The $99 TRX knock-off seems to be a hot product these days. In fact The sales person at a fitness store that is part of a national chain tried to sell me one, to which I politely declined. I must admit that I thought it was pretty bold to be selling knock-offs in a retail setting next to the real ones. They seem to be more frequently sold by individual trainers, coaches and via websites.

I’m not writing this to pass judgement about whether or not you use or buy knock-off products, but rather to get you to consider whether there are safety implications if you do.

Think about what you will do with your TRX suspension trainer. You are literally hanging from it. Is that really a product for which you want to gamble on poor quality manufacturing that typically comes with illegal goods? If you are a fitness enthusiast who is training yourself, then it’s not as bad since the only person who will get hurt is you. If you are a trainer on the other hand, an injury to a client using the knock-off can potentially ruin you. Keep in mind that your insurance company will consider you in violation of your policy and therefore will not support you in the event of a lawsuit.

If you train yourself and you decide that you still want the knock-off suspension trainer, please make sure you clear the space behind and under you so that if it fails, you will only fall to the ground as opposed to hitting your head or spine on the corner of a coffee table.

If you really want a suspension trainer but want an inexpensive alternative to the TRX, consider picking up a Jungle Gym XT. Personally I don’t like them as much as the TRX, but they are a legitimate (and safe!) $99 alternative.

What about other discount fitness equipment?

Whenever you see an option for discount or homemade fitness products, make sure you consider how you will use it before deciding whether it is a good idea. As noted above – if you are a trainer, it is probably never a good idea because it will likely render you uninsured. If you train yourself, then really ask yourself if it is a good idea:

• Dumbbells: A cheap dumbbell is probably just fine. In fact I have recommended to people that they can take a few small dumbbells and put them into a sturdy back pack or tool bag and use that instead of purchasing a full set of them. Or you can fill the bag with other heavy products like books and cans of soup. If you go this route, do make sure you test that the bag is sturdy enough for the weight you are using, and ideally don’t do this for any movement where you will hold the weight over your body. With the right bag and the right exercises, this can be an effective, inexpensive, and safe option.
• Plyometric boxes: Like the TRX, this is another product where homemade or knock-off warrants the “bad idea jeans” warning. Typically you jump onto plyometric boxes. What happens if it breaks when you land on it? Odds are you will go flying. Don’t do it. If you do get a homemade one, make sure you have absolute confidence in the builder.
• Sleds: Sleds are another good bet for homemade or discount options as the consequences of a failure are minimal.
• Stability balls: This is another product where I’d suggest using caution. There are cheap ones out there, but again –  you’re letting it support your body weight. I have seen one break beneath someone while he was kneeling on it.  Thankfully he wasn’t hurt, but he certainly could have been. Since then, I will only purchase name brand stability balls. Paying $8.77 for a cheap “fitness ball” at Walmart instead of but the high end ones cost Side Note on the topic of safety: Definitely do not use weights with a stability ball regardless of quality. They may say burst-proof, but they do not stay that way forever under any load. In fact since a lawsuit involving a broken stability ball that lead to a broken wrist for Sacramento King Francisco Garcia, most stability ball manufacturers and retailers now recommend against using them for things like bench press.
• Slideboards: I will admit that I tried to make a homemade slideboard with a Crazy Carpet. It was a pretty big failure. It’s marginally okay for reverse lunges but useless for lateral strides. That said, safety is not the issue here – simply usability. I’ll save the Crazy Carpet for the toboggan hill.

I can’t think of any other equipment where one would be tempted to buy a knock-off or make their own. Please comment if I have missed any!

The key once again is to think about how you will use the equipment. If it will be holding your body weight, spend the money to make sure you are getting something that has actually been safety tested.

 
Related links:
TRX Training’s official word on knock-off TRXs
Why I use the TRX for myself and my clients

Elsbeth Vaino is a personal trainer in Ottawa specializing in sports performance and injury prevention.

Corrective exercises have become a popular training tool for many personal trainers in recent years, but do they work?

The corrective exercises are often found in programs in the movement preparation part of the workout, which I like to jokingly say is just a fancy way of saying the warm up. In fact it is a specific warm up, one that literally is intended to get your body prepared for movement. Some of the corrective exercises are basic stretches and activation exercises that manual therapists (I use the term manual therapist to refer to any of athletic therapist, chiropractor, massage therapist, osteopath, or physical therapist) have been using for years. Others are more integrated, born of functional training philosophies, such as the Functional Movement Screen.

I am actually a big fan of corrective exercises. Every client I see who has some movement dysfunction or limitation does them. In other words, all of my clients do them.

But do they work? It depends.

I believe there are three major factors that determine their effectiveness:

1. Are you using an appropriate corrective exercise? I hope this is a widespread yes, but alas I don’t think it is. I won’t go too negative here, but if you are a trainer please honour yourself, your profession, and your clients by attending conferences, reading books and articles, and discussing training with other professionals.

To get back on topic, the reason continuing education is so important for trainers, is that sometimes great new ideas arise that debunk old ideas. When this happens, it’s nice to be in the know. I encountered an example of this when I saw a trainer using the wrong corrective exercise recently. The trainer asked me if there was a small rubber ball at the gym that they could use to put between their client’s knees during a leg press to keep them from caving in (I’m not a fan of the leg press, but kept that to myself). I suggested that instead of the ball between the knees, that a band around the knees was a much more appropriate correction. The correction she was about to use would have had the opposite effect that she was looking for: The muscles that squeeze the ball are the same ones that collapse the knees. Conversely, the band around the knees will temporarily force the knees further into collapse, but the body will sense that this new position is wrong and will send a message to resist the band – or move the knees apart. This super cool corrective exercise approach is called RNT or reactive neuromuscular training.

2. Are you coaching the exercise? I’m going to be blunt here: As an industry, trainers and manual therapists are failing at coaching and cueing exercise. Very often when I introduce a corrective exercise, the client tells me that they know how to do them. Depending on my mood that day, I either go ahead and demonstrate it anyhow, or I try to contain my smile and ask them to show me. More often than not, what they show me is a very poor version of the exercise.

I think there are a few reasons for this:

• The manual therapist only spends 5 minutes demonstrating and coaching 5 to 10 exercises and then provides a one-pager featuring microscopic stick drawings of each exercise.
• People need to be coached through an exercise more than once to really get it, but often they only get one shot;
• People pick up exercises from magazines or websites and don’t quite catch the nuance of what they are doing;
• People attend bootcamps where the ratio of instructor to student is 50:1, so there is no time for proper coaching.

I’m sure there are more reasons. It’s really a big problem. Without proper cueing and instruction, it’s entirely possible that the exercise given to correct a dysfunctional movement will encourage that dysfunctional movement if done poorly. One exercise where I see this all the time is the bird dog. At least half of the clients I give bird dogs to tell me that they know how to do them. Fewer than 5% actually know how to do them. The purpose of a bird dog is to improve rotary core stability, to work on glute strength, and to work on lat strength. Yet more often than not, the bird dogs I see involve a lot of flailing. Now I’m not a linguist, but I’m pretty sure that there is no root commonality between the words flailing and stability. For those reading this who think they know how to do a bird dog, here’ s a video of how it should look. Note the distinct lack of flailing.

3. Is your client feeling the corrective exercise where they should? Let’s assume that you picked the right exercise, and you coached it properly. Does that guarantee it will be felt where it should? Absolutely not! The human body is an incredibly complex system with built-in redundancy. Virtually every movement you can do with the body has a primary muscle and at least one backup. The backup, is like the spare tire in your car: It is there when you need it, but it isn’t as good as the primary muscle. But unlike the spare tire, it’s not always easy to turn off the backup muscle and give control back to the main muscle. This is a common problem with corrective exercises. Your client may do it perfectly, but the backup muscle won’t let go. In this case, the corrective exercise is actually reinforcing the poor movement.

In some cases you can see it, but not always. Truthfully the most effective way to know if your client’s body is doing the exercise correctly is to ask.
“Where do you feel this?”
I find this is a particularly big problem with corrective exercises for the hips and shoulders.I shot a video that explains this and provides a few examples:

The key is that you have to understand what the exercise is supposed to be targeting. If it is not hitting that area as you would expect, try a couple of different ways to position it and to cue it. If that still doesn’t work, try a different exercise.

Elsbeth Vaino is a personal trainer in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Now that we have some snow up here, I thought it would be appropriate to bring this snow shoveling article out to remind everyone that shoveling is actually hard physical work, that really should be done after a warmup, and with some caution about form.

Did you know there is an increase in cardiac incidents following snowfalls?

It turns out that shoveling is both frustrating and dangerous.  This is likely due to otherwise sedentary people heading out and suddenly doing intense exertion – that snow can be heavy!

And did you also know that there is an increase in back injuries following snow storms? 

When I heard this, I assumed it was due to the excessive bending.  Interestingly, it might actually be related to the heart incidents.  Or so goes the theory presented by Dr. Stuart McGill, spinal biomechanist at the University of Waterloo:  your back’s greatest protection is the core muscles that brace it, but some of those muscles – notably the obliques – are also involved in breathing.  Because of that, there is a point just after you finish exhaling when these muscles are relaxed.  And when those muscles are relaxed, they are not able to do their other job – supporting your back.  So if you happen to lift a really heavy shovel-full at the end of your exhale – maybe your back is bent and twisted which happens frequently when shoveling – your back is going to take the full load with no support.  And that is how back injuries can happen.

As it turns out, you can turn this crisis into an opportunity (“cropportunity!” as Homer would say).  Why not turn your shoveling “job” into a safe and fun workout?  Yes, I did say fun and workout in the same breath. Not convinced? Think of it this way:  Shovel your driveway my way you’ll be less likely to hurt yourself, and you’ll be more fit when you’re done. 

So what kind of workout can you get shoveling?  Think of it as a two-part workout:  an arm plus core workout and a leg workout. 

Warm-up first!

Before heading out, start with a warm-up in the house.  It doesn’t have to be long, but make sure you get some movement in your legs, your hips, and thoracic spine area. I have two warmup options for you, each one takes between 5 and 10 minutes:

The ski dynamic warmup. It’s true that snow shoveling is not skiing. Not even close! But a good ski warmup will serve you well for snow shoveling. Here’s the one I recommend:

Or, try this general warmup.

The snow shoveling workout

There are two parts to the shoveling video, the Lift and Toss and the Shovel Scoop Interval. Use each as appropriate, depending on the type of snow and length of driveway. Read below the segment below the video for a little extra guidance.

The Lift and Toss:

Try 10 reps on one side and then 10 on the other and then take a little break.  As it says in the video – don’t twist your back, and don’t forget to engage that core to prevent the relaxed breathing muscles from compromising your back!

Shovel Scoop Intervals:

With these, don’t run through the Shovel Scoop Intervals unless you are:
- wearing boots with a great grip;
- you know there’s no ice underneath;
- You know there is nothing the shovel will catch on; and
- you are in excellent physical condition.

There is no shame in walking to push the scoop shovel! It is still a good workout. Once you unload the snow, walk back to the starting point so that you have the energy to do another line. If you have to unload the shovel to the side, remember the straight back lesson from the Lift and Toss, and as much as possible, alternate sides. If you are still breathing heavily when you get back for another line, rest a bit longer. As the winter progresses, you should find that you need less rest. But for the first few snowfalls, don’t be the hero – respect both your body and the snow.

Elsbeth Vaino is a personal trainer in Ottawa (Hintonburg). Visit www.customstrength.com for information about hiring her for your fitness and sports performance needs.

…you probably have anterior pelvic tilt (APT). That is, your butt probably sticks out a bit. In some cases, the upside may be that it’ll make your butt look great. Although it doesn’t always look good…

Looks aside, for many people, it can cause or contribute to low back pain, either on a regular basis, or while trying to perform ab exercises. Raise your hand if you yourself or any of your clients have complained that they feel planks in their low back more than in their abs. Read more…

Shoulder packing. Yes, that’s right: shoulder packing. It’s really a thing.

It’s a concept of how we should position our shoulder when doing any sort of lifting with our arms. Now some will say that this is ridiculous – we just move our arms and that’s how they should move. I could get behind that line of thinking. Except for one thing: many of the people that come and train with me don’t actually position their shoulder properly when moving their arms, and then they complain of pain or discomfort in their shoulder or neck when doing exercises like pushups, rows, and planks. But when I help them to position their shoulder properly, they proceed to exercise without pain or discomfort.

That’s pretty convincing for me. Why does this happen? I’d say it’s a fair bet that your computer is the culprit. In fact take a look at your shoulders right now. They’re rounded, aren’t they? Read more…

When it comes to exercise, most people either do too much or too little. I think this applies beyond exercise, but let’s stick with that for the moment.

Those of us in the fitness and nutrition fields write a lot about those who do too little, in the hopes of helping fight the growing obesity epidemic. Today, however, I am going to talk about the other end of spectrum: too much exercise.

We laud those around us who maintain a healthy lifestyle, and are motivated by, and impressed at their the feats of strength and dedication. I recently read about a man who has run everyday for the past 40 years. I’m sure most of us who read that were inspired, and impressed. But is that actually a good idea? In his case, he seems to be enjoying a great and long life, which is all we can really ask for. But is it because of his excessive dedication to running, or in spite of it?

Many of my clients are referred to me by their health care professional. They are runners; cyclists; soccer, hockey, tennis and ultimate players. Or at least they were, and hope to be again. But they fell victim to overuse injuries of one variety or another, and instead of enjoying their sport, they have spent months getting to know their physical therapists and chiropractors and orthotists and massage therapists and athletic therapists and osteopaths all too well. They make fantastic clients because they are incredibly motivated to get back to the athletic pursuits they used to love; and most do get back.

But they all have the same story. The individual details are different, but the fabric is identical:

One day, while enjoying [insert sport], I felt a slight pain in my [insert body part]. It felt odd, but I was able to keep enjoying [insert sport]. Over the next few weeks, the discomfort grew, but I kept playing. Weeks turned to months, and the discomfort that initially only occurred during the first or last few steps of [insert sport], now occurs constantly, and in sometimes keeps me from sleeping.

At this point, they make a visit to their health care professional of choice, but often continue to play in pain. What is it that makes us ignore the very clear signals our body provides? I talk about this without judgment, as I have been there. I know what it’s like to include “vitamin I” as part of my daily nutrition (in fact for me it evolved to Celebrex). But most of these long term injuries are completely preventable. If we listen to, and respect, the pain signals our body gives, we can avoid months (sometimes years) of pain and medical expenses. The irony of course is that our effort to not miss a few days or weeks of our beloved sport leads to missing weeks, months or even years of our beloved sport.

So I ask: are you strong enough to take a break when something feels off?

I didn’t used to be, but I am now. Years of regular hip pain, followed by surgery and significant loss of cartilage in my hip is what it took for the message to get through my thick skull. I am finally strong enough and smart enough to listen when my body talks.

And it started to talk a couple of weeks ago. I have been working on getting stronger in my split squats and deadlifts. I love lifting heavy weights; particularly deadlifting. It just feels incredible. And I have become part of an incredible group of women spread across the globe who all lift heavier weights than is typical for women. Watching the feats that these other incredible women do in the weight room motivates me to want to keep pushing myself to more lifting personal bests. But I started to get a small twinge of pain in my hip. I’m not sure what caused it, and it isn’t overly painful. But it is not normal. And I know that I don’t want to go back to being an Advil junkie; or to spending another several years and thousands of dollars on athletic therapy sessions. So I chose to listen.

It was weird initially. I started to rationalize, trying to convince myself that it was just a one time fluke, and that I should hold off on the deadlifts, but I can surely keep doing the split squats without harm. I’m either getting smarter or my rationalizing skills are waning, but this time it didn’t work, and I have taken deadlifts and all variety of squats out of my training for a while. I’m not talking about eternity in purgatory; just a short hiatus from the big lifts. Here’s the cool thing though: there are still ways to get a really great workout. And for those who feel that they need to exercise to keep the weight off: IT IS POSSIBLE TO CUT BACK ON EXERCISE AND NOT GAIN WEIGHT. For serious. Really really. I kid you not.

My new plan? It involves a bit more time rolling, stretching, and doing corrective exercises than usual, as well as a few visits to my massage therapist. The rest of the workout is full of fun strength training exercises (Yes, I refer to strength training as fun. What?). Here’s an example of a “I’m taking it easy” strength circuit from last week:
3 circuits of:
Chinups (max effort)

Single leg shoulder elevated hip lifts (10 ea with 70# added – killer!)

Half-kneeling cable chops (10 ea with 100#. Rotational core strength = optimal power transfer between upper and lower body. If you are not strong here, you are not strong. Period.)

Half-kneeling cable lifts (10 ea with 60#).

If you look at the videos, I think you’ll agree that they are not easy, and that I’m getting my butt kicked. There are always options that will allow you to build strength and work hard without pain. Often it can be done while helping you improve your movement quality. Take these opportunities if you need them!

What do you do you when your body says “Hey, so, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to avoid this activity for a while”? And what’s your workout plan so that you can stay sane while your body stays healthy?

Elsbeth Vaino trains athletes in Ottawa, Canada.

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If you’ve read my stuff before, then you know that I am, well, a big geek. I think I probably took fitness geek to a whole new level with my bench press assessment article, talking about the work value of a bench press based on arm span. I think this article will further raise the bar on geek in the fitness industry.

This article is about what typical problem areas I see based on the Functional Movement Screen (FMS for those who like to keep things short) assessments that I perform. Not familiar with the FMS? Check out functionalmovement.com, or read on for a brief overview. Then follow the article to see an overview of the results I’ve seen in terms of what functional movements tend to cause the most problems, and how the results are different based on gender and whether someone is an athlete.

Lastly, I’ll share my take on what this should mean for your training (or programming for trainers) if you do not have access to the FMS or other assessment options to help guide you.
Read more…

I have an online client who mentioned that he was not feeling great with the front squats in his program, but he was pretty confident he was doing them well since he is an experienced lifter. He is smart and self-aware, so I tended to think he was probably right. But I asked him to get someone to video his front squat because I have a pretty good eye for small details (I’m a ski instructor – if you can find small faults as someone launches past you on a ski hill, standing still on flat land is a piece of cake) and I just wanted to see what was up. Partly I just wanted to be sure that it was good form, because that would impact what exercises I would give to him.

He did, and before I even got the link he noted that he could see one major flaw in his front squat and that he was confident that I’d be able to help with it. I saw the video, which his son uploaded to youtube, and he is correct! The front view of the squat looks great – shoulders look great, the knees don’t cave in, and no lateral (side) shift. This is the view that you would have if trying to watch your own form at the gym if you had a mirror in front of you. Then came the side view, which lets face it, we don’t get to see. When you’re deep into a squat with weight on your back, you really don’t want to be turning your head to the side to check form. It could lead to bad things for your neck or back. But in fact, the side view showed the big flaw in his squat: his knees move way too forward as he comes down and his heels rise up slightly.
Read more…

Bench press is a great exercise, but for anyone with a shoulder issue, it may not be ideal. How do you know if you should bench? Well for starters, if it hurts to bench, you probably shouldn’t bench. What if it doesn’t hurt during the bench, but it hurts later, you ask? Same answer. I suspect you knew that but were hoping for a different answer. Sorry.

If the bench press is painful for you, you should probably be seeing a manual therapist (athletic therapist, chiro, massage therapist, osteopath, physio…) to help get you to pain free state. But once you reach that point, then what?

Ideally you would switch to other exercises, at least for a while. I want my clients to be able to do at least 10 proper bodyweight pushups (Click here for an article all about pushups) before I will have them bench press, and then I get them to do the Bottom Up Kettle bell (KB) bench press before moving to “normal” bench pressing.

I love it because it requires a lot of stabilizing to be able to do it, which means my clients literally will not be able to do it if they lack strength or stability in their shoulders. If they can’t do the bottom up KB bench press, they are not ready to bench press. Period.
Read more…

Low back pain is a very common problem, and is a topic that comes up often when I talk with, well people. I have written a couple of articles about this in previous years, but I want to address it again, this time with a more practical approach. I realized recently that I have developed a bit of a template for clients who have low back pain, or who have a history of low back pain. The program for each person is different, but there are six exercises that I include for almost everyone who talks about their back when I first meet them. I am going to share these 6 exercises for low back health with you.

Before I begin though, I must point out the following: If daily living causes you low back pain, I strongly suggest that you look to a health care practitioner as your primary source of guidance for your back health. I won’t suggest what type of professional you see, just that someone who is a doctor, osteopath, physical therapist, chiropractor, athletic therapist, or massage therapist sees and hopefully provides some treatment for your back.

With that said, I’m going to share the 6 exercises that I have found to be most important and effective for helping people improve their low back health. Strangely I feel a need to qualify that again. I think that is because it makes me uncomfortable suggesting that I can help “cure back pain” when I am not a health care professional. I’m a trainer. And before I was a trainer, I was an engineer; not a doctor or a physical therapist. But here’s the thing: I help people’s low back pain by avoiding their back pain, not by working on it. Read more…