How to Improve body composition or running performance: Advice you WILL NOT want to hear

I am going to take a couple paragraphs from Mel Siff's book Supertraining. Siff wrote these two paragraphs after naming 22 different observations on training for hypertrophy (or basically for pure aesthetic reasons). This tiny section of the book is also preceded by 415 pages in 10 pt font about the science of strength and conditioning with like 400 different citations.

Siff:
 "When someone stated that 'People with extreme genetics or those who are using huge amounts of drugs will probably get big no matter what kind of weight training and rep speed they are doing', he is probably far closer to the truth than anyone who religiously propounds simplistic Time under Tension theories. One has to remember that the marketability of a certain fitness figure or group, according to well-established marketing principles, depends on slogans and simply stated formulae.


The public usually feels far more comfortable with cerebrally  undemanding mantras and 'fast food' solutions than with far more accurate, more complex methods. That is a major reason why many fitness figures write as they do and market their catch phrases simplistically as they do - society has been processed by the mass media to behave like that, and they usually do not want to be forced to think too deeply or to have their convenient current beliefs questioned, because that entails a serious threat to their psychological safety. Humankind has always been like that and they receive what they have been processed or educated to want"

These words resonated with me a lot because I always hear about new ways to do this and new ways to do that. When I tell people I am a personal trainer, they usually ask "What is the best exercise for (insert body part)?" When I tell dudes that are bigger than me that I am a personal trainer they just give me a smug look and hit the nearest gym for some invigorating bicep curls.

Truth is that most people are just training for aesthetic reasons and are unwilling to accept their genetics as a key factor in their body re composition. Consciously and subconsciously we all want to look lean like pictures in magazines. Most of those guys are on steroids, and not just the body builders. Somewhere along the way we forgot what the hell it was like to put time into something and get rewarded ten fold with the result. God forbid if that took more than 2 weeks! Tip: think more long term than short term. You do not grow muscle or run longer from 1 training session. It comes from a well thought out program that takes science into account. Our bodies adapt during rest.

It sounds very simple to think more long term than short term but I guarantee some people are already in denial. But FLEX magazine gave me a whole program to increase my bench press and chest size! If they gave any consideration as to how to perform bench press, they wouldn't do it the hap hazardous way they do.

I like Siff's quote because there is a little sarcasm there. It's as if he was saying, "I just wrote 7 dissertations on strength and conditioning and you just want to know how to get big?"

Genetics play a large role in why we look the way we do. Nutrition plays a much bigger role in hypertrophy and performance than training does. Yes, at a certain point there is a time when we need to alter the training variables, but fundamentals are always first. That applies to almost anything in life.

We define ourselves by our injuries

You hear it all the time...

I have a bad back! I have a bum knee! My neck feels tight and I need a massage!

It seems that we have become a culture that strives to be more active. Supplementing our sedentary lifestyles with more exercise is the right choice, right? Kinda.

We like to run marathons. We like to do heavy volume arm, chest, and leg workouts without giving any thought to the long term. I want to be bigger and run longer, and I want it now. We take advice from fitness magazines that give us crazy "bodybuilding" style workouts for guys, and exercises for women that include  pink 5-10 lb. dumbbells because they are afraid of "bulking up". Seriously, are any of those workout prescriptions really any different except in the order they are performed in? Not really!

So how does all this insanity and B.S. in the fitness industry relate to our chronic injuries?

Because they only perpetuate them, and not fix them.

And what do some Physical Therapists and M.D.'s prescribe for these injuries?

Knee braces and Motrin. Some never fix the cause of the problem. Most of the time it can be fixed with some simple "movement quality" work. Sometimes it might require the expertise of a soft-tissue therapist, or sometimes just the toolbox of a trainer. It might take 30 minutes or 30 days to fix the problem, but it all comes down to how the human body was meant to function. Motor control, joint mobility, joint range of motion, and dynamic/postural stability are key factors in fixing these problems. Some people do actually have structural problems that our tissues are working around. That needs to be diagnosed and many other options that PT's or trainers should have already been exhausted.

My own previous injuries led me to what I know and continue to study today. It seems the more I learn on the human body, the simpler it gets. We don't need crazy exercise equipment like stability balls and hip abductor machines to get in shape and/or fix ourselves.

C'MON MAN... are you serious?

 It all comes down to human movement. A lot of what we call intelligent training comes from basic movements that we learned as children. Based on these fundamental patterns like creeping, crawling, rolling, and squatting did we learn all the requisite motor control to perform. So why can't we squat anymore? Well actually we SHOULD be able to, but based on our current job descriptions and horrible workout routines and programs, we are only making it worse.

Look at it this way: You are either improving your body's movement function or you are not. Those who are not, are on the road to plateau and most likely injury. Getting injured running or lifting should be unacceptable and one should look at that as a sign that we are doing it wrong.

But what if I just want to run a marathon or have a good looking body?
That's perfectly fine, but one obviously can't train if they are in so much pain. I don't know about you, but that would equal less calories burned and less of a long term chance you will exercise. Just because running is good for you does not mean that you are ready for it. Most successful long distance runners are skinny for a reason. It's not because they ran themselves skinny, but because that is their body type. Not everybody has a thin frame built for running, and you don't see them on the football field either. Maybe that is a case for evolution. The ones who got hurt were weeded out and tried something else.

As Gray Cook says, "You can't put fitness on top of dysfunction". Remember, you are either improving the quality of your body's movement or not. Most people are breaking their joints and connective tissues down until they convince themselves that it was because they worked so hard. Why would you work hard for a broken down body? It is great to be active and want to improve your body or athletic ability, but please do some further reading in progressions for exercises. A lot of people as the question, "why pay money for a trainer?" Now, there are a lot of sub par trainers out their who think that increased work and motivation is all that is needed to sustain a healthy fat loss and muscle gain goal. There is much more to the healthy body than weight loss. Think of all of the people you have met that are injured and cannot work out. Too many. You pay money to a trainer to learn how to move. Once you can move correctly, then add some weights, reps, and intensity!  Don't go out there and try some crazy exercise just because another trainer or magazine was doing it. A good trainer will progress their client to that. If it means that we need to make mobility and stability corrective exercise our priority for 2 weeks then fine. I would rather have somebody know how to address their basic dysfunctions than to learn a couple of new exercises. It is the end result that matters.

Next time you complain to yourself or others about your "nagging injury", always ask was I born this way? If not (and most aren't or else their basic motor functions would be altered forever at a very young age) then you need to seek out the help of someone in the know. There's knowledge, and people out there with the knowledge, you just have to find them.