Home Posts tagged "Mike Roussell" (Page 2)

Rollouts: Friend or Foe?

Q: I recently purchased Show and Go and noticed that you include barbell rollouts in the weight training program.  I did this exercise at the end of an aerobics class and was told by the fitness instructor not to do it, as it was a dangerous exercise. Given it's in your book, I gather you deem it a safe exercise. What is your opinion on this exercise? Do you know why some people say it's a dangerous exercise? A: As with just about everything, the devil is in the details.  For many individuals, this is a fantastic exercise.  For others, it may be too advanced.  And, for another group of folks, it just isn't good because it gets absolutely butchered technique-wise.  Let's attack this piece by piece with a rationale for its inclusion/exclusion, and then some training options and coaching cues:

(yes, I know I said "A" and then "2."  Gotta love live TV!) You can progress this exercise a bit more by either elevating the knees slightly or going to a band-resisted ab wheel rollout.  Just a heads-up: in this video, the athlete should have stopped a bit shorter in the top position to avoid the subtle lumbar rounding that took place; it's a good demonstration of technique that's good, but not quite perfect:

To learn more comparable exercises and see how they fit into a comprehensive weight training program, check out  Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.  

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Two Sunday Night Freebies

Just a quick heads-up for my loyal weekend blog readers... 1. Alwyn Cosgrove and Mike Roussell just provided a free fat loss training session example using Alwyn's new 4x Method.  Check it out HERE.  With their updated Warpspeed Fat Loss program almost ready for release, these two give you a good taste of what's to come. 2. I did the Fitcast with Kevin Larrabee on Friday morning, and the full audio is available (also at no charge) HERE.  We talked about assessment, programming, whether squatting is "safe," my recent deadlifting specialization program, and our new product (Assess and Correct).  My portion kicks in about halfway through the episode. 3. Speaking of Assess and Correct, today is the last day for the early-bird price.  At midnight tonight, it'll be gone forever, so if you haven't taken advantage of this offer yet, now's the time!  www.AssessAndCorrect.com.

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Weight Loss and Distance Running

It's that time of year in Boston.  The "shufflers" are out in full effect. For those of you who aren't familiar with a "shuffler," it's an individual who has recently taken up distance running as a means of losing weight.  As the weather gets nicer and the Boston Marathon rapidly approaches, you can spot shufflers out in droves all over Boston.  They shuffle for a number of reasons: 1. They believe that shuffling at 2.5mph is actually more effective than walking at 2.5mph. 2. Usually, they're about 80% of the way through the marathon training programs that were provided to them, and as a result, most are suffering from IT band problems, plantar fasciitis, Achilles and patellar tendinosis, sciatica, and a serious case of "whatthehellwasithinkingsigningupforthis-itis." 3. Because they never learned to sprint, they run with zero hip flexion (check out Newsletter 77: Sprinting for Health for details). 4. They are simply trying to finish their exercise in the most efficient way possible.  In other words, complete the task with as little discomfort as possible. And here, we have the problem.  Sally takes up running because she thinks she'll lose some body fat.  And, initially, she does lose weight because - to quote Alwyn Cosgrove - it's a "metabolic disturbance" compared to doing nothing.  Moving burns more calories than not moving. However, over time, that activity injures Sally and fosters bad movement patterns, meaning that she'll miss more exercise sessions down the road.  And, she quickly starts searching for the most efficient means of completing her runs, so her body gets more and more efficient - meaning that it burns fewer calories to accomplish the same task.  Whether it is three miles or 13 miles, it's always about just finishing.  Quantity always takes precedence over quality. With March Madness upon us, pretend you're watching a basketball game where you have two teams: Team A wants to win, and Team B wants to simply get through the 40 minutes of the game.  Team A dives for loose balls, full-court presses, and hits the boards hard.  Team B watches the clock.  Who burns more calories?  Team A, no doubt - because they get lost in their performance. Back in college, did you learn more in the graded courses, or the ones that were simply pass-fail?  And, as I asked in Maximum Strength, do you get stronger when you "train" or "work out?" This, to me, is one more reason why interval training outperforms steady-state cardio on top of all the other reasons (e.g., excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, reduction of overuse injuries) that we already know.  There is not a single effective exercise modality out there in a non-beginner population that works simply because one shows up and finishes.  The outstanding success loads of folks have had with Warpspeed Fat Loss is a perfect example; Cosgrove and Mike Roussell challenged them to be just a little bit better at each successive training session - either with loading or number of sets completed.

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If you are going to distance-run (and aren't a competitive endurance athlete), focus on going faster, not fine-tuning the art of pacing yourself when grandmothers are passing you with their walkers.  Pacing yourself doesn't even work at all-you-can-eat buffets; everyone knows you get full too fast and never live up to your gluttony potential.  And, as I always say, if it doesn't fly at all-you-can-eat buffets, it just ain't right. If you're going to interval train, your goal is to go faster each time.  More watts, more steps in a given time period, more ghastly stares from the lady reading a magazine on the leg press, whatever.  Mike Boyle had some great thoughts on this front in a recent submission HERE.  As long as it is quantifiable and you're busting your hump to compete against your previous best, I'm happy. I like the idea of camaraderie and/or competition with others in interval training, too. For example, our staff did this 16-yard x 16-trip sled medley three Thursdays in a row - and each time, it was a little faster (meaning that we had fewer rest periods between sets):

Later in the week, I'll be back with more thoughts to keep this headed in the right direction. New Blog Content Random Friday Thoughts Barefoot Training Guidelines Big Bench to Bigger Bench Stuff You Should Read All the Best, EC

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A Win/Win: Drop 10lbs or Make $20

Just a quick heads-up for my readers on a great offer that's available for a short amount of time... As you know, I'm a big fan of Alwyn Cosgrove and Mike Roussell's Warpspeed Fat Loss program.  It's an extremely comprehensive and effective fat loss protocol I've seen work wonders with some of our clients, staff members (myself included), and even my girlfriend.  I even wrote up two newsletters (here and here) about the amazing results one of our clients had with it. Anyway, Alwyn and Mike are guaranteeing that their product will take ten pounds off you in 28 days or else they'll refund your money plus $20 for your time and effort.  They're only making this available to the first 100 people, though.  And, even if they don't sell 100, it'll be taken down on Monday - so don't wait! Click here to check out this sweet offer.

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An Interview with Mike Roussell

By: Eric Cressey

Mike Roussell is one of my few "go-to" guys in the world of nutrition, and you can count on hearing a lot more from him in the months and years to come.  Mike is very unique in his academic background, real-world experience, and - perhaps most importantly - the passion he brings to the industry.  Last week, I was a guest on his show (www.MaxOutRadio.com), so it seems only fitting that he gets to drop some knowledge bombs on my readers this week with an interview in our newsletter. EC: Hi Mike, thanks for taking the time to be with us today.  I know quite a bit about you, but I'm sure our readers would like to hear a bit more about where you are, where you've been, and where you're going.  Tell us your life story. MR: Okay, this will probably bore everyone except my mother and my wife, but here I go. I played just about every sport growing up and eventually blew out my knee in high school. I picked up Muscle & Fitness one day while in rehab and the rest is history. I have a B.S. in biochemistry and have spent a good deal of time doing organic chemistry synthesis. After college, I went to medical school, but halfway through my first year I knew it wasn’t for me and that wanted to pursue nutrition full time. So I left medical school and got a job in a biochemistry lab along with a position that allowed me to actually develop the nutrition curriculum for first year medical students at University of Vermont. During this time, I applied to nutrition graduate schools. I’m now at Penn State studying to receive my PhD in Nutrition. During this whole academic journey, I have always been busy working with people and their nutrition, body composition, and performance goals. That’s what I love. I love seeing people succeed - helping them achieve their best body. There is no feeling better than when a client shares with you a story about how someone noticed changes in their body. You can see it in the client’s face and hear it in their voice how great it made them feel. It is special to be able to help people with that. I’m lucky. EC: All our readers can insert the obligatory “awwww” as if there were playing with a puppy. I, on the other hand, will start right off with a tough question. I just wrote a two-part article about what I learned/did differently in 2006; what were a few of your “epiphanies” last year? MR: 1. Butter is good. I realized that I don’t eat enough saturated fat. Chances are that you might not either. I’m big on olive oil, nuts, and avocados – all of which are great, but they weren’t giving me enough saturated fat. I was down at around 4% of total calories from saturated fat. I’ve doubled that now that I use butter on a regular basis. Plus, it makes food taste so good. 2. Alwyn Cosgrove is a sadist. I realized this after doing six weeks of his Afterburn II program. 3. It is important to write your goals in the present tense and keep them at the front of your mind. 4. It is really important not to blindly believe the things that you believe. I’m a big fan of fish oil and no matter how much I believe that fish oil is anti-inflammatory, we really have no idea how it works its anti-inflammatory magic. I was really stuck on the traditional way of thinking about fish oil’s mode of action, but the research says the opposite and there are a lot of people out there that refuse to see this. 5. It is better to embrace reality than fight it. Chances are you already know the answer to a problem with which you are struggling, but you don’t like it, so you are waiting for a new one. Let’s take diet, for example. Many people eat like crap on the weekends and it kills their progress. They know they don’t stick to their meal plan over the weekend, but they continue to look for the new diet, supplement, or guru that will allow them to achieve their goal. Just clean up how you eat on the weekends, and you’ll be amazed at the results. 6. You can never read too many books especially, in areas about which you know nothing. EC: I managed to escape academia, but you’re still up to your neck in it. What’s new in the lab? Have you won your Nobel Prize yet? MR: Well, over winter break, I just finished a review article on lifestyle interventions that affect HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). It is going to come out in the first edition of a new journal called the Journal of Clinical Lipidology. Basically, the best way to increase your good cholesterol is to have 1-2 alcoholic drinks per day. This will increase HDL-C by about 7%. Exercise only increases HDL-C by about 4%, and when you lose weight, your HDL-C actually goes down! However, once your weight loss stabilizes, your HDL-C will increase by about 4% from where it was before the weight loss. I’m also working on a grant for the USDA that involves giving people fish oil and monitoring various biomarkers – but I won’t bore your readers with the details. One more thing: there is a really cool type of compound called Resolvins that are created in the body when you take aspirin and fish oil together. It could be the responsible for the anti-inflammatory actions of fish oil (that means we’ve all been wrong about fish oil’s mechanism of action). There has been essentially no work in humans with these compounds, so I have some plans to do some work with Resolvins and humans subjects this spring – again, really cool stuff (in a serious science nerd way). So, as you can see, I am definitely up to my neck in academia! EC: Where are most people missing the boat when it comes to nutrition in terms of: a) general health b) physique improvements c) performance enhancement? MR: Overall, people are missing the boat with compliance and not sticking to their plan. Generally, they eat too many starches – and at the wrong times. a) General Health – Not taking high quality fish oil or getting enough of a variety of fruits and vegetables. b) Physique Improvements – Undereating. This crashes your metabolism and makes fat loss really tough. The same goes for building lean tissue. If you aren’t growing even though you “eat a lot,” you need to eat more. c) Performance Enhancement – Under recovery. Performance athletes really beat up their bodies. This places unique metabolic stressors on their system that proper nutrition can almost erase. Protein and carbs during and after a workout is a must. Total calories are also very important, but they need to be good calories. It drives me nuts when athletes put tons of effort into training but the guy behind the counter at McDonald’s knows them by name! EC: As I’ve done in previous newsletter interviews, I’m going to ask you to give me your top five training/nutrition resources for people looking to take their knowledge to the next level. MR: Here are my top five not in any particular order. I’ve actually read all of these books several times. 1. Enter the Zone, by Barry Sears – This book lays a great foundation of the effects of different macronutrients and the power of food. 2. The Anabolic Diet (now called The Anabolic Solution) – This book is a classic and definitely the most popular low carb diet in the weight lifting world. 3. Nutrient Timing by Drs. Ivy & Portman – This is a great resource on the biggest breakthrough in sports nutrition. 4. Precision Nutrition by John Berardi – John does a great job of laying out how you should structure your nutritional approach. I currently use this will all my clients. 5. Naked Nutrition – This is the nutrition manual that I just published - and I know you liked it! EC: Yes, it was fantastic.  Can you tell our readers a bit more about it? MR: Here’s the thing: personally, I do not enjoy writing out meal plans. I love doing phone consults and working with people, but making meal plans isn’t any fun. So, I decided to put the entire step-by-step system that I use to develop meal plans for people into a manual. I also go into great detail about how to adjust your meal plan depending on your goals; that is the heart of the manual. I also lay out my “Six Pillars of Proper Nutrition,” how to maximize nutrient timing, how to prioritize and plan supplementation depending on goals, and a bunch more. EC: Sounds like a definite winner and something that’s really needed. Be sure to keep us posted on its release! Where can our readers find out more about you? MR:  I have a main website, www.MikeRoussell.com, where I host my newsletter, blog, product reviews, articles, and my nutrition coaching.  They can check out the Naked Nutrition Manual here. a.link:link {font:bold 11px Arial;color:000000; text-decoration:none;} a.link:visited {font:bold 11px Arial;color:000000; text-decoration:none;} a.link:hover {font:bold 11px Arial;color:000000; text-decoration:none;} td.link {padding:2px 10px 2px 10px; cursor:hand;} font.divider {font:11px Arial; color:666666} div.body {font:14px arial; color:000000;} body {font:13px arial; color:000000;} td {font:13px arial; color:000000;} a:link {color:0000cc;} a:visited {color:990099;} a:hover {color:cc0000}
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Calling Out Exercise Myths

Warp Speed Reminder
Just a quick heads-up: the EricCressey.com subscriber-only discount on Warp Speed Fat Loss expires TONIGHT at midnight. For those who missed it, check out last week’s newsletter for more details.
The Pendulum Comes Back to Center: Calling Out Exercise Myths
This past weekend, I was down in Stamford, CT to participate on a roundtable at Ryan Lee’s Bootcamp (and to check out the event myself). There was a ton of business information available specific to fitness professionals, and I had a good time catching up with a lot of old friends.
However, as my mind was packed with ideas on the business front, I got a wake-up call on Sunday morning that quickly reminded me that we still need to get better at the training and nutrition side of things as well to elevate our industry as a whole.
You see, my girlfriend and I had the TV on as we were getting ready to head down to breakfast at our hotel. They had a representative from some mainstream magazine on the show to offer four quick tips for folks to improve their exercise programs. Simply put, she gave out exercise advice that was not only ineffective; it was flat-out incorrect.
This “expert” claimed that we absolutely had to eat carbohydrates upon rising to fuel early morning workouts. And, she insisted that one can’t burn fat without consuming carbs. Huh? Has she ever heard of the catecholamines, growth hormone, or cortisol? We had specific hormones that allow us to do exactly this! And, it’s pretty well documented in the research that of the three macronutrients (carbs, proteins, and fats), carbs are the only one that is non-essential.
She took her nutrition advice to the next level by noting that protein was not a good pre-exercise choice because it is too hard to digest. Apparently, it should only be taken post-exercise. Riiiight. Apparently, all those years of peri-workout nutrition research at the U-Texas Medical Branch were for nothing. For those who don’t feel like reading the actual study: “These results indicate that the response of net muscle protein synthesis to consumption of an EAC solution immediately before resistance exercise is greater than that when the solution is consumed after exercise…” Would you rather listen to seven PhDs, or a lady in pink spandex? It actually gets better, though! This woman encouraged the audience (who, we can assume are for the most part completely untrained and predominantly female) to put a BOSU ball in the middle of their living room floor in front of the TV. Her justification was that you simply couldn’t walk by one without wanting to get on it (for the record, I could totally walk by it with no problems, but that’s a discussion for next week). She went on to recommend squats on the ball – and that’s even in light of the fact that most of the folks who would be following this information can’t even squat on stable surfaces in good form. And, we know that most women have issue with anterior weight bearing, so encouraging further pronation with unstable terrain is not a good idea. It took me all of three seconds with Google images to dig up this photo:
Looks like a great squat to me.  If you listen really carefully, you'll hear her ACL yelling "UNCLE!"  Again, I’ll get into a lot of detail on this soon; I promise…
The idiocy continued when she encouraged people to make exercise more complex, using the examples of doing biceps curls while doing lunges. You know what? Most untrained people can’t lunge to save their life! How about teaching them to lunge first – and then teaching them to lunge with something other than a plastic three-pound weight? If I can do walking lunges with well over 100 pound dumbbells, but can’t curl more than 55 pounds in each hand, which is the limiting factor?
So, she was 0-for-4 – but it gets even better.
I returned home to about 200 emails on Sunday night, one of which was a pitch from a guy with a “shoulder stretching apparatus” to promote. In his sales attempt, he actually confused internal with external rotation. And, when he stretched the external rotators and posterior capsule by going into internal rotation, he didn’t fix the scapula. This is a sure-fire way to jack up the anterior capsule, particularly in overhead throwing athletes.
I guess, in the end, my message is that you have to be a devil’s advocate at times in any field. There are bad doctors, lawyers, cab drivers, plumbers – you name it. And, the fitness industry is certainly no exception; in fact, it’s probably the majority that you have to watch out for as being sketchy due to the lack of strict licensure and certification requirements in this field.
Hopefully, people have come to recognize this newsletter as an exception to that rule. My goal is to make it a great information source that touches on a bit of everything, but still focuses on the topics I know best. I’ve recommended some products along the way, but rest assured that it wasn’t just because it was from a friend; it was because they were actually good. Believe me, I have a pile of crap products at home that have been sent to me by all sorts of folks (friends included); these products sit in a pile and you’ll never hear about them because I simply didn’t think they were any good.
To that end, if you are contemplating a purchase and want an honest perspective, drop us an email and ask for a review. If it’s something I’ve read/viewed and didn’t like, I’ll tell you. Or, I might even pick up a copy and check it out myself. I like to keep this newsletter positive, so I won’t rip on any products – but you’ll definitely hear about the best stuff I see.
Along those same lines, don’t hesitate to let us know if there are particular topics you’d like covered in newsletters, audio interviews, blogs, or articles.
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Exclusive Interview with Mike Roussell

An EricCressey.com Exclusive Interview with Mike Roussell – and a Special Offer! A while back, Alwyn Cosgrove and Mike Roussell introduced a new product together. Both these guys are really bright (and good friends of mine), but to be honest, this summer at Cressey Performance was crazy and I never got around to checking it out - until last week. Frankly, I'm pretty annoyed with myself for waiting this long, as Warp Speed Fat Loss blew me away. I emailed the guys right away about an interview for this newsletter, as I think this product would be right up a lot of our readers' alley. Mike agreed - and also decided to throw a special offer our readers' way. So, without further ado, Mike Roussell... EC: There are about 6 million fat loss products out on the market right now. What sets Warp Speed Fat Loss apart from the rest of them? MR: Warp Speed Fat Loss is different from a lot of the other fat loss stuff out there today (even stuff that Alwyn and I have previously made) for a few major reasons. The most important one that Alwyn and I focused on while building and tweaking this program is that we wanted the diet and exercise to work together in a synergistic fashion and not as two separate components. So, the Warp Speed Fat Loss diet is specifically set up to work with the Warp Speed training program; calorie manipulation and carbohydrate cycling, for instance, are both “in tune” with the program. EC: I noticed that right away. A lot of people overlook synergy in training and nutrition, just focusing on one or the other at a single time. You really took the guesswork out of this, didn’t you? MR: Yes, and that’s the second big difference with Warp Speed Fat Loss. We tell you EXACTLY what to do. There is no wiggle room. I think a lot of times people don’t give specific instructions because they don’t have 100% confidence that their system works. We have tested and tweaked this enough to know that it works. So, in the program we tell you exactly what to eat every single day and exactly what to do for training. It is black and white. Follow this exactly and lose a bunch of weight FAST. It is pretty cool. EC: You make some bold claims about how quickly people can drop body fat with a program like this – but the results thus far seem very promising. Can you please fill our readers in on them a bit? MR: You are correct. We do make bold claims, but we didn’t make them up. People went on our program and started losing 15-20lbs in 28 days. So we decided to start saying “Hey – do this and lose 15-28lbs in 28 days.” Your readers will be familiar with Bill Hartman and Mike Robertson; they both used the program (actually, I don’t believe they used Alwyn’s training, but they used the diet). Bill lost 17lbs in just over 3 weeks; he wanted to lose 10lbs. Mike lost 12lbs in 2 weeks (I emailed him back and called him a liar – but it turned out to be true). EC: Yeah, I figured Robertson would be reluctant to skip his step aerobics class on Alwyn’s recommendation. He loves those 1980s leg warmers. Those guys are in-tune with the industry and know what it takes to succeed from years of watching clients get lean. What about others who don’t do this for a living? MR: One of the best email’s I’ve gotten is from Paula Gawlas in Scottsdale, AZ. She said, “Your program rocks! I've exceeded my goals! I am so happy because whereas before every morning I would have to search for some pair of ‘elastic’ somethings to wear, now I know I can wear anything in my closet! (And there's a lot in my closet, so I can go weeks without doing laundry now!). I work out at an LA Fitness here in Scottsdale and a girl was watching me work out and she questioned me about my program. Thought it was some sort of national challenge! I told her about you guys--I kind of hate saying "fat loss" at this point because I don't have any more fat to lose, but I just love the total body workouts! So thank you, thank you! EC: Rave review, indeed. What blew me away the most was the amount of time you put in to the meal plans. When all is said and done, you’ve got about 350 pages of meal plans; that’s insane! Why so many, and what makes these meal plans different? MR: Yes you are right; it is INSANE. The reason why there are so many meals plans is because I wanted everyone to have a meal plan that fit their body. So, I created meal plans for bodyweights ranging from 115lbs to 240lbs in five-pound increments. This way the program will automatically be tailored to the person the second they download it. Initially we didn’t have meal plans lower than 125lbs but people asked for them so I put them together. On a side note, this is really a gem for trainers, as you have so many meal options to use with your clients. EC: Let’s talk training. What tricks does Alwyn have up his sleeve? How much synergy is there between the diet and training components? Would an athlete be able to use your dietary recommendations with his current training model and still get appreciable results? MR: For best results, you need to do the diet and training together. As I mentioned, though, Bill and Mike modified AC’s training program and it still went really well. The training program that Alwyn put together is really awesome. It is different from anything else that he has released. There are no barbell complexes in the program at all. Instead, he uses Metabolic circuits, some heavy weight, low-rep stuff, and a mixture of interval and steady state cardio. EC: What about athletes? Is this suitable for them? MR: We’ve gotten the question about athletes using the program before. In an ideal scenario, an athlete would not use the program until he/she has 28 days to fully dedicate to it. 28 days isn’t very long – especially when you consider most transformation contests are 84 days. EC: Awesome stuff. You’ve got a special deal on this e-book for our readers today, right? Please fill them in. MR: Yeah. So the price of Warp Speed Fat Loss has recently increased to $97 but since you are as big of a Patriots fan as I am, Alwyn and I will knock $20 off the price for your readers. Here’s the special link for that discount:http://www.warpspeedfatloss.com/ec_deal.php This link will be good until – Monday September 22nd EC: Thanks for taking the time, Mike. Here’s that link again, folks:http://www.warpspeedfatloss.com/ec_deal.php New Blog Content Random Friday Thoughts An Epic Battle Feedback on Maximum Strength Have a great week! EC
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Female Fitness

Seminar Stories

I wanted to start this newsletter off with a thank you to everyone who came out last weekend for the John Berardi seminar here in Boston.  Dr. Berardi put on a great show, and the feedback has been fantastic.  If you ever have the chance to see JB speak, don’t hesitate to jump at the opportunity.

Naked Nutrition

A few months ago, Mike Roussell sent me the preliminary version of his new project, The Naked Nutrition Guide.  Mike went out of his way to contact several industry notables to go over this manual with a critical eye, and this feedback – combined with Mike’s outstanding knowledge of nutritional sciences – resulted in a fantastic finished product.  There are bonus training programs from Alwyn Cosgrove, Nate Green, and Jimmy Smith. Check it out for yourself: The Naked Nutrition Guide

Female Fitness

Last week, Erik Ledin of Lean Bodies Consulting published Part I of an interview he did with me on female training.  Check it out: EL: First off, thanks for agreeing to the interview. We've known each other for a number of years now. I used to always refer to you as the "Anatomy Guy." You then became know for being "The Shoulder Guy" and have since garnered another title, "The Mobility Guy." Who is Eric Cressey? EC: Good question. As you implied, it's the nature of this industry to try to pigeonhole guys into certain professional "diagnoses." Personally, even though I specialize in athletic performance enhancement and corrective exercise, I pride myself on being pretty well-versed in a variety of areas - endocrinology, endurance training, body recomposition, nutrition, supplementation, recovery/regeneration, and a host of other facets of our industry. To some degree, I think it's a good thing to be a bit all over the place in this "biz," as it helps you to see the relationships among a host of different factors. Ultimately, I'd like to be considered a guy who is equal parts athlete, coach, and scholar/researcher. All that said, for the more "traditional answer," readers can check out my bio. EL: What are the three most underrated and underused exercises? Does it differ across gender? EC: Well, I'm not sure that the basics - squats, deadlifts, various presses, pull-ups, and rows - can ever be considered overrated or overappreciated in both a male and female population. Still, I think that single-leg exercises are tremendously beneficial, but are ignored by far too many trainers and lifters. Variations of lunges, step-ups, split squats, and single-leg RDLs play key roles in injury prevention and development of a great lower body. Specific to females, we know that we need a ton of posterior chain work and correctly performed single-leg work to counteract several biomechanical and physiological differences. Namely, we're talking about quad dominance/posterior chain weakness and an increased Q-angle. Increasing glute and hamstrings strength and optimizing frontal plane stability is crucial for resisting knock-knee tendencies and preventing ACL tears. If more women could do glute-ham raises, the world would be a much better place! EL: What common issues do you see with female trainees in terms of muscular or postural imbalances that may predispose them to some kind of injury if not corrected? How would you suggest they be corrected or prevented? EC: 1. A lack of overall lower body strength, specifically in the glutes and hamstrings; these shortcomings resolve when you get in more deadlifts, glute-ham raises, box squats, single-leg movements, etc. 2. Poor soft-tissue quality all over; this can be corrected with plenty of foam rolling and lacrosse/tennis ball work. 3. Poor core stability (as much as I hate that word); the best solution is to can all the "turn your lumbar spine into a pretzel" movements and focus on pure stability at the lower back while mobilizing the hips and thoracic spine. 4. General weakness in the upper body, specifically with respect to the postural muscles of the upper back; we'd see much fewer shoulder problems in females if they would just do a LOT more rowing. EL: You've mentioned to me in the past the issues with the ever popular Nike Shox training shoe as well as high heels in women. What's are the potential problems? EC: When you elevate the heels chronically - via certain sneakers, high-heels, or any other footwear - you lose range of motion in dorsiflexion (think toe-to-shin range of motion). When you lack mobility at a joint, your body tries to compensate by looking anywhere it can to find range of motion. In the case of restricted ankle mobility, you turn the foot outward and internally rotate your lower and upper legs to make up for the deficit. This occurs as torque is "converted" through subtalar joint pronation. As the leg rotates inward (think of the upper leg swiveling in your hip joint socket), you lose range of motion in external rotation at your hip. This is one of several reasons why females have a tendency to let their knees fall inward when they squat, lunge, deadlift, etc. And, it can relate to anterior/lateral knee pain (think of the term patellofemoral pain ... you've got restriction on things pulling on the patella, and on the things controlling the femur ... it's no wonder that they're out of whack relative to one another). And, by tightening up at the ankle and the hip, you've taken a joint (knee) that should be stable (it's just a hinge) and made it mobile/unstable. You can also get problems at the hip and lower back because ... Just as losing range of motion at the ankle messes with how your leg is aligned, losing range of motion at your hip - both in external rotation and hip extension - leads to extra range of motion at your lumbar spine (lower back). We want our lower back to be completely stable so that it can transfer force from our lower body to our upper body and vice versa; if you have a lot of range of motion at your lower back, you don't transfer force effectively, and the vertebrae themselves can get irritated. This can lead to bone problems (think stress fractures in gymnasts), nerve issues (vertebrae impinge on discs/nerve roots), or muscular troubles (basic strains). So, the take-home message is that crappy ankle mobility - as caused by high-top shoes, excessive ankle taping, poor footwear (heel lifts) - can cause any of a number of problems further up the kinetic chain. Sure, we see plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinosis, and shin splints, but that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what can happen. How do we fix the problems? First, get out of the bad footwear and pick up a shoe that puts you closer in contact with the ground. Second, go barefoot more often (we do it for all our dynamic flexibility warm-ups and about 50% of the volume of our lifting sessions). Third, incorporate specific ankle (and hip) mobility drills - as featured in our Magnificent Mobility DVD. Oh, I should mention that elevating the heels in women is also problematic simply because it shifts the weight so far forward. If we're dealing with a population that needs to increase recruitment of the glutes and hamstrings, why are we throwing more stress on the quads? Stay tuned for Part II - available in our next newsletter. Have a great week, everyone! EC
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