Joshua Ford's Blog

Dave's 100 Credos...

2007-09-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

July 7, 1978 started as just another day for Dave Kekich. He was working out in the gym… without a care in the world. The next day, he found himself staring at a hospital room ceiling, connected to machines, unable to move anything below his arms.

In the twinkling of an eye, this long distance running, weight lifting, exercise fanatic became a spinal cord injured cripple. He spent the next 15 months on a round the World odyssey, looking for a cure that didn’t exist—and finally came back home to Pennsylvania. He spent the next 19 years raising money for paralysis research, with one main goal: to walk again.

You can learn a lot from Dave Kekich. And here's your chance...Dave's 100 Credos in their entirety:

1. People will do almost anything to stay in their comfort zones. If you want to accomplish anything, get out of your comfort zone. Strive to increase order and discipline in your life. Discipline usually means doing the opposite of what you feel like doing. The easy roads to discipline are 1) setting deadlines, 2) discovering and doing what you do best and what's important and enjoyable to you and 3) focusing on habits by replacing your bad habits and thought patterns, one-by-one, over time, with good habits and thought patterns.

2. Cherish time, your most valuable resource. You can never make up the time you lose. It's the most important value for any productive happy individual and is the only limitation to all accomplishment. To waste time is to waste your life. The most important choices you'll ever make are how you use your time.

3. Think carefully before making any offers, commitments or promises, no matter how seemingly trivial. These are all contracts and must be honored. These also include self-resolutions.

4. Real regrets only come from not doing your best. All else is out of your control. You're measured by results only. Trade excuses and "trying" for results, and expect half-hearted results from half-hearted efforts. Do more than is expected of you. Life's easy when you live it the hard way... and hard if you try to live it the easy way.

5. Always show gratitude when earned, monetarily when possible.

6. Produce for wealth creation and accumulation. Invest profits for wealth preservation and growth. Produce more than you consume and save a minimum of 20% of all earnings. Pay yourself first.

7. You're successful when you like who and what you are. Success includes achievement… while choosing and directing your own activities. It means enjoying intimate relationships and loving what you do in life.

8. Learn from the giants.

9. A little caution avoids great regrets. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Keep fully insured physically and materially and keep hedged emotionally. Insurance is not for sale when you need it.

10. Learn the other side's needs, offer as little information as possible, never underestimate your opposition, and never show weakness when negotiating.

11. Never enter into nor invest in a business without a solid, well-researched and well thought-out written plan. Execute the plan with passion and precision. Plan and manage your life the same way.

12. Success comes quickly to those whom develop great powers of intense sustained concentration. The first rule is to get involved by asking focused questions.

13. Protect your downside. The upside will take care of itself. Cut your losses short - and let your profits run. This takes tremendous discipline.

14. The primary purpose of business is to create and keep customers. Marketing and innovation produce results. All other business functions are costs. Prospecting and increasing the average value and frequency of sales are the bedrock of marketing and business.

15. If it's not proprietary, it won't work. Pay only on performance. Proprietary interest is one of the most powerful forces ever known. Whatever you reinforce or reward, you get more of.

16. Competence starts with guaranteeing your work.

17. Life operates in reverse action to entropy. Therefore the universe is hostile to life. Progress is a continued effort to swim against the stream.

18. Find out what works, and then do more of it. Focus first on doing the right things, and then on doing things right by mastering details. A few basic moves produce most results and income.

19. Use leverage with ideas (the ability to generalize is the key to intellectual leverage), work, money, time and people. To maximize profits, replicate yourself. Earning potentials become geometric rather than linear.

20. Rationalizations are generally convenient evasions of reality and are used as excuses for dishonest behavior, mistakes and/or laziness.

21. Always have lofty explicit goals and visualize them intensely. Assume the attitude that if you don't reach your goals, you will literally die! This type of gun-to-your-head forced focus... survival pressure mindset, no matter how briefly used, stimulates your mind, forces you to use your time effectively... and illuminates new ways of getting things done.

22. The value of any service you have to offer diminishes rapidly once it's provided. Protect your compensation before performing.

23. Incalculable effort and hardship over countless generations evolved into the life, values and happiness we take for granted today. Every day should be a celebration of existence. You are a masterpiece of life and should feel and appreciate this all the way down to your bones. Aspire to create, achieve and build onto the great value momentum taking place all around you.

24. Enthusiasm covers many deficiencies - and will make others want to associate with you.

25. Working for someone else gives you little chance to make a fortune. By owning your own business, you only have to be good to become wealthy.

26. Religiously nourish your body with proper nutrition, exercise, recreation, sleep and relaxation techniques.

27. The choice to exert integrated effort or to default to camouflaged laziness is the key choice that determines your character, competence and future. That critical choice must be made continually - throughout life. The most meaningful thing to live for is reaching your full potential.

28. Keep an active mind, and continue to grow intellectually. You either grow or regress. Nothing stands still.

29. Most accomplishment (and problem avoidance) is built on clear persuasive communication. That includes knowing each other's definitions, careful listening, thinking before talking, focused questioning and observing your feedback. Become a communications expert.

30. Power comes from stripping away appearances and seeing things as they really are. Socialism appeals to psychological and intellectual weaklings. Identify and replace all external authorities with internal strength and competence. Take full control of, and responsibility for, your conscious mind and every aspect of your life. Being incompetent or dependent in any part of your life or business opens you up to sloppiness, manipulation and irrationality.

31. If there is not a conscious struggle to be honest in difficult situations, you are probably being dishonest. Characters aren't really tested until things aren't going well or until the stakes are high.

32. Do not compromise if you are right. Hold your ground, show no fear, ask for what you want, and the opposition will usually agree.

33. If the situation is not right in the long term, walk away from it. Maintain a long term outlook in all endeavors. Live like you don't have much time left... but plan as if you'll live for centuries.

34. Invest only after strict and complete due diligence. Don't allow yourself to be rushed. Make
important decisions carefully, consider your gut feelings... then pull the trigger.

35. Stress kills. No matter how painful in the short-term, remove all chronically stressful situations, environments and people from your life.

36. Keep your overhead to a minimum. Rely more on brains, wit and talent... and less on money.

37. Business is the highest evolution of consciousness and morality. The essences of business are: honesty, effort, responsibility, integration, creativity, objectivity, long-range planning, intensity, effectiveness, discipline, thought and control. Business is life on all levels at all times.

38. That which is most satisfying is that which is earned. Anything received free of charge is seldom valued. You can't get something for (from) nothing. The price is too high.

39. By adhering to a strong honest philosophy, you will remain guiltless, blameless, independent and maintain control over your life. Without a sound philosophy, your life will eventually crumble.

40. No dream is too big. It takes almost the same amount of time and energy to manage tiny projects or businesses as it does to manage massive ones... and the massive ones carry with them - proportional rewards.

41. There is no such thing as "just a little theft" or "just a little dishonesty".

42. Lead by example.

43. Take full responsibility for your actions or lack of action. He who errs must pay. This is an easy concept to grasp from the recipient's end.

44. An hour of effective, precise, hard, disciplined - and integrated thinking can be worth a month of hard work. Thinking is the very essence of, and the most difficult thing to do in business and in life. Empire builders spend hour-after-hour on mental work... while others party. If you're not consciously aware of putting forth the effort to exert self-guided integrated thinking... if you don't act beyond your feelings and instead take the path of least resistance, then you give in to laziness, make bad decisions and no longer control your life. The most powerful way to do this is to insulate yourself from all distractions. Then write a problem or goal on a sheet of paper and force yourself to come up with at least 20 ways to solve your problem or reach your goal. The last solutions are the toughest and are usually the most life changing. Make this exercise a life-long habit.

45. Out-think, out-innovate and out-hustle the competition, and vividly visualize yourself as winning before entering into every deal or competitive situation. Maintain a blood-smelling, fighter pilot life-or-death attitude when any deal gets near to a close.

46. First impressions are lasting impressions. Put your best foot forward. People treat you like you teach them to treat you. A success key is positioning yourself at the top of their agenda.

47. The right thing is usually not the easy thing to do. You may sacrifice popularity for rightness, but you'll lose self-esteem for wrongness. Don't be afraid to say "no".

48. If someone lies to you once, he'll lie to you a thousand times. Lying is for thieves and cowards.

49. Have strict and total respect for other people's property.

50. Producing results is more important than proving you're right. To get things done, try to understand others' frames of references, points of view, needs and wants. Then determine what is honest, fair, effective and rational... and act accordingly.

51. Long term success is built on credibility and on establishing enduring loving relationships with quality people based on mutually earned trust. Cut all ties with dishonest, negative or lazy people, and associate with people who share your values. You become whom you associate with.

52. Outside of yourself, you control nothing… but you can manage anything. Don't be preoccupied with things over which you have no control, and don't take things personally.

53. Spend more time working "on" your business than "in" your business.

54. Don't enter into a business relationship with anyone unknown to you without being furnished with references dating back at least 10 years. If he doesn't have good enduring relationships, stay away. Check all representations on which you will rely made by everyone.

55. Enjoy life. Treat it as an adventure. Care passionately about the outcome, but keep it in perspective. Things are seldom as bleak as they seem when they are going wrong - or as good as they seem when they are going well. Lighten up. You'll live longer.

56. Identify exactly what it is you want. This takes a lot of thought. Then don't let anything stand in your way of getting it.

57. You can get any job done through the sheer force of will when combined with uncompromising integrity and competence. Strong leadership is the key.

58. You are responsible for exactly who, what and where you are in life. That will be just as true this time next year. Situations aren't important. How you react to them is. You have to play it where it lies.

59. The foundation of achievement is intense desire. The world's highest achievers have the highest levels of dissatisfaction. Those with the lowest levels are the failures. The best way to build desire is to make resolute choices for the future.

60. Integrate every aspect of your life (body, mind, spirit, relationships, business) and each within itself. Integrating means understanding and digesting a process... and seeing relationships among seemingly unrelated phenomena. It's a sign of innovative genius.

61. Never be deceptive when trying to achieve a personal gain. Shortchanging others results in loss of self-esteem.

62. If your purpose of life is security, you will be a failure. Security is the lowest form of happiness.

63. Never enter into a contract unless all parties benefit. But no partnership is ever 50/50. There will always be inequities.

64. Review the basics of your profession at least once per year.

65. Bitterness, jealousy and anger empower your enemies and enslave you. Negative thinking results in the destruction of property. It is anti-property, therefore anti-capitalistic and anti-life. It also erodes your health. Forgive, learn your lessons, and get on with your life.

66. Most people spend 90% of their time on what they're not best at and what they don't like doing - and only 10% of their time on their best and most enjoyable ability. Geniuses delegate the 90%... and spend all their time on their "unique ability".

67. High self-esteem can only come from moral productivity and achievement.

68. There are an infinite number of new opportunities. Actively seek them out, and position yourself to recognize and take advantage of them.

69. The best way to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas. But there is no such thing as a good idea unless it is developed and utilized. Ditto for prospects.

70. For maximum profits, identify and market universal needs, wants and trends. Creating desire, satisfying needs and wants and replacing problems with creative innovations are the essence of profit generation.

71. To maximize opportunities, seek and master the complicated. The major solutions you find will be surprisingly simple, and the competition is minimal.

72. Always have options. Options are a primary source of power. Power also comes from stripping away appearances and seeing things as they really are.

73. Nothing wins more often than superior preparation. Genius is usually preparation.

74. Patience is profitable. Achievement comes from the sum of consistent small efforts, repeated daily.

75. Persistence is a sure path to success with quality activities. Never, ever, ever give up.

76. "I will do this" is the only attitude that works. "I'll try" or "I think" doesn't work.

77. Always work on increasing the size of the pie, rather than just your portion.

78. Rewards are rare without risks, but take only carefully calculated risks. Make sure the odds are on your side.

79. The "how" you get it (with integrity) is more important than the "what".

80. Be explicit and semantically precise in all communications, agreements and dealings. Summarize and write down important discussions... and make sure all sides agree. Putting agreements in writing avoids misunderstandings. Memories are fallible, and death is inevitable (so far).

81. The best way to get started is to get started. Life rewards action... not reaction. Wait for nothing. Attack life. Don't plan to death or ask for permission... but act now... and apologize later.

82. Question everything. Don't believe it's true or right just because it's conventional. Strip all limits from your imagination on every deal and look for an unconventional creative opportunity in every mistake, crisis or problem. Be flexible, and be willing to turn on a dime when advantageous.

83. Have fun. The single key to a successful happy life is finding a vocation you enjoy - one that excites you the most.

84. Nobody gets old by surprise.

85. When it's a matter of producing or starving, people don't starve.

86. You get what you expect, not what you want. Fill your life with positive expectations. Demand the best. Attitude and desire contribute to 90% of your achievement. Anyone can learn the physical mechanics.

87. The surest way to accomplish your business goals is making service to others your primary goal. The key to success is adding value to others' lives.

88. The source of lasting happiness can never come from outside yourself through consuming values - but only from within yourself by creating values. Producing more than you consume is the only justification for existence.

89. Unattended problems will not go away, but will usually get worse. Anticipate and avoid problems - or meet them head on at the outset. Overcome fear by attacking it.

90. Find an excuse to laugh every chance you get, especially when you least feel like it.

91. When someone makes a big issue about his honesty or achievements, he is probably dishonest or a failure.

92. Put the magic power of compound interest to work with every available dollar.

93. The best investment you will ever make is your steady increase of knowledge. Invest in yourself. Thirty minutes of study per day eventually makes you an expert in any subject - but only if you apply that knowledge. Study alone is no substitute for experience. Education is always painfully slow.

94. For each important action you take, ask yourself if you would be embarrassed if it were published. It takes a lifetime of effort to build a good reputation but only a moment of stupidity to destroy it.

95. You are exactly what you believe and think about all day long. Constantly monitor your thoughts.

96. Skepticism is a key to rational thinking. Be especially skeptical of your own cherished beliefs. You might be wrong... and things change.

97. Anxiety is usually caused by lack of control, organization, preparation and action.

98. The first rule of sharpening your mind is to be an alert and sensitive observer. Assume nothing. If it can't be observed, it's not true. Never act on blind faith. Whenever something sounds too good to be true, it almost always is. Refuse to be swayed by emotion when it conflicts with reason. Observation is the genesis of all knowledge and progress... and is the first and last step of every thinking man's tool - The Scientific Method. All science and most progress is built on the Scientific Method (most non-scientists use it by accident). The steps are:

1) OBSERVATION. Gathering and rationally organizing facts. This is where most people fail.
2) INDUCTIVE REASONING. Forming a hypothesis - or a generalization of facts held to be true.
3) EXTRAPOLATION. Making a projection or prediction based on the hypothesis in areas you didn't yet observe.
4) OBSERVATION. A test for the hypothesis to see if it works.

99. Experience is not what happens to you. It's what you do with what happens to you. It takes a wise man to learn from his own mistakes... and a genius to learn and profit from the mistakes and experiences of others.

100. The purpose of life is to delay, avoid and eventually reverse death.

Special Gratitude to:

Dr. Andrew J. Galambos

Dr. Wallace Ward
Frederick Mann
Dr. Craig C. McGraw
Daniel Sullivan
George S. Clason
Gary C. Halbert
Sir Isaac Newton
Michael Gerber
Brian Tracy
Winston Churchill
Napoleon Hill
Bobby Jones
Joe Paterno
Dr. Yul Brown
Patrick Malloy
Vince Lombardi
Thomas J. Peters
Harry Stottle
Jon Benson

Anonymous (all those wonderful insightful heroes who influenced me one way or another, either consciously or unconsciously, but whose names I can't attach to any particular Credo.)

For information on Dave Kekich’s current projects, go to www.MaxLife.org.

Pictures...

2007-07-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

The more I learn, the more I realize I have more to learn.

2007-07-10T21:23:00.000-05:00

Entries on their way.

Day…Who knows?

2007-06-25T22:53:00.000-05:00

June 25, 2007

It’s been a busy week and bit so far. I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of the Perform Better 3 Day Summit in Providence, Rhode Island. Caught presentations by Gray Cook, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey and John Graham. Below are a few thoughts and tidbits from the past week or so.

-It might not make sense to foam roll the IT band (as much as it may hurt) due to it’s tissue structure. Although it seemingly makes sense to roll the TFL which the ITB inserts into up at the hip.

-Good athletes are better compensators and will more quickly find a way to get around doing an exercise or movement properly.

-Keeping athletes injury free is priority #1. Boyle includes static stretching before and during his workouts which opposes the current trend to cut out static stretching completely until post exercise. Apparently his programs followed that protocol for about 10 years but after conversations with PT’s, chiro’s and other practitioners he was sending his athletes to, he came to the realization that a lot of the overuse and more chronic injuries were due to lack of mobility and flexibility thus he reintroduced the static stretching into his workouts. BUT IT REDUCES POWER you say?! Maybe 5%, the difference is minimal and he hasn’t seen appreciable decreases in numbers lifted.

-“It doesn’t take an ounce of talent to get in great shape.”

-It’s extremely beneficial to be able to recognize compensation patterns…athletes, especially young ones will do their best to make a movement or exercise LOOK like the one you demonstrated and asked for, but there are a ton of ways they can get around them and you must be able to recognize them. They might not even be doing it consciously, they may in fact be giving you their best, what they think you want, but their bodies just aren’t moving exactly as they should.

-If an athlete can’t properly absorb the landing on a box jump they shouldn’t be jumping to a higher box. SOUND on landing means that a joint is absorbing impact as opposed to the muscles, which would result in a quiet landing.

From Gray Cook…

-Bringing a knee to the chest on a glute bridge will take away your ability to compensate with lumbar hyperextension.

-Once you’ve got your running mechanics down it’s actually beneficial to run LESS. Endurance running is hard on the body and excessive long distance running will result in more time OFF the road due to injuries.

-It’s always a good idea to REMOVE a NEGATIVE before ADDING a POSITIVE. In other words remove a restriction before adding an exercise that is affected by the restriction.

-The deep squat is a fundamental movement, GET IT or IMPROVE IT. If you can’t deep squat try this…bend over and touch your toes…now just sit down. Easier than you thought?

-THE BRAIN is the anatomical structure responsible for movement dysfunction in the human body.

-Cook loves the deadlift. He thinks everyone can and should deadlift and I wholeheatedly agree. He also states it’s more important to go HEAVY on the deadlift than it is to get a full range of motion.

From Mike Boyle…

-Does anybody bring in a picture of a marathon runner to their trainer or coach as an example of the kind of physique they covet? No. Look at the bodies of sprinters and distance runners, whose would you rather have?

-Interval training improves aerobic capacity better than aerobic training.

-Most people don’t do interval training because it’s HARD.

-Putting your young athlete into cross country running is a death sentence for their sporting career. In fact it’s tremendously beneficial for youth athletes to do sprint intervals, as it’s been shown that this will prevent conversion of transitional or intermediate muscle fibers to red endurance muscle fiber,

-“An athlete selection system – do a vertical jump and then run a mile. The kids you want jump high and die in the mile.”

-At least 70% of the population does not fit the 220-age formula. The man who came up with it has even asked in the past why people are still using it.

-Females starting a running program are 6 TIMES more likely to be injured than their male counterparts.

Questions for Coach Boyle.

2007-06-20T21:12:00.000-05:00

I'm working 7:30am-9pm Monday to Thursday so I won't be posting with much regularity until the weekends. If anyone has a question (short) for Coach Boyle send me an email at jdford@gmail.com or post a comment on this entry. I will do my best to fit them into a conversation and get you an answer.

MBSC on Fox.

2007-06-17T11:27:00.000-05:00

Click HERE to see a Fox News piece on Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning filmed last week.

Day 3 & 4.

2007-06-15T23:59:00.000-05:00

June 13th and 14th.

Nothing of consequence happened on day 3 really. We actually traveled to another Boyle facility for part of the day to help clean and set up some stuff. Nothing too exciting. One word of advice though the next time you plan on positioning and rolling out about 75 feet of outdoor turf. You’re going to need 4 very strong Olympic sized bars and about 10-12 very strong people.

Day 4 had a bit more in store for us as we saw another workout, a bit of setup and clean-up and staff training meeting for the entire summer staff numbering between 30-40 I’d say. Mike Boyle is an awesome speaker; he’s the most unassuming guy but when he opens his mouth you listen. I think he’s even got a future in comedy when he retires from the S&C realm. Some notes, thoughts and observations from the past couple days:

-Teaching Olympic lifting is a HANDS ON experience. You’re going to waste time, frustrate yourself and the athlete and get nowhere if you just stand next to someone and try to cue or demonstrate proper setup and positioning. While the athlete might be genuinely listening to you and trying to do what you’re asking they just may not be able to physically get into the position you ask them because it’s so foreign and unnatural. So you’ve got to grab their shoulders and pull them back. Grab their hips, pull them back. Push their chest out over the bar. Makes sense.

-At MBSC they do all their Olympic lifting from the hang position because;

1- If you do them from the floor you’ve got to teach a proper deadlift as well. Another exercise to learn, more time required, and with 300 athletes a day going through the facility for 10 weeks in the summer there’s no place for it.
2- The hang position more accurately represents the athletic posture or stance most athletes find themselves in.

-The best athletes will perform drills etc. best at higher speeds and will perform poorer at slower speeds.

-Better athletes will have the weakest stabilizers because their main muscle groups are so efficient they don’t require them to the same extent as a poorer athlete and thus they won’t be as developed.

-You can do wall slides on the floor. Floor slides, whoulda thunk? Not as difficult mind you as you’re not fighting gravity as much.

-There’s no such thing as too much glute activation.

-When you hear people referring to an athlete as having a great first step (heard a lot in basketball) it’s actually a great first PUSH. Leg drive, power.

-Coach Boyle said during the meeting that if he could only do one exercise with his athletes right now it would probably be sled marches. (Forward sled push) “It’s like a leg press in the best possible position.”

-A half kneeling position is a great starting position for various exercises that can then be progressed into a standing position.

-Mike has his athletes do scap pushups on their elbows as in a bridge (front support) position. Athletes were having a hard time doing them in a full pushup position (too much bend at the elbow) so one day he just thought “Why not take that joint out of the movement?”

-MBSC athletes do their X-band walks with sliced mini bands holding the bands with their arms straight in the Da Vinci position. Coach Boyle’s reasoning behind this is to take advantage of the cross body fascial chain. Instead of stopping the warm-up and activation at the hips, having the arms up hits the thoracolumbar fascia, QL (I believe), lats and other upper body muscle groups. More bang for the buck.

-Mike doesn’t test his athletes. People who are genetically gifted and are good at max effort lifts do well at testing and those who aren’t, don’t. They make so much progress in the first phase anyway that all the numbers change and the testing results quickly become useless. It can also be a psychological killer for athletes who test poorly, especially younger athletes. Some training facilities send testing repots home to the athletes parents. “Yeah so I can only bench press 95 pounds and I’ve got a 5.2, 40 yard dash, I’m already feeling pretty shitty about that and now you’re going to send home a report to my mom and dad to let them know how horrible I am too?”

-Boston is a cool place. Kind of touristy but tons of history and lots to see. It's got a neat vibe.

-Every time I order a coffee with cream at Dunkin' Donuts they ask again if I'd like sugar like it's odd that I don't get any...America Runs on Dunkin'...but if America (North America even.) gets any fatter it won't be running anywhere.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. Summer groups start Monday. I’m sure there will be much more to say come next week, if I can stay awake long enough to write about it when I get home.

Day 2.

2007-06-13T06:41:00.000-05:00

June 12, 2007.

I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Not quite an 18-wheeler, but maybe a Ford F-150, red with chrome all over. Little sleep, little food, lots of new activity. I’m still adapting to the new schedule which will be changing over next week again as the summer groups come in. It’s great we’re getting in a workout each 4 days we’re working at the facility, if anything I’ll find myself with LeBron James like athleticism at the end of summer…although if you’ve been watching the NBA finals…

Saw some interesting new stuff today in the “Day 2 workout” including a direct hip flexor exercise I hadn’t seen before. The first exercise in the series of progressions would be a low pulley supine lying hip flexion with leg at 90 degrees and trying to bring the knee up past 90 degrees. New athletes start with this to avoid compensating with lumbar flexion in a standing position. Next would be the same movement standing and from there you could add adduction at the same time. I had a short conversation with Mike about the exercise; his thoughts are that there are still groin strains in sports, especially in hockey players (a large portion of his clientele) and when tested many athletes are found weak in the adductors and hip flexors. This open chain exercise mimics hip flexion during running or skating, directly addressing these weaknesses. In my humble opinion this type of exercise would be contraindicated for the general population as most people have overactive and shortened hip flexors due to North American posture and this direct hip flexor work would reinforce these imbalances. That said we’re training the ATHLETIC population and in turn this type of exercise is okay. I believe Mike mentioned he’s trying it out for the first time this summer and he’ll watch the groin strain numbers for next year and go from there.

On a related note, Mike and an NHL player then got into a conversation about this and similar exercises and it was interesting (in a good way) to see Mike watch and take suggestions from the athlete.

None of the coaches at this facility are massive. This is not a bodybuilding facility. Hypertrophy is not goal #1. However, they are all good athletes, coaches and in fantastic condition. It’s interesting to see how different coaches and trainers work in different facilities. These guys don’t have a ton of time to diddle around and eat. I saw people randomly pulling food out of their pockets and that sort of thing and it’s quickly become apparent that my food preparation strategy needs to coincide with the environment I’m going to be in for the summer. This means, quick, portable and nutrient dense foods and with the shear amount of moving around we’re going to be doing we can most likely get away with some “not so clean” foods and still be in single digit bodyfat by the end of the summer (I’m not there yet but I doubt it will take long).

Today was a lateral day. The four-day program is split into linear and lateral days and exercises and warm-ups are tailored to the general movement scheme of the specific days. We did some ladder work today; which certainly isn’t my forte but I picked it up quick enough; I’m hoping there will be crossover to my dancing abilities. Single leg box jumps were also on the agenda as well as some “new to me” med ball work. GLUTES, glutes, glutes. You’ve always gotta be contracting those glutes. And I thought I was bad when one of my clients recently told me he’ll remember me because of my constant urging to “squeeze your butt”. I’m squeezing my butt here in places and positions where I hadn’t thought previously to squeeze my butt. Butt (sorry) it’s awesome because I had been suffering from some glute dysfunction anyway and this is certainly going to show me how to better approach proper gluteal training and functioning. Alas, my ass, it’s sore.

Today was also an “upper body” day. As part of the changes this year to reduce the load on the CNS, Coach Boyle has basically gone from 4 to 2 lower body exercise days and placed more emphasis on upper body on the other days. This means where he had never previously included direct isolation work for the triceps for instance, today we were doing rope pressdowns. I’m digging the stretches and supplementary exercises throughout the workouts and I’ll go into more detail another day about how the workouts are laid out.

One of the other interns heard Mike say that a certain exercises was “the best exercise for core” or something to that effect so of course we had to investigate. It’s hard to describe because it was being done on a Keiser machine I had never seen before, Sort of a round centre with arms every couple feet or so that could be adjusted to point more up or down. Essentially the athlete grabbed two handles one from behind and one from in front and simultaneously did a push, press or punch with the back arm and a pull or row with the front arm. The idea was to keep the hips and torso stable and to resist rotation. Another big theme here, developing core stability and strength by resisting rotation. The movement in this exercise should be coming from the shoulders only.

I think this blog is getting plenty long and although I’m sure I’ve forgotten some world changing, mind boggling tidbit of information I wanted to include I’ll have to save it for next time.

Day 1. (Officially)

2007-06-11T18:21:00.000-05:00

June 11th, 2007.

Today was the official first day for interns. We all showed up around 8am to observe coach Boyle go through a workout with some NHL and D1 hockey players. Some fantastic athletes for sure. What's interesting though is that they're doing basically the same workouts as everyone else going through the facility everyday (up to 300 people). Mike has trained this way for some time; he doesn't necessarily believe in "sport specific" training. He trains people to become better "athletes"; training athleticism as a whole. I'm sure there are a ton of people who wouldn't necessarily agree with this type of training but it's worked for him and his athletes for a long time. Can't argue with the success he's had.

The interns had a meeting with our coordinators; our roles were more clearly defined and everyone got a proper introduction. We then were taken through the very same program we had seen earlier in the day by one of the strength coaches.

There has been a big move towards a "DYNAMIC WARMUP" in the industry which is great. Standing around and static stretching every muscle group and then hopping on a bike for 5 minutes will warm you up about as effectively as a snowmobiling trip in Northern Ontario. However I think people have taken it too far and have neglected to stretch out certain muscle groups which tend to be chronically tight or problematic. What I'm getting at is that I was happy to see some static stretching as part of the warmup (mostly involving the hips/lower body) and also some more dynamic stretches during the workout.

The volume was significantly lower than what I'm used to, but it was only our first time through the workout, so loads were minimal and everyone felt good but not exhausted afterwards. I expect that to change.

I must say it was really enjoyable to actually have someone coaching me for once; working as a trainer puts you on the other side of the fence.

There is a strong focus on "core strength/stability" as well as glute function which are both part of the foundation of athleticism in my mind.

There was a lot of stuff I hadn't seen or done before and some I have done before or do slightly differently; all in all a good first experience and I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer.

My goal is for this blog to take on a bit more life as things progress. I'll try my best to keep it interesting, although after a looong day the brain doesn't always function as planned....so I apologize if this entry is all over the place.

I have no idea who is reading this (if anybody) but if you are reading this and you have any questions regarding the internship, or anything I've mentioned on here let me know...jdford@gmail.com.

Day 1.

2007-06-08T12:28:00.000-05:00

June 7th, 2007.

Waiting in a near empty airport for 5 hours for a flight is quit close to hell, especially when the restaurants don’t open until 5am and far worse they don’t start serving up their breakfast sandwiches (tasty little devils of egg, cheese and sausage OR ham.) until even after then. I hadn’t eaten nearly enough in the 12 hours prior to arriving at the airport and certainly appreciated the complimentary pretzels on the flight…speaking of, it went off without a hitch, smooth take and landing and it was shorter than predicted.

I was met at the airport by the director of internships for MBSC…but not before I had time to score a coffee and bagel from the Tim Hortons of the USA…Dunkin Donuts. Steve drove me to the facility where I spent 45 minutes or so meeting various members of the MBSC team as well as getting an idea of how they run things and the equipment available. It’s certainly a world class facility, apparently Perform Better uses it to showcase equipment. Just seeing all of the toys I haven’t had the privilege to use elsewhere got me excited.

The thing that stood out to me the most was that EVERYONE in the facility was enjoying themselves and having a good time. When somebody didn’t have a hardened face of focus and/or intensity they were smiling or laughing. It’s obvious Mike and everyone involved with the facility want to foster that sort of environment and frankly it’s great to see, especially with younger athletes. If something is not enjoyable, then why do it? Why PAY to do it?

This summer there will be a big change in the MBSC program; instead of 4 days of Olympic lifting (cns intensive activity) the athletes will now only be doing 2. This has been talked about extensively online

I then went and did some shopping, not having much time and not recognizing any brands I pretty much just started throwing things in my cart.

Boyle has some videos online of females performing various Olympic lifts and I noticed a rocking motion right before the pull. Apparently the idea behind it is just to muster a bit more power and momentum. The resident Olympic lifter isn’t a huge fan of the style but Mike defends it by stating “We’re training athletes not Olympic lifters” and if a rock is going to allow someone to lift a bit more load then why not?

Slideboard work was new for me in the conditioning realm and in Mike's CNS intensive training DVD he calls it a "Low intensity interval training" as the heart rate doesn't jump very high during the exercise. However it's still beneficial for conditioning and you're working laterally which is different as opposed to most conditioning work which is done in the sagittal plane.

Bed was early for me and I crashed hard, ready to get up and train the next morning.

AND THE JOURNEY BEGINS...or does it?

2007-06-07T02:23:00.000-05:00

I'd been waiting months for June 6th. June 6th is the day I was headed to Buffalo en route to Boston to intern at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning. The past few weeks were spent hustling around getting paperwork such as passports and birth certificates, plane tickets, bus tickets, clothes and other things that would last me the summer as well as tying up any loose ends I had in the city.

The bus ride from Toronto to Buffalo was well...a bus ride. Big guy sitting in front of my ramming his seat as far back as possible and snoring and snorting to his hearts content while the guy sitting beside him had enough Jean Paul Gauthier cologne on to choke up the entire bus. We reach the border and everyone has to get off and clear immigration and customs. Easy-peasy I thought, I've got my new shiny passport and I'm certainly not a "person of questionable identity". As we all shuffle off the bus, minds fogged and eyes glazed over at 1:30 in the morning I realize it's going to take a while to get all these people checked out. Didn't help I had to take a major leak. Finally after waiting 25 minutes or so it's my turn. Should be a breeze.

"You're going to be here a while." Wasn't necessarily the first thing out of the border patrol agents mouth but was the only thing that mattered in our 12 sentence or so exchange. Apparently because I had no "papers" for my internship nor a work Visa they weren't going to let me go. I was sent back to the waiting area (a crusty old wooden bench) while the other passengers all moved through without trouble.

I remained calm, didn't panic....he called me back in, asked a few more questions and told me "it didn't look good" and went to talk to his supervisor. Now I wasn't expecting them to roll out the red carpet for me but the guy could have been a little more...pleasant. Back to the bench...waiting...waiting. By this time the rest of the passengers are back waiting on the bus while little old me is in jeopardy of being sent back to my beloved Canada. At this point all I was thinking was the poor people on the bus have got to wait for me and they've gotta be hating me by now.

Finally I was cleared, although the guy REALLY didn't want to let me go, not sure why but told me "we looked it up on the internet." and that was good enough for them. I'll take it. Back on the bus and another 10 minutes or so to the bus station in Buffalo. Some Greyhound employee takes my bag on a trolley as I get off and takes me over to a taxi to head to the airport, I really didn't need his help to ROLL my bag about 150 metres but he asked for a tip anyway.

The first thing I noticed about the taxi in Buffalo was that there was this plexiglass divder between the driver and passenger, we don't have those in Toronto, but then again we don't have as much gun crime either. I arrived at the airport for what seemed an excessive amount and was wondering if these Americans had it out for me? The internet access at the airport isn't even free, I had to pay $6.95 just to be able to post this and dive around on the internet until my flight in about 5 hours.

Here's to hoping they let me on without a hassle.

Why?

2007-05-21T21:26:00.000-05:00

The other day I called about 8 fitness facilities/clubs in the downtown Toronto area asking if they had an olympic lifting platform and bumper plates. Here was most of the responses;

"What?"
"Excuse me....what?
"You're looking for what?"
"No, we don't have either of those things."
"No."
"No, what is that?"

I actually got transferred to the fitness manager of one highly touted downtown club who said;

"What? What are you looking for?"

"A platform and bumper plates to perform lifts like the clean and jerk, snatch etc."

"Oh...uhhh....yeah we probably have those, yeah we must have those things."

What's sad about this situation to me is that a lot of these places were smaller, more specialized, boutique style and deemed themselves as "high performance" training facilities, boasting that they trained a range of athletes as well as the weekend warrior. You're training athletes and you don't even know what an olympic lifting platform and bumper plates are??

Boston or Bust!

2007-04-08T21:36:00.000-05:00

I received some of the best news of my life this weekend when I found out I would be headed to Boston, Mass. for the summer to be an intern at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning. MBSC is an athletic training facility named after one of the all time great strength coaches, Michael Boyle.

Mike's has been in the industry over 25 years and has trained athletes of all ages, from all sports and of all skill levels. One of my favorite quotes about coach Boyle is "He's already forgotten more than most of us already know." Not only is the guy a genius but he's also cutting edge and open to new ideas. Despite his vast experience and accomplishments, Mike seeks out the opinions of other coaches (some many years his junior) in an effort to maximize the results of his clients.

I can't even begin to express how excited I am about this opportunity but I'm sure I will be posting much more about it in the near future.

BOSTON HERE I COME!

Sumo wrestler...your ideal physique?

2007-03-23T22:14:00.000-05:00

Todays blog posting comes courtesy of Chris Shugart over at T-Nation. The following excerpt from his most recent article may be an "a-ha" moment for a few people.

Fat Americans vs. Sumo Wrestlers

If we were to make a list of the behaviors that lead to the fattening of Americans, it might look like this:

1) Skipping breakfast: This leads to catabolism (muscle loss) and thus metabolism damage. It also leads to binge eating later in the day.

2) Eating lots of unhealthy food and drinking lots of nutritionally worthless calories (soft drinks and alcohol).

3) Eating only two or three giant meals a day.

4) Going to bed right after eating a big, high carb meal.

5) Not moving around much.

Here's the interesting part. In their training stables in Japan, sumo wrestlers are taught to eat in a manner that leads to massive weight gain. Here's what they're taught:

1) Skip breakfast.

2) Eat lots of mostly unhealthy food and drink lots of alcohol.

3) Eat only two or three giant meals a day.

4) Go to bed right after eating a big, high carb meal.

Does that list look familiar? Yep, the average overweight American eats like a sumo wrestler whose goal is to weigh 500 pounds! And truthfully, rikishi probably get more activity than the average fat American. And their main type of meal, chankonabe, probably contains more vegetables than the typical American gets too!

We can learn several lessons from this. First, going to sleep after eating a high carb meal is so effective at causing body fat accumulation that sumo wrestlers usually do it twice per day. Maybe, just maybe, we should avoid eating too many carbs at night if we want to have visible abs. What do ya think?

Second, if men trying to get massively fat purposefully skip breakfast, drink beer, and eat only two or three large meals a day, maybe it would be a good idea to eat breakfast, lay off the booze, and consume five or six smaller meals per day if your goal is to get shredded.

Just a thought.

Finally, I think personal trainers should relate these facts to their clients. Maybe it'll act as a wake-up call. Most average people would be pretty surprised to find out they're eating like sumo wrestlers, especially those who skip breakfast thinking that this is an effective weight loss method.

Flexing in the Mirror

2007-03-21T11:39:00.000-05:00

I'm not buddy-buddy with any of my roommates. I ended up stuck in a house with a bunch of randoms some of whom may be better off inhabiting a zoo or prison. Nevertheless, I caught one of them last night engaged in one of his favorite pastimes (along with cheating on his girlfriend and doing everything 20 decibels louder than necessary)...checking himself out in the mirror.

He called me in.

"Josh...Josh! Look at what the gym gave me!"

The way he's running his hands over his upper body makes me uncomfortable. The guy definitely has some great genetics, I've seen his "efforts" in the gym which includes more socializing than actual lifting anything and he's had a definite improvement in body composition. However...

"I like this!"

He rubs himself some more.

"But, I want to get my pack!"

He shakes his sizable gut.

After trying to explain to him he needs to clean up his diet he decides to tell me what he eats.

"I eat good...I eat curry goat, rice and fried plantain...you know plantain...okay...I eat that once a day."

"And that's ALL you eat?"

"Yeah."

"You only eat once a day?"

"Yeah."

I felt like a nuclear physicist speaking to a room full of preschoolers trying to explain to him that he was destroying his metabolism and sabotaging his results.

"You should be eating more often."

"Really? Like 2 or 3 meals a day?"

"That's better than 1 but the more often you eat the better."

It's 1am and I feel like I'm being forced to solve some sort of riddle before I'm allowed to pass through and use the porcelain throne he's so uselessly defending.

"You can't out train a bad diet."

I chuckle at the ridiculousness of the entire conversation.

"Really? You think so eh?"

I've had enough of him questioning my advice. I head back into my room and lock the door.

There's got to be a lesson to this blog posting right? Well I didn't really have one in mind when I decided to write this, I just had to share my precious late night encounter. I'm sure most of you could glean something from my musings however. ;)

Taking the work out of working out.

2007-03-18T13:42:00.000-05:00

The one and only John Mahler recently posted the following quote in a thread over at the JP Fitness forums.

"The problem is that too many people who workout are trying to take the work out."

Now, I have no idea if that gem was bore of his own brilliance or if he borrowed it from someone else but I sure thought it was awesome.

When you think about it, it's a phrase that has perhaps never held so much truth. How lazy has our society become? The original thread was about an exercise "machine" if I may call it that, (it looked more like a futuristic torture device) that promised a hell of a workout in a fraction of the time.

We've all heard that before...and for some of us it might have made our mouths water...I'm sure there have been some of us...consistently overweight, out of shape, sitting on the couch day after day just waiting for another infomerical to come on promising us washboard abs and a "tight, toned" physique in just minutes a day! Your mouth waters. Pavlov smiles.

What has caused this gullibility, this distortion of reality in which we actually BELIEVE we can achieve some exceptional by putting in a less than exceptional effort to get it. Perhaps we don't actually believe it at all. Perhaps we're just lying to ourselves, massaging our fracture self esteems, telling ourselves "We're doing SOMETHING...that's better than NOTHING......right?" But at the end of the day deep down we know it'll get us nowhere. We know it will leave a taste in our mouths that too few of society is tasting these days. Success. Accomplishment.

The other day at work I sparked a friendly conversation with a young man doing bench press on the smith machine. I'd seen him before...every workout...same thing. So I asked him why. Why not barbell bench, it's 3 feet away? Why not dumbbell bench, you just said you rarely do that anyway? It was because he was in his comfort zone, he had found an exercise that he felt safe doing. Safe as in he had a built in spotter sure, but safe as in there was little chance he'd make himself look foolish (If he only knew!), little chance he'd need help from someone else, little chance he'd see the results he was looking for. I did my best to straighten him out...I haven't seen him on the smith machine since.

I use a phrase at least once daily at work. "If it's not difficult it's probably not worth doing." Now, that phrase could easily be picked apart, I can hear the keyboard coaches now!

"Someone may overexert themselves and get injured!"

"You don't always have to train to failure!"

I was thinking earlier today about an Alwyn Cosgrove article on developing a training philosophy and figured I'd pen mine as something like "Keeping it simple". "If it's not difficult it's probably not worth doing" is a very simple phrase and what it boils down to is that if you're not putting in the effort you're not going to see the returns.

This means...

-LADIES! Quit wasting your time! Ask for help! Find a qualified trainer! I've seen waaay too many groups of girls doing typical girl exercises that my testosterone levels have left me closer to Xerxes (in the new film 300) than Ah-nuld. Please stop the triangle ritual! The triangle ritual as I see it in my gym.

I'd estimate total calories burned during the triangle ritual at 37. What's more difficult? Dumbbell kickbacks or decline dumbbell tricep extension? Then why are you still doing kickbacks?

-GENTLEMEN! If I hear another male utter the words "I do pulldowns instead of pullups because pullups are too hard." I may throw up my own testicles. Men are just as guilty when it comes to lacking intensity in the gym as the women are. In fact I have female clients who could probably kick the ass of half the guys in my gym.

I wasn't sure where I was going when I started this blog. I haven't written one in awhile but I like where this one went...even if it wasn't exactly where I thought it was headed.

Stop trying to take the work out of working out.

The Beginner’s Guide to Losing Fat, Gaining Muscle and Getting Fit

2007-02-18T15:53:00.000-05:00

The following is an article I wrote several months ago for a non-fitness online community I frequent. Enjoy.

The Beginner’s Guide to Losing Fat, Gaining Muscle and Getting Fit

By Joshua Ford, PTS

I like knowledge. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is the currency of the world’s elite. As well as (unfortunately) anyone else with access to the internet these days I'm privy to a plethora of free knowledge by the world’s experts on health, exercise and nutrition. These men and women have dedicated their lives to the advancement; application and sharing of this knowledge. Here I am… stealing from the collection plate so to speak, taking their offerings and sharing the important stuff with you. But that’s what it’s all about; standing on the shoulders of giants…their experience is our gain.

For someone just starting on the path to a healthy lifestyle, or a trainee who hasn’t kept on top of the latest information this vast expanse of knowledge can be intimidating, confusing and downright time consuming. It is my goal with this article to amalgamate all of that knowledge into a much less bitter pill to swallow. You won’t become the next “trainer to the stars” reading the following; but it’s going to provide you with a solid base of useful information that is fairly easy to understand and apply. And more importantly, I’m hoping it will spur further interest and research on the topics discussed.

The only way to get better at something is to learn more about it and to engage in whatever you want to improve at on a regular basis. I don’t care if you’ve read every copy of Men’s Health front to back, there is still much to learn about fitness and nutrition. Strength and conditioning coach Michael Boyle is a perfect example of this. While it’s often said he’s already forgotten more than most coaches already know; he’ll gladly turn to fellow industry pro’s who may have half the experience he has and isn’t afraid to alter his methods on their advice.

Education is similar to stepping foot in the gym, you have to leave your ego at the door and be open to new and sometimes controversial methods and information. Whether your goals are geared towards performance enhancement or just lookin’ good nekkid there are some commonalities among training methods that need to be discussed and some myths that need to be cleared up.

“I’m 5”11 and 150 pounds. I’m looking to gain some muscle and lose some fat. Tone up. I’ve been working out my arms with these dumbbells I found in my basement and I’ve been doing pushups to make my chest bigger…but my arms and chest are still the same size.”

“Really? Interesting. What have you been eating?”

“Oh, I eat a lot.”

“Really? How much?”

“I usually have a couple pop tarts for breakfast if I have time, oh and a glass of juice. Then at school (or work) I have a tuna sandwich, those are healthy. I have a protein bar in the afternoon and whatever my parents (or wife) make for dinner.”

If I type another word in that exchange I may break my keyboard…but hopefully you see my point. For one, this trainee isn’t really training, he’s not eating nearly enough and of equal importance, the right foods to gain lean body mass and lose fat mass. He may remind you of someone…He (You) needs help.

And we’ve all seen the girls who go to the gym 7 days a week, run on the treadmill for 45 minutes and then park themselves on the adductor and abductor machines for the rest of their workout with the latest issue of Glamour in tow. It pains me. Yes, even if they are a spicy chiquita, it pains me. Nothing worse than a gorgeous girl who’s clueless in the gym. It’s like a blue cheese steak from The Keg without the blue cheese.

Training

Whoever said, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” obviously wasn’t big on training or nutrition because if trainees, athletes, weekend warriors and the like followed that kind of thinking we’d all look more like Dick Cheney.

The Basics

You want to gain some muscle. Muscle mass is fantastic. It increases your metabolic rate, makes you stronger, improves athletic performance, and most importantly (for most of you) it looks pretty damn hot too.

1. You may think you only want to gain size on your arms and chest. You do not. This will make you look like a disproportioned buffoon and every serious trainee will laugh you out of the gym. Your training program should include movements for EACH and EVERY body part. The only exceptions are if you are missing a body part (my apologies) or if you’re limited somehow by an injury/pathology, in which case you should be getting that taken care of before starting a serious weightlifting program anyway. A common error among male trainees is to avoid lower body training. Who wants to have a huge upper body and pencils for legs? It looks ridiculous, it isn’t functional and it will limit the growth of your upper body. Your body doesn’t like change, it wants to survive and be as functional as possible. You’ll reach a certain point in your top heavy training where your body will limit your growth until you bring your legs up to match. Gosh your body is smart!

2. Ladies…lifting weights, even heavy ones (relatively speaking) will not make you look big, bulky or *gasp* manly. It may however make you grow hair on your upper lip so at the top of every supplement purchase list I’m recommending an extra large bottle of Nair for the female readers. Training for females should not be and doesn’t have to be that much different than training for males. Sorry ladies, although you have many hormones that make our lives difficult, you lack the quantity of androgens or “muscle building” hormones that we males possess.

3. You have to overload a muscle to cause an adaptation in the body. This means ladies (and for some of you men..) that curling the pink 5 pounders 74 times is not going to amount to much of anything. It may make you more efficient at curling 5 pounders but last time I checked that wasn’t an Olympic event…yet. For the body to adapt and add muscle or get stronger you must put it under enough stress for it to NEED to adapt. If it’s not difficult, it’s probably not worth doing.

4. You need goals. Unless you’re training for something you’re training for nothing. Set long-term goals and short-term goals. If you set short-term goals that you’re reaching or exceeding often, your motivation will remain high and therefore so will adherence to your program. Aim to accomplish something in every training session. Hitting one more rep than last time, moving more weight than last time, learning a new exercise, you should always be aiming for and seeing improvement.

5. Include compound, multi-joint exercises in your program. Squats, deadlifts, cleans, snatches, all are great exercises because they work multiple muscle groups and are extremely taxing on the body. They are excellent for building strength, power, muscle mass and even burning fat! Start off learning the exercises through part movements and variations and progress to the full movements for maximum benefit. Visit http://www.danjohn.org, http://www.mikesgym.org, http://www.uwlax.edu/strengthcenter/videos/video_index.htm for videos and advice on learning the Olympic lifts.

6. If you’re just starting out, don’t worry about dynamic effort days, the “best” pogram (there isn’t one), supine overhead high pulley reverse curls on a bosu ball standing on one leg…find a program, follow it as closely as you can and stick to it for as long as you’re required. Guess what? You’ll likely see results. The lesson? Don’t focus on the minutiae.

Myths and Madness

Myth Use lower weight and higher reps to “tone” muscles. I’ve always loved this one. Just the other day I was at a friend’s house and her roommate stated with conviction that using lower weights and higher reps would tone muscles and was not a useless training method. Well actually, that’s not exactly what she said, but it’s what she meant. If my friend wanted to take advice from her 19-year-old fine art major roommate that was fine by me; but I wouldn’t expect her to achieve the results she’s looking for. Usually when people are referring to “toning” muscles they are actually saying they want more definition in their muscles. This is largely a factor of your body fat and means you have to lose fat mass, and that folks is going to rely heavily on a solid diet.

Madness Not using any form of periodization and using the same methods/modalities for too long. My first question posed to someone when they come to me and say they aren’t seeing results anymore is “How long have you been using your current program?” The answer is usually preceded by a shy giggle and blushing “A while.” Recent research suggests results on a specific training program can start to decline as soon as 1 month after beginning said program. I’m not going to write a how-to on periodization but for the sake of your training do some research on periodization and implement it into your training.

Myth Running is the best cardio to lose weight. I have a few issues with this argument. First let’s define cardio. Cardio refers to any activity that calls upon the use of the heart and lungs. This means that yes, even making pudding is cardio. Reading this damn article is cardio. Aerobic training (with oxygen) and anaerobic training (absence of oxygen) are both states of cardio respiratory exercise. Running is considered steady state aerobic training. A ton of people lose weight running and in turn tell all their friends that running worked for them so if they want to lose weight they better run too. Sure, running/jogging will burn calories, resulting (hopefully) in fat loss. However there are much more efficient methods for achieving the same results in a much shorter period of time. You’d like that, would you not? Enter the dragon known as HIIT. High intensity interval training. Interval training involves some form of intense anaerobic exercise in short periods or, intervals. My favored modalities for interval training are on a bike or sprinting. It’s true that a greater percentage of fat is used as a substrate during lower intensity exercise however high intensity exercise burns more TOTAL calories and can raise the metabolism for a significant period post exercise. This is your greatest ally in the fight against fat known as EPOC - Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption, or much like the effects of a great Mexican feast…the after burn.

From Alwyn Cosgrove’s “Afterburn.” – http://www.alwyncosgrove.com

“The recovery of the metabolic rate back to pre-exercise levels can require several minutes for light exercise (aerobic training), several hours for very heavy exercise (anaerobic cardio training), and up to 12 to 24 hours or even longer for prolonged, exhaustive exercise (interval training or circuit weight training).”

What does this mean? It means include interval training into your program…duh.

Madness I have a SuperTrainer8000Deluxe home gym, how can I use it to look like Brad Pitt? You can sell it and buy yourself a gym membership. Sure a gym can be intimidating; we’ve all been there. I’ve never been the biggest guy in any gym, and I never will be. There will always be someone bigger, someone stronger, leaner, longer…err…you get the idea. You have to be serious about training and unless you have a well-equipped home-gym, you’re going to be limited by the equipment you can use and the results you can achieve. Also on the seriousness note, you have to want it. You need to be hungry for…no not that Oreo Blizzard…success. If you don’t want it you’re not going to get it. Nobody accidentally loses 50 pounds or puts on 50 pounds of muscle mass. You have to put in the work, and be intrinsically motivated. I’ll be brutally honest with you and tell you there is nothing worse than working with an unmotivated client who mopes around like s/he hates being there and just wants to get the session over with. Have some enthusiasm for **** sakes! These people get a trainer/coach and think, “Great, they’ll take care of the motivation aspect.” Sure, but I’m not going to lift the ******* weight for you! I’d rather have someone so fired up that they are trying the movement before I’m even finished explaining what we’re doing…although that sucks too, so don’t do it. Rant over.

Madness I’m going to make this one short and sweet. Do not follow the suggested workouts in the magazines. They weren’t actually written by the pro’s and they’re not likely to work for you. Are you a professional bodybuilder? Are you on various performance-enhancing drugs? This holds doubly true for a beginner exerciser. It’s like going to the rock climbing wall for the first time and taking on “The Widowmaker” right off the bat.

Nutrition

You can’t out train a bad diet. I’m not sure who first said this, but they’re damn smart. I don’t care if you spend 7 days a week in the gym, are working out twice a day and running 50 miles a week. If you put crap in your mouth, you’re going to get crap out (in more ways than one). It’s time people stop looking at food as a soother, an anti-depressant, a de-stressor and start looking at food as fuel for your body.

If you want to gain lean body mass you need a SURPLUS of calories. This means your energy (caloric) intake is HIGHER than your energy expenditure (how many calories you burn a day). For fat loss, just change surplus to DEFICIT and higher to LOWER.

Not only is Dr. John Berardi an authority on sports nutrition but he’s an authority on nutrition (and training) in general. His Precision Nutrition system is absolutely without a doubt, the best resource to teach people how to eat healthy now and for the future. The PN principles can be applied to a regular Joe, a casual exerciser and an elite athlete and they have been, with proven results. Precision Nutrition can be purchased at http://www.precisionnutrition.com. Now that I’ve plugged his website, I’m sure he’ll be more amenable to me stealing the basis of the PN system to share with you.

10 Habits Of Highly Effective Eaters

1. Eat every 2-3 hours.
2. Eat complete, lean protein with each feeding opportunity.
3. Eat vegetables with each feeding opportunity.
4. Eat vegetables or fruit with any meal; other carbs only after exercise.
5. Eat healthy fats daily.
6. Don’t drink beverages with more than 0 calories.
7. Eat whole foods instead of supplements whenever possible.
8. Plan ahead and prepare feedings in advance.
9. Eat as wide a variety of good foods as possible.
10. Plan to break the rules 10% of the time.

Myths and Madness

Myth You’re going to gain a bunch of fat on your bulk. A holdover idea from the bodybuilding world. I think it’s just an excuse for them to eat whatever the hell they want. An excess of calories will most likely result in some fat gain, yes. However, if you’re going to eat an excess of calories you may as well make them good ones which is going to minimize any fat gain during a “bulking” period and increase the efficiency of your lean body mass gains.

Myth You shouldn’t eat after 9pm. Who the **** came up with that one? Seriously. Sure if you eat a bowl of ice cream right before bed there’s a fantastic chance you’ll end up seeing those cookie dough pieces on your thighs tomorrow morning…but let’s get real here. When we go to sleep we’re essentially fasting. Breakfast=breaking the fast. Fasting is great way to lose muscle mass which sort of flies in the face of what we’re trying to accomplish here. Stick to vegetable and fruit sourced carbs later in the day and make sure you eat a slow burning protein source (cottage cheese, milk protein blend) with a healthy fat (avocado, natural peanut butter etc.) before bed and you’ve done your best to stave off catabolism (muscle wasting state) until breakfast.

Madness Not eating breakfast. Do I really have to explain this one at this point? Eating breakfast is essential to start your day off right. It jump starts your metabolism, drops cortisol levels putting you back in muscle building mode and provides your body with energy to ensure mental alertness and optimal physiological functioning until your next feeding opportunity!

If your diet is not in order and you’re not following the 10 Habits at 90% adherence then it’s not even time to look at supplements. It’s important to take things one at a time and not get ahead of yourself in this regard. Just as you can’t out train a bad diet, you can’t over-supplement a bad diet either.

With that being said here are the 3 supplements I would start someone off with when I was confident in their nutrition.

The 3 Most Basic Supplements

Post Workout Recovery Drink – Your body is starved for nutrients after exercise. You’ve gone and depleted all your muscle glycogen! How dare you! Don’t worry, do your best to get in some high glycemic (sugary) carbs, along with a protein source as soon as possible after exercise. This will put you in an anabolic (muscle building) state and enhance recovery. A good choice would be a product like Biotest’s Surge, or you can make your own PWO cocktail with any quality whey protein (Dymatize, Champion, Optimum) and some maltodextrin and/or dextrose.

Creatine – There are a ton of fancy schmancy creatine’s out on the market these days. It’s all a load of crap. Either you respond to creatine or you don’t. Creatine works by overloading the creatine stores in your muscles, which is called upon in intense exercise to be used as energy. If your stores are already high, it’s not likely you’ll see much benefit. It will not put slabs of muscle on you magically. It only allows you…in the simplest terms…to do more work. Creatine Monohydrate is still the old standby in this category and none of the fancy stuff will do anything more for you other than emptying your wallet. Don’t worry about loading, unloading, cycling…just try to get in 5 grams a day.

Fish Oil – Daily fish oil supplementation should be made a legal requirement for the entire world. I’d bet the balance of my chequing account that the incidence of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and every other major illness would be reduced dramatically. In studies at the University of Western Ontario fish oil has also been shown to increase metabolism by up to 30%. Fish oil also has powerful anti-inflammatory properties.

Tips and Things to Think About

-Look at those who have already achieved what you would like to. A great body, a 500lb deadlift, a huge bank account, a hot wife. Find out what those people did and are doing. Model their behavior.

-Look at your goals. Look at your behaviors. Do your behaviors match your goals?

-There is a ton of training information out there these days and at times it’s hard to make sense of it all. Focus on the commonalities among coaches and trainers, the things they agree on. It’s where they disagree that your research should start.

-Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless.

-Want to know if something works? Don’t ask others, try it for yourself; you’ll get an individualized answer and you may learn a few things in the process.

A Doctor's Note...from Alywn Cosgrove

2007-02-13T17:56:00.000-05:00

Today's blog posting is borrowed straight from the blog of the brilliant Alwyn Cosgove. http://alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com I saw this the other day and thought it something everyone should read.

A Doctor's note...

"The only thing worse than not reading a book in the last ninety days is not reading a book in the last ninety days and thinking that it doesn't matter".
Jim Rohn

-------------------

Why is it that if a client comes in to the gym, and has a heart condition -- fitness professionals need a doctor's clearance before they can exercise ? -- before they can do something healthy?

Why doesn't the local bar need a doctor's clearance before serving that same person a beer, or a restaurant before they serve them a cheeseburger? That's something potentially harmful but they don't need medical permission.

Why does a client with a knee injury need a doctor's clearance before they can do a squat in the gym - yet an airline doesn't need permission to let them buy a seat (and do a squat to get into that seat)?

If fitness professionals need permission to teach someone with a medical condition how to lift a 5lb weight, shouldn't grocery stores need permission before selling people a 5lb bag of groceries? 5lbs is 5lbs. And we're trained to teach someone a safe way to lift 5lbs...I don't believe the kid who packs the bag at the store is ... why aren't doctors concerned about him?

Why do fitness professionals need clearance to help people when no other activity seems to need permission to potentially harm people?

What an ass-backward world we live in.

Things...NOT to do.

2007-02-04T20:52:00.000-05:00

I got a request at work about a week ago by an enthustiastic new gym goer to write a blog posting on things that you shouldn't do in regards to training and nutrition. Makes sense. Often when people start exercising everyone wants to chime in with their own personal advice that they heard from a friend, a "trainer", Oprah, a magazine, an infomerical, Tony Little, a homeless guy on the street or "they". Yeah, "they".

"What are you doing eating this late? They say you shouldn't eat past 9pm."
"Oh really, who is they?"
"That's just what people say."
"Well, I think they are full of shit."

That's an actual conversation I had with one of my roommates last week. So let's try to wade through some of the bullshit and give you a few simple tidbits of advice.

DON'T STOP DOING SOMETHING IF IT WORKS.
Dan John has a classic saying "This program worked so well for me I stopped doing it."
All too often people start using a new exercise program or change something in their diet or make a lifestyle change that results in a positive and then for whatever reason they go ahead and make another change or decide to try a new exercise program to see if that will work too. If something is working, why change it? Do it until it stops working and then try something new.

DON'T MAKE WHOLESALE DIETARY CHANGES OR STOP EATING ALL TOGETHER.
Another common beginner misstep. I can't count the number of times I've had someone ask me for advice on weight loss and then tell me they are only eating 1200 calories a day. Making a drastic cut in calories to well below your maintenance level is going to reflect poorly in your health and body composition. Best way to kill your metabolism? Don't eat. Your body start storing everything you put in it as fat and can you blame it? It doesn't know when it's getting it's next meal! Eat more, exercise more is generally what these people need to hear. A consistent intake of nutrients spread throughout the day in 6 meals will keep your metabolism revved and give your body the nutrients it needs to stay healthy and get your body into fat burning mode. Also, if you're used to eating fried chicken and french fries with a beer every night after work don't try to immediately turn that into a dry chicken breast, salad and brown rice. How many people are successful at quitting smoking cold turkey? How many people are successful at doing a 180 in terms of their nutrition?

DON'T COMPLICATE THINGS AND DON'T FOCUS ON THE MINUTIA
KISS. Not me, silly. Keep it simple stupid. Guess what? Everything works! HIT training? It works. Low carb diets? They work! High Frequency Training? That works too! How's that for a statement to add to your confusion. It's true, most fitness and nutrition programs will work, if you follow them properly and stick to it. If you're still not eating breakfast it's not yet time to look for the world's best fat burner to give you "Ript Abz" in 8 days. If you can't perform a dumbbell romanian deadlift without your back looking like the Arc de Triomph, don't worry about when your next Dynamic effort day is going to be.

Stay tuned for more "DON'Ts" in future blog postings. Stay healthy!

Nike Free Shoes - Bad for basketball, Great for everything else.

2007-01-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday I got a new pair of shoes. I love new shoes and I especially love these ones. I had heard about these "Nike Free" shoes, bought into the hype and took the plunge. The idea is that it's as close to being barefoot as possible and I'd say they got pretty damn close. Great for walking around or training in...helps with postural alignment and the like. Check out the site at http://www.nikefree.com for models and the science behind the technology. Whenever I have them on (which is almost always) I get this insatiable urge to either run or jump no matter where I am. They definitely get a recommendation from me to anyone looking to get a new pair of kicks. Unfortunately, I was so excited by my new shoes I wanted to test them out playing basketball during last night's intramurals.

I was on the fast break, two men...boys...in front of me, I faked going to the middle and cut hard to the basket...was fouled, planted my foot and was reminded of that beautiful, horrible pain/feeling as my entire foot/ankle went over. Lesson learned.

Upcoming Seminar In London Ontario - Look Great, Perform Better

2007-01-23T14:00:00.000-05:00

Below is information regarding a training and nutrition seminar in London, Ontario on February 3rd, 2007. Should be a great time for trainers, coaches and active individuals to learn and network. It's a great opportunity for Canadians to see Dr. John Berardi speak, which everyone should do at least once.

Join us for an upcoming 1 day seminar in London Ontario for the benefit of the UWO Women's Fastpitch Softball Team.

Where:
Somerville House, Room 3345
The University of Western Ontario
click here for maps

When:
February 3rd, 2007
9:30am - 5pm

What:
Learn the latest information on training and nutrition as well as how to apply these methods to attain optimal results.

Topics include:

Is nutrition important for appearance/performance?
Optimal training/exercise program design
Food/exercise suggestions specifically for women
Training and nutrition for body transformation – How to look and feel your best in your clothes or on the beach.
Nutrition/training from an athlete’s perspective
Nutrition/training from a coach's perspective – Performance based programs

Who:
Keynote speakers include:
John Berardi, PhD, CSCS, President of Science Link
Jane Rumbal, PhD Candidate, 2006 World Rowing Gold Medalist
Jude St John, Toronto Argonaut Offensive Lineman, CFL All-Star
John Allan, BA, BEd, Olympic Throws and Team Coach
Peter Lemon, PhD, Director, Exercise Nutrition Research Laboratory, UWO
Maria Mountain, MSc, CSCS, Owner of Revolution Sport Conditioning
Lucinda Benton, PT, World Class Natural Bodybuilder

Cost:
$59/person (Earlybird price)

To Register:
Send your name, contact info, and a cheque made out to UWO Women's Fastball to:

Dr P Lemon
2212 3M Centre
University of Western Ontario
London ON N6A3K7

Questions:
uwofb@hotmail.com

It's For Charity:
Proceeds to support the UWO Women’s Fastpitch Softball Team - a team that recently won both league and Ontario Provincial Championships. As as a non-funded sport at Western, the women's fastball program must raise considerable funding on their own. So you can learn lots of new information and support a good cause.

Treat Your Body Like Your Car.

2007-01-21T17:34:00.000-05:00

I'm spotting someone at work today on the bench press, he's doing about 115lbs for 12-15 as part of a circuit. It's my second go spotting him, first time he got 15 no problem. This time I help him a bit to get to 12. As he pops up off the bench after racking it he rubs his shoulder a bit and says;

"My shoulder always gives out after a while, like it's weaker than the other shoulder."

After a short interrogation I got it out of him that he suffered the injury in a rugby game 2 YEARS AGO. Not only that but his "diagnosis" was by a personal trainer who used to train his girlfriend in her home. Not exactly someone I would trust to diagnose a potentially serious injury. The actual diagnosis?

"A rotator cuff injury, just one of those things that may take a long time to heal on it's own."

Lets recap the situation.

-You've got an injury that is several years old and you haven't gotten it looked at by a professional. And unless your girlfriend's in-home trainer is Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson or Bill Hartman, they are not qualified to assess this type (or any really) of injury.

-You are not rehabbing it.

-You are not doing prehab work so it doesn't reoccur.

-It's still not getting any better after 2 years.

Obviously during the conversation I'm suggesting to this guy he either be doing some kind of work/training to fix it if he knows what it is or to get it checked out so that it doesn't cause more serious problems down the road. Especially considering this guy is in off-season training wanting to make the varsity soccer team next year.

The human body is like one of those giant dominoes arrangements where when you knock down that first dominoe it sets off a chain reaction where they all tumble down in a fantastically fun display. Well when that first dominoe falls in the human body, in this case a shoulder injury, it's not so fun to watch what happens over time because that one injury will cause a progressive decline in surrounding or connected tissues/joints/etc. which is a recipe for disaster.

I think it finally hit him when I used my car analogy again as I often like to use in comparison with the human body. We as people often neglect our own bodies and health while we spend countless dollars and hours on maintaining and fixing up our material possessions such as our vehicles. If your headlight went out would you wait 2 years to fix it? If you've got sparks shooting out the ass of your car because your muffler is dragging would you wait 2 years to fix that?

So, in this instance treat your body like you'd treat your car......unless you're cheap.

Questions? Comments? jdford@gmail.com

Getting Started.

2007-01-20T22:55:00.000-05:00

So this is my first blog posting on my resurrected fitness/nutrition blog. I'll be sure to update this bad boy at least once a week from now on. I've made it a goal for the new year, the more useful information I can pass onto the masses the better. Keep checking back for postings by myself on the topics of the expansive topics of fitness and nutrition, life and everything in between. I will also be posting fantastic articles by others that I come across.

On the topic of "Getting Started" I would like to make a few comments.

It's roughly three weeks into the new year and you're either well on your way to washboard abs and arms that make the women weak at the knees or your knees have been skinned to the bone because you've fallen off the wagon. Hey, don't fret. It happens to the best of us. Below are 5 tips to help keep you on track if you're still in the drivers seat, or disinfectant and gauze for your bloody knees.

#1 - Surround yourself with supportive people. If you hang out with a bunch of alcoholics would you be likely to succeed in a bid to quit drinking? Probably not. So if you're surrounding yourself with people who are constantly trying to sabotage your efforts, are jealous or just plain don't understand or appreciate your efforts to better yourself....get rid of them....or if it's your in-laws just try to visit less. Constant encouragement and somebody to be accountable too (Yes hun, I DID go for my walk today.) will pick you up and carry you on the days your adherence legs want to quit on you.

#2 - Set yourself up for success. Keep a blog or journal of your food intake and workouts. This again is accountability. If you make your blog public that's taking it to another level, exposing the world to the commitment you're making. Who's going to have less guilt on their shoulders when they fail or are a let down...the President of a country or the president of a chess club? Plan ahead. Schedule your workouts for the week in advance and stick to your schedule. Don't just decide at the end of the work/school day if you've got enough energy or time to bust your ass. It's not likely to happen. Prepare food for the week in advance. Keep your fridge/pantry stocked with the RIGHT foods to last you as long as you require. If you're going to eat an apple a day for a week and you go and only buy 4 apples how much sense does that make? Make it easy on yourself.

#3 - Stay positive. Positive thoughts and negative thoughts cannot co-exist in your flawed human mind. Walk around like you already fit in those size 6 jeans. (But please don't wear them yet if you're not quite there.) Be confident, know that you CAN do it. You CAN hit that last rep. You CAN resist those snacks in the lunch room. For most people it's as simple as choosing to be happy...same applies here. Choose to be optimistic. Don't get down on yourself if you cheat or stray from your daily plan...the world is not lost...take it as a learning experience. How can you prevent that slip from happening next time? Smile. Smile during your entire workout...you'll end up making yourself laugh and everyone else around think you're crazy.

#4 - Don't let a cheat or missed workout completely derail you. It's entirely too easy to let one missed meal, chocolate chip cookie or skipped workout to turn into 2 meals a day, a bag of chocolate chip cookies and no workouts for 2 weeks. GET RIGHT BACK ON THE WAGON. It is a cheap, poor, weak excuse to let a single mistake sabotage your goals. The wagon does not keep going when you fall off...it's still there waiting for you to climb back on. Ate a cookie? Do some interval training. Missed a meal? Prepare stringently for the rest of the week to ensure it doesn't happen again. Missed a workout? Don't just skip it altogether, get it done...fit it in somewhere, anywhere.

#5 - Don't fall prey to analysis paralysis. All too often trainees of all training ages get caught up in the plethora of training information out there and change/alter their workouts and nutrition programs more often than Britney Spears....changes...errr...wears underwear. People start focusing on the latest and greatest and to a greater extent the minutiae when they should be focusing on the basics and succeeding with their current program. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. It's okay to have interest in the latest fitness/nutrition information but you have to learn to stick to something for a long period of time. In a recent conversation with coach Mike Demeter he said something along the lines of;

"You really do have to stick to something for a long time...longer than you would think."

Point being...trying a program out for 2 weeks and deciding it isn't working is a lame excuse. How was your diet during those 2 weeks? Your adherence to the program? Oh, well, I had to skip a couple workouts because I was too sore...and I couldn't eat that much because I didn't have time...sound familiar? Your lack of progress is due in no part to the efficacy of the program but because you're a lazy ass.

Keep things in perspective. Make time for yourself. You deserve to be healthy and happy. Have a great 2007!

Questions? Comments? jdford@gmail.com