster, stronger and prettier and, by the way, these results are hardwired to a charge card in your wallet or purse. The scary part is how science, real or imagined, can be twisted for financial gain without having to back their claims with “real” research. As Homer Simpson said, “Everything works in theory… even communism works in theory.”

MRI, one the companies offering Heat Shock Protein Activation, was scheduled to be in the Expo Hall of the NSCA Conference. They pulled out. I wanted to ask them for their research to justify their Heat Shock Protein marketing claims. So did a lot of academics with a “whack-a-mole” attitude toward junk science for profit. “Mmmm…”

When I returned from Las Vegas, I called MRI and stated clearly my desire to see the research regarding their Heat Shock Protein Activation product but I was transferred to a “scientist” or so I thought. What I got was an abrupt “hang-up” after I was informed that this line would not accept voicemail. I next e-mailed their customer service department and once again requested the research and you guessed it, no reply. “Mmmm…”

Are companies like Nike and MRI looking out for our best interest. Their marketing departments would like for us to believe that they are. All together now, roll your eyes toward the ceiling, take a deep breath and give out a heavy sigh and now put your lips together and go, “Mmmm…” Pitchforks and torches are optional.

Monday began with waking up to an uneasy dread and sadness. I know a lot of people start Mondays this way but this was much different. This Monday was the day I had to take the oldest of our three dachshunds to the vets to be put down.

Spunky was 15 years old, very frail, blind and deaf. Since winter, it seems that he deteriorated at lightening speed. With each passing day, he became weaker and less responsive to the world around him, withdrawn into a dark and silent world that my wife and I could not comprehend or reach through to the spirit that was once a very active, loving dog.

We watched, day by day, as his vacant carcass would stumble and fall. He would walk his silent dark as midnight pathway from bedroom to kitchen and back to bed again by trial and error. His nose paid a high price for his limited adventures, bumping into walls, chairs and cabinets. Driven by instinct, he would find his way to the kitchen to be fed, twice a day, like clock work, 6:30am and 7:00pm. With nails clicking on the linoleum, he would slowly circle our small kitchen, banging his nose into the cabinets, kitchen stool, our legs and his brother and sister. Once his bowl was placed in its normal location, we would still have to pick him up and take him to its location. Even his remaining sense of smell failed him.

The last two weeks of his slow motion death march brought bloody diarrhea. We thought that it was colitis but when medicine didn’t quiet the symptoms, we realized this was another step toward the inevitable.

The vet said we would know when it was time and he was right. We knew. Monday was the day and I had time in the morning before work. I found myself very uneasy about the whole process, especially the concept of making an appointment with death. We had hoped that Spunky would die in his sleep but his systems’ shutdown had another idea, a longer, more painful process that broke our hearts. It was time.

I had also hoped my last few hours with Spunky would be peaceful and dignified but that wasn’t to be either. I placed him on the front seat that was covered with towels and pee pads and a box of tissues on the console, just in case. Well, just in case happened a block down the street. I had just called the vets office to let them know I was on the way and had them on the phone when I heard an odd noise coming from my left. Oh, crap! Diarrhea was spreading toward the edge of seat and back under Spunky. As I reached to pull him away from the puddle of toxic waste, I stuck my finger into something that felt like warm rice pudding. Oh, crap!

Do you know how hard it is to drive a car with a cell phone in one hand and your finger of the other hand in shit? Luckily, we were still in the neighborhood, no traffic and with time to attempt to cleanup the mess, at least enough to continue the journey. However, the brown, red puddle would visit us one more time before reaching the vet’s parking lot. So much for that idyllic peaceful and dignified end I had hoped for. Oh, crap!

I parked the car near a grassy area that separated the vet’s parking lot from a national health club’s lot next door. I carefully removed Spunky from the front seat mess and sat him in the grass. I felt he was safe there while I cleaned the mess and took the debris to a nearby dumpster. He had rarely walked in the last two weeks and if he tried, he didn’t get very far. He was safe or so I thought. Oh, I forgot to mention that the grassy area was higher than the health club parking lot and a small hill slopped down away from where Spunky sat. When I turned back away from the dumpster, I was shocked to see my dog staggering down the short rise, heading toward health club and a foot high curb. I ran to stop him from falling off the curb and got to him with a foot to spare.

I picked him up and this time I sat him down further from the drop off in a wider space in the grassy area. There was more work to do in the car and more debris to take to the dumpster. You guessed it. Gravity had once again captured Spunky and like an asteroid passing a large planet, the health club was drawing him near. Running back to save Spunky was starting to feel like sprint intervals. With just inches from the curb, my right hand slid under his chest and my left under his butt (this time, without shit, so I hoped). His escape attempt was ended. It was now time. The appointment was waiting. Both of us, still slightly shit stained, walked into the vets’ office. Spunky, rage into that dark night!

Since this is a fitness website, you may be asking what does this have to do with fitness.

Good question. Let’s explore the image.

It has been stated that dogs mature very quickly. They are able to mate within the first year of life. Humans require twelve or more years unless it is some remote and forgotten culture without video games, cell phones and TVs where it might happen sooner. The life quality of dogs remain relatively flat for years but when the end comes, it comes quickly. The last few weeks of a dog’s life equates to perhaps several human years. Deterioration is unexpectedly rapid. So here is Spunky, sitting in the grass at the very end of his life with perhaps only minutes left, being pulled toward a health club in what seemed to be a desperate attempt to run away from certain death.

In the decades that I have been involved with fitness, I have seen thousands of people “run” to fitness in response to a personal crisis. This is not your “I want to look better naked crowd”, although, most would accept the result. These individuals have something serious chasing them, a heart attack, cancer, diabetes, MS, death of a parent or spouse, a divorce or perhaps the realization that they are falling out of the aging tree and hitting every limb on the way down. And the additional sense of the sand passing through the hour glass joins the chase to intensify the motivation. Many of these people have ever given fitness much of a thought. Exercise is a strange activity done by an even stranger narcissistic human subspecies or overpaid athletes with superhuman skills. Neither of which they can relate. They have heard the rumors of the magical healing powers of exercise but they ignored them because it seemed too impossible to invest any energy or belief only to be disappointed if it failed. No, it was easier for them to grab the remote control and hunker down with some serious comfort food until the thought of exercise faded back to a distant corner of their minds where they also stashed the concept of a healthy diet.

Fitness takes on a new meaning when life hits you in the head with a crisis two by four. Spunky’s attempted dash to the health club to escape the appointment with the vet, as sad and yet comical as it was, symbolizes the human attempt to run from another two by four whack and to bring about change before their appointment calendar announces their time is up. Spunky, with his shit stained, boney ass staggering in the grass in a beeline from the vet, is silently screaming, “Rage into that dark night! Do something now before someone is driving you to vets.”

Spunky, goodnight and goodby! Keep running, boy, keep running! Where you are now, no one can catch you and there are no appointments you don’t want to keep.

Shortly after 9/11, Pavel Tsatsouline wrote an article for Muscle Media magazine which focused on the strength and conditioning workout of the Russian Special Forces. It centered on the use of kettlebells and body weight exercises because of the need to be both portable and highly effective. While on maneuvers, kettlebells were thrown in the back of a truck and when camp was made, they would drag out the kettlebells and rig up something for doing pull-ups. When camp was broken, the kettlebells were thrown in the back of truck and taken to the next location. As interesting as this use might be to current and potential kettlebell users, the most important concept of this article was not necessarily the use of kettlebells but rather was the workout structure and the rationale behind it.

OVERVIEW

Here is the basic structure as presented in the article:

Lower Body

Upper Body Push/Pull

Core

Ballistic

I realize at first glance this approach looks very simplistic and to those in search of the workout Holy Grail this might be disappointing. However, like the notes of the blues scale, a lot can be done with what seems to be a little. So please read on.

This workout structure is based on natural human movement patterns. We squat down and stand up. We bend over to pick up things. We push out away from the body and pull back toward it. We push things overhead and of course pull down. The core stabilizes the low spine so that force can transfer through the center body in both directions. The body also moves forward and backward, side to side and rotates. In fact, most human movements involve combinations of two or more of these patterns.

Traditional bodybuilding focuses on single joint isolation exercises that do not address the needs of body movement and functional strength. For this new workout paradigm, multiple joint, compound exercises are the main stay. Horizontal presses are preferred over pec-flys. Squats and lunges produce more usable leg strength than leg extensions and leg curls. Standing press and pull-ups are more effective for upper body strength than delt raises and arm curls. You get the idea; big lifts instead of little lifts.

I suggest that you open an Excel spreadsheet or grab a legal pad. Across the top, label columns: Lifting (glute), Squating (quad), Horizontal Push, Horizontal Pull, Vertical Push, Vertical Pull, Core and Ballistic. Under each column heading, list every exercise you can think of that corresponds to that movement pattern. Include all of the training equipment options available to you: barbell, dumbbell, body weight, kettlebell, clubbell, sandbag and stretch bands, etc. This list will become your library of exercises. As you complete a training cycle, the current exercise you are doing for any major movement returns to the master list and a new exercise choice slides into that spot within the program. The template remains the same but exercise variables change according to your goals: exercise choice, reps & sets, rest between sets, exercise frequency and loading.

LOWER BODY

The “lower body first” concept may be new to those who begin their workouts with the bench press but not so in the athletic world where the importance of the hips and thighs are well understood and valued. In our sit-on-your-ass culture, the lower body strength and power development is often neglected and the effort is instead spent on satisfying the ego by training the mirror muscles, especially the chest and arms. Unless you walk on your hands all day long, human movement radiates outward from the hips like waves created by dropping a stone in a pond. Therefore, training should be structured accordingly.

Clearly the strength and power of the hips and thighs are important to athletic performance. The need to move with graceful power is matched with the ability to overpower an opponent or an implement. Athletes seem to be a separate specie but they are really not. We are all athletes. In fact, life is a series of small athletic events, one after another from the moment of getting out of bed in the morning to staggering back into bed at night. Strength, power, joint mobility and stability, balance, work capacity and movement skills interweave in an intricate tapestry that we hardly notice until something goes wrong. The lost of strength and power is obvious to the injured or aging athlete but it is also very noticeable to a weak senior who cannot stand up from a toilet without assistance. At that moment, all of those bench presses don’t mean shit.

Another consideration why the lower body comes first is because it is the largest muscle mass of the body. Lower body work requires more physical energy and mental focus than the smaller muscles of the upper body. Doing the lower body first guarantees the energy necessary for proper concentration and muscular performance.

I find single leg exercises like, lunges, step-ups, Bulgarian split squats, pistols and single leg dead-lifts very useful for developing basic strength and correcting muscular imbalances. Differences in right-side/left-side stability jump out while in single leg stance. So man-up and face your weaknesses. It is important to remember that you cannot load a dysfunctional movement pattern. The longer you avoid the issue, the worst it gets as you age.

UPPER BODY PUSH/PULL

After the lower body exercises have been completed, it is time to move on to the upper body push/pull patterns. This program design arrange the upper-body push-pull exercises into a mini-circuit where a pull exercise follows a push exercise and continues until all sets are completed. Imbalances between pushing and pulling muscles are all too common in the Western fitness culture. These imbalances result in limited gains in performance and a greater risk for injury. Because we tend to worship the mirror muscles and ignore what we can’t see, the pulling muscles get short changed. How many people do you know who can bench more than their bodyweight but who cannot do a legitimate pull-up and of those “benchers”, how many have serious shoulder pain? Once again, man-up and pull.

The lack of pull-up strength (vertical pull) also coincides with a lack of overhead pressing strength (vertical push). It is amazing the amount of attention given to the bench press while how little is devoted to the vertical pushing. This workout template has two different workouts. Session A includes the horizontal push/pull and Session B, in turn, the vertical push/pull. Using this approach, you are forced to do your weaker movement patterns. You are not allowed to hide your weaknesses. But the good news is there is something very rewarding about doing pull-ups and standing single arm Kettlebell presses with close to your body weight while others run from the challenge.

CORE

We have been sold the concept that great abs equals greater value to the human tribe. Attractive mates fall at your feet. Wealthy members of the tribe throw money at you just to glow in your brilliance. The universe is very kind to those who walk amongst us with the chiseled six-pack. What a marketing goldmine, the cultural insecurity that just keeps giving to anyone with a product to sell. Recently, the six-pack abs have morphed to become the core and core training which seems to be more important and less vain because now it is somehow linked to functionality. So if you didn’t get suckered into casing looking better naked, the ab merchants are trying to sell on ab training to improve anything from your golf game to your sexual performance.

Here is the bad news. Until recently, most of the common core exercises done in gyms and shown in magazines have been proven to exacerbate or cause lower back problems (McGill). All of those trainers who put their clients through routines of sit-ups, crunches, side bends, twists and hyper-extensions are causing more damage and placing their victims at greater risks. The good news is that the new approach to training the core is not only safer for the L-spine but improves functional performance far more than anything done in the past. These ideas are just now starting to breach the wall of uninformed complacency. Magazines are showing planks instead of sit-ups, side bridges in place of side bends and bird dogs versus hyperextensions.

What to do for the core and why is a subject for a future article. For the purpose of this discussion, the core gets dedicated focus after the lower body and upper body have been addressed. Usually, two to three exercises are included that cover the anterior, lateral, posterior and rotational aspects of core movement and stability. It is not as complicated as it sounds for many of the possible exercise choices involve more than one component of the core movement patterns.

BALLISTIC

Ballistic exercises are multi-joint strength movements done for high reps and / or time. All of the energy systems are stressed and required to adapt. VO2 max can improve, anaerobic capacity increases and fat metabolism continues long after the exercise has ceased. So there is a body fat loss component riding along with the serious conditioning benefit of ballistic exercises.

The Russian Special Forces used Kettlebell swings, snatches, jerks, long cycle clean & jerks and push-presses for their superb conditioning. However, the same exercise can be used by “civilians” to generate fat loss. You can also select from numerous bodyweight, dumbbell and barbell exercises to create your own ballistic exercise. The resistance should allow you to continue the movement for at least one minute and plan on increasing your time as your conditioning improves. As a general rule: increase time and / or sets before you increase weight.

Because of their taxing nature, ballistics are usually done at the end of workout as one last kick in the ass to conclude the session and are often referred to as “finishers” for good reason, you’re finished.

WARMUP & COOL-DOWN

The good news is that jumping on a treadmill or a bike for 5:00 to warm-up for strength training has proven ineffective and to waste valuable energy needed for training. The bad news is you still have to spend time preparing to lift, so get over it. The dynamic joint mobility works of Pavel Tsatsouline, Eric Cobb and Scott Sonnon have proven to be extremely beneficial for workout preparation by warming the joint capsule and simulating the release of synovial fluid for lubrication and to bath the cartilage with the elements of nutrition needed for tissue health. Dynamic joint movements also aid in the release restrictions that impede normal joint function.

10 to 15 minutes of joint mobility work is usually enough time to wake up the body and to prepare the joints for the work to follow. You can begin at the feet and work up the body joint-by-joint to the neck or start at the neck and work down. Where you start is not as important as having a system that insures each joint is worked in an orderly manner and that you can go through it half asleep (which is likely) while your mind is drifting all over the place. However, to get the best results, you really need to focus totally for every second that you are doing any dynamic movement. Your increased awareness will provide critical feedback about body positioning during movement which will in turn improve lifting performance and increased safety to reduce the risk of injury.

Once dynamic movement drills have been completed, it is time move to exercise specific warm-ups which include body weight exercises and / or lighter weight versions of the exercises to be performed. Traditionally, the latter are simply the programmed exercise starting at light weight for a few reps and adding weight until being close to the planned work resistance. It is important not to waste energy by doing too many reps during the warm-up phase. The purpose is to wake up the nervous system and get the exercise pattern established before challenging the muscles and joints with heavier weight. Generally, no more than 5 reps for any given warm-up set and as few as just one rep as you get closer to the work weight are needed to prepare for the exercise.

The body needs some time period to come down from the high levels of stress achieved during a workout. A continuation of light movement will aid in the removal of waste by-products from the cellular level of the muscle and this in turn will speed recovery. It is a common practice with cardiovascular training and fast paced strength circuits to allow heart and respiratory rates to return close to normal before moving on to other activities. Even though non-circuit weight training may not have the obvious extremes of heart rate and respiration as circuits and super sets, cool-down is important and should not be ignored. Once the workout is completed, recovery begins. The cool-down transition period goes a long way in determining the quality of recovery before the next workout. Don’t let it slide.

It was recommended above to avoid stretching during warm-up due to its detrimental affect on performance. The cool-down phase is the opportune time stretch but first the question must be asked, what to stretch and why. We have been sold on the idea that flexibility is a good thing, the more flexible the better. Therefore, the whole body would need to be stretch. Right? Not so fast there spunky. Certain areas of the body need to remain taut. For example, one of the roles of lumbar spine and the core is to assist in conducting force through the center of the body. A too flexible of a low back would “leak energy” and therefore hinder performance and increase the risk of injury to its self and to distant muscles and joints that rely on lumbar stability for the quality of their performance. Also, the concept of “flexible for what” needs to be considered. An office desk jockey doesn’t need the flexibility of a rock climber. Stretch only muscles that truly need to be stretched (i.e., muscles whose tightness interfere with proper joint function). Don’t waste time and energy on a whole body stretch routine just because it sounds cool. Cool can come back and bite you on the ass.

SAMPLE WORKOUT

Here is what it looks like when the pieces come together. The sample workouts below are focused on hypertrophy and general conditioning. Session A’s lower body exercise is quad dominate and the upper body pushes and pulls are the horizontal. Session B’s lower body is glute dominate and the upper body pushes and pulls are vertical.

There are three strength workouts per week with at least a day for recovery between workouts. One week would have the A-B-A sequence and the next week would be B-A-B. Therefore, each session would occur three times every two weeks.

SESSION A

WARM-UP

Dynamic Joint Mobility

LOWER BODY

Double Kettlebell Front Squats – 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps

UPPER BODY HORIZONTAL PUSH/PULL CIRCUIT

Blast Strap Pushups – Body Weight + Weighted Vest – 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps

Horizontal Row – Body Weight + Weighted Vest – 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps

CORE

McGill Rollup – Body Weight – 2 sets of 5r/5l with a 5 count static hold

BALLISTIC

Kettlebell Swings – 24Kg – cluster sets to 100

COOLDOWN

Corrective Stretching

SESSION B

WARM-UP

Dynamic Joint Mobility

LOWER BODY

Barbell Dead-Lifts – 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps

UPPER BODY

Standing Kettlebell or Dumbbell Press – 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps

Body Weight Pull-Ups – 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps or Lat Pull-Downs – 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps

CORE

Side Bridge – Body Weight – 2 sets of 5 to 10 reps per side with a 3 count static hold

BALLISTIC

Squat Combo – Body Weight – 3 sets of 15 Squats, 15 Jump Squats & 15 Second Squat Bottom Position Static Hold

COOLDOWN

Corrective Stretching

SUMMARY

The general concept of this workout template is be very adaptive to individual needs and tools available to train. With the exercise order set (lower body, upper body, core and ballistic) the other workout variables; exercise selection, reps and sets, rest between sets, frequency per week and loading can be creatively tweaked according to circumstance. The focus on multi-joint exercises translates well to functional human movement patterns. The results of this style of training are much more practical than just looking better naked. Not that there is anything wrong with looking better naked. It is just that you should be able to move with grace and power once you are naked.

When I handed my cancellation letter to the club owner, I offered to make some suggestions that I thought might help the club. But before I could begin, she put her hand up, clearly a “talk to the hand”  jesture, looked down at some make believe piece of paper and said, “I don’t want to hear it”.  I wasn’t being a smartass; I was sincere in my intent to be helpful. Her reaction clearly revealed why the club’s environment pushed me out the door. From the top down, no one really cared about the club’s training environment. Most members moved around in an iPod cloud, unaware and uncaring how their actions affected others around them. They paid their $19.95 per month to workout and leave. And like spoiled children, they assumed that someone would cleanup after them. If not the underpaid staff, it would be another member. It really didn’t matter who, as long as they didn’t have to be bothered about such menial responsibilities.

The young staff didn’t feel that they should approach a wealthy member about being more considerate of others and tell them to put their toys away. They seemed to be intimidated by engaging much older and more successful members in such a confrontational manner and they feared the reaction of their employer. After my interaction with the owner, it is my impression that she would rather fire a good employee than lose a $19.95 per month raging asshole member. Ownership and club management just let the brats run wild in the sandbox and the brats seemed to clearly out number those who knew and respected the rules of gym conduct. In fact, it seemed that few members knew that such gym rules even existed. Yes, of course, I know that there are always going to be inconsiderate assholes wherever you go but the ignorance of the code of gym conduct compounds the problem and results in unexpected assholes and that, unfortunately, equates to even more difficulties for the good guys.

Somewhere along the health club historical timeline, the tradition and the instruction of proper gym conduct broke down. Now, I get to play, “old fart remembers”. I believe the lineage and communication broke down in the 1970’s with the onslaught of strength machines and the rise of national health club chains.

Machines pushed free weight training into a distant, dark corner of the clubs like the wife of a mid-life crisis male leaving her for a twenty year old blond with huge sweater puppies struggling to get out. In this new environment, members were directed to march with their little workout cards in hand from one glamorous machine to another. Adjusting the seat height and selecting weight plates did not require the skilled coaching of free weight gyms. Other than taking too long on a machine or leaving a sweaty mess, there was very little one could do to piss off another member. The staff didn’t need to be on floor either. They could focus their attention on the sales of new memberships needed to feed the beast. The members were left unsupervised. As far as the clubs were concerned, the members were either marching from machine to machine, on a treadmill Death March or better yet, they were at home, which meant another membership could be sold to take their place. The members who stopped showing up were pure gold and were actually planned for within their operating budgets.

This comfortable and profit full little world became a lot less comfortable with the retro movement to free weights that began about five years ago. The concept of a minimal staff focused mainly on sales and members left to police themselves simply doesn’t work in this new free-weight world. Old school free-weight etiquette is now needed more than ever but few people from the free weight only-era have transcended the 35 year gap. The few of us who still seriously lift are appalled by the current situation.  The concept of the “gym” was ruined by corporate greed and incompetence and by membership naive gullibility. These two unlikely alleys conspired together to create the chrome-plated health club we know and hate today. “Sell the promise and cash the check”. And for those who wrote the check, had the privilege of watching their new best friend ”trainer/sales person” grab the check and turn away quickly to chase down their next client/victim. Serious free weight training simply cannot exist in this training-toxic environment.

So what are the alternatives? I see three possible options: 1) a rare enlightened health club with a serious free weight section that also has a group of experienced lifters who set a high standards for behavior and technique (good luck finding that option), 2) one of the newer small hardcore gyms that limit membership to serious like-minded lifters or 3) the creation of your own home gym within which you can train alone or with friends who could perhaps share the cost of equipment.

If you choose the latter, the equipment list should consist of a power rack with a pullup bar, a flat/incline/decline bench, two Olympic bars (one for the rack and one for the floor) with enough weight plates to almost live up to your fantasies, dumbbells with weight that exceed your fantasies, and a selection of kettlebells and sandbags. Also, it would be wise to allow room in your space and the budget for future new must-have tools as they become available.

As you can see, the equipment is very low tech but it is the knowledge of what to do with these tools that reveals their true immense value. What to do and with what will be the subject of future articles. I’ve done enough ranting about the fitness industry. It is now time to focus on training.

One last thought. If you are still training in a large health club and you’re not pleased with your training environment, you have two options: 1) bitch up a storm for them to make things better or 2) leave and take your money elsewhere. Your money is hard earned and your training environment should support your fitness passion. Since machines were created to keep the geeks out of the free weight area, what are you doing in a place that has a lot of machines and geeky machine users anyway? Man, that has to be soul crushing. Run Forrest, run!

If you have the knowledge and experience that would drastically help someone obtain their goals and more importantly keep them from becoming injured, are you obligated, even though unsolicited, to assist them? I studied under a Russian Strength coach who said that you have to allow people to be as stupid as they want to be unless they ask for your assistance. Then you had the option as to whether to help them or not. If they pay for your services, you have no choice. They are, in fact, paying for your knowledge and experience. It seems pretty clear-cut. Or is it?

Image that you are a highly educated experienced strength coach and you see, from across the gym, someone pulling a heavy dead lift with a round back. To compound the problem, they can’t get to legal lockout and their spine is still in flexion at the top. You know that with proper setup and technique, they would have much greater level of success and more importantly a lower risk for serious injury. You also know from a specialty in low spine that a “blowout” would ruin their lifting career short term and likely long term, there would be a long painful rehabilitation and the injury would negatively affect them for the rest of their life. You know that this serious and yet you don’t know him, he hasn’t asked for your advice and you know there is good chance he will tell you to go away and mind your own business, you jerk. What do you do? Let Darwin have his way? If this guy blows his back, that’s one less meathead competing for space in the gym. Not a bad trade off, his bad back and more space for you. Mmmmm.

But still there is a nagging sense of responsibility. Strength training is counting on you to improve it one person, one exercise and one rep at a time. This person needs your help whether he knows it or not. How are you going to feel when you hear later about the bar crashing, the screaming, the EMT’s carrying him out of the gym? Then you’re told much later that he lost his job because he could no longer work, his wife left him because he wasn’t the man she married and that he gained 50 pounds of ugly fat because he couldn’t get his ass off the couch, you jerk.

Seems to be a theme here, you’re a jerk either way. Ah, a dilemma it is, Skywalker. This is what I face everyday in the gym. Speak up or shut-up, take your pick. This is not a pop quiz. There is no right or wrong. The individual situation will indicate what is likely to be the correct action but even this approach is not an absolute. But this is easy compared with a researcher doing human studies.

I attended a Rehabilitation Summit last September and one presenter was a highly regarded knee specialist and his discussion focused on ACL tears, particularly in the age group of teenage female athletes. Here is some data:

NCAA

- Greater than 100,000 female participants

- 1/10 of female participants suffer a knee injury

High school injury rate: 1/50 participants

-2.9 million participants

– 50,000 + high school female knee injuries/year

Injury Epidemiology

- ACL injuries are the most common source of disability in the U.S.

- 100,000 ACL’s per year in the U.S.

- ACL injuries result in nearly 1 billion dollars on medical costs per year in the U.S.

- Female athletes are 4 to 6 times more likely to have a ACL injury

Through research, certain movement deficits have been linked to the increased likelihood of having an ACL injury. We were shown studies were young females athletes were tested for various deficits and then followed are several years to see who would experience one or more ACL injuries based on those deficits. Keep in mind that an ACL injury is painful, life altering and expensive. Once an injury is experienced, the likelihood of another event to the injured knee or healthy knee is greatly increased as well. Also, the down stream kick in the ass is a greater risk for osteoarthritis and at a much younger age.

Here is the dilemma. Knowing the deficits and movements that are linked to ACL injuries, do you, as a researcher, intervene and direct a test subject to seek correction to prevent the increased risk of an ACL or do you allow the events to take their course to maintain the validity of the study which would help thousands of others from becoming injured in years to come. Keep in mind that these studies are used to convince medical professionals, coaches, trainers, parents and athletes who are resistant to change and do things differently. Numbers build your case for change. There is a greater good in play here and cannot to be dismissed without very serious consideration.

You knew this was coming. What if that test subject was your sister or daughter and she went on to have an ACL injury with all of the baggage that goes with it. Mmmmm… big ass dilemma. My heart says, “Save the one”. My head knows that the knowledge could save thousands for generations to come and evidence based studies are necessary to bring about that change. Which jerk do you want to be? I can’t help you. You’re on your own on this one.

Here is the big finish, dude. Tom Brady’s ACL tear is going to bring more attention to that type of injury. However, Tom Brady is a world class athlete with access to the best training and medical care available. His body was prepared for the rigors for his sport. The key word here is “prepared”. The guy in the gym and young athlete are not thoroughly prepared for what they doing. The lifter needs to understand the importance of proper technique and obtaining assistance in developing those skills. The young athlete needs to develop his or her body to be able to train and compete successfully and with a lower risk of injury. The lifter doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and because of pride and ego is not likely to seek out help. On the other hand, the young athlete is all trusting of the adults that surround them to guide them in the proper direction whether those adults truly know anything about the subject or not (at a certain age, however, all adults become idiots. This must be a survival instinct.). For most people, young or old, access to truly well educated skilled trainers is rare. The vast majority of those participating in serious physical activities do not have the resources of Tom Brady. Quality coaching is very rare and the public doesn’t recognize the value or the need until something goes horribly wrong then lawyers are brought in to try to cash in on their own ignorance. The gym rat blows out his back and later wonders if it was something he might have done. The teenage female soccer player walks on crutches through the high school hallway pissed about her condition because a specialist said she had a noticeable valgus shift in her knees both on landing and on takeoff and that some coach or trainer should have dealt with it when she was younger. Had that happened, she probably would not be on crutches now, still being able to play her sport and also attend her prom without a knee brace.

Regarding, responsibility, here is the take home message. Anyone who is participating vigorous physical activity needs to seek out the very best information, trainers, coaches and medical support they can find. They need to study the appropriate literature and through the combination of self-education and mentoring learn to discern the rare truth from the all too common bullshit and then take personal responsibility for their successes and failures (injuries). Trainers, coaches and specialists, on the other hand, who have the knowledge and experience need to step forward and reach out to those desperately need help, especially when dealing with the young athlete. Researchers get some slack because they have to live with the knowledge that the 12 year female soccer player they tested with valgus knees just tore her ACL. In that situation, I wouldn’t want their job. I have enough problems dealing with the idiot who insist on doing a thumb less grip bench press with his feet on the bench. (FYI, the bench press is the one exercise that can kill you. Here is a good idea, hold the bench press bar with a lot weight over your face, throat and/or rib cage with a thumb less grip. Just hold it there at arm’s length until your arms start shaking. Now decide whether you want to a) to fracture the bones of your face, b) crush your windpipe and fracture your neck or c) snap a rib into your heart or lungs and die before anyone can get to you. You might want to rethink that “suicide” grip. Sorry for the rant).

For hanging in this long, here is how buying a car comes in. I mentioned earlier that ACL repairs were expensive. The money spent to repair an ACL could buy a very nice new car. Would you rather give your daughter a new car for graduation or a pair of crutches? Now multiple that decision by 50,000.

Responsibility in the fitness world takes on a whole new perspective. Take care of yourself and help others when you can. And don’t let me catch round-backing a dead lift!

The questions my clients ask are sincere. They truly want to know the real value of concepts like; Crossfit, P90X, Kettlebells, the latest diet and the current workout in Men’s Health magazine.  They are confused by conflicting claims, the speed of “amazing” results and by programs that appear to be diametrically opposed to each other. Most of my clients know that my answer does not end with, “It depends”, it merely begins there. We explore the journalistic “who, how, what, where and when”. The concept is placed in a historical context and then compared with other current approaches. Exercise physiology, functional anatomy and biomechanics are discussed to determine if the concept makes sense when considered in the glare of that unforgiving spotlight. If the concept survives that process (and very few do), we then ask if the concept meets the needs of the client in general and more specifically, is the timing right.

Naturally, you want to be successful and reach your goals. You want to be rewarded for your investment of time, money and effort. No one wants to feel that they had been had by some stupid idea or mislead by a compelling fitness guru who is more interested in your money that in your success. Well Spunky, you have to take responsibility for your own success. No one is going to hand it to you. You have to earn it. Just the fact that you’re reading this, you obviously put out intense, consistent muscular effort. Now, it is time to match it with the same level of intellectual intensity. That means going beyond the most recent issue of some pseudo science muscle rag and actually exploring, in depth, the science of exercise.

Knowledge is power. Literally, exercise knowledge is power, strength, weight loss, weight gain, joint mobility, joint stability, athletic performance, sexual attraction and higher self-esteem. You owe it to yourself to become a gym rat with a brain. But the question now is where to begin. Here are a few suggestions to get you on your way.

The New Rules of Lifting by Lou Shuler and Alwyn Cosgrove. Lou and Alwyn destroy the common gym myths and offer a powerful new vision for program design. The book entertains and educates at the same time.

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Mark provides the best description of the “big lifts” I have ever come across. To give you an idea of the depth and scope of the information, the Squat chapter is 30 pages long. You will learn the proper architectural skeletal setup and technique guidance for the squat, deadlift, bench press, standing press and power clean. It is a must read for any serious weight lifter, personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach.

The Essentials of Strength and Conditioning, National Strength & Conditioning Association is the textbook for their CSCS exam. The reason for this recommendation is for the foundation section which covers exercise physiology from the cellular level outward. The intent of this study is to know the acute and chronic adaptations the body will make to a particular exercise choice, rep/rest scheme, exercise order, frequency and loading. In other words, you have a well thought out rational for what you’re doing.

These three books will keep you busy for awhile and you will be well on your way to becoming a true gym rat with a brain, which of course, is better than being a brainless gym rat. “Stupid is as stupid does.” – Forrest Gump

“A solid scientific foundation, the wisdom of years of training experience and the passion to reach creative fitness solutions.”

Welcome to my website, www.myintelligentfitness.com. This website is dedicated to providing an intelligent view of the exercise/fitness world. No hype. No hidden economic agenda. No perpetuation of “gym myths”. Just honest, straight forward fitness information based on solid scientific research, education and “in the trenches” practical experience.

The greatest reward I receive from fitness consulting is witnessing the moment my clients “get it”. It could be learning and realizing the importance of proper technique, the mind-body connection. It could be the moment a goal was reached, body fat loss or improved athletic performance. It could be the correction of movement pattern deficits that result in the reduction of pain and a greater freedom of joint movement, a greater sense of well being. The common theme is that the client’s life quality is improved and the role of exercise and fitness is firmly established in their life. My mission is to improve fitness “one rep and one client at a time”. I believe this website will allow me to reach more people. Enjoy!

Since returning to a commercial gym after 25 years, I am shocked by the current gym culture. Few members understand the basic concept of “gym etiquette”; unloading bars, re-racking weight plates and dumbbells and just generally cleaning up after themselves. Moving about the gym in an iPod induced stupor; these spoiled suburban brats seem totally aware and unconcerned how their actions affect the gym experience and training quality of those around them. Examples have been recorded on various forums and websites for years but until I witnessed the stupidity, I thought that they were exaggerating for comic value and the shock effect. I was wrong. It is worse than I thought it could ever be.

As a hardcore, old school lifer, personal trainer and strength coach, I’m actually more applauded by the lack of knowledge regarding the very basics of fitness training and the total absence of technical skill, body awareness and focus when performing exercises. Not only do they have little regard for others but they seem bent on wasting their own time with dumb exercises and poorly designed workouts. The concept of proper technique eludes them. They continue to “punch the injury shark” in nose, workout after workout, oblivious to the pain and frustration that awaits them.

A Russian coach that I studied under said that you have to let people be as dumb as they want to be. When it comes to the “big lifts” (deadlift, squats, bench press, power cleans, etc.), I find it hard to resist at least trying to assist someone to get it right. Whenever I see someone in the squat rack, I stop what I’m doing and watch. The question flashes through my brain, “Is he the one?” Is this person going to do a technically correct squat? In three years at the gym, I’ve only seen two people perform a proper squat. Let me repeat that, two people in three years.

Yesterday, while warming up, I noticed someone standing near the squat rack. It got my attention because Sunday mornings the squat rack is my “office” and none of the regulars have any interest in using the rack. I could be in there for hours and no one would care. I watched out of self-interest to judge how long the rack might be tied up but also the coach in me was asking, “Is he the one?” He seemed to be ill at ease. Just from his movements, I sensed that the upcoming squats were not going to impress me. Without warm-up reps, he loaded 225# on the bar. I thought that he was either an idiot or farm-strong. He then proceeded to buckle a lifting belt. Why? If he could properly brace by engaging his core he wouldn’t need a belt but I had to give him the benefit of the doubt until he actually did the lift. He dove under the bar and racked it too high with a wimpy grip and poor wrist position. He started to stand up with the bar but he lost the neutral arch of his L-spine and backed out of the rack with a round back. Ouch! As he started to descend, both knees shifted inward in a valgus movement. With his back rounded and his knees buckling inward; he barely got to ½ squat depth and back up to his starting position. I was surprised and grateful he completed the rep without tearing up his knees or blowing out his low back and that I didn’t have to give first-aid until help arrived.

True to the spirit of gym stupidly, he continued to “punch the shark” for two more reps, each not as quite as deep as the one before it. My question was answered. He was not “the one” but at least the nightmare was over or so I thought. I turned my back to the crime scene and was shocked to hear the sounds of plates sliding on a bar from the direction of the squat rack. Yes, you guessed it. He was adding plates to the bar. I couldn’t watch the slow motion train wreck any longer and walked away shaking my head in disbelief.

And true to form, the suburban spoiled brat also left the weight plates on the squat bar and later on a bench press bar.

As Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does”. Thank you Forrest, you nailed it.