Last Saturday night, the power went out at our house thanks to a rare October snowstorm in New England. Expecting it to come back on pretty quickly, I went to bed Saturday night assuming I’d wake up to a normal Sunday morning.
Instead, I woke up and it was 49 degrees in my house. And, that wound up being par for the course through Tuesday at about 4pm. No hot showers, no refrigeration, no coffee in the morning: it makes you realize how much you take some things for granted.
It’s not all that different than what you’ll hear from injured and sick athletes. We always just believe that we’re going to be healthy – and it’s that assumption that leads us to put too much weight on the bar and lift with poor technique, have the extra beer, go to bed an hour later, or make any of a number of other small, but crucial decisions that interfere with our short- and long-term health, and the continuity in our workout "routines."
I wish I’d foam rolled even when I wasn’t in pain.
I wish I’d eaten my vegetables even though I was just trying to shovel in as much calories as I could in my quest to get strong and gain muscle.
These are all things I've heard from injured people. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Some of these decisions are made out of negligence, but often, they’re made simply because folks don’t know about the right choices. I mean, do you think this guy would really continue doing this if he thought it was good for his body?
Nobody is immune to ignorance; we’ve all “been there, done that.”
Almost a decade ago, I had no idea how much soft tissue work, high volumes of horizontal pulling, and thoracic spine mobility drills could do to help my shoulder. It’s why I stumbled through fails attempts at physical therapy with that shoulder back in 2000-2003, only to accidentally discover how to fix it with my own training in time to cancel my shoulder surgery.
Back in that same time period, nobody ever told me how eating more vegetables would help take down the acidity of my diet, or that Vitamin D status impacted tissue quality and a host of other biological functions. I never knew most fish oil products you could buy are woefully underdosed and of poor quality. Now, I crush Vitamin D, fish oil, and Athletic Greens on top of a healthy diet that’s as much about nutrient quality as it is about caloric content and timing.
In short, I didn’t know everything then, and while I know a lot more now, I still don’t claim to have all the answers. Nobody has all of them. So what do you do to avoid taking important things for granted?
Get around people who have “been there, done that.” Ask questions. Follow workout routines they’ve followed, and consult resources they’ve consulted. I touched on this in my webinars last week.
I also discussed this topic in a blog about strength and conditioning program design a while back. The best way to avoid making mistakes and taking things for granted is to be open-minded and learn from other people.
With that in mind, let’s use this post as a starting point. What mistakes have you made when it comes to taking things for granted? And, what lessons have you learned? Post your comments below.
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That said, if you were on the fence, check out this feedback I received from the father of a college pitcher who took a shot on Show and Go this past summer:
"Eric,
"Just wanted to shoot you a breakdown on how my college son took to your Show and Go program with some modifications for baseball specificity. He followed your strength and conditioning program to the “T” and this is where he is after the first seven weeks:
May 16 – Start
Bodyweight: 163lbs
Body fat: 10.0%
Lean mass: 146.68 lbs
July 7 (52 days later)
Bodyweight: 169lbs
Body fat: 9.25%
Lean mass: 153.3 lbs
-Front squat for reps went from 155 lbs to 235 lbs for reps
-Deadlift went from about 205 for reps to 335 for a single
-Dumbbell bench presses for reps went from 55lb dumbbells to 80lb dumbbells
"To me, an untrained eye, it looks like this is great progress and he measurably benefited from it! He looks pretty damn good, too.
"He is about to return for his senior year as a starting left-handed pitcher and plans to continue this workout routine for the entirety of the 16 weeks. We used the Alan Jaeger long toss throwing program and mechanical training from Paul Reddick and Brent Strom and his velocity improved from 78mph to 84-85mph and his breaking stuff are now plus pitches. In my opinion, none of this would have happened your strength training program and mobility drills that allowed him to physically carry his momentum down the bump longer. All-in-all, it was a very productive summer; thanks!"
-Darrell Drake
Don't miss out on this chance to take your game to the next level. Click here to pick up a copy of Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better!
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Last night, I was on my laptop searching for an old weight training program I’d written up a while back, and I accidentally stumbled upon some written goals of mine from back in 2003. Based on the “Created on” date in Microsoft Excel, I had written them up in the spring of my senior year of college.
On one hand, I was proud of myself for – at age 22 – knowing enough to write down the goals that I wanted to achieve. On the other hand, I have to laugh about just how out-of-whack my priorities were.
You see, I’d listed loads of strength, body weight, and body fat percentage goals first and foremost. In fact, there were 41 rows worth of performance and physique goals; hard to believe that ladies weren’t lining up to date this Type A stallion, huh? Can you say neurotic? I was like this guy, but with better eyesight and a decent deadlift.
That’s just self-deprecating humor, though. What was actually really sad was how distorted my perception of reality really was, as rows 42-46 consisted of the following:
42. Resolve shoulder pain.
43. Get rid of lower back tightness.
44. Get accepted to graduate school.
45. Get a graduate assistantship in research or coaching.
46. Have 3-4 articles published.
At the time, I was coming off a lower back “tweak” while deadlifting, but more problematic was my right shoulder, which hurt so much that it kept me up at night and negatively affected not only my training, but my everyday life. It was an old tennis injury from high school that just kept getting worse and worse.
Likewise, I hadn’t gotten word on whether or not I’d been accepted to graduate school, so I was up in the air on whether I needed to start looking for jobs for after graduation, or whether I’d end up moving south to enroll at the University of Connecticut.
Finally, I’d just had my first article published, and there was some momentum in place on which I could build a successful writing career.
In other words, I was in pain, unsure about where I’d be living in two months, potentially without a job, and all but ignoring a potentially career-changing opportunity – yet I managed to list 41 performance and physique goals more important than any of these concerns. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was clearly buried under all the bullshit I had convinced myself was important. They made signs like this for guys like me.
Maybe it was the acceptance phone call from my future advisor at the UCONN; the experience of moving to a new area and being out on my own; interaction with a lot of highly-motivated, career-oriented people and successful athletes; the natural maturation process; or a combination of all these factors, but I got my act together that fall and figured out my priorities. That fall, I read everything I could get my hands on to get rid of the pain in my shoulder (canceled an impending surgery) and lower back. I put in 70 hour weeks among classes, volunteering in the varsity weight rooms and human performance lab, and personal training and bartending on the side. I published my first article at T-Nation and in Men’s Fitness. In short, I grew the hell up and stopped losing sleep over whether I’d remembered to take my forearm circumference measurements on the third Tuesday of the month.
Some folks might think that this shift in my priorities interfered with my training progress, but in reality, the opposite was true. In that first year of graduate school, I put over 100 pounds on both my squat and deadlift and 40 pounds on my bench press – and did so pain-free, which made training even more enjoyable. I learned a ton about the importance of training environment as I lifted around athletes and other coaches in the varsity weight rooms, and even caught the powerlifting bug, competing for the first time in June of 2004. I even won a few trophies absurdly large trophies that wildly overstated my accomplishments.
In short, when I stopped majoring in the minutia and clearly defined the priorities that were important to me – being pain-free, enjoying training, and seeing it as a means of becoming better in a profession that I loved – a world of opportunities opened up for me. And, surprisingly, some of the “old” priority goals were easier to attain because I didn’t force them or put as much pressure on myself.
That was almost a decade years ago, and I’ve had to make similar reevaluations of my priorities since that time, from opening a business, to proposing to my wife, to buying a house, to getting a puppy, to hiring employees, to working with charities. There are some priorities that will always remain for me, though; strength and conditioning has to be fun, and it has to improve my quality of life, not take away from it. These are values that are reflected in the weight training programs that I write, too.
To that end, how have your priorities changed over your training career? And, how have these changes impacted your progress in the gym?
Related PostsWeight Training Programs: You Can't Just Keep AddingLifting Weights vs. Corrective Exercise in Strength Training ProgramsSign-up today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
Today's guest blog comes from former Cressey Performance intern Eric Oetter. Eric was one of the best interns we've ever had, and writing like this is just one example of why.
In Thomas Myers’ groundbreaking work Anatomy Trains, several “lines” of fascially connected muscles are presented. Myers denoted these lines as “anatomy trains” (thus giving rise to the title of his now famous book). For those unfamiliar, fascia is a seemingly endless web of connective tissue, which envelops and unites the musculoskeletal, nervous, and circulatory systems of the body. Though manual therapists have treated the fascial system for centuries, Myers has played a pivotal role in introducing the concepts fascia and musculoskeletal tensegrity to the strength and conditioning community.
Tying the bottom of the foot to the scalp through fascial connections up the posterior surface of the body, the superficial back line remains the most referenced of Myers’ anatomy trains. While this line certainly has implications in extension (above the knee), propulsion, and full-body pronation, it’s far from being the only line yielding practical application and solutions for strength and conditioning coaches and movement therapists.
Patrick Ward wrote an excellent guest piece on Mike Robertson’s blog last year concerning the deep front line and its effect on diaphragm functionality. I’ll follow suit with some examples of how the functional back line can produce stability across the posterior lumbo-pelvic-femoral complex.
Functional Back Line Anatomy
Tying one humerus to the contralateral tibia, the two functional back lines take the following path across the dorsal surface of the body:
Shaft of humerus --> Latissimus dorsi --> Lumbodorsal fascia --> Sacral fascia --> Sacrum --> Gluteus maximus --> Shaft of femur --> Vastus lateralis --> Patella --> Subpatellar tendon --> Tuberosity of tibia
From behind, the lines look like a giant “X”, intersecting at the pelvis. The two key components in this discussion will be the latissimus dorsi and the glute max, as well as how their muscular actions can affect the sacro-illiac joint.
Sacro-Iliac Joint Stability: Form Closure vs. Force Closure
The sacro-illiac (SI) joint is comprised of the articulation between the illium and the sacrum and lies right in the middle of both functional back lines, deep to the lumbosacral fascia. Much like a crack in the sidewalk, the joint acts as a predetermined fracture to defer stress across the pelvis.
Viewed from the back, the SI joint resembles a key fitting into a lock– the grooves on either side of the posterior illium are congruous with the lateral sacrum. This “lock-and-key” structure can be described as an instance of form closure. Essentially, the innate stability of the joint is provided by bony approximation.
While form closure can create stability, it’s not truly authentic. For example, we can create stability in the lumbar spine by shearing it into extension and using bony approximation to prevent movement. I hope all reading agree that such a situation is less than ideal.
A superior option would be the force closure of a joint system. As opposed to form closure, where the morphology of the joint system creates stability, force closure entails the surrounding musculature dynamically stabilizing a joint by “pulling it tight”.
Relating to our previous example of the SI joint, imagine how much better it would be to stop relying solely on the ligaments that cross the joint andinstead employ the powerful glute max and lat, which cross superficially as part of the functional back line, as both become continuous with the lumbosacral fascia.
While using the functional back line to create force closure is useful in cases of general instability, it can be especially valuable in the instance of sacral torsion, where, as shown in the CT scan below, the sacrum rotates one way and creates strain on the contralateral tissues/ligaments as they are pulled taught.
Training this line in isolation can certainly provide benefit, but why not implement a big-bang strength exercise that integrates the entire line at once?
Here are two great examples of how to train the functional back line in a more dynamic fashion.
Split-Stance Low Cable Row
The split-stance low cable row provides an excellent presentation of shortening the functional line from both ends, thus force closing the SI joint. The latissimus dorsi aids in the horizontal pull while the contralateral glute max stabilizes the pelvis in the transverse plane to fight rotation. (Remember, any unilateral movement is inherently rotational.)
Coaching Cues:
Place the cable stack with a D-handle attachment at its lowest height.
Set up facing the stack with feet about hip width apart. Imagine that you’re standing on railroad tracks – when you take the step back to set up, the only movement should be in the sagittal plane.
Pack the chin, brace the core, and then flex the hips to the point that the torso is angled at about 45°. Put most of your weight through the outside of your up-foot heel.
Perform a row, holding at the top for a one count.
Potential Corrections:
Look for lumbar extension in two places – the initial set-up and as a substitution for scapular retraction. Think “neutral spine” throughout.
Scapular elevation and shoulder hyperextension are common compensation patterns during horizontal pulling. Think of rowing “back-and-down” and only to the point that the scapula gets to the thoracic spine.
Make sure that you or your client feels the front-leg hip musculature kick on to stabilize – if not, play with the set-up a little until those external rotators are contracted.
The split-stance low cable row can be a great horizontal-pull variation for any client, but especially for those experiencing lumbosacral instability. I’d recommend placing it as an accessory exercise on upper body days – 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps.
1-arm Cable Rotational Row
Serving as a progression to the split-stance low cable row described above, the cable rotational row is a fantastic movement to dynamically integrate the functional back line into a more advanced pulling variation with much greater demand placed on the glute max. I view this movement much like the horizontal pull version of a push-press – the lower body drives the action with the upper body coming along for the ride.
Coaching Cues:
Set up a few feet away and perpendicular to a cable stack with feet about a step outside of hip width. The D-handle should be about waste height.
Offset the feet so that the toes of the inside foot (closest to the stack) line up with the middle of the arch on the back foot. This positioning is crucial to maximize external rotation/abduction of the front hip.
Grab the D-handle and allow the load to pull you toward the cable stack. Maintain an erect torso and packed chin throughout. You’re allowed to let the back foot toes come up, but keep the front planted in position.
Once you’re facing the cable stack with arm outstretched, drive hard through the front heelto extend the front hip/knee while simultaneously pulling the D-handle across your torso.
Hold the end position – hip extended/abducted, scapula retracted, and eyes straight ahead – for a count of one before reversing the movement.
Potential Corrections:
I find some clients tend to lead the row with cervical rotation, finishing the movement looking away from the cable stack. These biomechanics are sub-optimal, so make sure to cue a packed chin.
Rowing from this position can prove awkward, as there is a tendency to try and row around your torso. Fight this urge by keeping the cable close to your body – it should be in contact with your shirt as you finish the row.
Achieving full hip extension on the front leg is a must – make sure the movement is initiated by driving the lateral heel into the ground almost as if you were going to step away from the stack.
The benefits of the rotational cable row are numerous, but two stick out in my mind. First, it drives a powerful and dynamic contraction of the functional back line, which as we’ve seen can have ramifications for pelvic/SI stability. Secondly, this variation has huge carryover for some of our rotary sport athletes who rely on the connection between shoulder and contralateral hip to develop force.
As mentioned above, use this as a progression to the split-stance low cable row or with some of your athletic clientele – think in the range of 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps per side.
Conclusion
The functional back lines can be powerful players in creating stability across a region of the body that demands it. In cases of lumbo-pelvic-femoral instability, utilization of these lines can be as crucial for correction as they are for performance enhancement.
I hope the two exercises described above help give some practical application for the functional back lines in action – let me know in the comments!
About the Author
Eric is currently a senior at the University of Georgia majoring in Exercise and Sport Science, with plans to pursue a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. After concluding a Division-1 football career at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Eric has ardently pursued his passion for coaching, garnering experience with clients of all ages and ability levels through internships at both Indianapolis Fitness & Sports Training and Cressey Performance. He can be reached at ecoetter@gmail.com.
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Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
Thoracolumbar Fascia: An Area Rich with Activity - This was an outstanding guest blog from Patrick Ward on Mike Reinold's site. I'm a big fan of Patrick's writing; he really does an excellent job of blending manual therapy with corrective exercise.
Why Finger Pointing at Carbs is Missing the Point - Brian St. Pierre kicks off what is sure to be a great series by focusing on yet another area in which we overreact on the nutrition side of things.
Why You Need More Strength - In my eyes, this is one of the best things Chad Waterbury has ever written - and Chad is a super-bright guy who has written a lot of excellent stuff.
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Change is all around us, and if we're not recognizing that and changing with it, we'll be in a bad position in no time.
It's imminent in the business world, where previous giants Borders and Blockbuster (and a host of other companies) have declared bankruptcy because they couldn't adapt to a changing marketplace.
As the son of a teacher (and now principal), I've watched how my mother has changed education with the introduction of the International Baccalaureate program at my old high school. This program engages students and makes them more aware of the world around them, as opposed to just having them stare at chalkboards and textbooks all the time.
The internet has changed the way shoppers shop, teachers teach, campaigners campaign, and ninjas "ninjer."
Joking aside, change is something that applies to strength training programs as well. In addition to fluctuating training stress and rotating strength exercises, you have to be able to modify a program based on how you feel from day-to-day. When I was younger, I would just barrel through many training sessions even if I didn't feel good - and I'm convinced that this stubbornness not only limited my progress a bit, but also led to some injuries along the way.
Nowadays, I'm older and wiser (and balder), and I listen to my body a lot more. Plus, I'm a much better coach than I was back then, so I know how to make substitutions in strength and conditioning programs to maintain a training effect. Pulled rectus femoris? Go to step-ups because they don't extend the hip and flex the knee simultaneously (as you'd get with a lunge). Shoulder hurts? Try a feet-elevated push-up instead of a bench press, as elevating the feet increases serratus anterior activity and you can draw stability from the floor.
More generally, though, I'm honest with myself about where my life is right now. I'm 31 years old - which is definitely not 21 - and not competing in powerlifting anymore (although that doesn't mean that I'm not still training hard on a daily basis). I have a wife, a dog, a house, a travel schedule, and a ton of stuff going on professionally with training athletes, writing, consulting, and lecturing. In short, there are a lot of competing demands.
What does this mean in the context of my strength training programs? Well, to be straight, the "highs" aren't quite as high, and the lows are actually "lower." Let me explain.
Take this training session, when I warmed up on trap bar deadlifts and felt pretty good, so made the decision to push the envelope a bit. I wound up pulling 700lbs.
As you can see, it came up surprisingly quickly. In years past, I probably would have jumped to 720 for another attempt, or drop back down to 630-650 for some additional singles at a weight over 90% of that day's best lift. I might have even done some backoff sets of 3-4 reps at 600. Instead, I just called it there and moved on to my assistance work, as I was feeling a little banged up and wanted to make sure I still got plenty of quality work in over the course of the rest of my strength training session. That's not to say either of these follow-up approaches would have been the wrong choice; they just weren't the right choice for me on that day. The "high" wasn't so high.
Likewise, when it comes to deloading, I wind up cutting back on things a bit more than I did in the past. In my e-book, The Art of the Deload, I outline ten different methods for deloading in strength and conditioning programs, and nowadays, I tend to go with the most conservative of the bunch.
Some might look at this piece as me telling people how to be soft and do less in their strength training programs. The way I see it, I'm just encouraging folks to train hard, but intelligently, listening to their bodies along the way. Along those same lines, what modifications have you made to your strength training programs as life has gotten busier and you've gotten older? Please post your comments below!
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Today marks Part 2 of this mini-series covering just how much you can learn from looking at an elbow before writing up a strength and conditioning program. In Part 1, we talked about what can be learned from our first potential scenario, elbow hyperextension. Today, we'll focus on the lessons to be learned from three more scenarios.
Full Elbow Extension, Muscular End-Feel - This simply means that you have all your extension and no "empty" end feel; it eases to muscular stretch (of the elbow flexors).
This is probably the most common presentation pattern in the general population, and you can generally expect these folks to respond to need equal amounts of mobility and stability training. More thorough assessments will give you more information on where to focus your efforts.
Incomplete Elbow Extension, Bony End-Feel - These are, in many cases, guys who did not get full elbow extension back following a surgical procedure. Or, it may just be someone with bone spurs on the underside of the joint that interferes with elbow extension.
It's a bold assumption to make, but these individuals are almost always (in my experience) athletes who have profound limitations in other regions, as poor glenohumeral mobility, rotator cuff function, scapular stabilization, thoracic spine mobility, and terrible tissue quality can all contribute to these kind of issues presenting at the elbow. So, when I see and feel an elbow this "gross," I usually know that I have my work cut out for me. Generally, these guys wind up needing a hearty dose of mobility training, soft tissue work, breathing drills, and longer duration static stretching.
That said, with respect to the elbow itself, these guys need to be cognizant of maintaining every little bit they have. If you've got a 10° elbow extension deficit because of bony changes, you can probably get by. However, if you allow that 10° to become 30° because you pile soft tissue shortness/stiffness on top of it, you could be waiting for some serious problems to come around. To that end, I always encourage these guys to get routine soft tissue work and plenty of static stretching in to maintain whatever elbow extension they still have.
Incomplete Elbow Extension, Muscular End-Feel - These guys look very much like our previous category, but the end-feel has much more "give" to it; it's not a "concrete-on-concrete" end-feel. This is a very good thing, as you know you can work to get it back. This athlete, for instance, got 15° of elbow extension back in a matter of a few minutes following a Graston treatment with our manual therapist and some follow-up stretching.
I wouldn't expect him to maintain 100% of those improvements from treatment to treatment, but over the course of 3-4 bouts, he should get to where he needs to be.
Expect to see some of the same things with the rest of the body, as elbow extension deficits rarely occur in isolation. In throwers, they're usually accompanied by poor glenohumeral internal rotation on the throwing side, poor hip internal rotation on the front leg, and a host of other stiffness/shortness issues. In the general population, you see them in people who are locked up all over - especially in people who sit at computers all day long.
That wraps up our look at four elbow presentation patterns and what they may mean for your strength and conditioning programs and corrective exercise approaches. For more information, check out the Everything Elbow In-Service, an affordably priced 32-minute in-service where half of all proceeds go to charity.
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Here are a few strength and conditioning recommendations for the week:
The Right Way to Stretch the Pecs - This is an old article of mine at T-Nation that I just referred to with an online consulting client. It made me realize that this good information has been lost in the archives - and it's definitely worth a read.
The Dangers of and Solutions to Indoor Air Pollution - Filed this one under general health, as opposed to strength and conditioning or nutrition, but it's still a great read from Brian St. Pierre.
Moneyball - This isn't much of a strength and conditioning recommendation, either, but I will say that it was a movie I really enjoyed. I was invited to a premiere of the flick here in Boston last night, and as a "baseball guy," I thought it was really well done.
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In light of the overwhelming popularity of a recent guest blog on the topic of sports nutrition and healthy food options, I wanted to keep the ball rolling with some regular nutrition content. This week, Brian St. Pierre kicks off a three-part series on everything you want to know about dairy. Enjoy! -EC
Dairy: perhaps the most controversial food in history.
While some people would argue that we shouldn’t consume dairy at all, others recommend getting at least three servings per day. There is fat-free, 1%, 2%, whole, cream, butter, and more. There is also the pasteurization, ultra-pasteurized and raw debate. Who is right? What fat content is the best? Should you eat raw dairy?
Let’s find out.
The History of Dairy Consumption
The fact of the matter is that humans have been consuming dairy in one form or another for 10,000 years. Many cultures (e.g., people of the Lotchenstal Valley, the Masai, Mongolians) have subsisted on tremendous amounts of dairy without any problems often associated with it. The difference is that traditional dairy was from cows that ate grass, got exercise, breathed fresh air, and enjoyed the sunshine. Their quality of life – and therefore quality of milk – was excellent.
Fast forward to today and things have changed. Milk demand has increased greatly in the last hundred years, and so the industry responded. Cows moved off family farms and onto Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO), which are essentially huge conglomerate farms where they:
a) are fed tons of corn,
b) stand in their own waste
c) are given antiobiotics to prevent the illnesses from that corn consumption and the unsanitary living conditions
d) are given copious amounts of growth hormones to speed their growth and increase their milk production.
Appetizing, I know.
Traditionally, cows were allowed a seasonal reproductive cycle and were milked for only six weeks after giving birth. Today, conventional dairy farmers inseminate cows only a few months after giving birth, which can compromise the immune system and decrease milk quality. What’s worse, it will also cause a huge increase in estrogens in the milk.
These estrogens can fuel the growth of several tumors and are linked to prostate, breast and ovarian cancer. Cows allowed to graze on grass and have seasonal reproductive cycles have significantly less estrogens in their milk, at levels that are not thought to be problematic.
Below is a table to give you a little perspective on the changes in the lives of milking cows brought about by the move off the family farm and onto the CAFOs.
Why Grass-Feeding Rules
While we have certainly made cows more efficient milk-producing machines – going from 336 lbs to 20,000 lbs of milk produced per year – this has had a tremendously negative impact on milk quality. Milk produced in this manner is not what I would consider a healthy food option, and I am definitely not a big fan of this conventional dairy due to the poor production, poor quality, high estrogen content, and loss of important fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. Fortunately, dairy from pasture-raised grass-fed cows is an entirely different animal.
Since these cows are actually allowed to eat what they were designed to eat, their milk quality is vastly superior – containing more actual nutrition like increased levels of vitamin A, vitamin K (in the more powerful form of K2), omega-3s, and CLA. In fact, grass-fed cows have been found to contain up to 500% more CLA than their conventionally fed brethren!
In addition to grass-fed dairy being far superior to conventional grain-fed dairy, full-fat dairy is also superior to low-fat or fat-free, contrary to popular belief or recommendations – but we will get to that in Part 2!
About the Author
Brian St. Pierre is a Certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN) and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). He received his degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition with a focus in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Maine, and he is currently pursuing his Master's degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the same institution. He was the Nutritionist and a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA for three years. He is also the author of the Show and Go Nutrition Guide, the accompanying nutrition manual to Eric Cressey’s Show and Go Training System.
With his passion for seeing his clients succeed, Brian is able to use his knowledge, experience, and energy to create highly effective training and nutrition programs for clients of any age and background. For more information, check out his website.
References
Malekinejad H, Scherpenisse P, Bergwerff A. Naturally Occurring Estrogens in Processed Milk and in Raw Milk (from Gestated Cows). J. Agric. Food Chem., 2006, 54 (26), pp 9785–9791
Qin LQ, et al. Estrogen: one of the risk factors in milk for prostate cancer. Med Hypotheses. 2004;62(1):133-42.
Ganmaa D, Sato A. The possible role of female sex hormones in milk from pregnant cows in the development of breast, ovarian and corpus uteri cancers. Med Hypotheses. 2005;65(6):1028-37.
Dhiman TR, Anand GR, et al. Conjugated linoleic acid content of milk from cows fed different diets. J Dairy Sci. 1999;82(10):2146-56.
