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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