Download this weeks episode here: TheFitCast020.mp3 (Right Click and Save-As)

Dan John was our guest this week. Check out his website at: http://danjohn.org/

Show Notes will be up shortly.

By: Eric Cressey, MA, CSCS
Ever since Mike Robertson and I introduced our Magnificent Mobility DVD, we’ve been inundated with email inquiries about how what we’re recommending is different from yoga and Pilates. And, those that actually appreciate the difference keep asking what we think about it.

Let me preface this entire article by saying that I’m all for anything that makes people enthusiastic about exercise, or gives individuals an outlet to relieve stress. If you’re not moving, you need to move – regardless of what it takes to make you do so. With that said, I gave these two modalities three strikes before I called them “out.” Here are my main issues with Yoga and Pilates:

Strike #1

They don’t differentiate between good and bad range of motion. That is, these disciplines look at being limber as being healthy. This assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

The truth of the matter is that certain joints in our body – the ankles, hips, and thoracic spine for instance – require more MOBILITY training because they’re too stable/tight. Conversely, some joints – most notably the lumbar spine and glenohumeral (shoulder) joint – require a lot more stability training because they’re too mobile. Every joint in our body is designed to function with a delicate balance of mobility and stability; some just need more of one than the other.

My main concern with yoga and Pilates is the tremendous amount of lumbar hyperextension that occurs; this is the LAST thing you want at the lumbar spine. Most back problems are extension-based; that is, people get excessive ROM at their lumbar spine because they lack ROM at their hips, or they’re just too weak to prevent it at the lumbar spine.

In my view, being “limber” is another way of saying that you’re “unstable.” This is not a good thing. Limber people easily break down on the athletic fields, and they even get injured with ordinary activities like carrying groceries.

Strike #2

Of secondary concern is the excessive recruitment of hip flexors. In consideration of the fact that the majority of those doing yoga and Pilates are female, this is an even bigger issue; women tend to carry their weight too far forward already, and they already have a tendency toward anterior pelvic tilt and lumbar hyperextension.

I’ve worked with loads of female athletes from the youth to professional levels – and I can’t say that I’ve ever looked at one of them and said, “She needs Yoga/Pilates to get stronger, faster, healthier, or leaner.” Now, if these are athletes who in some cases are devoting 3-4 hours per day to training – and they still don’t need Yoga/Pilates – why is it that the average female weekend warrior who has 3-4 hours per week to devote to exercise is CONVINCED that these modalities are the Holy Grail of exercise?

Just to confirm my “intuition,” I contacted a few of the industry’s top performance enhancement coaches and personal trainers. I asked them a simple yes/no question:

Your female client has five hours per week to train. She wants to look good, get stronger, and perform better in the sports of her choice. Are yoga or Pilates going to occupy any of the five hours in the program you write for her?”

Mike Robertson, Performance Enhancement Specialist, Indianapolis, IN: “No. Most women already have enough flexibility, so they’d be better served improving core stability, fixing postural imbalances, and putting some more weight on the bar.”

Mike Boyle, Boston University Hockey Strength and Conditioning Coach: “No” – with an entire article to back up his assertions (and nicely complement the one I’m writing)

Sean Skahan, Anaheim Ducks Strength and Conditioning Coach: “No, I wouldn’t.”

Scot Prohaska, Performance Enhancement Specialist, Newport Beach, CA: “Nope.”

Brijesh Patel, College of the Holy Cross Associated Head of Strength and Conditioning: No, I would not include it into the program that I write; if she did it, it would only be if she asked specifically about yoga or Pilates, and it would be on her own in conjunction with the program.”

Julia Ladewski, University at Buffalo Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach: “For someone with limited time who wants to improve athletic performance, I would not include yoga or Pilates in her workout schedule. I believe dynamic mobility work (as in your DVD) will give her all she needs in that area. So much more of her time needs to be devoted to strength training, getting stronger, conditioning work for her sport, etc. Her time to be devoted outside of sport skill is limited, so she needs to make the most of it in these areas.”

Erik Ledin, Bodybuilding and Figure Competition Contest Prep Expert: “Definitely not; time is better spent on other activities.”

Mike Irr, Chicago Bulls Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach: “I’m going to have to say no on using the five hours for yoga or Pilates – at least not on my time! I think there are so many things that strength coaches can do to better improve her physique and performance in the weight room or track. Plus, a lot of things that you can do during the workout between sets here and there can borrow the favorable elements from Pilates or yoga – if she really, really needs them!”

Strike #3

Third, many of the movements used in yoga and Pilates only train flexibility – not mobility. Mobility implies that you have STABILITY in the ROM that you achieve; you need to have strength to support your body weight in all those extremes. Having excessive ROM without strength in those ROMs is actually a big risk factor for injury, so excessive static stretching can be a huge problem.

Additionally, I almost never stretch female athletes’ hamstrings. They are quad-dominant enough already; why would I want to inhibit their weakest muscles? Stretch it, and it gets slower and weaker – and it’s ability to prevent anterior tibial translation diminishes. English translation? Your ACL has to do a lot more of the work, and we know all too well that ACLs pop much more easily in females in light of biomechanical differences in their body types when compared to men.

An Important Note

I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water, though; there are good aspect to yoga and Pilates; I just wish people would take more time to qualify their recommendations. Movements that encourage ROM at the lumbar spine should be discouraged, and the same goes for those that involve long isometric actions of the hip flexors.

Additionally, if you’re too weak to punch your way out of a wet paper bag, you’d be better off spending your time lifting weights than taking yoga and Pilates classes. From functional carryover and aesthetic improvements perspectives, lifting weights is far superior.

So, in the grand scheme of things, women don’t need more yoga and Pilates classes. They need to get stronger, and focus on mobility and activation training that enhances stability in the ROM that they’ve already achieved. Additionally, they need to learn to stabilize the lumbar spine instead of tying it into knots.

I recognize that, in writing this article, I’ve probably once-and-for-all given up my change to ever date a yoga or Pilates instructor. If it’s going to save a lot of people a lot of back pain, though, that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

About the Author

By: Jonas Talkington
Okay! Things are finally starting to go right! Well, they were going well before, but now they are becoming noticeably better.

It’s becoming easier. I actually slept very well every night this week (8 hours every night) and woke up without an alarm. The first time in my adult life, actually. I had more energy than normal and felt better than I normally do during the day. It was a strange feeling to be walking up the stairs and not be super tired or out of breath at the top.

This week, I felt my body begin respond to things. I started to buckle down on the diet. I had a Casein and sometimes Casein and raspberry shake for breakfast every day. I took two calcium pills and 3 fish oil capsules with that. For the two lunches, normally 3 hours apart (I try to do 5 meals 3 hours apart), I had mostly cold cuts or the local version of beef sticks (had buffalo sticks and ostrich sticks too. They were GREAT!) and some cheese. Galya also made two batches of protein bars for me this week. One batch was blueberry/cashew/chocolate and the other was Lost Dog’s carrot cake bars, but with chocolate casein ( Lost Dog is now one of my protein bar heroes ). I had one of those for each meal, except for breakfast and dinner. The fourth meal of the day was usually one of the bars and one beef stick or something similar. Dinners were meatballs, cold cuts one night, grilled chicken or scrambled eggs and cheese.

Okay, now the best part. I started losing weight again. AND, I made a mistake. In the original Husband Project proposal, I said that I came to Bulgaria at 225, lost ten pounds, and began to gain. That is NOT the case, embarrassingly enough. I looked at my Peace Corps medical records, and I came to Bulgaria at 233 (2nd day physical), which was on June 16th, 2000. I lost 9 lbs, putting me at 224. Then I began to gain again. Sorry about the mistake, but not so much considering what you are about to read! This week, for the first time since the year after college (which was 7 years ago), I weighed in at 221 lbs! How exciting!

I also went from 18.5% bodyfat to 16.7%. Almost 2 percent in 2 weeks (3 counting prep week). Galya and I have also noticed a big change in my arms. I have lost most of the fat on them, and they have become very hard to the touch, compared to what they were before. She also says that the deposits on my body are becoming soft, especially on my legs. Good to know, because hopefully that means that my body is eating into my fat deposits. I hope to see good change again this week

This week I pretty much did 3 sets of 8 for everything, and moved up in weight for most exercises. Galya says that I am slightly sacrificing form for more weight on some things, though, so I will drop back down on a few until I can do them perfect every time and move back up. The only thing that I really changed was doing cardio on my non-gym days and changing abs to 3 sets of 50 crunches.

The biggest high this week was actually SEEING change, not just knowing that it will come. I saw definite improvements and change in my body. The biggest low was coming to grips with just how much farther I have to go. It’s easier, though, knowing that at least in some way, most of you are going to go there with me through these logs.

Feeling great, both mentally and physically, although it is still an effort for me to mentally make myself do it every day. I have to fight the feeling that I want to be lazy and just not go. If I can get to 15% bodyfat in another 3 weeks, I will be VERY excited. Let’s see, shall we?

Download Episode 19 here: TheFitCast019.mp3

Mike Roussell was our guest this week. You can check out his websites, www.MuscleandCuts.com and his nutrition blog: www.StreetSmartNutrition.com

• Intro
• FitCast NEWS
• TheFitCastMag.com is no more, kind of…
• Fitness Blog explosion!! Check them out, I made a post here: http://thefitcast.com/?p=63
• Obesity Pill?
• Shakes
• Mike’s Tropical Shake –
  ½ Cup Fat Free Cottage Cheese (Cabot Brand)
  1 Scoop Banana Metabolic Drive
  1 Medium Sized Orange
  ½-1/4 Orange Peel (Fiber and Limonene
  ¼ Cup Pistachios
  Water & Ice to Desired Consistency
• Kevin: Double Chocolate PB shake from Gourmet Nutrition

• NEWS
• Fitness Up, Disciplinary Problems Down
• Men’s Health Article
• Round Table
• Kevin: Where did you get the idea for the xenoestrogen article?
• bulldog: what an average day of eating is for them and what type of training they are currently doing.?
• keith e scott: With all of the supplements out there and more on the way (especially from Biotest) Which supplements out there do you feel definitely work and which one’s do you feel don’t work at all?

By: Jonas Talkington

So. An interesting week. Not as hard as I thought it was going to be, in some ways, harder in others. First, let me start off by saying I did almost NO cardio. That’s right, on my off days I didn’t do more than 20 minutes, and on my workout days, not even a second (barring walking up the stairs!).

The reason? I was so sore all week that considering doing cardio made me break out in a nervous sweat.

I worked out 3 times this week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Sunday, I worked out hard, because I was excited. I also found out that I am slightly stronger than I expected. Yippee! I did 3 sets of 8 on everything, the whole week.

Sunday: I was bad, I don’t remember exactly. I was on my own and did Cable Fly’s, Bicep Curls, Deadlifts, Lunges, Shoulder Raises, Tricep Pushdowns and Machine Shoulder Raises. I also did 20 mins on the treadmill, which I think is for the last time, since it killed my ankles.

Monday: Was dying, didn’t do anything

Tuesday: 21 minutes on the bike and I was done.

Wednesday: Cable Fly’s 65lbs, Pull ups (could only do one),Tricep Pushdowns 80lbs, DB curls 35lbs, Free Standing Military Press 110lbs (wooo!), Step Ups, Bear Crawls and a Plank (1.05 minutes). After that I was pretty smoked.

Thursday: Again with the not being able to walk up the stairs.

Friday: Pull ups (2 this time!), Pushups (3×10), One Armed Sitting
Rows 140lbs, Saxon Bends (15 per side with 30 lbs weight), Ball Squats, Crunches (3×15), Straight Bar Bicep Curls 65lbs, Lat. Raises 17lbs per arm.

Saturday: Getting used to it, but sore.

Sunday: Rest day with Galya

For the whole of this week, I tried to drink at least 4 liters of water a day ( I know, I should be drinking double that. Still getting used to it) and to eat four meals a day. I have the breakfast and dinner thing down, the middle ones still bug me sometimes, though. Galya and I have come up with a compromise though. I am taking a can of tuna, or some beefsticks (not like the ones from the gas station ) and cheese, or something similar, and just snacking on it rather than having a whole meal taken with me. Its easy and fits into my schedule.

On the flip side of things, weight that I lost this week: 0lbs. Weight that I gained? 0lbs. I maintained, and I am not sad about it whatsoever. People keep telling me that I am looking much better (even after so short a time!) and I am still getting into the swing of things. I even have a couple of veins out on my forearms. Amazing, to me. It did show me, however, that the cardio is just as important as the working out, and this coming week I will most definitely include it even if I hate it or I feel I am too sore to do it.

Saturday, Galya surprised me with something I forgot. Every 14 days, she and I are going to do refeeds. It was great. I had pizza and ice-cream, chips and ranch dip, and two Arizona Herbal Teas. And, to be honest, while it was wonderful and great, I feel a little guilty about it. Nevertheless, knowing myself as I do, that will be the one thing that keeps me to my diet, simply because I LOVE food, and knowing I have a treat coming up every two weeks will keep me in line and not give me any incentive to cheat. If I lose 10% of my progress to the refeeds…. Well, so what. Better than losing the other 90% because I began to hate what I am doing and had no incentive. The only person I have to beat is…. Me. So, I am happy with the results this week. Next week, I will endeavor to do everything as right as I can. I hope get more results like I did this week and last.

Week 2, here I come.

You can download Episode 18 here: TheFitCast018.mp3 (Right Click and Save-as)

• INTRO
• SHAKES
• Kevin: Biotest Low Carb Metabolic Drive Strawberry with 1 serving of Mixed Berry Greens Plus
• FitCast NEWS
• Still no laptop
• Episode 3 might be no-show
• Dan John
• Michael Roussell
• RSS Feed
• The FitCast Website
• The FitCast Podcast
• The FitCast Magazine
• NEWS
• Biotest’s Beta-7
• Mom’s Dieting Can Be Unhealthy for Kids
• Cat Parasite May Affect Cultural Traits In Human Populations
• ROUND TABLE
• Could you take us through the process of getting your CSCS certification?
• Alwyn talked briefly about what method he would employ to work with a woman who had predominant lower body fat. What method would you use, and what type of nutrition would you recommend?
• How does coaching teams alter your approach to strength and conditioning versus individuals…ie surfing the line of diminishing returns in using cookie cutter” strategies?
• What is your biggest motivation for continuing to offer such educated, thoughtful advice for free? Will you continue being a fitness philanthropist if/when you become Lou Schuler-famous?
• If most athletes spent more time ___________, and less time ___________, then there would be a lot fewer injuries.
• Jonathan’s undergrad degrees are not fitness related. I think the story of how he decided to do the things that he’s doing now and the path that he took would be really interesting for people to hear, especially for those that are considering careers in fitness or those who are considering changing their careers.
• LINKS:
• Acceleratedstrength.com
• GreensPlus.com

More pictures are floating in from winners. Still waiting for Craig Ballantyne to send one in, but he mentioned on his blog that he wore it running the other day.

Marc:

BlackJack:

If you want a T-shirt head to http://cafepress.com/thefitcast

Here is Episode 2. These bars kick ass, if you have not tried them you should do so. They are low carb and calorie dense.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3473914495767378861

You can get episode 2 for the following sources:

Google Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3473914495767378861&hl=en

Direct Download (iPod Video/Quicktime): http://www.thefitcast.com/Video/The%20Video%20FitCast-%20Episode%202.mov

Gourmet Nutrition Trail Mix

To make it, just mix together 1 part dried cranberries, 2 parts raw cashews, and 2 parts raw almonds. Simple and delicious.

Nutritional Information, per ½ cup serving:

Calories: 302

Protein: 10 g

Carbs: 16 g

Fiber: 4 g

Fat: 23 g

SFA: 2.7 g

MUFA: 13.4 g

PUFA: 4.9 g

Omega-6: 4.9 g

Omega-3: 0.01 g

Vanilla Meringue Trail Mix Bars

Ingredients

3 cups Gourmet Nutrition Trail Mix

1 cup vanilla flavored whey protein powder

3/4 cup egg whites

½ teaspoon vanilla extract (if desired)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. In a large bowl, stir together the egg whites, protein powder, and vanilla extract, until you have a thick caramel-like substance. For safety and convenience, we prefer to use the pre-packaged pasteurized egg whites. Slowly stir-in the GN trail mix, mixing thoroughly.

Press the mixture into a 9X9-inch nonstick cooking pan coated with cooking spray, spreading evenly until the entire mixture is about 1-inch thick.

Bake at 350-degrees F for 10 minutes, being sure not to overcook. Cut into bars of desired shape and store in the fridge in plastic wrap or aluminum foil.

Makes 6 bars

Nutritional Information, per bar

Calories: 376

Protein: 23 g

Carbs: 17g

Fiber: 4 g

Fat: 24 g

SFA: 2.9 g

MUFA: 14 g

PUFA: 5.5 g

Omega-6: 5.1 g

Omega-3: 0.01 g

By: Jonas Talkington

Week 0

Prep Week

Whew. This week was hard. I didn’t even do everything right and I was beat.

Started the week weighing in at 227.7 lbs. 18.5% bodyfat.

This week was EXTREMELY difficult for me, because this week I began casting two movies, and I worked between 14 and 16 hours a day. It was very very hard for me to eat right and get to the gym

I began to eat breakfast every day. It’s not a big meal, but I hate having something in my stomach in the mornings, so Galya and I came up with a compromise. I had Casein protein for breakfast every day, drank over the course of about an hour. 2 heaping spoonfuls (about a scoop and a third, as I measured it). For lunch, I either had 3 scrambled eggs with a little bit of cheese and pepperoni in it and some steamed veggies, or some fitness chili that Galya cooked for me (or more steamed veggies, blech). I would then try to eat a small meal later on, such as some all natural beef sticks, a granola bar, or some cheese. For dinner, Gal would cook something, such as: Dr. John’s Chili, beef meatballs or chicken (again with the vegetables!). I had no lapses in food this week other than two French fries and one 3 inch square piece of breaded fish (not two servings of French fries….TWO fries!). I had mostly water to drink. That was the hardest part actually. I continually feel bloated, and I haven’t been able to make myself drink over a gallon a day (although I am increasing by a cup a day. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s all I can do!) I also had about 12-16 ounces of Diet Coke a day.

Exercise wise, I did a fit test on Saturday, July 30^th, and was so sore that for Monday and Tuesday, I rode the exercise bike at home. First day, 40 minutes for 10 kilometers, 2^nd day 45 minutes and 11.5 kilometers. Not bad if I say so myself. On Wednesday, I went to the gym and worked out. A program that Galya made for me, but I don’t want to release it until we have tweaked it. Thursday, I worked 16.5 hours and was beat, came home and went right to bed. Bad boy. Friday, I could only hack 20 minutes of the bike. Saturday, though, I went to the gym and worked out again. While coming back home, my legs gave out and I fell down a flight of stairs and busted up my wrist pretty badly. Sunday, I bailed again and only did 20 minutes on the bike.

Thus ends the saga of the prep week. This coming week I am deadly serious about it, and I am getting more used to how I have to be. I lost some weight this week, but didn’t weigh myself until Monday, so you will have to wait until next week…. Just kidding. I am down to 223.1 lbs

This time, instead of jumping in full bore, I am adding things slowly but surely. I got burnt out other times by changing everything right off, so this was a good transition week. I started taking fish oil on Wednesday for one meal a day, and Saturday for two meals. I also began taking Universal Nutrition Animal Cuts on Sunday. There are not a lot of good supplements available out here, so my choices are limited. I have a few buddies in the U.S. right now who are (supposedly) bringing me back some Greens+. More to follow next week. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Groovy.

By: Gabe Wilson

The ACME Corporation is like every other big company. It is filled with fluorescent lighting, bad coffee, obstinate fax machines and overnight mail that takes 3 days. Trudging to work each day it’s easy to wonder how ACME survives at all. Yet they slowly manage to eke out earnings! What can this behemoth of capitalism teach you about fitness? The answer is more than you think. A business organization is a more complex version of you. In order to survive, a business must create simplicity from chaos so that the throng of organisms can operate the complicated internal mechanisms. It is this simplistic view of complex tasks that provide lessons that you can apply today to your fitness routine that will speed up achieving fitness results more consistently than ACME’s quarterly profits.

Don’t believe me? Unless you drink daddy’s “special cola” all day long, getting your brain to fire the right synapses to tell your hand to enter your pocket to fish out your keys is a task that doesn’t take all of one second and you have almost a 99.9999 percent chance of success. If for some reason you fail, you adjust and go at it again. For an organization it’s not different only more complex. The brainy whiz kid CEO of ACME Corp. has to filter a message through the synapses of the organization comprised of an army of middle managers named Bob. It takes the Bobs 18 months and an exhaustive cross-discipline study to tell the slick talking arm of a sales force how they should enter the new pants pockets market to catch the growing car keys segment.

Unfortunately this time they missed the keys, costing millions. As a result most of the Bobs were reassigned and the sales arm was “right sized.” The problem is the car keys segment is still a desired goal, except now, who can remember what they did wrong? Those synapses are gone and the next time they go into the market they will be a little better. How do organizations learn? One simple way that an organization learns is through the use of what is known as a single learning loop. A single learning loop is a four-step process; plan, do, measure, and learn (figure 1). Like the business world, you can apply this to the complexities of achieving your fitness goals more consistently than ACME’s quarterly profits.

PLAN – Like ACME entering a new market, you need to do some work before hand. Think about the actions and assumptions that aim at achieving your goal. Are you looking to loose weight? One action is to begin to eat six clean, balanced meals, , with a well-designed exercise routine. One assumption might be that it will fit into your workday even though the holidays are approaching. You might also be assuming that the new wonder program of the month will work with your body type or is even designed properly at all. These are important assumptions that could greatly impact your performance (actions) and you haven’t even started. Are you setting yourself up for sub-optimal performance without even knowing it?

DO- Easier said than done. Organizations fail all the time at execution, product launches get bungled and deadlines are missed. Getting to the gym regularly and eating your six meals is hard, but doing is more than just showing up. Doing is also about how you execute your plan. Are you continually challenging the amounts you can successfully manipulate? What does your form look like? If you have a solid plan and diligently persevere you are more likely to succeed. Going through the motions is not enough. You have to put the book down and sweat.

MEASURE- Too often this is where individuals get lost in complex tasks compared to their corporate brethren. They fail to accurately monitor performance because they are not used to processing the complexities that achieving a fitness goal entails. So many times the changing weight and ripped abs are the only metrics people know. Organizations have a host of names for their measurements. Terms like dashboards, scorecards and KPI’s (key performance indicators) are heard around every water cooler and doughnut box. The fitness world has its versions as well, which unfortunately not many use. They are called work out logs, nutrition journals, body fat percentages and body part measurements. You wouldn’t invest in a company that didn’t keep financial records. Why shouldn’t you account for your own fitness records?

LEARN- As we’ve stepped through the learning loop, fewer and fewer people are able to say, “I do that” and keep a straight face. Like most companies it would be surprising if more than a handful of people can say they rigorously learn from their past performance. Companies cut off the arm and bury their failure while people change programs based on the flavor of the month thinking that it’s the silver bullet. Creating learning is seeking to understand the difference between planned versus actual. You start out with a goal based on a series of actions and assumptions and invariably you arrive at a slightly different place. As your body responds to the complex variables of set, rep schemes and nutritional parameters, you should be making note of what went well and what didn’t? Every program should have its own batch of lessons learned so that the next time you undertake such an endeavor you are that much farther towards getting your body to your fitness goals, instead of continuing on the treadmill running towards nothing in particular.

As tasks become more complex, learning becomes increasingly more difficult. Adding the learning loop into your fitness regime will help you make sense of the complexity. Taking goals, actions and assumptions into consideration in your planning, coupled with proper execution, creates an environment where you can evaluate, and then finally learn from your fitness programs. The learning loop is one piece of assurance that will allow you to maximize your efforts and make sure that you get to your goal faster than the mindless drone doing curls in the squat rack next to you. He probably works at ACME.