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? Read more…
I have become fascinated by the effect of different body size and shape on performance, both in sport and in the weight room. It is pretty obvious in some sports – the tall person is almost certainly going to do better in a sport like basketball than the short one. Not only is he taller, but she’s got a better reach. Height rules in many sports. But what about the weight room? Read more…
If you either do pushups or wish you could do them better, take a few minutes to read this article that I wrote with Bret Contreras, called The Best Damn Push-Ups Article, Period. Bret is a very smart guy both academically and experientially (maybe not a word, but I’m going to use it anyhow), and he’s a nice guy on top of that. Read more…
When I first saw a video of someone doing a pendulum with a TRX, I thought it looked
Amazing but also very challenging. Here is a video from Experiencelifemag.com showing what it looks like:
Right away I wondered how someone who didn’t’ already have a strong core would do it. For some reason I think this way a lot. Maybe I’m going to my engineering roots here; trying to re-engineer exercises. There was the stability ball roll-out progression, the new approach to pullup progressions, and a look at pushups, including progressions that I did in an article with Bret Contreras (I’ll post once the article gets published). Whatever the reason, I like progressions!
But I digress – back to the story line…I didn’t really think further about the TRX pendulum until yesterday when it hit me: Start with a half-pendulum. Read more…
Raise your hand if you’ve seen people do pullups and thought “pft – what a stupid exercise; nobody wants to be able to do that.” Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? (If you don’t know this reference, then it’s time to catch up on your 80s pop culture movies. Or time to say “wow, she’s old”. Either or.).
Have you ever wondered if your movement on land was limited? That maybe that was limiting your ability to move well on skis? If yes, try the movements in this video.
If you find that you have trouble with any of these movements, or that they feel differently from one side to the other, you have a limitation. Read more…
I tried out a new pizza place last week that has been getting great reviews. The friend I was with first said he wanted to try everything because they all sounded amazing, but then he suggested their Margherita pizza. He went on to point out that the Margherita is only 3 ingredients (tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil). How well they can make a Margherita is a great measuring stick of how well they can make a pizza. Extra ingredients can make for a tasty pizza, but it can also mask a mediocre base. But a place that can make a piece of heaven out of three ingredients? That is mastery. Read more…
I for one complained about the lack of snow in November. I’ll admit it. And while I am super happy to be able to ski now, I can’t say I look forward to the driving and walking related issues that snow brings.
For many, shoveling is the big frustration. It’s hard work if you have a big driveway. I’m not sure if this is a surprise to anyone, but emergency rooms fill up after big snow falls. Okay, I’m sure that doesn’t surprise anyone. Many of the visits are from falling injuries – slippery sidewalks, ski or snowboard tumbles, and of course toboggan injuries. But did you know there is also an increase in cardiac incidents? Read more…
Even though I am a trainer and have the equipment to work out at home or at the sports therapy clinic where I work, I still prefer going to the gym.
It’s partly a social thing I suppose – I’m not a big chatter at the gym, but I do have the people I say hi to or nod to. Strangely it’s also partly being able to tune out. I love to put my mp3 player on and enjoy some loud tunes. Aside from at the gym and in the car, I don’t listen to a lot of music. Maybe I need to do that more. ..
I had the pleasure of spending two days at a Dr. Stuart McGill seminar about “Building the Ultimate Back”. Dr. McGill is a spine biomechanist at the University of Waterloo, an internationally renowned speaker about low back dysfunction, an equally renowned clinician, and the author of Low back Disorders and Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance.
Because Dr. McGill covered so much amazing information, and because back function is such an important topic, I have split this into three articles. This first article provides what I view as the 4 basic points he addressed.
