Hey Tough Guy. Yes, YOU.

You know who you are. The guy who goes to the gym and likes to “lift heavy”. The guy who wants to be “big and strong”. Yes, you.

(Or if that’s not you, I am 100% sure you know someone like this. The person who wants big muscles and goes about it by just putting as much weight as they can on a bench and uses the bench’s support to move the weight. You know the guy. He thinks anything that isn’t a barbell or a dumbbell is “for women”.)

Well, I have news for you Mr. Still trying to pretend you’re Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian from 1982. Uugghhh…the fact that a new Conan movie is out is only going to aggravate the situation.

Here’s the deal, tough stuff: all those things that you think are for girls will make you bigger and stronger.

As usual, you can disagree with me – but you’d be wrong…again.

I’ll break it down for you:

Getting big and strong, to a large degree is due to the amount of weight you can move. It’s not rocket science. If you can dumbbell curl heavier dumbbells than you used to, your biceps will get bigger. If you can shoulder press heavier dumbbells than you used to, your shoulders will get bigger, etc.

So then following that logic, it should go without saying, if your body can physically hold and support heavier dumbbells, barbells, etc., your ability to use heavier weight for your curls and presses increases.

Now what do you think allows someone to hold and support more weight?

Ding! Ding! Ding! That’s right, your core! Or, the lumbo-pelvic hip complex to those of us who train at the TR. Good job, maybe you’re not such a meat head after all! The stronger your hips and abs are, the more weight you can grab and support.

OK, now stay with me: if a stronger core allows you to hold and support more weight, and moving more weight gives you bigger muscles, then total body core training will get you bigger muscles, right?!?!?! (Once again, not rocket science...) And, no, “doing abs” is NOT core training. You’ll need to improve the stabilization of your lumbar spine, and the mobility of your hips.

Yes, now I’m going to use the “F” word…

Your core needs “Functional” training. I know it’s a dirty word nowadays. I know it’s cooler to mock what you don’t understand and flip a truck tire over instead of admitting you can’t do one body weight pushup. I know the guy at the gym with acne all over his back tells you that you don’t need functional training, but trust me: you do if you want to get stronger.

If you can get your abs to stabilize your spine, and if you can train your hips to be mobile and strong, you can support and hold more weight. If you can hold and support more weight, you can train heavier and get bigger muscles – period.

And because I know you’re probably moving your lips and mouthing these words as you read this, I’ll slow down and say it again:

Improve the function of your hips and abs = hold heavier weight.

Hold heavier weight = move heavier weight when training arms, shoulders, etc.

Move heavier weight when training = bigger muscles.

Bottom line: If you want to get bigger and stronger, you’re selling yourself short if you don’t improve the functionality of your hips and abdominals. Just ask your wife who trains at the TR when she’s carrying in all the heavy stuff from Costco that you're unable to lift without your back hurting.

And a final note on Jason Momoa (or Chris Evans, or Dwayne Johnson, or whatever muscular celebrity is in whatever magazine next week telling you they use split body part routines to get big): Celebrities have access to things you do not, such as a) 15 - 20 hours per week to work out, b) professional nutritionists, cooks, and cleaning people. c) steroids.

When you have access to all those things then you can train like them. Until then, listen to the pros at the TR.

Here's Jason Momoa a.k.a. "Khal Drago", a.k.a., "Conan" looking not quite as big and muscular as he did on "Game of Thrones".

Big, Hard and Round Brains!

“A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.” - Thomas Carruthers

I know you’re probably tired of me gushing about the members of the TR. I’m always going on about how hard they work, how easily they do difficult things, and how they have fun doing it.
You’re tired of me telling you about my client with no previous endurance training or competition background finishing in the top 5% in his 1st “Tough Mudder” competition.

Apparently 2 times per week at the TR gets you in better shape than what 95% of people who do endurance training do to get in shape.

I know you’re tired of me telling you about women in their 30’s and 40’s who have kids or jobs or both in many cases, swinging kettlebells between 60 and 80 lbs.

So today I’m going to tell you a new thing about my clients I love: their brains.

For example: these are topics of conversation that have been overheard at the TR amongst its members:

· Spinal kyphosis and lordosis.
· Scapular retraction, depression and downward rotation.
· The malleolus and tibial tuberosity.
· Undulating periodization.
· Negative work to rest ratios.

Seriously.

Over the last 20 years I’ve probably spent time in about 15 – 20 exercise facilities either as a member or a trainer. And I’m having trouble remembering a conversation about the above topics between TWO TRAINERS. Never mind members talking about this stuff: I’ve never heard FITNESS PROFESSIONALS (ahem, cough, cough…) discussing this stuff unless I was one of the trainers in the conversation.

And this is what I’m proud of: At The Training Rim we don’t discuss this stuff because we want to impress people with big words. We do it because we want to empower our members. Their empowerment through their knowledge increases their chances of getting leaner, stronger, healthier, and better looking.

If you understand the “why” behind our interval training, you’re less likely to waste time doing silly shit like long duration cardio on your own.

If you understand the “why” behind our core training, you’ll be less likely to waste your time “doing abs” like the other learning impaired individuals at Globo Gym.

Bottom line: the more you know, the more likely you are to get results. The more you train at a facility that considers it an obligation to educate you, the more likely you are to get results.

Which brings me back to the quote at the top of the page. We consider educating our members part of our job here at The Training Rim. We don’ think beating the holy hell out of them until they puke is our job. Nor do we feel coddling them and telling them it’s OK to exert minimal effort in your “workout” and call it exercise. It’s our job to get them to improve. (Which is why “Always Improve” is Training Rim tenet #1 and on the wall at our facility). Knowledge helps get you there. And although I hope I never become completely unnecessary, I do take pride in telling my clients they have rendered me “superfluous” when they’re in the middle of destroying yet another circuit, in part because of thier knowledge. It means we’re all doing our jobs and getting stuff done.

(*On a side note, admittedly the conversation about the malleolous only came up because someone accidentally slammed theirs into a kettlebell – which kinda’ hurt.)

I think if this guy used a HeadBlade, this is how my clinets view me.

Your Bank Account

Recently I asked a few people to review their resolutions from this past January as we just passed the halfway point of 2011. As I did this I reviewed my own goals and an interesting analogy struck me:

It seems that with few exceptions, people make resolutions around either fitness or financial goals. And in an odd way, the modus operandi for successful attainment of these resolutions is almost identical in scope.

When doing financial planning, you simply need to understand the concept that your deposits need to be larger than your withdrawals. If you accumulate more money than you spend, your net worth will increase. If you spend more money than you accumulate, your net worth will decrease. Pretty simple stuff: you don’t need to be an economics professor from MIT to understand it. The tough part is however, having the discipline to implement and track it.

It’s almost EXACTLY the same with fitness. Your level of fitness is almost entirely made up of a series of deposits and withdrawals. Just because the denominations are less tangible than money, doesn’t make them any less important or less measureable.

For example, I worked out today. Nothing fancy: just some foam rolling, some lower body strength work and some conditioning circuits involving ropes and sandbags. I view that as a deposit.

Now if I recover well today by drinking plenty of fluids, eating several small portions of high quality foods, and then go to bed early and get a good nights’ sleep, that’s another deposit. If I have 365 days like that, my fitness goals will easily be reached. I will have made a ton of deposits with no withdrawals - my fitness bank account will be in the same condition as my financial bank account would be if I made deposits all year with no withdrawals.

But not making withdrawals is not practical with either finances or fitness. As I’ve said one million times to my clients: there are times life is going to get in the way of your workout plans. As long as you limit it to minor setbacks however, it won’t be a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

For example: Your boss made you stay late at work so you weren’t able to work out as you planned to. That’s a withdrawal. Or your mother makes you a kick ass dessert when you visit and you don’t want to be rude to your mom and not eat her dessert that she slaved over to make you happy – that’s another withdrawal. Or if you meet up with some friends and that salad with low fat oil and vinegar on the side with your glass of tap water just isn’t cutting it. Especially not when they’re having food and drinks that taste good (and they’re having a lot of them!), so you decide to have some nachos and throw back a few with them – another withdrawal. What your common withdrawals are don’t matter, as long as they aren’t constant and consistent. Same as when you splurge occasionally with your money – not a big deal as long as it’s not all the time.

So the issue is this: at the end of the year, will your exercise deposits out number your exercise withdrawals? If the answer is yes, then you’ll be going in the right fitness direction. Just as you would be if your financial deposits outnumbered your financial withdrawals.

Some more examples and a WARNING:

Some deposits and withdrawals are bigger than others, start thinking of them as such. For example:

· A couple of slices of pizza? Small withdrawal.

· A couple of slices of pizza after a plate of buffalo wings and followed by baked ziti washed down with a few beers? BIG withdrawal.

· Some planks, pushups and foam rolling on days in between planned program workouts? Small deposit.

· A planned workout as part of a larger program that includes mobility, core stabilization, strength training and conditioning? BIG deposit. Keep making deposits like this one and your fitness bank account will grow pretty quickly!

Warning: Beware of bad investments!

There are many activities that may appear to be deposits that are actually bad investments. Think of them the same way you would as if you bought stock in company that’s going to go under. For example:

· Not eating often enough. This appears to reap immediate benefits because of the caloric restriction, but your metabolism will lower to compensate pretty quickly, which will worsen your situation. Consider it like investing in Borders.

· Jogging. Jogging is like buying stock in Blockbuster: Feels good when you got up and running, but eventually you’re going to crash. Statistically speaking, you’re going to be injured and you’re not going to lose body fat.

· Starting a crash/restrictive/fad diet. There’s just no way to stick to it if you’re a real person with a job, spouse, kids, etc. This is a waste of your fitness energy and resources - you may as well just toss cash out the window of your moving car.

If you’re interested in improving your fitness levels, my advice is to start looking at your habits as investments, deposits and withdrawals. Eventually, with sound planning and sound implementation you’ll be going in the right direction and you’ll get where you want to go.

This is Leigh: She's made PLENTY of withdrawals into her anti-extension account.

The Weight Is NOT Too Heavy!

Today we have a quick observation of a mistake made way too often that I haven’t seen anyone else jump on yet. I notice this mistake A LOT, and like most things, I don’t really understand the logic behind it.

That is the automatic assumption that if and exercise cannot be performed, that the weight must be too heavy. And this leads to the larger issue: the exerciser simply choosing a lighter weight instead of correcting the manner in which the exercise was being performed.

Now, I ask you, my educated fitness friends, what has this accomplished? Ding! Ding! Ding! You got it: It’s made the exercise MORE dangerous because now it can actually be performed incorrectly! The exercise couldn’t be executed with the heavy weight because the form sucked, not because the weight was too heavy (which is the message that typically goes unnoticed…)

Now of course there are instances where the weight may be too heavy, but I think they are in the minority – I think it’s more likely you have to check your form 1st. If your form is perfect and the weight can’t be moved, then go down in weight. But check yourself 1st, as it’s most likely not a weight problem, it’s more likely an operator problem as we like to say here at the TR.

Check out this video: I go into a little more specificity and give you the always helpful visual aid!

http://www.youtube.com/user/thetrainingrim#p/a/u/0/uv4_1oYDrXw

You think his problem is the weight is too heavy? Try again...

The Cure For Joint Pain

Of course there is no cure for joint pain, but there are preventative measures that we can take to greatly reduce the chances of getting shoulder/knee/back discomfort. Last I heard 4 out of 5 of us will suffer from shoulder/back/knee issues at some point while exercising, so pay attention:

It seems, in my experience anyway; in the overwhelming majority of cases of joint pain, preventative measures were not taken. Pretty much anytime someone tells me they have knee, back, or shoulder pain, the “cause” comes directly from one of two very preventable issues:

1. The exerciser is doing something wrong.
2. The exerciser is doing too much.


The good news is that both of those issues are easy to address.

First, if you’re doing something wrong:

Double and triple check if you are moving in the correct manner. Are you squatting correctly? I.e., are your toes forward, are your knees in line with your toes, are you flexing at the hips instead of the lower back? When you push or pull are your shoulders staying retracted instead of rolling forward? Is your mid-section stabilized as opposed to flexing and extending?

In many cases, exercisers think they are using correct form when they are not, either due to ignorance, inattentiveness, or poor previous instruction. This is why it’s crucial to both learn correct movement, and pay attention to your movement as you exercise.

Secondly, joint pain can come from doing too much.

“Too much” can mean a few different things from an exercise standpoint: Too many workouts, too many reps, too much weight, too difficult of an exercise, etc. Essentially, you’ve given your body a greater workload than it can handle and joint pain is its way of telling you that you need to back off a little.

In these cases, joint pain prevention is simple – use common sense. Know your limits and understand the phrase “no pain, no gain” was uttered by a learning impaired individual.

In the non-exercise world of real life, "too much" can mean numerous things: too much driving, too much working, too much gardening, landscaping, shoveling, etc.

Of course, I need to add the caveat that people doing too much in the exercise world seems to be the exception. Too much more commonly means too much sitting, too much eating, etc. So explore the option you may be doing too much in your workouts only if you actually work out a lot. If you don’t work out a lot, give it a shot.

Don't be this A-Hole.

Get Results With Simple Gym Math

Don’t worry, I hate math too. I live with a high school math teacher and I just don’t get it. But unlike those dopey kids who we went to school with who used to always moan “When are we ever going to need to do this stuff?!?!” I, at least, despite my distaste for it, recognize that math is not only useful, but necessary in day to day life.

How does this relate to you getting strong and lean? Very easily, my friend.

If you’ve followed us at all over the last few years, you know that we’re always screaming about what a waste of times gyms are. Statistically speaking, if you want to get in good shape, gyms are one of the last places you should go because it’s been proven you probably won’t get stronger or leaner there.

Well it wasn’t until I sat down and did some simple math that I realized the extent to which gyms are useless.

Play along with me: Think of people you know or have seen at the gym that are in really good shape. People that you look at and say “Wow, I wouldn’t mind being like him/her!” Using the gym I used to be in as a reference, I’m thinking maybe 25 people fall into that category. I would say I knew about 25 people in gym “X” that I would say were in really good shape.

And using my former gym “X” as a reference, there were approximately 9,000 members. I know this because they couldn’t stop telling everybody how great they were because they had so many members.

Now the plot thickens, and it’s time to put that math to use:

Approximately 25 people out of approximately 9,000 members = approximately .002778% of people who have memberships actually are in good shape.

That’s less than one percent. In fact, it’s not even close to ONE percent.

OK, let’s say my memory is off. There were actually twice as many people in gym “X” in really good shape as I remember.

That’s still less than one percent.

OK, let’s be even more of a skeptic: there are three times as many people in really good shape at big box gym than I remember.

That’s STILL LESS THAN ONE PERCENT OF ITS MEMBERS THAT ARE IN REALLY GOOD SHAPE.

I know what some of you smart alecks are saying: “Well, Jon, a lot of those members you’re counting don’t actually go to the gym, which is why they don’t get in shape. They shouldn’t be counted.”

I’m going to disagree with you my friend because you have it backwards: They don’t go to the gym BECAUSE THE GYM DOESN’T GET THEM IN SHAPE!!! Their gym sucks. It’s not fun, it’s ineffectual and it’s filled with assholes. Of course people are going to stop showing up!

Nobody ever joined a gym with the intention of not going. They joined, they tried it, then they said “This sucks,” then they stopped going – not the other way around.

Now I’m not sure of the statistics off the top of my head, but at The Training Rim people who have fun outnumber those who don’t. Members who attend and train regularly outnumber those who don’t. And people who are in great shape are the general rule, not the exception.

Remember: if you go to the gym and don’t get results, it’s not your fault. If your friend is always whining about going to the gym and not getting results, it’s not his or her fault.

The lack of results is the gym’s fault. Gyms don't work. Here endeth the lesson.

Muscle Confusion?

Muscle Confusion? I’m confused.

Recently the term “muscle confusion” has become popular. I’m not really sure who to blame for this.

First of all, muscles do not have brains therefore they do not get confused. Muscles receive messages from your brain then react. That’s it. There’s no higher order deductive reasoning going on in the sarcomeres of your muscle tissue.

People who use the term muscle confusion act is if they saw a muscle reading a philosophy book once and were able to mentally outmaneuver it.

This is what I hear when someone says they use muscle confusion:

“Hey – my bicep thought I was going to make it contract by doing a barbell curl. But I fooled it – I made it contract by doing a dumbbell curl! Ha ha ha! I sure outwitted my bicep! Woo Hoo!”

And back to reading the latest muscle magazine with the big pictures you go my friend.

I’m not really sure what is meant by muscle confusion, but I know ultimately it just means doing random crap. Do one thing, then do another, then another with no rhyme or reason. Don’t have a plan, neither short nor long term by which to go. Mix your strength training with your corrective exercise, your corrective exercise with your conditioning, your conditioning with your core work, your core work with your flexibility, your flexibility with whatever – it’ll all work out. As long as it looks cool and has a cool name.

I’ve learned many things in my career, and one of the most important things I’ve ever learned is this:

When it comes to exercise and conditioning, randomness should be avoided at all costs.

Understand that your plan will probably need to be tweaked – but have a plan.

There are no important gains in exercise that don’t take tons of practice and diligence. Nobody anywhere in life made significant progress on something either important or difficult without practicing their arses off. Don’t believe me? Read “Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell.

Diligence and practice should not be confused with repetitiveness, monotony, and tedium, however. It only means something should be mastered before moving on. Trust me: there are dozens of ways to make a push up tougher if you think you’re good at them.

And remember as far as exercise goes, if it comes easy, you’re probably wasting your time. Stick with what you’re doing as long as you’re progressing. If you’re getting results, don’t change anything.

For example, the program I had written for my small group clients was supposed to change on the first of the month. The problem with that was that everyone was still progressing on that program, so why change it - because we want our muscles to be confused? That sounds like something that someone who sells DVD’s for a living would tell you. A professional trainer – you know someone who actually trains people for a living – would say ‘let’s stick with what’s working’.

This is why you need experienced, educated exercise professionals. Not people who watched DVD’s as their educational resource and not people who think beating the crap out of you a different way today than they did the last workout is exercise programming. Any moron can do those things for you. Find somebody who’s read a book. Find someone who’s read articles on programming individuals and groups.

Or, even better, find someone who’s written those books and articles and train at their facility.