Getting Started with TRX Workouts

TRX is the most popular form of “Suspension Training” on the market, and there are a lot of advantages to this versatile exercise system.      It is inexpensive, can be done virtually anywhere, is highly portable, and can be scaled to any fitness level.

That being said, you do need to understand the basics in order to get the most from TRX.  Like any resistance training workout start with the major movement patterns:   Upper Body Push Pattern, Upper Body Pull Pattern, Lower Body Squat or Lunge Pattern,  Ab Curl Pattern, Arm Curl and Tricep Extension.   1 – 3 sets at a controlled pace until you reach muscular failure is all you need to reap the benefits of TRX.    

Before starting any exercise with TRX it is important to make sure you know how to anchor the system safely and adjust the straps for different exercises.     If you have not learned that yet see here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQcQO7fKV4 and here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDSRGozpXUE

Once you know how to anchor and adjust your TRX – you are ready to exercise.     There are three key training principles to understand to be able to adjust the intensity of each exercise to match your current ability level.

First is the Vector Principle which refers to your bodyweight versus your body angle.   The higher your body position from ground the easier the exercise, and the lower your body position to the ground the more difficult.     This is easy to change by simply moving your feet closer or further out from the anchor position changing your body angle.     A small movement of the feet can dramatically change resistance and challenge level.

Second is the Stability Principle which states that the more points of contact your body has with the ground and the farther apart your stance the easier an exercise will be.    For example, being on one foot is much less table and therefore much more challenging than being on two feet, and using a narrow stance is less stable than a wide stance so the narrow stance is more challenging.

The third principle is the Pendulum Principle – think of the floor directly under the anchor point as being neutral.    The farther away from neutral (toward you) you are, the harder an exercise will be.  The farther past neutral you are, the easier an exercise will be.

To see and learn more TRX check out their youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TRXtraining/videos 

The best way to learn effective use of TRX is spending a few training sessions with a certified personal trainer who knows how to use TRX.   A few sessions of hands on with a trainer is worth many hours of watching videos!

Downhill Skier Exercise

Proper hip hinging technique is critical for the prevention of injuries and being able to perform many exercises properly such as the deadlift, kettlebell swing, and single leg deadlift.       The squat is another primary movement pattern that must be learned to prevent injury and optimize movement.     

There is a great exercise that teaches the relationship between the hip hinge and squat and is a fantastic dynamic warm-up and corrective exercise that can be done every day.     It is called the downhill skier.    

Start by placing the hands palm down on the top of the thighs.    Keep the back straight slide the hands down until the palms are resting on the knees with the hips back like you are a second basemen.      You should begin to feel a stretch in the hamstrings.     

Continue to hinge from the hip forward and slide down until your elbow are resting on the inside of the knees with back straight and hips back like you are a downhill skier.     This will require your knees to track forward over and maybe even slightly beyond your toes (this will generate a stretch in the calf muscles and specifically the single joint soleus muscle).    Keep your heels down the whole time – do not let them lift up off the floor!

Keeping the back totally straight extend the knees as far as possible – you should feel a strong stretch in the hamstrings.  Your hips will rise but keep your elbows on the knees and do not move the upper body!  Then drop the hips, flex the knees and let them move forward over toes as you drop back down to the downhill skier posture.

Start slow but as you get the hang of it you can move faster – as long as you maintain proper form.   Do 30 – 50 reps every day.    You will start to notice that your squat and your hip hinge movements all get easier along with improved mobility in the ankle knee and hip!    Click here for a great video of how to do this exercise properly:  https://youtu.be/nXKWtlr3rBQ

The Importance of Movement Tempo in Resistance Training

Tempo is the speed of movement for a resistance training exercise and there are four distinct phases for each exercise.  Tempo directly determines time under tension which is a very important variable in resistance training. 

The first phase is the time spent on the eccentric phase of the movement (where you are lowering the weight and the muscles are lengthening) like when you lower a dumbbell from the top position to the fully lowered position in the bicep curl.  

The second phase is any time spent pausing at the end of the eccentric phase like holding your body an inch off the ground in the bottom of a push-up. 

The third phase is the time spent in the concentric phase of the movement (where you are lifting weight up and muscles are shortening) like when you push up from the ground in a push-up.    

The fourth phase is any time spent at the end of the movement like pausing in the fully contracted position when doing an abdominal crunch.

So tempo for a movement is expressed with four numbers like this 3-0-1-0 which would mean taking three seconds in the eccentric of lowering phase, no pause at the end of the eccentric phase, 1 second for the concentric phase where you lift the weight, and no pause at the end of the lifting phase.

Sometimes this is shortened to three numbers such as 3-1-1 which means lowering resistance for 3, pause for a count of 1 at the bottom of the movement (like the bottom of a squat), and then quickly lift the weight in one second and repeat.

Changing Tempo is a huge tool for preventing plateaus in your workout program because it dramatically changes the stimulus of the workout and directly affects the time under tension.   There are many possibilities but there are several tried and true tempo schemes for resistance training.

Whenever you are having trouble feeling a particular target muscle group in an exercise cut your load and increase your time under tension.   Try taking 4 seconds to lift the weight, brief pause at top without locking out, then lower for 4 seconds and pause briefly at the bottom position:  4-1-4-1.

This slow down creates a lot more time under tension allowing you to feel and control the muscles doing the work to hit your target!

Another great tempo scheme is eccentric accentuated which means slowing down during the lowering phase to 4 – 5 or even up to 10 seconds for big movements.  So a tempo like 6-1-1-1.

Last but not least is pause tempo where you place emphasis on holding the bottom or top of the movement such as the bottom of the squat or top position of a dumbbell lateral raise.      For the squat example tempo might look like this:   4-4-2-0 while for the lateral raise it might look like this: 2-4-2-0

Why you should skip the bread at the beginning of your meal

Everyone has had the experience of being given bread before a meal at a restaurant, and if it is fresh baked and still warm it is really hard to resist!  If you want to be fit and lean it is best to resist the temptation though.

Most bread is essentially sugar to your body.    There are breads with much higher fiber content and this is big step in the right direction, but most bread is pure starch.     The fact is that, with few exceptions, starches are broken down into sugar very quickly.     This process starts in your mouth where an enzyme in saliva called Amylase immediately starts breaking down starch into sugar (starches are just multiple units of sugar hooked together).      Particularly on an empty stomach at the beginning of a meal you will absorb this sugar very rapidly resulting in a big spike in blood sugar and insulin.

This is not a good thing as shown in study published in the Journal of Diabetes Care.    The study looked at a group of individuals with Type 2 Diabetes (non-insulin dependent diabetes) and had them consume bread as part of two different meals on two separate days.   The meals were identical but the order of when they ate each different part of the meal was changed.

In the first meal, they ate bread and orange juice which are highly glycemic followed by chicken breast and roast vegetables.  Then during the second meal they ate the chicken and vegetables first followed by the high glycemic carbs.    During both meals researchers measured blood sugar and insulin before, during, and after the meals at various intervals.

Average glucose (blood sugar) levels were 28.6% lower at 30 minutes, 36.7% lower at 60 minutes, and 16.8% lower at 2 hours after the meal where the chicken and veggies were eaten first!  The overall glucose response was a whopping 73% lower and levels of insulin where also much lower!

Although this was done with people with Type 2 Diabetes this probably happens with everyone to some extent.   In fact, the average American is on the verge of Type 2 Diabetes due to poor lifestyle habits, and they have a lack of insulin sensitivity that is the precursor of Diabetes.     Lower blood sugar and lower insulin tend to lead to greater appetite control, less creation of fat, and help decrease atherosclerosis (heart disease).

The Single Leg Balance – Exercise and Brain Test!

Standing on one leg and balancing sounds like a pretty simple test, but many people cannot manage to do it for just 20 seconds without holding onto something or touching the lifted foot to the ground to maintain balance!

So who cares right?   Well, a new study published in the journal Stroke suggests that inability to stand on one foot may be the sign of some serious brain issues.   Researchers at the Center for Genomic Medicine at Kyoto University in Japan tested over a 1,000 people (average age 67) to stand with one leg raised and their eyes open for up to 60 seconds. Then – they used an MRI to scan each person’s brain. 

What they found was that those who struggled to balance for 20 seconds had cerebral small-vessel disease (SVD), even though they weren't exhibiting any classic symptoms. SVD is related to stroke, dementia and even Parkinson's. For those who could not complete the 20 seconds, 15% had one micro-bleed brain lesion (30% had two) and 16% had one arterial brain blockage (35% had two.) In addition, those with the shortest balance times tended to have the lowest mental performance scores.

So why the correlation between balance and brain health?  Balance is maintained by three separate systems which work together:  Vision, proprioception (sense of your body position in space) and the vestibular system (inner ear – that senses gravity).  The brain controls all three of these systems.   So any loss of motor coordination, such as the inability to balance for any length of time, could suggest brain damage.

Now that you know maybe you will spend a little more time working on your balance!  We do not know for sure, but it makes sense that working on your physical balance may help to preserve mental function and brain health.

The Health and Fitness Benefits of Cold Showers

Just talking about a cold shower makes people nervous so why in the world would anyone deliberately subject themselves to one?  As it turns out there are some very real health and fitness benefits to subjecting yourself to the cold in a deliberate process.

One of the biggest benefits is building will power and emotional resilience.   When you do something you are resistant to every day you develop mental strength and discipline.    Cold showers can also train you to be more resilient in the face of stress in your life in general.   If you stick with it you will not only learn to tolerate it you will become used to it and be able to relax even with cold water pouring all over you!

Another benefit is that your body actually ramps up its innate production of anti-oxidants!   In this study, https://goo.gl/e4XSCf , cold water swimming measurably ramped up swimmers production of anti-oxidants as an adaptive response to cold exposure!

Needless to say an early morning cold shower will totally wake you up and increase alertness!

Cold showers also improve skin and hair quality – cold causes increased blood flow to the skin

Cold Showers can accelerate fat loss – all mammals (including humans) have two types of fat – brown fat and white fat.    White fat is what we all hate and too much can cause all sorts of metabolic issues.   Brown fat aka BAT for “Brown Adipose Tissue – is just the opposite.   Brown fat actually burns calories – that’s right!  The reason for brown fat is to generate heat through calorie wasting so it is our best friend when it comes to burning fat at rest.  Cold showers activate brown fat.   In fact, in a Scandinavian Study, researchers found that exposure to chilly temperatures caused a 15-fold increase in the metabolic rate of brown fat in their healthy adult volunteers. They figure that if a way could be found to activate the typical person’s stores of brown fat, it would burn off at least 9 pounds of regular (white) fat a year.

Cold Showers can help naturally increase Testosterone Levels and Boost Fertility – heat on male genitals definitely decreases testosterone production which is why the male genitalia are located outside of the body.  Conversely cold increases testosterone production. A study at USCF showed that men stopped taking regular hot baths showed a sperm count increase of up to 491%.

Cold Showers also improve circulation – by increasing blood flow to your organs to keep them warm.

Cold showers can also improve immunity – studies have shown increased activation of white blood cells from cold exposure.

Cold showers can even potentially help relieve depression – they increase norepinephrine which is an excitatory neurotransmitter and there is even some research on this subject:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17993252

But how do you get started with cold showers? It is not as hard as you think!  First you can get the benefits without starting with cold water.    You can start with a warm or hot shower then finish with 2 – 5 minutes of cold.    Start with whatever you can tolerate and gradually build time until you can comfortably stand 5 minutes.

How much rest time should you take between resistance training sets?

One of the most common questions about weight training aka resistance training is how long should you rest between each exercise set?     If you take a look at the relevant research concerning this topic there are some good answers.

For a long time, researchers believed that shorter rest periods were better for increasing muscle size which was thought to occur because of increased levels of metabolic stress by not allowing complete recovery.    However, research done in 2015 shows that using longer rest periods actually results in better results for both increased muscle size and increased muscle strength.     It is thought that this occurs because longer rest periods allow a higher training volume (more repetitions of each exercise).

Another aspect to consider is whether most of your workout uses compound exercises (compound exercises use multi-joint exercises using more muscle mass such as a chest press vs a pec dec or pull-up vs an Lat Pullover).      In a 2012 study researchers found that with shorter rest periods workout volume decreased for both single-joint and multi-joint compound exercises.       However, the decrease in volume in workouts with short rest periods tended to be significantly greater with multi-joint compound exercises vs single-joint exercise (29% reduction in volume with multi-joint as compared to 15% with single- joint exercise). So for strength routines focused on compound, multi-joint movements increased rest time is probably a good idea.

Another study which looked at the effects of rest interval length on training volume discovered another important item:    reduction in training volume occurs mainly between 1 and 2-minute rest periods.    The percentage difference between 2 and 3-minute rest periods is much smaller, except when doing 5 or more sets of an exercise.     So, for people doing 3 – 4 sets per exercise, 2 minutes is a good rest interval, but if doing 5 or more sets you should probably extend the rest interval to 3 minutes.

Another important piece of information is that recreational lifters who self-determine rest periods tend to rest just under 2 minutes between sets meaning that for most lifters doing 3 to 4 sets of several exercises whose goal is increased muscle size and strength you probably do not need to time your rest intervals and can go just go by feel.

Timing rest intervals becomes more important for advanced resistance training such as Power Lifting and Bodybuilding, but for most of us we can just go by how we feel!

Ketogenic Diet Guide

One of the most popular dietary approaches is called the Ketogenic Diet.    Although it seems new the fact is that this approach has been around for many years – initially it was popularized because it was proven to be a highly effective treatment for epilepsy.

Just a warning upfront – the Ketogenic diet is NOT for everyone.    It is VERY different and it will take your body a good 2 weeks to a month to adjust to this major shift in eating patterns.  That being said once you do – you will likely feel phenomenal and notice more energy, better mental focus, and improved exercise endurance.

This approach causes a major metabolic shift forcing your body, including your brain, to use ketones for fuel which are derived from fat.    It quite literally ramps up fat use, but it is a big adjustment for some.

Who should NOT try this approach?

People who cannot eat fats such as people without a gall bladder or with gall bladder disease.

People who really dislike fats and cannot imagine not eating lots of high sugar and starch foods such as pasta, bread, rice, fruit juices et.

People being treated for any disease including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, etc. - unless under the supervision of a physician

Who is this approach good for?

People interested in maximizing fat burning and minimizing appetite

People who want to optimize endurance and minimize bodyfat levels

There are two ways to do it:

Slow adjustment over time – results less quick but less challenging

Or just jump right in

For a great beginners guide to Ketogenic Diet click here:  http://www.ruled.me/guide-keto-diet/

Best book to really understand the power and health benefits of this approach once your body adjusts to it:     The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living – Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney can buy it Amazon or anywhere and here is their website:  http://www.artandscienceoflowcarb.com/

If you want to embrace this approach download the CRON-O-Meter food tracking app. To track your intake of protein, fats, sugars, starches, and fiber along with net carbs (total carb minus fiber).   It is available for android or iphone. 

Keys to Success:

Ideally you really keep your macronutrients tight at 70 – 90% fat, 10 – 20% protein, and 5% carbs – the chronometer app will help you get a handle on this.

You must count EVERY gram of sugar and starch and fiber you eat.  Fiber is non-digestible so has no caloric or metabolic impact.    Higher fiber intake is important, and one of the keys is avoiding sugar and starch while increasing your intake of fiber – see lists of foods to avoid and foods to eat below.

It is VERY important to NOT eat low fat – 70 – 90% of your calories MUST come from fat.   If you try to eat low fat and eat low carb all you eat is protein – you will feel HORRIBLE – not good for you! 

Water intake is very important – try to drink your bodyweight in ounces of water – you will get rid of a lot of water which is all good but you need fluids!!!

VERY important to eat PLENTY of salt – your body will dump salt like crazy so either use salt liberally or consider drink 2 – 3 bouillon cubes per day in hot water.   This can make the difference between feeling good and feeling lousy!

Supplement that can really help make the transition easier:  

Potassium and Magnesium Aspartate – best brand is Twinlab CellsMins – Potassium and Magnesium Advanced Mineral Transport

Organic Psyllium Fiber – mix into a shake

Shake Recipe

Organic Whey Protein (Jay Robb is great stuff)  – one serving/scoop 20  25 grams of protein – Strawberry flavored which comes in single serve packets as does Vanilla and Choclate.

Organic Half and Half – Quarter to half cup – remember you NEED fat on this diet!

OR Organic Cream – quarter cup

Water or Unsweetened Blue Diamond Almond Coconut Milk – want low or no carb.

You must reduce your intake of Sugar/Starch to less than 50 grams per day.   The lower the better and under 30 grams is even better – will help you make the shift FASTER!

Remember ALL starch turns into sugar so it is exactly the same thing metabolically! So this effectively means eliminating all of the following:

Bread

Pasta

Rice

All sweets and deserts

Fruit Juices

Most fruits – small quantities of strawberries or blueberries or blackberries but most other fruit has tons of sugar

Potatoes and other root vegetables high in starch

No beer and stick with dry white wines or Vodka with a zero-sugar mixer for           alcohol

No crackers or cereal or pretzels – no grain!

No soda

No Corn

No Milk – can use cream and half and half as per below

No breaded/fried foods

No peas

No lima beans

FATS- are important to eat liberally!

Butter – want to buy and use grass fed organic butter such as Kerry Gold

Cream – organic only

Cream Cheese – full fat organic only

Avocado - organic whenever possible

Half and Half – organic only

Olive Oil - organic is always preferred

Coconut Oil - as above organic whenever possible

Cheeses – just full fat cheeses with no sugar/starch in them!   As above it is always better to choose organic cheeses to avoid contaminents.

VEGETABLES – Also important to eat liberally!

Tomato – raw

Onion/Scallions

Garlic

Arugula

Brussel Sprouts

Celery

Chard

Cucumber

Dandelion

Eggplant

Endives

Fennel

Okra – nothing breaded or fried

Squash

Zucchini

Broccoli

Spinach

Lettuce

Cabbage

Kale

Green Beans

Cauliflower (RAW)

Asparagus

PROTEIN – 50 – 100 grams per day – excessive protein intake is not helpful

Meat – preferably grass fed organic and EAT the fat as well – very important you do NOT try to eat low fat on this diet – you need fat because it will become your preferred fuel

Shellfish – all good but nothing breaded and no added carb – fine to use butter!

Ham

Duck

Chicken – nothing fried or breaded!

Fish – stick with Alaskan Salmon or Salmon that says “Wild Caught Only”

Sardines

Smoked Oysters

Cod – no breading

Grouper

Red Snapper

Rockfish

Eggs – organic only – in any way you like them

NUTS

Full Fat Organic Peanut Butter – but has some sugar/starch so count ALL of it!

Macadamia nuts – THE BEST – pure monounsaturated fat

Pecans

Almonds

Walnuts

Brazil Nuts

Mixed nuts

Sample Day’s Meals:

2 Tablespoons of Medium Chain Triglycerides from a product called Brain Octane – a very clean, easy to burn fat – about 130 calories all from fat – no taste whatsoever and immediately absorbed – really boosts energy!

Shake – either EAS Myoplex Ketogenic – https://eas.com/keto OR the shake  described above – these are about 75% fat, 20% protein, and 5% carbs and about 400 – 500 calories

Snack – Full Fat Cheese – Cheddar usually and/or walnuts or almonds

Chicken (dark meat for fat) or Salmon (4 – 6 ounces smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese)

Snack – Bacon

Salmon with spinach, broccoli

Atkins Frozen Meals for quick meal in a pinch.

Training on Unstable Surfaces

Training on unstable surfaces owes most of its development to rehabilitation where it originated.   There are many unstable training surfaces including physioballs, foam pads, inflated rubber disks, and Bosu’s .   These surfaces are used on the training floors of most gyms.   The idea behind unstable training is that inconsistent motion stimulates sensory apparatus in the muscles and joints leading to increased sensory input and increased muscle activation.   In addition these movements cause muscles on both sides of the joint to co-contract.    Co-contraction occurs to some extent during virtually all movement.   When we significantly increase co-contraction the result is increased joint stability.

Increased co-contractions from unstable training can be very useful in the treatment of ankle instability and lumbar spine injury.  The fitness industry has adopted the concepts of unstable training from rehabilitation.  However, when we use a concept developed for rehabilitation we need to carefully evaluate how and when to use this approach in a healthy or athletic populations.

For example many trainers have clients perform shoulder presses while sitting on a physioball or standing on Bosu to increase core muscle activation.  However, this does not produce the desired result.  Studies show that doing shoulder presses on an unstable surface do NOT increase core muscle activation versus the same exercise done on a stable bench.

The reason for this result is that balanced vertical forces in alignment with the spine do not increase core muscle activity -- regardless of instability of the surface the exercise is performed on!  However the use of asymmetrical loading, like doing a one sided shoulder press, does increase core activation, but this is not increased further by being on an unstable surface.

Horizontal limb movements also increase core activation, but there is not a lot of evidence that adding an unstable surface increases this benefit.

When it comes to lumbar stabilization, research shows that exercises done on balls in a horizontal position (face up or face down) do increase core muscle activity.  So exercises like crunches, bridges, push-ups and push-ups on an unstable surface will result in increased core activation. 

When it comes to absolute force production performing exercises such as bench press or squats on an unstable surface significantly decreases force production and do not assist in the development of absolute strength.    So when training for increased strength -- performing exercises on stable surfaces is a better choice.   This same thing is true when working on increasing sprinting speed because training on a highly unstable surface increases ground contact time and force production which inhibits acceleration.  However, doing specific drills on a firm surface that provides slight rebound as PART of a sprint program can produce benefits. 

The other consideration when using unstable surfaces like a Bosu is that lifting mechanics are significantly altered, and researchers have suggested that training on highly unstable surfaces can actually increase the risk of knee injuries in certain populations!  This is not to mention the risk of injuries from hopping, jumping, and leaping on and off of unstable surfaces.

So the question is:   What role should unstable training play in developing programming for apparently healthy and athletic populations who are not injured?    Research suggests that a combination of unstable and stable training will provide the best results.     This brings up two more questions:

                Which should come first stable or unstable?

                What level of instability should be used with each particular person?

The answer to the first question is dictated by the rules of proper progression.   The three primary phases of stabilization training include: 

·         “Static” Stabilization (foundational)

·          “Dynamic” Stabilization (strength/endurance)

·          “Ultra-Dynamic” Stabilization (power)

Within each phase:

·         Start with bilateral strength development in stable environments because it is safer and will increase strength more.  

·         Next progress to stable single limb challenges

·         Then progress towards hopping and jumping skills in a stable environment

·         Then apply that new strength and power to tasks involving postural control on unstable surfaces.  

When it comes to how much instability to use with each person the answer will depend on the goal of the exercise and the ability of the individual.    So ideally you will use different levels of instability according to the goal of the exercise and the ability of the individual!

The Importance of Matching the Fitness Assessment to the Client’s Goal

The primary purpose of doing an assessment with a new personal training client is to establish a baseline to measure progress against over time.   Implicit in this purpose is that the measurement must be a reliable indicator of the client’s goal.      

For example, if a client’s goal is to “get lean and long muscles but not get too big” as fitness professionals we know that in our world that means maintaining or slightly increasing muscle mass while reducing bodyfat levels.     

As such a relevant assessment for this particular goal would be body composition analysis.       As important as the assessment itself is -- helping the client understand how the assessment relates to their stated goal is even more important!

For example, clients come to us with preconceived beliefs about weight and appearance such as the belief that losing weight is the same as losing fat.     As fitness professionals we know this is NOT the case, but it is very important that we get the client to understand this so that they accept the validity of using body composition to assess their progress versus scale weight!

In this example use of pictures such as those showing 5lbs of fat and 5lbs of muscle (see below) or even better having actual physical models the client can hold and touch can really help to insure the client is on the same page with us.

The default assessment of most trainers is body composition, but this is not the best assessment for all goals.    For those clients whose primary goal is performance related such as lifting heavier weight, jumping higher, running faster, running longer, etc. a body composition test is NOT the right choice.   In these cases a specific performance related test such as a 1RM test of the particular lift they are focused on improving would be a much better choice.     Or in the case of an older client’s goal to avoid injury and prevent falls the Functional Movement Screen and/or a functional balance test would be a better baseline and ongoing assessment.      Again the key is that the client understands the relationship of the assessment and believes it is a valid measure –  if not they will not buy in to you or the program you give them!

The take home message is to always match the type of assessment you are using with each client to the client’s goal.      In addition do not assume that the client will automatically see the connection between the assessment and their goal.    Take the time to explore and understand the client’s beliefs as they relate to their goals, and educate the client on how and why a particular assessment is the right one for them and their goals!