Gym Do's & Don'ts

The gym can be a very intimidating place for newbies. So I thought I would take a minute to put down a few tips that will make the gym more welcoming. Here are a few do's and don'ts that we can employ to make the gym a friendlier place. DO: try all of the various pieces of equipment in you gym. You'll quickly realize that certain pieces of equipment are better for certain exercises. Different types of equipment will also provide variety and different types of intensity to your favorite exercises.

DON'T: be the person that takes out 18 pieces of equipment and then leaves them all on the floor. Nobody likes that person. NOBODY. If you take out a piece of equipment, return it to where you got it from. This includes re-racking your weights.

DO: walking lunges, sled pushes/drags and loaded carries.

DON'T: do them across the main gym floor where you're threatening to take out the guy who's not paying attention because he's trying to impress the girl on the bench next to his. Or even worse you could become the victim of someone who cuts across your path while you're carrying those 70lb kettlebells. Find an empty secluded part of gym and get carried away. (See what I did there?)

DO: remember that sharing is caring. If you're not using dumbbell at the moment and someone asks to borrow it, let them. Just make sure to POLITELY let them know that you'll need it back.

DON'T: just walk over and pick up a piece of equipment that someone has obviously taken out for a reason. POLITELY (hopefully you're noticing a theme) ask the person you can borrow the equipment while they are between sets. If he/she isn't there wait a few seconds before you just walk away with what you want.

DO: workout with intensity. Leave your magazines, newspapers, e-readers and any other reading devices in the locker room. If you're able to read and comprehend then you're probably not working hard enough. The same goes for watching TV on cardio machines.

DON'T: be the person screaming, grunting, "whooing" (there used to be a lady in my gym that would "whoo" while she was on the elliptical; we called her the "whoo lady") or throwing down dumbbells. I get it sometimes you need to grunt loudly to get that last rep or two. That shouldn't be happening on every rep of a set of 1o. Remember you're not the only one in the gym, again be POLITE.

DO:  make sure your surroundings are clear of people and hazards before you start your set.

DON'T: walk aimlessly in front of someone doing kettlebell swings, or any exercise for that matter. This is not only annoying, but it's dangerous. Dangerous for you and the person doing the exercise. I'm only half joking when I tell my clients, "I'd rather you hit him with the kettlebell than hurt yourself trying not to hit him." So if you do get hit by someone doing an exercise, POLITELY apologize and say it was your fault.

Feel free to comment with some other gym do's and don'ts that need to be pointed out. Also feel free to share with the gym goer you know that breaks all of these rules.

5 Things you'll need for a great home workout

For my wife and I life has become dictated by one question first and foremost: who's going to watch Graham? (Graham is our son if you haven't guessed). For those without children, children demand a lot of time and attention. A LOT OF TIME AND ATTENTION! For the record I love all the time I get to spend with my son and I wouldn't change it for the world. That being said, some things had to change. One of the biggest changes was my workouts. Life B.G. (before Graham) I could finish up with clients, dick around a while and then put myself through a nice leisurely workout. Now most days I have to finish up with clients and head home pick up Graham. This means my workouts are usually shorter and take place at home the majority of the time. So I thought it would be cool to list some of the essentials you'll need to create an effective at home workout space. Here goes:

1. SPACE: but not as much as you think. In life B.G., I had a whole room to workout in. Life after Graham, has relegated my workout space to the area between our coffee table our wall unit. I live in a 900 sq ft apartment in Brooklyn so we're not talking about a lot of space. When I'm feeling really crazy, I push the coffee table against the couch and I get a whole extra 5 FEET!!! Seriously though it doesn't take a lot of space to get a good workout. Stand up, reach your hands out to the side, if you didn't hit anything on either side you've got enough space. Check out this video to see what I'm talking about.
2. A BODY: specifically your body (it'd be weird if I was talking about somebody else's right?). I just typed the phrase 'body weight workouts' into Google and there were almost 9 million results. So having no equipment is no excuse for not being able to get a good workout at home. Squats, lunges, push ups and dips (to name a few) can be done anywhere. Try this: lie down on the floor and stand back up as fast as possible. Repeat 10 times. Then rest for a minute. Do this whole cycle a total of ten times (by the end you will have gotten down & up 100x).
3. TIME: again not as much as you think. Everyone knows that time is a commodity but people with infants and toddlers really know this. If your (I'm talking about you, the person reading this) average gym workout is an hour long, I'm almost willing to guarantee that same workout will only take about 40 minutes at home (assuming you had the same equipment available). You wouldn't have to wait for equipment and you wouldn't spend time talking to that lady you met that one time at some friend's party. Then once we take out the fluff (those stretches you only do because you saw the good looking guy/gal doing them at the gym) you can get a great workout in 30 minutes or less. Don't believe me? Comment and I'll send you the same workouts I gave to my wife when she asked for 30 minute workouts.

4. 

   TRX: or any suspension trainer. A TRX is a great way to make bodyweight exercises easier or harder when needed. A TRX also gives you access to exercises that normally you need weights or other equipment such as

   bicep curls. Another great thing about suspension trainers is that they are portable, so now it doesn't matter if the hotel gym smells like a person died in it during the first Bush administration.

5. KETTLEBELLS: an equal sized pair. [DISCLAIMER: if you've never used kettlebells, either get taught how to use them by a certified professional or don't read the rest of this section.] I'm a firm believer that eventually everyone needs to add some weight to their workouts because....well because science. Kettlebells don't take up much space (relatively) and they are great for both strength exercises (squat, presses, deadlifts) and power exercises (swings, cleans, snatches; again get proper instruction). Kettlebells are also relatively cheap once you consider the fact that you'll never have to replace a kettlebell. I suggest 16kg (~35lbs) for women and 24kg (~53lbs) for men. Once you can do all of the above exercises with the suggested bells then you can think about going heavier (for the last time, GET PROPER INSTRUCTION).

This is a list of 5, three of which everyone on the planet has. The other two are worth the investment many times over. The gym may have all the doodads and gadgets that we want for a workout but most of what we need is already at home. If you need home workout ideas let me know in the comments and I'll be glad to help out.

Get On Your Foot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv12_1Cih1w How much time do you spend on one foot? The answer is probably more than you think. Every time you take a step during walking you're standing on one foot.

Knowing this, it stands to reason that we should practice being on one foot when we exercise. However, most of the time when you look at people in the gym they have both feet firmly planted on the ground.

I can't think of any standing exercise that can't (eventually) be progressed to one leg. Start by standing on one foot for as long as possible. Then compare that to the other side. If there's a significant difference (>10 seconds), then work on evening the two sides by practicing extra on the worst side.

Once you can easily stand on each foot for 30 seconds, then you can begin working on different exercises like the one Dorothy is doing in the video.

If you need ideas for single leg exercises let me know. #StartingLine

http://starting-line-fitness.squarespace.com

https://www.facebook.com/dbrownpt/

Today's Success....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yVpd6ZIlwY&feature=youtu.be Today's success: I know it doesn't  necessarily look pretty and doesn't display a feat of athletic awesomeness. What makes it a success? The fact that she emailed me 2 days ago saying she tripped on the sidewalk...she had a stitch in her lip and said her right palm and left knee were both sore. What makes it a success? The fact that the main reason she started training 8 years ago is because she was diagnosed with osteoporosis. So yes the fact that she still showed up to train despite having tripped and despite having a stitch in her lip and despite having some lingering soreness is what made her successful today.

Would she have been more successful had she never fallen? Obviously. I wish I could've have prevented her from falling. I'm still very proud of this video and the movement she displays in it. Why? Because her email could've read, "I fell and I broke my arm. I won't be able to train for a couple months" or worse. Instead she was able to pick herself up (literally) and show up for training.

Can We Please Stop Telling People to Stop Exercising...

There are almost 80 million obese people in the United States. That's more than a third of the population. There are 29 million Americans with diabetes. As a point of reference, that's about 3.5 times the population of New York City. I haven't even mentioned the millions of people who are classified as "overweight" or "pre-diabetic". It's not hard to find these numbers. I did two Google searches: "US obesity stats" and "US diabetes stats". You could do a "walmart customers" Google image search if you're more of a visual learner

.

With these numbers readily available, it has become trendy for fitness professionals to tell people to stop exercising. To be fair, fit pros are advocating "training" over just exercising. What's the difference? Training means you're following a particular (planned out) program to reach a particular goal. Exercising usually refers to performing prolonged physical activity without the presence of a program.

I agree that "training" will lead to better results than just "exercising". There is an "if" though; and it's a big "IF". Training will lead to better results than just exercising IF the person ready, willing, and able to complete the prescribed program. Everyone is able to train. Everyone is NOT ready or willing to train...yet. This is where I take issue with fitness professionals telling people not to exercise.

Lots of time it's hard enough for obese people just to make a decision to change. Once they make that decision, it's our job to help them to start actually making the changes. Often times this may mean if the client/member wants to come to the gym and walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes and then "try" some machines and exercises, then I have to show him/her how to use the treadmill, set up the machines and teach correct form on the exercises. This is about meeting the client/member where they are. Telling him/her that everything they wanted to do is wrong/bad would be more conducive to getting them to walk out of the gym and never coming back.

I know a lot of "don't exercise, train" stuff that is going around social media is directed at people with higher training ages (i.e. people who know what "training age" means). Unfortunately social media doesn't filter out the newbies from the seasoned gym rats. So when the newbies see these articles, they act as more of a deterrent than instructional advice.

Fitness Factions

So I just finished reading the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. If you haven't read it here's a quick synopsis. The story is a based around a society where people live in factions based on a virtue (honesty, selflessness, fearlessness, intelligence and service) they feel is most important. As I was reading the three books it quickly became apparent that this fictional world parallels the fitness industry.

I first starting these divisions in the industry (I guess I always knew they were there, but didn't know how prevalent they were) last year when I went to a Chain Reaction Seminar hosted the by the Gray Institute and Gary Gray. Being in fitness for 7 years at the time I knew Gary Gray as the "lunge matrix" guy. What I didn't know was that these seminars had been around for more than 20 years and Gary Gray is a lot more than the "lunge matrix" guy. At the beginning of the course all of the attendees were asked to introduce themselves and say something about themselves. I mentioned that I was FMS certified. Throughout the rest of the weekend Gary Gray challenged my belief in the FMS.

Gary Gray was very professional in the way he challenged me and was very quick to point out that he thought Gray Cook and the other creators of the FMS were very intelligent, he just felt that there system has some short comings. The problem was that I felt myself defending FMS like they were sending me a pay check every two weeks (by the way they weren't and still aren't). This got me thinking about other things people defend in the industry and why we tend to defend them.

First off though, what are some of the things that tend to draw the biggest defender and therefore arguments? Well we have some of the different systems out there like FMS vs. Chain Reaction (see also TPI vs. Nike Golf). Then you have arguments over the tools that are used: kettle bells vs. barbells vs. dumbbells vs. sandbags vs. ViPRs vs. this list could go on for days. People even tend to argue merits of variations of the same exercise. Worst of all, I've seen arguments on various internet forums about what national certification is the best. Basically fit pros will argue over just about anything and everything if they believe strongly enough in it.

The thing is if you sat down the creators of all the things I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I don't think any arguments would start (at least no big ones anyway). I actually think they would agree more than they would disagree. So if they aren't the one leading these arguments, then who is? We are. The people who buy into what these people are saying and selling. Once we get behind something we need it to be the "right" thing. Why? It usually isn't because we believe so much in the tool/exercise/system/ or idea. It's usually because we need to be right. Once we publicly back something, the first thing at stake has nothing to do with whatever we backed. The first thing at stake is our reputation and our pride. Nobody wants to back a loser, everybody wants to be on the right bandwagon.

That's thing we have to remember as fitness PROFESSIONALS. Being professional being able to learn from those with different points of view. Being professional means realizing that the tool in your hand might not be the best tool for the job. Being professional means that making that realization doesn't take anything away from you personally. Being professional means going out of your way to find as ways as possible to help your clients reach their goals, whatever they may be. That means that at some point we have to step out and go to seminars led by people we really don't know much about. I would also say that this means that if you think something is so backwards and wrong then you probably should invest some time in learning more about it. More often than not, you'll come away with a better understanding and maybe a completely different stance on the subject. [contact-form subject='[Sensible Health %26amp; Fitness'][contact-field label='Name' type='name' required='1'/][contact-field label='Email' type='email' required='1'/][contact-field label='Website' type='url'/][contact-field label='Comment' type='textarea' required='1'/][/contact-form]

Yes you're fit..but are you healthy?

I often hear stories about bodybuilders going to the doctor and being told that they are obese. The bodybuilders then go onto their social media sites and blast the doctors for only being able to read BMI charts and not knowing what it takes to achieve elite physical fitness. Then because bodybuilders tend to have lots of bodybuilder friends and followers, the posts get tons of likes and retweets. Is this fair to the doctors?

First off let say that if a doctor is solely relying on BMI charts (or any one "metric" for that matter) then they probably deserve whatever social media skewering that they get. That being said, it's not a doctor's job to judge the size and symmetry of your gluteus maximuses (or is the plural maximi, I don't know). The doc's job is to measure your health status.

This is where it can get confusing: "healthy" and "fit" are often not synonymous. Doctors go to school (for a long time) to learn what "healthy" is. To assist with this baselines have been set: BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and hormone levels to name just a few. Again, hopefully doctors aren't latching on to any one of these and drawing conclusions. Hopefully they're taking a comprehensive approach before giving any medical advice.

I would argue "fitness" can't be a part of this comprehensive approach. Why not? I'll answer that with another question: what would you consider elite fitness? If you're one of the bodybuilders you might say massive symmetrical glutes. On the other hand, if you're a distance runner you might say a sub 3-hour marathon is the gold standard of fitness.

Dan John has the best definition of fitness that I've come across. He says (paraphrasing) fitness is the ability to accomplish a given task. According to that definition both the bodybuilder and the distance runner would have given correct answers based on the events they compete in. This is why if you ask ten different athletes from ten different sports what they consider fit, you could possibly get ten different answers.

I'm sure there would be some overlap but ultimately the answer will depend on the objective of the sport or the position that is played. This ambiguity is why a doctor can't and shouldn't take your "fitness" level at face value. A doctor should however consider your "fitness" along with all objective health measurements that are taking.

Practicality of Bear Crawls and Tire Flips

I recently saw a video on Facebook labeled something like "if your workout doesn't have practical carryover, then what's the point?" The video then showed clients doing farmer's carries, bear crawls and tire flips. This got me wondering: have I forgotten what the word "practical" means? prac.ti.cal- of or concerned with the actual doing or use of something rather than with theory and ideas. "there are two obvious practical applications of the research" synonyms: empirical, hands-on, actual, active, applied, heuristic, experiential, evidence-based "practical experience" antonyms: theoretical

2. so nearly the case that it can be regarded as so; virtual. "it was a practical certainty that he would try to raise more money" synonyms: virtual, effective, near

Now that I've got clarification about the definition of "practical" via good ol' Google, I ask do farmer's carries, bear crawls and tire flips have "practical carryover"?

Farmer's carries definitely have carryover into real life. We routinely carry grocery bags, suitcases and other things as we go about everyday life. Now when I start to think about bear crawls and tire flips things begin to get confusing for me. I'm hard pressed to come up with everyday life activities in which bear crawls and tire flips are "concerned with the actual doing or use of something" or are "so nearly the case that it can be regarded as so".

Now it's time for the part where I explain that my problem isn't with bear crawls and tire flips. They are great exercises for building core stability (bear crawls) and explosive strength/power (tire flips). My issue here is with referring to them as having "practical carry over". They don't.

Before people start screaming "TIRE FLIPS ARE GREAT FOR FOOTBALL" and "BEAR CRAWLS ARE THE PERFECT EXERCISE FOR MMA FIGHTERS"; let me explain. The only time these exercises carryover into everyday life is if you are an athlete. The fact is most of us (and our clients) are not athletes or at least we (and our clients) are not anymore.

So lets do ourselves (and our clients) a favor. Let's stop falling back on catch phrases like "practical" and "functional". By misusing these words we're doing a couple of things. First off, we're assuming our clients are stupid. Only stupid people would believe crawling around on the floor is going to prepare them for their everyday life of office work and watching TV.

Secondly, we're making ourselves into nothing more than door-to-door salespeople. The only reason for the misuse of these words (that I can come up with) is to con someone into buying what you're selling. As I said, people aren't stupid so in the end you're the one that comes out looking foolish.

Don't stop using exercises like bear crawls and tire flips with your clients. Do stop lying to your clients about why you're using them. Learn what these exercises (and all others) are actually good for. Then learn how to communicate those benefits to your clients in smart, honest way.

Are we turning clients away?

P90X. Insanity.  Crossfit. Bootcamp. Tough Mudder. Spartan Race. Warrior Dash. Civilian Military Combine.  These are just the fitness trends I could think of off the top of my head. I’m sure if I did a Google search I could find hundreds, if not thousands, more fitness brands with names that evoke images of fighting to the death or trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world.

Which leads me to the question: when did fitness become a kill or be killed proposition? I’ve been working in health/fitness for almost 11 years since graduating from college. I’ve been exclusively personal training for going on 8 years and I don’t know the answer to the above question.

To be clear, I’m not saying people shouldn’t participate in the above activities. If you enjoy training for and competing in Tough Mudders then more power to you.

The point I’m trying to make is that for every crossfitter, bootcamper, or warrior dasher there is a person out there who just wants to go to the gym for the health/fitness benefits and not be screamed at and pushed to what he/she feels is the brink of death.

If the above sentence is true, then a problem arises when P90X and Insanity (in what other arena is “insanity” something to strive for?) are the first things that come to mind when thinking about fitness brands. The problem is that the “health/fitness benefit” people get turned off and/or intimidated.

As fitness professionals, aren't we supposed to be trying to get as many people working out as possible? The current state of fitness seems to be driving just as many people away as it’s inviting in. This doesn’t make sense.

Again I’m not knocking high intensity competitive workouts. If you have clients who want to do them; great. Design safe effective programs and go to town. Also I’m not saying we need to be designing workouts where crocodile breathing and toe touches make up 90%. I am saying that there are people that fall in the middle of those two extremes and we need to do a better job of inviting everyone into the mix.

So how do you know who’s who? First, listen to your client. If he/she walks in telling you about how they always beat their siblings in HORSE, they might a good candidate for some AMRAP sets. If during your first meeting the client is detailing their experience as captain of the AV squad and they can’t name any of the local professional sports teams then you might want to keep that WOD in your back pocket for the time being.

Next watch your client during that first session. If between sets your client is picking up different pieces of equipment and randomly trying new exercises, then they may need/want the structure of timed sets or a giant set with like 5 exercises included. On the other hand, if your client is uncomfortable being in the middle of the gym floor or if you need to coerce your client into doing the next set, you probably want to stay away from setting up a large blinking timer that beeps loudly when it hits zero.

In conclusion, as fitness professionals it’s up to us to remember that not every client is vying to be on ESPN2 during a broadcast of the Crossfit Games. Not every one wants to be dubbed the “fittest man/woman in the world”. And that’s OK. The more laid back clients deserve just as much respect and attention as the Tough Mudders and Spartan Racers.