Friday, January 7, 2011
Is running bad for you and why did it become a sign of fitness in our culture?
Ok it's the new year and I need to lose weight.... I think I'm gonna go get that gym membership finally. Yeah I have that nagging back pain but I won't let it get in the way of training and I will just work it away...I think once I lose the weight my back wont have to support so much and I will feel better. I'm gonna go get that membership and start a running regimen and use a couple machines....
Unfortunately I think this is the thought process of the average gym goer who wants to lose weight. I can already hear it: is Matt going to tell me I shouldn't even run anymore? Is he going to start a new cult? What a weirdo.
On the contrary I would love for everybody to be able to have a nice healthy run. Humans were born to move. Running (or jogging) makes us feel good. When I say running in this post, it can mean any steady, and long distance cardio. It is not an accident that we feel great after a workout. We pushed our bodies to new limits, burned some calories, and decreased our resting heart rate all at the same time. These are good things.
In his book Supertraining, Dr. Mel Siff explains the "divergence of training philosophies". He states that, "the development of different scientific and educational cultures in the West and the East had a profound impact on the growth of the different aspects of strength and general fitness training." Yes that Rocky IV montage of Ivan Drago getting injected and having his neck being twisted in that cool machine while running laps in a dimly lit gym are true. Just kidding... kinda.
Siff goes on to explain that, "the increasing idealogical isolation of nations and well-protected prestige of sporting success meant that research in all fields, including sport, took different directions." He then explains that the "West" veered sharply towards the direction of cardiovascular fitness, and "assuming great impetus with the running for health and 'aerobics' crazes, associated closely with Swedish endurance exercise and popular fitness books such as Kenneth Cooper's Aerobics."
Cooper's book came out in 1968 and in 1969 Jacki Sorensen came out with her Aerobics dance class aimed at Air Force wives who were stationed in Puerto Rico (that information doesn't need a reference because it is not important). I had to take an aerobics class for my major last semester (yeah we are that far behind) and it was brutal and pointless. Unfortunately women cling to the idea that aerobics is the greatest thing ever. Trust me, it is not. They should be correlating athletics into what they want their body to look like. Athletes are generally skinny and look "in shape". Do they do aerobic dance moves all day? HELL NO. They train with high intensity sprint and agility drills. They train with progressively heavier weights. Having said that, I am definitely not advocating going out to the local football field, setting up some cones, and running suicides. You might not be ready for that.
Running seems like it would be a holistic exercise. It is just a series of single-leg bounds over and over and over. Running is not only determined by your cardiovascular level (heart strength, HR, VO2max etc...) but your movement. Ah yes, Matt's favorite buzzword, movement. Running is just like lifting weights in that it is a stress to one's body. Lets take a common movement dysfunction: knee valgus.
Her problem is pretty common, especially in female teenage athletes. It is NOT that her jumping mechanics are jacked up. She might be able to fix that just by a coach's verbal cue. Her femur is rotated inward from her hip. Her glute muscles have not been used in 15 years. Her low back probably arches in. Next time her coach tells her to go run, she will always default to that movement, especially after fatigue sets in. Looks like she needs some strength training. Oh wait, she has to be game ready so she needs to run more to build up her heart. Dumb.
After screening so many of the general public, I have yet to find one with great movement. The average person has some sort of dysfunction. Just telling clients what they should do and look like while they move is not enough. They must feel it. They must change the quality of the tissue. They must gain mobility in their joints and use that new found mobility. They must reinforce that new mobility with stability. We don't just stretch anymore, we also mobilize. Sometimes people need to see a therapist to release tissues surrounding common "locked" areas such as the hamstring, back, or neck.Simply cueing good running stance does not work. Our body needs to be reset and feel what is correct.
I am not here to talk trash about running. Like I said before, it has many positives. The problems come when people do not supplement their running habit or sport with strength training, stretching, and some tissue work. Running does NOTHING to reinforce good movement. Strength training certainly does and my clients have felt it. It is a common misconception that weights will add bulk to the body and make you slower. That is just not true. Another common misconception is that weight training is hard on the joints. Wait a minute, that is actually true! That sounds like a stress to the body! What ever would your body do to accommodate strength training..... lets see....Oh yeah it reinforces joints and tissues to make them stronger! Do you think that only muscles grow bigger and stronger? Many things in the body do. We adapt, and it is pretty damn cool.
Running is inherently different than strength training because we have many different types of muscle fibers. Some respond to endurance (slow twitch type I), and some respond to increased resistance (fast twitch type II).
I applaud all of those who are interested in either losing weight or running for leisure and sport. Those are not bad things, but there are safer and better ways to lose weight than just long, steady, slow distance running. But how come all my friends finished the marathon and 5ks and they are OK? I don't know, maybe they train with Matt, maybe they are in denial of their joint pain, maybe they have never sat at a desk for 8 hours, or maybe they were just born to run (I hate Bruce Springsteen). So before you head to the gym and step on the treadmill, put a towel over the digital number of calories and time, strap on your iPod, and start running, always ask yourself: Do I deal with pain, and is running worth feeling that pain? Does running make the pain worse? Would I be better off learning how to squat with one leg for my own health and aesthetic goals?
Next time.... Alternatives to running: the science of fat loss and high intensity interval training!
Unfortunately I think this is the thought process of the average gym goer who wants to lose weight. I can already hear it: is Matt going to tell me I shouldn't even run anymore? Is he going to start a new cult? What a weirdo.
On the contrary I would love for everybody to be able to have a nice healthy run. Humans were born to move. Running (or jogging) makes us feel good. When I say running in this post, it can mean any steady, and long distance cardio. It is not an accident that we feel great after a workout. We pushed our bodies to new limits, burned some calories, and decreased our resting heart rate all at the same time. These are good things.
In his book Supertraining, Dr. Mel Siff explains the "divergence of training philosophies". He states that, "the development of different scientific and educational cultures in the West and the East had a profound impact on the growth of the different aspects of strength and general fitness training." Yes that Rocky IV montage of Ivan Drago getting injected and having his neck being twisted in that cool machine while running laps in a dimly lit gym are true. Just kidding... kinda.
 |
| The Cold War |
Siff goes on to explain that, "the increasing idealogical isolation of nations and well-protected prestige of sporting success meant that research in all fields, including sport, took different directions." He then explains that the "West" veered sharply towards the direction of cardiovascular fitness, and "assuming great impetus with the running for health and 'aerobics' crazes, associated closely with Swedish endurance exercise and popular fitness books such as Kenneth Cooper's Aerobics."
Cooper's book came out in 1968 and in 1969 Jacki Sorensen came out with her Aerobics dance class aimed at Air Force wives who were stationed in Puerto Rico (that information doesn't need a reference because it is not important). I had to take an aerobics class for my major last semester (yeah we are that far behind) and it was brutal and pointless. Unfortunately women cling to the idea that aerobics is the greatest thing ever. Trust me, it is not. They should be correlating athletics into what they want their body to look like. Athletes are generally skinny and look "in shape". Do they do aerobic dance moves all day? HELL NO. They train with high intensity sprint and agility drills. They train with progressively heavier weights. Having said that, I am definitely not advocating going out to the local football field, setting up some cones, and running suicides. You might not be ready for that.
Running seems like it would be a holistic exercise. It is just a series of single-leg bounds over and over and over. Running is not only determined by your cardiovascular level (heart strength, HR, VO2max etc...) but your movement. Ah yes, Matt's favorite buzzword, movement. Running is just like lifting weights in that it is a stress to one's body. Lets take a common movement dysfunction: knee valgus.
 | |||
| Girl landing from a jump off a box. Hurts just looking at it. |
After screening so many of the general public, I have yet to find one with great movement. The average person has some sort of dysfunction. Just telling clients what they should do and look like while they move is not enough. They must feel it. They must change the quality of the tissue. They must gain mobility in their joints and use that new found mobility. They must reinforce that new mobility with stability. We don't just stretch anymore, we also mobilize. Sometimes people need to see a therapist to release tissues surrounding common "locked" areas such as the hamstring, back, or neck.Simply cueing good running stance does not work. Our body needs to be reset and feel what is correct.
I am not here to talk trash about running. Like I said before, it has many positives. The problems come when people do not supplement their running habit or sport with strength training, stretching, and some tissue work. Running does NOTHING to reinforce good movement. Strength training certainly does and my clients have felt it. It is a common misconception that weights will add bulk to the body and make you slower. That is just not true. Another common misconception is that weight training is hard on the joints. Wait a minute, that is actually true! That sounds like a stress to the body! What ever would your body do to accommodate strength training..... lets see....Oh yeah it reinforces joints and tissues to make them stronger! Do you think that only muscles grow bigger and stronger? Many things in the body do. We adapt, and it is pretty damn cool.
Running is inherently different than strength training because we have many different types of muscle fibers. Some respond to endurance (slow twitch type I), and some respond to increased resistance (fast twitch type II).
I applaud all of those who are interested in either losing weight or running for leisure and sport. Those are not bad things, but there are safer and better ways to lose weight than just long, steady, slow distance running. But how come all my friends finished the marathon and 5ks and they are OK? I don't know, maybe they train with Matt, maybe they are in denial of their joint pain, maybe they have never sat at a desk for 8 hours, or maybe they were just born to run (I hate Bruce Springsteen). So before you head to the gym and step on the treadmill, put a towel over the digital number of calories and time, strap on your iPod, and start running, always ask yourself: Do I deal with pain, and is running worth feeling that pain? Does running make the pain worse? Would I be better off learning how to squat with one leg for my own health and aesthetic goals?
Next time.... Alternatives to running: the science of fat loss and high intensity interval training!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Predictions for the future of Personal Trainers, Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, and Physical Therapists etc...
I am currently reading a book by Thomas Myers, a massage therapist, called Anatomy Trains: Myofacial Meridian for Manual and Movement Therapists. The book is a great introduction to the commonly forgotten and less taught "fascial net" of tissue that plays a huge role in our development as children and more importantly as the "common pathways for tensile communication."
Myers uses a great example to describe how he treated a woman complaining of neck pain. Including structural anatomy is boring and useless to you so he certainly doesn't dwell on that as he explains:
"A middle aged woman came to my practice years ago, complaining of pains in the right side of her neck. An office worker, she was sure the pain was related to her computer workstation and repetitive strain from her keyboard entry and mouse use. She had run the gamut of healing, having seen a chiropractor, physiotherapist, and a massage therapist. Each of these methods offered temporary relief, but 'as soon as I started working again, it comes back'.
He continues...
"When presented with a situation like this, there are two possible causes: the one offered, that work really is producing the problem, or conversely, that some other area of the client's pattern is not supporting the new position demanded by her workstation. By examining this woman, we found that the rib cage had shifted to the left, dropping support out from under her right shoulder. The rib cage moved to the left to take weight off the right foot. The right foot had not taken its share of the weight since a mild skiing injury to the inner part of the knee three years earlier. The whole pattern was now set into the neuromyofascial webbing."
"By working manually with the tissues of the knee and lower leg, then with the quadratus lumborum, iliocostalis, and other determinants of rib cage position, we were able to support the right shoulder from below, so that it no longer hung from the neck. The woman was able to point and click to her heart's content without any recurence of her 'work related' problem."
This example by Myers demonstartes the mindset we should have in dealing with clients with pain or dysfunction. Instead of treating the neck and it's surrounding structures, he found the cause of effect of the pain. Yes we do have individual muscles, bones, and joints, but they are all woven togther. Compensation occurs over a long period of time. It is shortsighted to only treat the pain.
Most people these days see a manual therapist (massage therapist, chiropractor, or physical therapist) simply because they want to relieve pain. It is that persons job, based on their technique and knowledge, to not only treat the pain, but to find the dysfunction. Unfortunately it takes more time and effort for both parties to do this. This whole pain relief concept fits perfectly with our Western culture of quick fixes. We need to take a more holistic approach. Yeah a massage can feel great after a long day, but if you are in PAIN, there is dysfunction with your body.
Trust me, 98% of people have some sort of dysfunction. Some are in pain and some are not, but it is there somehow. Training over a dysfunction will make it worse. Sitting at your desk over a dysfunction will make it worse. Movement is the precursor to everything we do. Until we take this view piont of fitness and rehabilitation, we will continue to have pain, dysfunction, drugs for every little problem, fat, and the need for quick fixes.
It is our job as trainers and manual therapists to work with these problems. If a trainer (like me) does not have the license to do manual work on somebody, then I need to refer out to someone who can. This manual therapist should have the same mindset as I do regarding movement. They should know that humans are connected by many different tissues that respond to both short and long term changes.
We are already starting to get more educated about these topics, but we need to keep pushing the knowledge to everybody. We must take responsibility in our profession. I predict that in the next 20 years, every profession having to do with the human body will become closer. We need to. As I have realized through education, that we can make changes to ourselves. It will take time, effort, money, and a MAJOR mindset change. It is not just about going to the gym and running and lifting weight. The gym should be a place where we bring our bodies together, not become more painful and dysfunctional like most of us have.
Can I be called a movement therapist or does that sounds too pretentious?
Myers uses a great example to describe how he treated a woman complaining of neck pain. Including structural anatomy is boring and useless to you so he certainly doesn't dwell on that as he explains:
"A middle aged woman came to my practice years ago, complaining of pains in the right side of her neck. An office worker, she was sure the pain was related to her computer workstation and repetitive strain from her keyboard entry and mouse use. She had run the gamut of healing, having seen a chiropractor, physiotherapist, and a massage therapist. Each of these methods offered temporary relief, but 'as soon as I started working again, it comes back'.
He continues...
"When presented with a situation like this, there are two possible causes: the one offered, that work really is producing the problem, or conversely, that some other area of the client's pattern is not supporting the new position demanded by her workstation. By examining this woman, we found that the rib cage had shifted to the left, dropping support out from under her right shoulder. The rib cage moved to the left to take weight off the right foot. The right foot had not taken its share of the weight since a mild skiing injury to the inner part of the knee three years earlier. The whole pattern was now set into the neuromyofascial webbing."
"By working manually with the tissues of the knee and lower leg, then with the quadratus lumborum, iliocostalis, and other determinants of rib cage position, we were able to support the right shoulder from below, so that it no longer hung from the neck. The woman was able to point and click to her heart's content without any recurence of her 'work related' problem."
This example by Myers demonstartes the mindset we should have in dealing with clients with pain or dysfunction. Instead of treating the neck and it's surrounding structures, he found the cause of effect of the pain. Yes we do have individual muscles, bones, and joints, but they are all woven togther. Compensation occurs over a long period of time. It is shortsighted to only treat the pain.
Most people these days see a manual therapist (massage therapist, chiropractor, or physical therapist) simply because they want to relieve pain. It is that persons job, based on their technique and knowledge, to not only treat the pain, but to find the dysfunction. Unfortunately it takes more time and effort for both parties to do this. This whole pain relief concept fits perfectly with our Western culture of quick fixes. We need to take a more holistic approach. Yeah a massage can feel great after a long day, but if you are in PAIN, there is dysfunction with your body.
Trust me, 98% of people have some sort of dysfunction. Some are in pain and some are not, but it is there somehow. Training over a dysfunction will make it worse. Sitting at your desk over a dysfunction will make it worse. Movement is the precursor to everything we do. Until we take this view piont of fitness and rehabilitation, we will continue to have pain, dysfunction, drugs for every little problem, fat, and the need for quick fixes.
It is our job as trainers and manual therapists to work with these problems. If a trainer (like me) does not have the license to do manual work on somebody, then I need to refer out to someone who can. This manual therapist should have the same mindset as I do regarding movement. They should know that humans are connected by many different tissues that respond to both short and long term changes.
We are already starting to get more educated about these topics, but we need to keep pushing the knowledge to everybody. We must take responsibility in our profession. I predict that in the next 20 years, every profession having to do with the human body will become closer. We need to. As I have realized through education, that we can make changes to ourselves. It will take time, effort, money, and a MAJOR mindset change. It is not just about going to the gym and running and lifting weight. The gym should be a place where we bring our bodies together, not become more painful and dysfunctional like most of us have.
Can I be called a movement therapist or does that sounds too pretentious?
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Intelligent Strength Training: No more crunches pt. 2
Intelligent Strength Training: No more crunches pt. 2: " I will preface this post by stating that no, crunches will not kill you, nor will they give you cancer, diabetes, or stood up on a dat..."
No more crunches pt. 2
I will preface this post by stating that no, crunches will not kill you, nor will they give you cancer, diabetes, or stood up on a date. Again, there are better options that I will go over later. Training for spinal flexion is probably not the best idea in today's Western society for a couple of reasons.
First, many career jobs are spent at a computer or at a desk all day. Sitting loads of the lumbar erectors. The "core" muscle fibers contain more slow twitch fibers, which indicates that they are geared for endurance. Sitting for 3 hours is like a marathon for these muscles. In Stuart McGill's book Ultimate Back and Fitness, He states that we often form a hinge on the back where it can bend. One area of the back tissue is stiff, and the other is mobile (2010). Often times there is back pain where this hinge is. Crunch movements seem to promote some sort of hinge in the back. This is obviously not the function of the back musculature.
Another study by Beach et al., showed that sitting in flexion for as little as an hour can cause passive tissue stiffness (2005). They then say that performing spinal flexion movements after sitting for long periods of time can add danger to an already dangerous sitting posture. That sounds a lot like 7 hours of sitting at work followed by some crunches and treadmill running to stay in shape. If you think that one's posture is bad during sitting, imagine what stress it is going through in an activity like jogging or running. Trust me, they will take the path of least resistance and head to the comfort zone in which they have been in all day. More on running in my next post.
More importantly crunches (and similar movements) do not train the true function of the core. This goes ESPECIALLY for athletes, and if you run or are training to run long distance go ahead and count yourself in as at least a wannabe athlete. While a crunch is not anywhere near the first exercises I teach someone, I have no problem with someone doing a CORRECT crunch. A good crunch does not allow abnormal neck flexion, flexing the spine from anywhere near the lumbar (low back) region, or rotating anywhere near the lumbar region. More on this later.
The most important reason why I believe we should edit crunches out of our training is because of our scientific knowledge of hypertrophy. I have discussed before that hypertrophy, or muscle growth either by increasing the size of the muscle fibers or by increasing the amount of muscle fibers (<--still highly debated) is what everybody is striving for in the gym. Even women, females, chicks, and girls strive for this without knowing it. EVERYBODY wants muscle, not fat. That does not mean you will be bulging out of your shirt, but hypertrophy stands for increased tone in the muscle. I know we all just want to tone up right?
In Supertraining, Dr. Mel Siff states that, "under conditions of rest or recovery, most of the energy is directed to protein synthesis, whereas most of it is devoted to muscle contraction during intense exercise. The lack of energy for protein growth and maintenance during heavy exercise apparently produces protein catabolism (breakdown), which stimulates protein supercompensation during later rest periods (2003). Basically, we break down muscle (protein) as we strength train, and we rebuild muscle proteins that were broken down during lifting as we rest. Supercompensation means that when we perceive a stress to a tissue, we will rebuild it to be stronger, bigger, or both. We must accommodate the past stress to the impending stress that the body thinks we will have in the future. Siff goes on to explain that, "hypertrophied muscle contains fewer sarcoplasmic organelles, myofibrils, and mitochondria, so that the increased diameter of muscle fibers is due largely to an increase in the volume of sarcoplasm (2003)". Increased diameter sounds a lot like that six pack, flat stomach, or big chest that we have striving for. That paragraph was so boring that I think I will insert a picture:
So know that we know how a muscle grows, lets go ahead and apply it to the abdominal musculature. Normally at my gym I see people doing multiple sets of some variation of crunches without weights. I can make an educated guess that they don't have a six pack. People assume that because they feel a burn in the muscle, that a six pack or flat stomach will emerge. People assume that a burning muscle will "burn" away that fat that is over it. Nice concept, but it could not be any farther from science.
To increase muscle size, we must increase resistance to the given muscle. This means that we must add weight. Lets say that doing 3 sets of 30 crunches has now become easy to you. Whats next? Add more crunches or crunch like movements? Sounds like more repetition. Ah yes, lets add some weight. Why not, we add weight to just about every other exercise. We also know that increasing resistance will increase muscle size right? Increasing muscle size will allow us to tone right? Yes. Should we add weight while FLEXING the spine forward? No. Our core muscles are not like the extremity muscles. They serve a different purpose of transferring load from legs to arms (done in almost every sport and compound movement), holding the spine erect, protecting our vital organs etc...
You might be able to do a correct crunch and not feel any neck or back pain. Driving a car can be dangerous, eating meat can be dangerous, and drinking alcohol can be dangerous but we still do these things. They will not kill you, but I would highly suggest that for the normal gym goer, that there are better options out there for you. Before a crunch, one must exhibit a prerequisite movement before one can safely say that that crunch will benefit more than anything else. Just because you read them in a magazine routine or that Jillian Michaels advocates them does not mean they are good for you ( See my connotation and denotation post).
Before I list some recommended exercises, I will say that every person has individual needs. Yes, you are special. Depending on your body type, appendage lengths, muscle fiber type, job, height, hobbies, sports, previous injuries, and pain, one can begin to program some exercises that will be most beneficial to you. Please ask any questions if you have any. These are not progressions and some might be easier than others. I have my own way of teaching these which I will try to outline under the picture. Nothing substitutes a trainer with keen eyes for form, goal of exercise, and progression.
Longer video, but watch, listen, learn, and practice. Gray Cook is the man.
Emphasize scapula motion and spine stiffness. Keep shoulders back and the lat muscle engaged.
Funny mustache but I can tell he has read Stuart Mcgill. I don't know about that cat camel stretch but try the birddog.
The Mcgill curl up. Yes this is a safe alternative to a crunch.
Siff, Mel. (2003). Supertraining. Denver, CO.
McGill, Stuart. (2010). Ultimate back and fitness. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wabuno Publishers.
Beach, T, Parkinson, R, Stothart, P, & Callaghan, J. (2005). Effects of prolonged sitting on the passive flexion stiffness of the in vivo lumbar spine. The Spine Journal, (5), 145-154.
First, many career jobs are spent at a computer or at a desk all day. Sitting loads of the lumbar erectors. The "core" muscle fibers contain more slow twitch fibers, which indicates that they are geared for endurance. Sitting for 3 hours is like a marathon for these muscles. In Stuart McGill's book Ultimate Back and Fitness, He states that we often form a hinge on the back where it can bend. One area of the back tissue is stiff, and the other is mobile (2010). Often times there is back pain where this hinge is. Crunch movements seem to promote some sort of hinge in the back. This is obviously not the function of the back musculature.
 |
| Bad sitting posture |
Another study by Beach et al., showed that sitting in flexion for as little as an hour can cause passive tissue stiffness (2005). They then say that performing spinal flexion movements after sitting for long periods of time can add danger to an already dangerous sitting posture. That sounds a lot like 7 hours of sitting at work followed by some crunches and treadmill running to stay in shape. If you think that one's posture is bad during sitting, imagine what stress it is going through in an activity like jogging or running. Trust me, they will take the path of least resistance and head to the comfort zone in which they have been in all day. More on running in my next post.
More importantly crunches (and similar movements) do not train the true function of the core. This goes ESPECIALLY for athletes, and if you run or are training to run long distance go ahead and count yourself in as at least a wannabe athlete. While a crunch is not anywhere near the first exercises I teach someone, I have no problem with someone doing a CORRECT crunch. A good crunch does not allow abnormal neck flexion, flexing the spine from anywhere near the lumbar (low back) region, or rotating anywhere near the lumbar region. More on this later.
The most important reason why I believe we should edit crunches out of our training is because of our scientific knowledge of hypertrophy. I have discussed before that hypertrophy, or muscle growth either by increasing the size of the muscle fibers or by increasing the amount of muscle fibers (<--still highly debated) is what everybody is striving for in the gym. Even women, females, chicks, and girls strive for this without knowing it. EVERYBODY wants muscle, not fat. That does not mean you will be bulging out of your shirt, but hypertrophy stands for increased tone in the muscle. I know we all just want to tone up right?
In Supertraining, Dr. Mel Siff states that, "under conditions of rest or recovery, most of the energy is directed to protein synthesis, whereas most of it is devoted to muscle contraction during intense exercise. The lack of energy for protein growth and maintenance during heavy exercise apparently produces protein catabolism (breakdown), which stimulates protein supercompensation during later rest periods (2003). Basically, we break down muscle (protein) as we strength train, and we rebuild muscle proteins that were broken down during lifting as we rest. Supercompensation means that when we perceive a stress to a tissue, we will rebuild it to be stronger, bigger, or both. We must accommodate the past stress to the impending stress that the body thinks we will have in the future. Siff goes on to explain that, "hypertrophied muscle contains fewer sarcoplasmic organelles, myofibrils, and mitochondria, so that the increased diameter of muscle fibers is due largely to an increase in the volume of sarcoplasm (2003)". Increased diameter sounds a lot like that six pack, flat stomach, or big chest that we have striving for. That paragraph was so boring that I think I will insert a picture:
 |
| Even Leonardo Da Vinci knew what hypertrophy and muscles were |
To increase muscle size, we must increase resistance to the given muscle. This means that we must add weight. Lets say that doing 3 sets of 30 crunches has now become easy to you. Whats next? Add more crunches or crunch like movements? Sounds like more repetition. Ah yes, lets add some weight. Why not, we add weight to just about every other exercise. We also know that increasing resistance will increase muscle size right? Increasing muscle size will allow us to tone right? Yes. Should we add weight while FLEXING the spine forward? No. Our core muscles are not like the extremity muscles. They serve a different purpose of transferring load from legs to arms (done in almost every sport and compound movement), holding the spine erect, protecting our vital organs etc...
You might be able to do a correct crunch and not feel any neck or back pain. Driving a car can be dangerous, eating meat can be dangerous, and drinking alcohol can be dangerous but we still do these things. They will not kill you, but I would highly suggest that for the normal gym goer, that there are better options out there for you. Before a crunch, one must exhibit a prerequisite movement before one can safely say that that crunch will benefit more than anything else. Just because you read them in a magazine routine or that Jillian Michaels advocates them does not mean they are good for you ( See my connotation and denotation post).
Before I list some recommended exercises, I will say that every person has individual needs. Yes, you are special. Depending on your body type, appendage lengths, muscle fiber type, job, height, hobbies, sports, previous injuries, and pain, one can begin to program some exercises that will be most beneficial to you. Please ask any questions if you have any. These are not progressions and some might be easier than others. I have my own way of teaching these which I will try to outline under the picture. Nothing substitutes a trainer with keen eyes for form, goal of exercise, and progression.
Longer video, but watch, listen, learn, and practice. Gray Cook is the man.
Emphasize scapula motion and spine stiffness. Keep shoulders back and the lat muscle engaged.
Funny mustache but I can tell he has read Stuart Mcgill. I don't know about that cat camel stretch but try the birddog.
The Mcgill curl up. Yes this is a safe alternative to a crunch.
Siff, Mel. (2003). Supertraining. Denver, CO.
McGill, Stuart. (2010). Ultimate back and fitness. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wabuno Publishers.
Beach, T, Parkinson, R, Stothart, P, & Callaghan, J. (2005). Effects of prolonged sitting on the passive flexion stiffness of the in vivo lumbar spine. The Spine Journal, (5), 145-154.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Intelligent Strength Training: Intelligent Strength Training: No more crunches
Intelligent Strength Training: Intelligent Strength Training: No more crunches: "Intelligent Strength Training: No more crunches: 'Are you serious Matt? You have been ranting about this junk and now you are telling me I c..."
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Intelligent Strength Training: No more crunches
Intelligent Strength Training: No more crunches: "Are you serious Matt? You have been ranting about this junk and now you are telling me I can't even do CRUNCHES?! But how do I get my flat s..."
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