The Anatomy of a Workout

I kind of specialize in beginners (and people who've been previously led astray).  The following is what I describe in response to "so, what am I supposed to do when I come here?"

You can get real fancy with this, add branches and subdivision as you better grasp the concept and progress your fitness level, but the basics are always super-keen.

Upper Body Push
Upper Body Pull
Lower Body
"Cardio" Challenge

Go.

Bodyweight-Only Example:

Push-Ups
Rear Foot Elevated Lunge
Inverted Rows on the Smith Machine
1/4-Mile Run for time

Equipment-Based Example:

Barbell Overhead Press
Barbell Deadlift
Chest Supported Row
Concept II Rower 2,000m for time

So, those sessions there might be described as "total body" workouts but depending on how you feel and what, particularly, you're training for you might just take an upper body press or lower body day and run with it.  This is very commonly seen in my training notebook as my training needs (strongman competitions) are quite specialized so I might maximize my efforts on my overhead press one day and pulling strength, the next.

Pick your movements and make progress.

Pick things up, put them down.  Eat good food.  Go do stuff.


- PMH

Fitness Challenges: The Strict 1-Arm Curl

This is a fun one.  It comes from the world of arm wrestling but is easy enough to transfer to "normal" people.  Real simple; grab a dumbbell, stand tall with your palm forward and curl that weight all the way to the top.  BUT, let's emphasize that this is a strict, no-extra-movement type of challenge.  "All bicep, bro!" Many of us tend to get a little side-to-side action at the shoulders or a little sway in our curls... this one locks it down.

The original challenge was to see who among the arm wrestling crazies could do this with a 100 pound dumbbell for 1 rep.

My challenge to you is to establish a Personal Records (PRs) at a few different rep ranges (let's say 10, 7 and 5... or whatever) but I want you to include a 1 rep PR.  Have you ever exerted to that extent?  Really tested your strength?  Yes, it will be beneficial and I think you will surprise yourself.

Go.

Here is my friend, The People's Dietician, laying down the rules a bit a demonstrating (in a huge way) a good lift:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFkrNA9f24g

And here is maniac arm wrestler Rob Vigeant setting the bar nice and low for us mortals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22TcdMJ84RQ&feature=related

The Myth of Summertime Fitness

There is an ebb and a flow in every gym in the country throughout the day, the week and the year.  In most facilities, the most noticeable gyration in traffic is the summertime lull.  A lot of people "hit the gym" less as the weather gets nicer and many ditch it altogether.  Part of the mindset, or at least the justification here, is that "I'll be outside a lot more doing stuff."  And that is perfectly accurate, to be sure, as most people tend to go outside a lot more in favorable weather and thus they tend to move a lot more as well.  The problem here is two-fold:

1) The disparity between how much activity one FEELS like they are getting and how much they actually are (its easy to feel like you've had a vibrant beneficial afternoon at the beach... but really?) and...

2) The types (and inherent hierarchy of benefit) of the activities performed

And even this says nothing of the quality (read: worthwhile-ness) of the activities.  So, you're outside tossing the frisbee, maybe even doing your lunch jog and doing "some push-ups and sit-ups at home."  This is all well and good, believe me, I'm happy to hear it but keep in mind how this compares to the progress you've made all winter (if you had a training notebook in which you record your efforts, you'd know exactly).  In my experience, folks seldom come back to the gym upon the first threats of snow from the weather terrorists in better shape than when they left in the spring.  Summer promotes the illusion of activity and accomplishment, it seems.

Let me reiterate, by all means, go outside.  But go outside and experience and do things that will challenge you to be better next time; hike, climb, run, ride, whatever... But challenge yourself and improve.

The second point is essentially a point of equipment;  if you bail on the gym, what of those two rower session you've been doing?  And the dumbbell complexes?  And the kettlebell swings you were working on?  First, have you replaced these activities or adjusted your diet?  And second, what is your replacement for the benefit you take from these (you obviously did them for a reason, correct?)?

The bottom line is to be honest with yourself.  Maybe you are proficient enough in pull-ups and chin-ups to get it done at the jungle gym, you love skipping rope and, for you, it's 10k season... that's cool.  But cover your bases and come back stronger/faster/better/leaner in the fall.  Part of this might require staying disciplined about "hitting the gym."

Success, it's your call.

"Group Exercise"

In a typical fitness center you've got a range of choices in fitness related services.  The common breakdown is:

1) personal training

2) small group or specialty training and

3) "group exercise"

Those are in order, by the way.  Personal Training, for the average "health seeker" or aspiring fitness enthusiast, is often your best choice (with a good personal trainer - which should be another post altogether).  You've got one-on-one time with an industry professional to ensure you're getting the most from your efforts, continually progressing and improving as well as enjoying the process as much as possible.

Small group training, often called "specialty training" is, of the three, your second best option.  A group of 3-5 people all receiving instruction on similar activities (i.e. kettlebells, TRX, etc) to the a mutual intent; getting a good workout.  And with a small group it is possible to achieve this while even being able to emphasize basic technical principles and movement quality.  This is generally your best "get-in, get-out" option with a professional as you can still receive individual attention.

Last on the list is "group exercise."  These go back to your "step classes" and such of the '80s.  The Les Mills program is commonly implemented now in big box gyms and other facilities but the gist remains the same in other programs - when I move, you move.  Now, I'm not entirely against these "classes" as nearly everything can have its place but you won't find me following along with or leading one.  (By now, you've likely identified my overuse of quotations marks and parenthetical thoughts but the word "classes" being in quotes above has a very deliberate meaning to it.)

When I think of classes I envision an environment of instruction, learning and performance.  Frankly, this is not what I've observed of group exercise "classes."  There is certainly activity but seldom have I seen any great deal of coaching or teaching or, dare I say it, progressing taking place.  Concordantly, its tough to imagine any substantial learning is going on either.

Rather than continuing to ramble on let me just draw a comparison between PT and GX:

Personal Training process:
1) Consultation regarding your goals, injuries, past exercise experience, etc.
2) Fitness Assessment: measurements of anthropometric variables (circumfrences, etc), movement screen (identifying weaknesses... with-which you are riddled), strength tests, cardio tests, etc.
3) A fitness progression* designed around your goals, limitations and interests
4) Continued accountability of weekly meetings to guarantee progression, examine training journals and nutrition logs and discuss new lifestyle strategies
5) "Homework" workouts and recipe ideas for the next week

Group Exercise process:
1) Walk in
2) Do what I do
3) Burn a few calories
4) Continue to mistake activity for accomplishment

Am I being a negative prick about this?  Yes.  Am I generalizing?  Some.  Can GX "classes" have their place in a well rounded fitness program?  Sure.  Is it you best option or even a good option for many people?  Absolutely not.  If you're a beginner this is literally being "thrown to the dogs."

If you can't look at your efforts of the last, let's say, 1 month and show me your improvements (literally show me, pull out your training log and show me the numbers - strength gains, bodyfat loss, etc.) then what you are doing, no matter the class or activity, is spinning your wheels.  From my observations, showing up to a no-obligation, little instruction class with 20 other people is not optimizing your time in the gym nor is it doing much to improve your understanding of health or your health itself... its spinning your wheels.

*My use of "progression" in place of "routine" is another topic altogether, also.

Health is Not Static or Health is Not The Absence of Disease

I made reference to this idea in a previous post and it is a frequent topic of conversation with the general gym populace.

Your health is not static.

I'll relay a recent conversation I had with a gym regular.  In this same conversation I learned that this gent. is 100lbs. less than when he started "hitting the gym" and building healthy habits.  It is also quite clear that he is at least 100lbs. north of what might be considered a "healthy bodyweight."  Anyhow, he smirked as he mentioned his visit to the doctor earlier in the day and the "clean bill of health" he received for the 3rd time in a row.  To be fair, this means his blood sugar, pressure and lipids were all largely within, at least, reasonable ranges, etc.  But, to be honest, let's look at the reality of things.  There is simply nothing healthy, long- or short-term, about carrying around 100+ pounds of (largely central) adipose tissue.

And here's the real take-home point.  When I stated that fact as clearly as I could.  I could see in his eyes before he verbally acknowledged that it was the truth.  That he was/is largely kidding himself to think of his current state as "healthy."  Because, probably more accurately stated...

health is not simply the lack of disease.

He is not diabetic or cancerous or any of these hazardous and traumatic states we associate with being "unhealthy" but should we not begin to give the correlational credit where it is due and rightfully consider that obesity bears a striking resemblance to disease?

And couldn't we also consider that simply because it may not seem immediately life threatening, there is nothing healthy (and certainly nothing beneficial or economical) about being overweight or obese?

Isn't it time to question being happy with being not unhealthy?

Or maybe more absurdly, isn't it time to consider being unhealthy... unhealthy?

iMapMyFitness

The odds are pretty good that you, like me, invest an inordinate amount of money in a ridiculously advanced and all-consuming phone-like product (i.e. a smartphone).  Now, I tend to be behind the times with technology these days (partly deliberately) but I don't recall hearing about an app that will go so far as to exercise for you but there are several simple and easy to use Applications that have proven to be, at worst, extremely entertaining and, generally, very helpful.

I enjoy hiking and walking/jogging/running around with the wife and dog and I encourage my clients and the general membership to follow suit.  And by simply hitting "record" in the iMapMyFitness application I can get a presumably accurate picture of how fast I got the walk or run or ride down, just how far I went and a map view of the course I followed.

This makes it exponentially easier to try and do the same route a touch faster or to simply go farther next time and so on.

So, a big fancy phone with fancy gadget-try attached (my wife has a flashlight application... almost ridiculous) isn't on my "required" fitness tools list, but they're damned helpful.

Try it out.

Do gyms allow fitness?

In a previous post I talked about some of the differences between training to be healthy, training to be fit, training for performance and the hierarchy we find here.  I think of these as I spend my days at a good representation of the spectrum of gyms (big box, 24 hour joints, etc) and I'm forced to question; are the top two tiers of this hierarchy promoted or even tolerated in said facilities?

Being of the legitimate "meathead" group which has largely been shunned to garage gyms and warehouse facilities (this should be addressed in later posts) and yet still having the "insider" view of things as a professional in the field I am obligated to say that no, generally, they are not.  There are some "ins and outs" here but let's keep it general for now.

I say this because along with training to "be fit" comes a need to push limits.  To push the limits on physical capacity, exercise/activity selection and probably the most problematic for the management and stuffy regulars... social norms.

The first of these should seem reasonable enough.  In order to improve one's overall fitness level it will be beneficial to progress; decrease your 3k row time, improve your 10RM overhead barbell press or, if it might strike your fancy, score a better "Fran" time.  Whatever it is, do it faster, higher and stronger.  Citius, Altius, Fortius, as it were.  And you will find this happening although it is certainly not the normative behavior for the average gym-goer.  And what a shame.  The simply act of writing down a workout so that you can improve on it next time around (do it faster, with less rest, with more weight, with more reps or whatever the metric might be) can be a slippery-slope into the progress and results we all talked about when we first joined the gym, so its advisable to tread wisely.  You could mess around and get in shape...


Why this simple step is not pounded into the heads of any gym's membership is simply unfathomable.

When it comes to what people actually do at the gym (or their workouts abroad) its a pretty standard state of affairs.  "Resistance training" on one day and "cardio" on another or some variation thereof.  The resistance training most often meets expectations; some bench pressing, simple dumbbells stuff, an inordinate amount of sitting on a machine and pushing through one plane of motion.  The cardio is your standard cyclical activities like walk or running on the treadmill or otherwise, riding bikes, ellipticals, etc.

Riddled with bodybuilding dogma, to be sure.

Frankly, even with your choice of exercise you begin facing limit number 3.  All activities listed above are certainly what you would "normally" see at the gym and any deviation from those choices attracts attention.  And attracting attention at the gym can be a bad thing; complaints from other members and warnings from a staff that may not be privy to the idea of a "muscle-up" or a "kipping pull-up" or a "one-arm dumbbell snatch."  And this could jeopardize your membership at the facility and your fitness level.

To back up for a moment, what recently lit this flame under my rear is a group of gals at one of the gyms where I train clients.  (It's actually Charlotte Anderson and company whose antics and musings I recommend you follow).  These gals are extremely passionate about fitness and have taken on the hobby of pushing the limit.  One of their more recent pursuits has been hand-stands (and, I would assume, hopefully soon hand-stand push-ups, etc.).  As you might imagine this is way outside the normative behavior for this particular gym.  It draws attention, scowls and I would guess that this, and other "acts of fitness," have gotten them in, at least lukewarm water, with the folks in charge as a result.  But, do you know what is really wrong with doing "crazy shit" like that at the gym?

Nothing.

And frankly, I would suggest that a little less interest in boring, mundane workout "routines" and having a little more fun at the gym would serve the general public well.  Very well.  Extremely well.  This is at least one element of the now cumbersome "Crossfit" phenomenon that I find to be glorious.  Stand up, run around, do some impressive shit and be fit.  In general terms, what's wrong with that?

Overall, the third limit that must be pushed is, as much as anything, a societal norm.  Ask anyone about fitness or a good workout or what they do at the gym and it is very likely to be similar to what I described above ("some cardio, some weights").  And, especially at larger gyms, the masses flood in and practice reinforce this very low, very boring standard of what it means to "workout" and it is far too often ignored by the working professionals available to them.

The people who need the help, set the standard.  And the people who should be providing the help, far too often, support it... or at least aren't willing to challenge it.


Pick things up, put them down.  Eat good food.  Go do stuff.


- PMH