"Womans' Push Ups" - Uuugghh...

You know one of my pet peeves are exercises that are either too difficult or too easy for the task at hand. This leads to the exerciser either performing the movement incorrectly because it’s too difficult, or not getting anything out of it because it’s too easy to force a positive adaptation. Exercises always need to have the level of difficulty adjusted to get the appropriate result from the exercise.

One of the most common misapplications of regressing an exercise is the “converted” or “assisted” or “woman’s” push up (the names vary – the misapplications remain the same – see figure 1). The idea, or so the theory goes, is that by placing the knees on the ground, this takes much of the body weight out of the movement allowing a push up to be completed by someone who ordinarily would be unable to perform one.

The problem with this logic is a common one in the fitness industry – it’s based on an overly simplified partial truth and a misconception, not the whole truth.

The misconception in this case is the belief that a push up is an exercise for the chest and arms.

In actuality, a push up, if done correctly, is an exercise for the core much more than your chest or arms. A lack of core strength is the real reason most people can’t do push- ups correctly, if at all.

The most difficult part of the push up is holding and maintaining the correct position. Keeping everything from the knees to the neck more or less in a straight line while on your hands is a far more difficult and complex process than people realize. This requires a lot of isometric strength, particularly from the hips and abdomen.

A lack of strength here typically manifests itself in one of two ways – the exerciser either looks like they are in a real bad yoga class (see figure 2) or they look like they’re doing their impression of a seal (see figure 3). The best examples of this are the guys that can bench press 400 pounds, but have no core strength whatsoever as a result of spending their exercise lives on benches. They then put themselves in a position where they need to support their own body weight and they look like figure 3. It looks like they’re waiting to bark and then have a herring thrown at them.

Generally speaking, neither of these scenarios is safe and/or helpful.

By placing the knees on the ground and eliminating the core from the movement you’ve succeeded in making the exercise performable, but ultimately, ineffectual. You’re disregarding the weak link that needs to be addressed to address an area that may or may not be a problem.

Either way, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Because you’re not training the core to stabilize your body weight (or anything else for that matter) you are progressively making yourself weaker and completely eliminating any chance you ever had of doing a real push up.

There are countless ways in which to regress the push up to make it useful for everyone. Simply holding the position for a short period of time will make you stronger. Elevating your body weight by placing your hands on a bench or some other apparatus will make you lighter but still involve the core. The most obvious alteration you can make is to simply limit the range of motion – only lower yourself and inch or two initially. Eventually you’ll get further down and gradually build your core strength to the point where you can get to the floor.

More importantly, is what NOT to do – don’t drop to your knees under the assumption you can now do a push up. You’re actually weakening part of your body that needs to be strengthened and decreasing the likelihood of you performing push-ups and many other exercises for that matter.

Figure 1: Ree-damn-diculous...

Figure 2: What's That?!? Yoga?

Figure 3: If she barks, throw her a herring!

Figure 4: Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

*As usual, contact me with any questions and/or comments.

**Also as usual, this article is for informational purposes only. Application thereof comes at the sole risk of the reader.

***This article and photos are the sole property of The Training Rim, LLC. Reproduction and/or dissemination without permission is prohibited.

The Biggest Dipshits...

I originally started to write an article titled “Consider the Source”. I was going to explain that in many cases, fitness experts aren’t really experts at all in terms of fitness. They are experts at selling magazines or creating entertaining television.

But after my last article about the differences between balance and stability and how it should relate to your training, I received a flood of calls and emails. Apparently, the stars of good timing aligned in my favor once again. Because, as if on cue, the “experts” on the TV show “The Biggest Loser” showed themselves to be the mental midgets they truly are, and that their “expert” status is not one of exercise science, but one of exploitation of those more vulnerable than they.

According to several sources, all of whom I trust, the trainers had a client who weighed in the neighborhood of 400 pounds, performing lunges while holding dumb bells, and with EACH FOOT ON A BOSU BALL.

Now let’s examine this logic: You have someone who with every step they take in life, are performing a lunge with 400 lbs. This person is also not acclimated to exercise. (You know those guys in the gym you’ve seen squatting with 400lbs on their back – well generally, those guys are strong. Imagine if they hadn’t worked out in years and were completely new to exercise – now put 400lbs on their back. It’s going to end badly, right? Not according to the biggest loser experts, because THAT’S what they were having their clients do, essentially.)

Now if that isn’t bad enough, these geniuses put weights in their clients’ hands to make them heavier.

Insert picture of me shaking my head.

And for the coup de gratis, now they place their clients on round, unstable surfaces. Not one, but TWO unstable surfaces.

This, my friends is what we call a case of negligence, and it’s a matter of when they will be sued, not if they will be sued. I predicted it with the “CrossFit” crowd, and mark my words on this one – “The Biggest Loser” will be on the business end of a negligence lawsuit eventually.

This type of training is not beneficial, it’s not functional, and it’s not calorie burning – it’s dangerous and is solely used for the purpose to create good TV. (Hence my idea about considering the source…)

Now, if that scenario isn’t crazy enough, I received plenty of emails about the next gem the “expert” on the show graced our good senses with:

According to the bimbette trainer, (I’m going to paraphrase, here:) muscle doesn’t weigh more than fat. That is a myth created by trainers who can’t get their clients to lose weight, and if your trainer tells you that, they are just trying to get your money.

Now I may have heard a trainer make a statement dumber than that – but I can’t think of one right now.

If you’re one of those people who think there are very few things in the exercise world that are black and white, and therefore subject to opinion – I agree with you. I’m one of those people too.

But the issue of muscle density vs fat density is not one which is open for debate in the field of science.

It’s a fact. A pretty commonly known one.

So back to my original idea of considering the source…

Just because someone is on TV, they are not an expert. Just because they appear in a magazine, they are not an expert.

Question everything. Don’t dismiss anything – but question everything. You’ll know a lot more about fitness in the long run.

*This article and associated links are the sole property of The Training Rim, LLC. Reproduction and/or dissemination without express written consent is prohibited.

Balance vs. Stability

Are you familiar with the game Jenga?

It’s a game where you stack small wooden pieces on top of one another and then remove them one by one from the middle of the stack, until eventually they are all balancing very tenuously on only one or two of the pieces. In some cases, what occurs is pretty impressive from a balancing perspective.

But I ask you this: Would you put a couple of dumb bells on top of the Jenga? No, of course you wouldn’t because it would come crashing down. The Jenga isn’t supportive enough. It isn’t STABLE enough.

Yet as sure as you’re reading this, there is a trainer somewhere right now making his or her client as unstable as a Jenga by using a BOSU ball or some other piece of useless crap found in gyms in an effort to be “functional”. They are both making the very common mistake of training “balance” when they think they are training “stability”.

Let me tell you my friends – there is nothing functional nor is there anything stable (and therefore, there is nothing beneficial) to turning yourself into a wobbly stack of joints like a human Jenga. If supporting and stabilizing your own bodyweight in itself is too difficult, then you are training your balance and therefore working on a probably useless exercise.

A VERY common misuse of fitness terminology I hear and read very often is the use of the terms “balance” and “stability” interchangeably, as if they were synonyms. Balance and stability are not synonyms in the dictionary, and they are surely not synonyms with regard to exercise and training.

In terms of balance and its relation to fitness, many exercisers (and again, sadly many trainers) train balance when they think they’re training stability. Balance, from an exercise stand point, is simply the ability to stay upright and/or not to fall. Many exercisers who possess great balance, as a result, can perform some pretty impressive tasks. Many of these exercises, although impressive in their execution, are generally useless and sometimes dangerous – and they certainly aren’t “functional” at all. A good friend and fellow trainer of mine refers to them as “stupid trainer tricks”. They may look cool, but they aren’t going to get you to your goals any faster.

The picture above is a good example. The guy squatting obviously has very impressive balance. He has a skill that probably 99.99% of the population cannot do. I’ve been around gyms for a very long time, and I’ve never met anyone who could do a full squat on a stability ball with a loaded Olympic barbell.

And if I tried, I might be able to think of someone dumber – but I can’t right now.

That is a movement that is a) dangerous and b) holds zero benefit from a bio-mechanical standpoint.

Which is the issue in a nutshell when it comes to balance training: A movement like this has NO BENEFIT for the exerciser. Add in the risk factor and you have a very bad idea.

He is not stronger as a result. He is not more stable. He is not more flexible. No research has ever supported that he would be any of these things and common sense backs up that research.

The only way this would benefit him is if he went somewhere in life or competed in some sport where everting the ankles while performing on an uneven round surface were necessary.

I’ll be awaiting your emails telling me where this situation occurs.

Whoops...spoke too soon. This woman and her trainer may be bigger jackasses than that guy and his trainer:

Stability, on the other hand is CRUCIAL to train regardless of what your goals are. Improving your stability from an exercise standpoint has limitless benefits to exercisers of all levels. A body builder will be able to move heavier weight. An athlete will be faster. A senior citizen will be less likely to have knee pain.

This is simply because they can support more weight, and prevent motion where it’s supposed to be prevented, and therefore generate motion where it needs to be generated. A stable base is like the supporting columns on your house: They are as stable as can be and therefore can support the weight of your home. Can you imagine if those support beams were Jengas?!?!

Think of an Olympic power lifter: Would he be able to move more weight or less if his shoulder joint remained firmly in his shoulder socket (i.e. more stable)?

Think of an NBA player: Would he be able to jump higher if his knees didn’t crash together every time he squatted?

You can’t shoot a cannon from a canoe my friends – you need a stable supportive base to produce any force at all when exercising.

If you are more stable, you can move weight more efficiently. Whether that weight is a dumb bell or your own bodyweight is irrelevant – it will get you closer to your goals regardless of what they are.

Training stability and how to see improvements therein is a far more complex discussion whose depth and breadth far exceed the time and space that we have here. However, here are some pointers when trying to perform stability training:

1. If you can’t do it on both feet (or hands) on solid ground, doing it on a piece of balance equipment is a waste of time. Make sure you are 100% stable with good posture when you’re supported first – then look to progress.

2. Just because it looks cool or different, or it involves a new piece of equipment, doesn’t mean it’s “functional”. In fact, it’s more likely to be a stupid trainer trick.

3. Less torso movement usually means more stability, which is a good thing. Watch yourself in the mirror as you exercise – more than just a little movement throughout the mid section probably means the exercise is too hard because you can’t stabilize yourself.

As usual, send the hate mail to thetrainingrim@gmail.com.

Also as usual, this article is the property of The Training Rim, LLC. Reproduction and/or dissemination without express written consent are prohibited.

Also as usual, reader adopts sole risk and responsibility of applying information contained herein. This article is for informational purposes only.

My CrossFit Thoughts...

I can’t stand giving attention to people who are clearly only looking for attention. Nor am I in the habit of giving free publicity to a competitor. However, I’ve been asked this question so often recently, I must address it:

I’m asked quite frequently about my thoughts on “CrossFit” a very popular method of training that has many ardent followers and supporters. (For those of you not familiar with CrossFit, you can do a Google search on it and you’ll get more detailed information that I can provide here. It’s been in the news often recently for several reasons.) It’s essentially a circuit training group workout focused on body weight exercises and untraditional training equipment like truck tires and ropes. It also is known for espousing a macho attitude, not adverse to mocking participants that have injury concerns or questions.

For the record, here is my take on CrossFit:

If you’re telling me that people need to get off machines, use their own body weight and exercise in an intense manner for a short duration, you’re preaching to the converted here my friend. I’ve been saying that for years.

However, if you think flipping tires, ropes, and sand bags around a parking lot with no regard for postural considerations or correct movement mechanics is a good idea, you’re uneducated and/or misinformed at the least. Furthermore, if you mock people who do have a regard for such, or worse, if you encourage this behavior to beginners that don’t know any better because they think your workout looks cool, then you’re a negligent moron.

As an example, a few years back an article appeared in the New York Times discussing CrossFit, and one of its members who exercised so far beyond his capabilities, he began to suffer from rhabdomyolosis. Rhabdomyolosis is a condition where the muscle fiber breaks down to the extent it begins leaking into the bloodstream, causing potentially life threatening situations for the kidneys and liver.

Most of us would consider this a sign to change the manner in which we exercise. Not this guy, he was back in the gym 6 months later performing the same routine. His quote was: “I see pushing my body to the point where the muscles destroy themselves as a huge benefit of CrossFit.''

Now, just in case this isn’t dumb enough for you, many members embrace this behavior by making claims such as “I met pukey” meaning I worked out so hard I puked. There are even t-shirts with “Pukey the Clown” which some members wear. “Uncle Rhabdo”, another clown/mascot, is shown with his kidneys on the floor, presumably due to rhabdomyolosis.
Of course, you and I aren’t the only ones to find this sort of behavior nonsensical, and CrossFit’s founder, Greg Glassman has heard the criticisms before.

To me, this is where the real fun begins.

When asked about this type of behavior in general, and specifically performing pull ups on hanging rings so quickly that you may be endangering yourself, Mr. Glassman’s response was this:

''If you find the notion of falling off the rings and breaking your neck so foreign to you, then we don't want you in our ranks,'' he said.

Now, as you can imagine, someone has recently filed a lawsuit against a gym in Virginia that conducts CrossFit’s workouts. The exerciser and his attorney claim that he sustained injuries as a result of an overly intense routine that not only displayed little regard for safety, but whose instructor and participants encouraged the unsafe training situations.

In the process of discussing this topic, and in reading many other discussions online, a fair counterpoint is commonly made: That is, we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater – these types of workouts do have benefits and shouldn’t be cast aside because of a few morons.

So again, I’ll be clear:

Exercising using limited equipment in a quick and intense manner – good.

Putting yourself in harms’ way in the name of toughness or machismo – not good.

Encouraging a non-expert, which frankly, is the overwhelming majority of CrossFit practitioners, to do the same – stupid and negligent.

Kim Kardashian and The Training Rim!

A client of mine referred an article to me that had a picture of Kim Kardashian using “the equalizers”. She asked if they were the same things we use at The Training Rim.

Of course they are my friend…of course they are…

But say it with me altogether now – we use them for real, not for the silly “spot reduction” (insert laughter) techniques Kim’s trainer has her doing.

We’re big fans of yours Kim, but come on – step up to the big leagues and visit The Training Rim!

The Equalizers that are referred to are basically steel yellow bars that look like sprinting hurdles. Unlike sprinting hurdles however, these don’t fall over and have about one million uses for personal training. At the Training Rim, we’ve used them as push up stands, pull up bars, and an obstacle to which we need to climb under and/or run around. (Along with about 5 million other uses….)

If you’ve never used them, come down and check us out putting them to use!

Here’s Kim (c’mon, Kim – seriously…)

Melissa doing a basic pull up:

Vanessa showing the major core strength and stability on the equalizers!

Here’s Jon showing off as usual:

Jon and Melissa do some team training with the equzlizers and kettle bells: