Better Is Better

Is Newer Better?

Yesterday I picked up a used copy of Gray's Anatomy.  It is a pristine hardcover edition that apparently had been sitting on the shelf in the store for years.  I talked the guy down to $12 from $25 for just that reason.  As far as I can tell, the spine of the book had never even been cracked open.  Yet no one, over the span of years, had been interested in picking up this "old" book.  I guess they wanted the new, flashy, color splashed anatomy books that are now available.  I have a bunch of those too, and I like them.  But I love this Gray's Anatomy that I just acquired.  It's got charm.  It's got tons of detail.  It's still relevant.  And it's a classic.

This got me to thinking about how we seem to be drawn towards the "newest" and "latest" inventions and versions of our favorite products.  Your local fitness club is probably a great example.  I bet there are lineups for the shiniest new computer driven treadmills in front of the sharp looking new plasma screen TVs while the dingy looking old barbells in the corner go largely unused.  But the thing is, those old barbells hold out a much larger bang-for-buck ratio than all those fancy machines!  But I guess they are just not "cool."

This lead me to ponder on why Clubbells and kettlebells are coming on so strong.  They are so ancient, simple and technologically unsophisticated!  However, I think that beyond shine and polish there is another source of cool that taps into authenticity.  The thought of Middle Eastern strongmen swinging clubs and of Russian athletes wielding kettlebells elicits a certain reverence for time tested methods and a return to no-nonsense strength and conditioning.

And then I realized the brilliance of Coach Scott Sonnon, inventor of the modern Clubbell and founder of the Circular Strength Training® System.  He takes "old" and makes it "new."  But he doesn't just do it for the sake of making it new.  He infuses new life into ancient and tested methods using his own research into the science of sport melded with his inexhaustible passion for training himself and his clients.  He makes old stuff sexy again...

Just take a look at a Clubbell.  Coach Sonnon was not content to just reproduce the old Indian clubs.  He tested, fiddled, rejected, adopted and innovated until he came up with a tool that not only worked, but naturally looked sleek and sexy precisely because of its efficient and effective design!

And this runs through the entire CST System.  It takes the beauty of authenticity and infuses it with the appeal of efficiency, effectiveness and "newness."   So to answer the original question, I do not think newer is better.  But I think it is shear brilliance to package old stuff that works so that people will be attracted to it.  Fighting human nature is a losing battle.  So one might as well use it to good advantage and give people what they need through providing what they want.

CST's Perfect Ten

Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE)...

Sometimes, but not every time, at the end of a 4x7 Meso-Cycle you just know that you are headed for a Perfect 10.  When you head into that last High Intensity training day of the cycle with a healthy trepidation, knowing that the previous high intensity day was incredibly tough and that this one promises to hit you even deeper and harder, you know you are in for it.  A Rate of Perceived Effort of 10 takes you all the way to your edge (and sometimes a bit beyond it seems).

Today was one of those Perfect 10s for me.  I just completed my latest 28 day 4x7 cycle.  This one was the culmination of a string of General Physical Preparedness cycles and leads me into my next phase of training, which is Specific Physical Preparedness.  I'm extremely pleased with my progress up until now and I'm very excited about where I see things going from here.  My ongoing objective is still the elusive gymnastics planche.  And it is still a long ways off, but seems more attainable all the time.  Most of the planche specific work I have been doing has actually been on my Moderate Intensity days, where I focus more on strength.  My High days have been focused on energy system work through resistance oriented movements.

The cycle I just finished used 3 "courses" on the High Intensity days.  So yesterday, this is what I subjected myself to... ;-)
FlowFit 2 -> 12 Rounds of 45 seconds.  Each round consisted of a run through the flow, leaving between 5-10 seconds rest (if I really gunned it through the flow).  So a few quick vibration drills and I had to dive back in.
SB6D Routine -> 4 Rounds of 4 flows / 15 sec rest between rounds.  This was like hitting yourself over the head with a hammer... it feels so good when you stop! ;-)
Double Swipes -> 25 lbs - 60 seconds on 30 seconds off for 4 rounds.  This was a blessed break after the previous two.  Felt like a wind down!

I'll now go into a one-week interlude in my training to break things up a bit.  It works out quite well actually as I am heading to Montreal for a week.  I'm really looking forward to this as I am taking my new tow with me.  I just recently received my American Kettlebell Club 16 kg bell!  I'll be spending the week working on grooving some of the technique involved in that.  I'm slated to head to the AKC certification in Toronto next month.  I'm looking forward to this immensely!!

After that I'll be back to the "lab" trying to work my way thorugh all these ideas I have for this next phase of SPP.  Should be fun...

Cheers,
Adam

Intermittent Fasting Advice

Paul Chek would categorize my "metabolic type" as a Protein Type.  And he characterizes that type as people who "live to eat."  And I have to tell you that he is spot on!  I am barely done one meal when I start thinking about the next.  I truly love food.  Which is one of the reasons I have latched on to Intermittent Fasting.  It forces me to unyoke myself periodically from eating, whether I like it or not.

However, I also find that I have a tendency to want to break my fast in a BIG way, which can be quite detrimental.  So I have had to make sure that there are strategies in place to either avoid that big "break-fast," or mitigate it.  Brad would probably tell me having that big meal post IF is the wrong way to go about it, but psychologically it sometimes just seems to be what I need.  And my method for attenuating the impact is to load my plate with a ton of green veggies.  This is not to say that the meal is not high in calories, but the bulk of the veggies serves to provide that feeling of fullness and reduce the likelihood that I will gorge on the totally calorie dense foods while looking for that full feeling.

Today's break-fast meal was a great example, and delicious to boot:

4 big baby bok-choi steamed (despite the "baby" moniker, these were huge)
Sautéed green onion and Spanish onion in olive oil
Leftover chicken and ground beef (6-7 oz in all)
2-3 tablespoons country cream (35%)
2-3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
->Everything stirred together and topped with some organic cheddar, leaving it time to melt, and then piled onto a big plate with more freshly ground pepper.

It was simple to make, tasted great and satisfied all my senses.  The four baby bok-choi were quite huge (not really babies anymore...) and made up most of the bulk, although I admit there are still tons of calories in there.  That meal was at around 1 PM, after a 24 hour fast.  My next meal will be light (broiled pacific salmon and some sautéed snow peas).

This may not work for everyone, but it is one of the things which works for me and just thought I would pass it along.

Cheers,
Adam

CST Plugs Into the "Innernet"

Did you ever have a flash of brilliant insight while exercising?  Was it as clear as day at the time, and then you had trouble recapturing the vividness of the idea afterwards?  It has happened to me on numerous occasions.

Earlier today, while perusing Brickhouse Bodymind, I was led to this Ted.com clip about the right brain / left brain dichotomy.  As you probably already know, the right brain is where the really interesting, insightful and holistic stuff happens.  If you have time to watch the clip, it's worth it.  The speaker is a little bit "out there" at times, but she is very insightful and extremely entertaining in her delivery of the subject.

The problem is, at least as far as I can see, that our left/linear/logical brains makes so much noise in Western civilization that we can barely "hear" the right brain.  I have never been big on meditation or relaxation.  But I am generally pretty good at seeing problems from a global perspective and thinking in holistic terms.  So I got to thinking on what mechanisms I have to tap into my "Innernet" as it is sometimes called.  And it dawned on me that one of the only times that I manage to live absolutely in the present is during my training.  Of course, this does not happen all the time, but on occasion I "wake up" to the chronological world while exercising.  In other words, I had been living completely in the present moment, not worrying about the past or the future.  I was in the zone.

This happens especially with more rhythmic movements like jogging (in my former training life) or FlowFit from the CST System.  I realize that for me, that has been my "meditative outlet."  I do want to explore more targeted meditative work, especially using very pragmatic methods such as what can be found in the RESET program, but exercise does a pretty good job of it as well if you ask me.  High intensity work can do it too I think, but in a different way.  I find the intensity forces me into the present by making me extremely aware of my body in the moment.  There is no past or future, just the effort in that instant.

Now, I just need to remember to right down those brilliant insights I get while training... ;-)

CST as a Movement Art

Poetry in motion...

Although there is much science involved in movement, I think a clip like this really serves to bring us back to the idea that movement is also an art form, and a very beautiful one.  That is one of the things I love about the Circular Strength Training System.  It is a Movement Art above all.  It borrows from and rests upon the sciences of movement, but does not depend upon them for its application.  Instead it trusts in simple principles which help us express movement in uncomplicated terms. 

When I watch the above video, I am drawn right away to certain elements of the CST System's 7 Key Components of Structure.  I see Leg Drive, Hip Recruitment, Spinal Alignment and Arm Lock standing out among other things.  Every movement has keys to success, and understanding a simple language for breaking those keys down makes for an impressively effective system of movement mastery.

If you are reading from the Australasian area, don't miss the CST Singapore seminar where we will go into great depth in exploring the 7 Key Components of Structure and how you can use them as a powerful tool in your own training or in training others.

Cheers

A New You

This gave me the shivers...

It may be cliché, but it is right on the money.  Nobody can do the work for you.  There is no magic bullet.  There is no secret formula.  There are no short cuts.  Everything comes down to consistent, diligent, intelligent and very hard work if you want to get good at something.

There is a difference between "knowing about" something and knowing it.  There is a difference between "knowing how" to do something and doing it.  And the only way to get that first hand experience is by falling on your face a few times.  There is an expression I like which goes something like, "you will never learn anything if you are always using your knowledge."  I can't remember exactly where I picked it up, but to me it speaks volumes.  If you don't try something new, if you are scared to fail at something, ask the stupid question, give the stupid answer, screw up, etc. you will never be anything more than you are today.  Every failure, if you use it wisely, forms a new you, a smarter and more competent you.  Otherwise, every day just brings an older version of the same old you...  CST Coach Bao Tran from NYC challenged us recently to "Dare Something Worthy."  I think that sums it up pretty well.

Eat-Stop-Eat flexibly

In speaking with Eat-Stop-Eat author Brad Pilon, one of the things he always emphasizes is the importance of flexibility in any nutritional regime.  Brad's version of Intermittent Fasting is conceived specifically to allow for that kind of flexibility.  For example, today I had planned on fasting.  But I was extremely hungry this morning (from eating crap for my last meal yesterday most likely...) and decided to start at lunch instead of first thing this morning.  So, I'll have two clean and nutritious meals then I'll get started on my fast.  That is the great thing about Eat-Stop-Eat.  There are no windows of opportunity, no rigid schedules, etc.  You start when you want and you end 24 hours later.  Period.

And as an added bonus, when I did decide to go ahead and have breakfast this morning, the entire meal experience became very special.  I actually enjoyed and appreciated my food much more than I normally would have.

PS Coffee Update -> I managed to stop completely for 2 weeks straight.  Then I had a slip up and am now on 1-2 cups per day (instead of 4-5).  However, I plan on dropping it again starting tomorrow for another two week period before settling back into an extended 1-2 cups per day "habit."  I don't really mind maintaining this vice, but I want to feel that I have some control over it...

Protein Guilt

When I was in Toronto last weekend, I had the opportunity to sit down and share a meal with my friend Brad Pilon, author of Eat-Stop-Eat.  One of the topics that came up was what Brad calls "Protein Guilt."  Any of you who have ever indulged in the mentality of needing to eat quality protein 6 times a day to avoid immediate sarcopenia will probably intuitively understand what Brad is talking about.  I experienced a great first hand example of this at breakfast this morning.  My daughter asked for oatmeal. 

Generally I eat leftovers of whatever was for diner the day before (which totally grosses my wife out...).  But since today was mother's day I decided to indulge with the rest of the family and have some oatmeal.  It was really nice.  I like to add some stevia and almond butter to mine, then I top it with some blueberries, strawberries and a couple dates.  It was really delicious, but stuffed as I was when the bowl was emptied, I sensed a certain wrongness!  What could it be?  Oh no!  No protein (of course there was some... but no steak, eggs, chicken, fish or protein powder).  What a horror!  I almost got sucked in.  I almost went to the fridge and took out the leftover meat from last night.  Even though I was full I still was tempted to give in to my protein guilt...  Now you know what I'm talking about don't you?

Sure, it is super important to get enough protein, especially if you are training hard.  But if you miss your protein here and there, you don't need to stuff yourself in order to get it.  There is still some truth to the the concept of calories!  Yes, I firmly believe that hormonal profile and the effect nutrition has on our hormones is an important component of our health, performance and body composition.  But calories in and calories out can't be totally ignored.  So if you are already stuffed, chances are you don't need any more calories in that sitting, even if you haven't eaten your beloved protein.  Chances are you won't waste away...

Momentum is a double edged sword

I chose the name Momentum Training for my business because I really believe in the concept of quickly reaching that point where momentum takes over and allows you to surf forward through your training by the shear inertial force of your habits and successes.  Unfortunately, it's a double edge sword.  And a quick slip in the wrong direction can start momentum moving against your goals very quickly.

A little over two weeks ago I gave up coffee for one month.  I type this as I sit here drinking a coffee.  You do the math...  What happened?  In a moment of weakness I had one coffee.  This turned into a process of, "I'll get back off it tomorrow."  Three days later and I'm still doing it (although today is surely my last day).  To be somewhat gentle on myself, I'm limiting it to one per day, as opposed to the 4-5 that I was drinking before I quit (again).  And to be honest, quit is not the right word because my plan is only to stop for a month (well, more like two periods of approximately two weeks punctuated by a period of three days in the middle) in order to get the habit back under control and give my adrenal glands a break.

Anyhow, my point was to illustrate how strong momentum can be for or against your goals.  One little exception very quickly becomes a new habit or a return to an old.

The CST Mobility / Stability Symbiosis

It seems there is a fair bit of confusion around the concepts of mobility, stability and flexibility.  Admittedly, the concept can sometimes be a bit hard to wrap your head around initially, but with a few guideposts, it becomes an incredibly powerful tool in planning and executing your training plan.

First off, let’s look at some definitions for these terms.  The NASM Integrated Flexibility Training manual gives us this:

Flexibility is the normal extensibility of all soft tissues that allow full range of motion of a joint.

So a pretty two dimensional concept comes out of that definition.  We’re talking strictly about the length of tissues, nothing more.  In a perfect world, your level of flexibility is the theoretical range of motion that you would be able to create around a given joint.  But I think we all know that we lose that potential range of motion for a myriad of reasons as time progresses.  So why do we get tight?  Is it dysfunction?  Not at all.  Dev Chatterjee, a cutting edge practitioner in the human performance field put it to me this way recently, “Tightness is exactly what the CNS wants.”  What he meant was, the neuromuscular system is very smart.  It will create tightness to counteract perceived threat such as a lack of neuromuscular control, to protect an injured area, etc.

But let’s get back to our definitions.  If flexibility is only a theoretical potential for range of motion, what is the practical extension of that.  I think we could probably call it mobility.  I like the definition for mobility given in the Introduction to Reebok Reactive Neuromuscular Training and Movement Screening manual:

Joint Mobility: is the degree of freedom of movement around a joint or body segment.  Mobility is a balance of flexibility, strength and the integration of the neuromuscular system.  It is uninhibited motion.

OK, so now we are getting somewhere.  If flexibility is our potential, mobility is the degree of control we have over our neuromuscular system in order to access that potential.  And that goes beyond the ability to recruit the muscles desired to form the intended action through a range of motion, to the control over all the stabilizing muscles involved in aligning the structure for that movement.  If something isn’t working, that darn CNS will step in and hijack the movement.

So we are starting to understand flexibility versus mobility, but what the heck is this stability thing that we keep seeing thrown into the mix.  A prominent physiotherapist, Bill Hartman, refers to stability as, “the ability to resist an undesired movement.”  That makes sense.  But it also presents what I perceive as a potential for confusion.  I think a lot of people equate that resistance to movement with a lack of movement, or stiffness.  This places mobility and stability on opposing ends of a spectrum.  I prefer to think of this stability, or ability to resist movement, in the terms of segmental control.  This paradigm places mobility and stability in a symbiotic relationship, rather than on opposing ends of a scale.

Two personal anecdotes serve fairly well to illustrate this.  A few weeks ago I had a massage with a therapist who I had never seen before.  At the end of the session she remarked on how supple my spine was.  She determined this simply through manipulation, not having me perform any movement.  Then, a couple weeks ago I attended a course on the biomechanics of the trunk and spine.  Part of the course consisted of screens to determine the functionality of various muscles which play a role in correct movement and stabilization patterns.  Out of the entire group, I had by far the best control over my movements in those tests.  So on one hand I was told that I had a very supple spine, and on the other I was shown to have great stability in my spine and trunk.  The link between the two is segmental control.

Because I have fine neuromuscular control, I am able to resist movement in order to stabilize segments while in motion.  And at the same time, because my body knows that I have that segmental control, it also allows my joints more mobility within its potential for movement.  With less neuromuscular control, my system would limit that movement within the structural potential.  And without that control I would not be able to stabilize sufficiently to maintain good alignment of my structure during movement, which would show up in the types of movements screens I alluded to earlier.

So, for example, my lumbar spine is not stiff, in fact it is quite supple as mentioned earlier, but my potential for resistance to movement is very high because of segmental control.  So I am able to stabilize that area efficiently when and how it is required.  Conversely, I think there is a notion floating around out there that certain joints need to be stiff and others mobile.  I agree that certain joints are both functionally and structurally meant to be more mobile and others more stable.  But again I believe that this is more of a symbiosis than a continuum.  You need to be stable to be mobile.  You need fine neuromuscular control to both prevent and allow movement.

But how do you develop this?  Personally, I credit my mobility and stability to the CST system’s Intu-Flow program.  Over the course of time, by taking my joints back through their natural range of motion, shaving off tension gradually and incrementally each day, and then sophisticating the way I move through those ranges on an ongoing basis, I have reeducated my body in both the movement patterns and in recognizing its inherent capacity for motion.  In other words, I slowly wore away the motion barriers which were holding me back from movement.  I added control, which promoted stability, and opened the gates of mobility.  Can you see the symbiotic relationship there?  You can’t separate the two.  Mobility and stability need to play off of each other and are co-dependent.  And each situation at each joint will call for more or less of one or the other.  And the magic link that ties them together is segmental control, or control over the little movements that make up and support the big ones.

Of course, it goes without saying that we will be delving into great detail regarding how this functions and how the three wings of the CST system takes a three pronged approach to physical development in which Intu-Flow, Prasara and Clubbells synch up to provide mobile, natural and pain-free movement. 

For a visual example of Intu-Flow Joint Health & Mobility in action, take a look at this post which explores the best mobility exercises for office workers.