By: Kevin Larrabee, CSCS

Training without properly warming up is like bungee jumping with a cord sprayed with liquid nitrogen (OK, maybe not that severe, but just go with it). My clients will usually spend 10-15 minutes warming up including foam rolling, muscle activation, and dynamic movements. When a new resource comes out that can help my clients (and myself) warm up more efficiently I usually get really excited.

Nick Tumminello of Performance U and NickTumminello.com put together two great DVDs with new movements and progressions that you probably haven’t seen elsewhere. Many of you probably have Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson’s Magnificent Mobility. I can assure you that Nick’s DVDs do not replicate any of the movements from MM so don’t hesitate picking these up to bolster your warm-up database. These act as a great companion to MM and Inside-Out.

Each movement is setup with three progressions for the beginner, intermediate, and advanced client/athlete. I promise you that there will be a good dozen variations that you have never seen/used before in these DVDs. The production value is high and setup in a way that makes going back to the DVDs for reference very easy.  At $79 for the pair of DVDs, for less than the price of one training session, you can get a new library of warm-ups. Pick it up now.

Here is a quick preview of how the DVDs are setup:

By: Kevin Larrabee, CSCS

I don’t usually write posts about books I have just read, but this book is different. I feel lucky to have talked to the author of “Under the Bar,” Dave Tate in the past for the 1-year anniversary of The FitCast. Dave is a straight forward, no BS kind of guy, in today’s world you really appreciate that. “Under the Bar” is a kind of like a life manual that contains all of the lessons Dave has leaned in his lifetime (as you can read in the title, “Twelve Lessons of Life from the World of Powerlifitng”).

Who is the book for? Anyone who doesn’t know it all (so…everyone). Character is heavily emphasized  in the book as Dave talks about, attitude, integrity, and honestly. Attitude is a hgue factor in my field. Who is going to want a personal trainer who is depressed and has a bleak outlook on the day or life in general? Luckily I LOVE what I do. Sure there are “good” days and “bad” days, but the goal is to limit the “bad” days as much as possible. Dave says, “Attitude is a clear indicator of who you really are and who you really want to be. If you are not where you would like to be -or at least on your way- then the first place to look is your attitude.”

Everyone talks about education, but for some reason Dave really drove the point home so hard that made me spend $300 10-minutes after finishing the book even though money is pretty tight right now. I probably spend $1500-3000 on education each year which right now is a little less than 10% of my take home income. What will another $300 matter? Alwyn Cosgrove has talked about this at every seminar I have seen him at and many times talks about Nate Green’s story. Nate took out a bank loan to attend a seminar back in 2006. Now he is a regular contributor at T-nation.com.

One last thing that Dave got through to me is that you determine your mood/outlook for the day. You need to wake up every morning with a positive attitude and a mindset that you are going to accomplish great things today. That may be me writing some blog posts before going to train clients, or working on getting a guest on the show, or waking up early to read for an extra hour to better myself and in turn, get better results for my clients.

Buy the book. Now. It is less than $15 and is worth five times that.

BUY IT FROM ELITEFTS.COM

By: Kevin Larrabee, CSCS

Some of you have heard my story, but I found some old pictures and I thought it would be a good time to retell it. When I was a freshman in high school I clocked in at just under 210 lbs. I was unhappy. I can home from school and just ate food all day until I went to sleep then the cycle started all over again.

How did I end it? One day something just clicked, I don’t remember exactly what it was but it was something like I ate so much I couldn’t move or there was some hot girl I was interested in who just saw how much I hated the way I looked. That day I began running. I went about a mile. Then a week later I was running two miles. Then a week later I was running three miles, a lap around two beaches that was near my house. I rode my bike everywhere including the 4 miles back and forth to work at a grocery store. Since I was in the produce section I pretty much just ate fruit and  a turkey sub during the 8 hour shift. Was it the best “diet?” Of course not, but it got me started. Basketball was also a driving force as I wanted to be a better player for my upcoming JV season.

In three short months I dropped 35 pounds and stepped into school on the first day of my sophomore year with a whole new look and a million times more confidence.

Now, I ask you, how did you get started? Leigh, Jon and I will pick one person’s story on the show and award a FitCast T-shirt! Post your story in the comments section.

By: Kevin Larrabee, CSCS

Last Friday I blogged about my thoughts on yoga and that I would be participating in one of the classes on Sunday. Well, I did, so now I have some things to day.

1. I did enjoy the class, it was relaxing while still being challenging enough to make some sweat slide off my head and onto the purple yoga mat. But, I feel relaxed and the endorphins flowing when I do heavy deadlifts too.

2. Yes, there is a lot of lumbar flexion and rotation in some of the yoga poses and stretches. That still bothered me although the instructor did mention that you should not do the movements if you feel discomfort in the low back.

3. I need to stretch my calves more

4. Thanks to single leg training (single legged squats/deadlifts and lunges) I was able to do all of the 1-foot poses without issue.

5. A good instructor is crucial. Our instructor Jenn gave clear and concise step by step instructions that made it easy to visualize the movements (although I had to look around a few times to make sure I was doing certain things correctly)

6. I will be going back as long as it fits in my schedule. We record The FitCast on Sunday mornings, so I need to see if we can record earlier or later as the class is at 11am. In my opinion, for some yoga is a good complementary form of exercise for healthy active individuals with no low back pain or major asymmetry issues.

And again, one more picture of Moon Bloodgood:

By: Kevin Larrabee, CSCS

Yoga…Well…Yoga is… OK, I will admit, I am not a huge fan of yoga. It isn’t because I don’t think it is a good form of exercise because I do. It is defiantly better than nothing. It isn’t because I don’t want to have “better sex” (see picture to left). It isn’t because I think it is exclusively for women.

I am not a big fan of yoga because people taking the classes could may hurt themselves by:

• Becoming more mobile in the lumbar spine (which will most likely lead to low back issues)
• Hip flexors becoming too mobile: Many men won’t have a problem with this but Eric Cressey’s article on Yoga points out that, “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.” Check out the article here.
• Not gaining lean body mass, strength or increasing bone density by doing load bearing movements (I am looking at you 40 and older women) to prevent osteoporosis.
• Thinking that exercising in a 90 degree room will make them “burn fat” faster

Nonetheless, I will be taking a yoga class on Sunday before recording The FitCast. There are two reasons why I am doing this.

1. I want to become more flexible in my lower body including my hips
2. I can’t bash something I haven’t personally tried, otherwise I am an ignorant bastard

I will be coming in with my full impressions on this week’s show. Wish me luck.

And for the record, I will do yoga, pilates, Tracy Anderson’s complete DVD series, jazzercise…anything with Moon Bloodgood. If you haven’t do so already, check out Journeyman

By: Kevin Larrabee, CSCS

It will eventually happen. You will cheat, no one is perfect. Diets tend to be difficult and appropriately so as your body is craving nutrients that you aren’t giving it due to the calorie deficit. If you are going to cheat you should at least minimize the damage to your fat loss goals.

When I was a kid, we went through microwave popcorn like it was water (or Juicy Juice). I would even get excited when we got the Pop Secret Pop Qwiz popcorn that was colored and a mystery until you opened the freshly popped bag (Commercial at the end of the post, you got to watch this). When I was in high school I got my first taste of Kettle Korn at a fair and was addicted, the stuff was like crack. As I became more active and more conscious about my food choices, I just stopped eating the stuff altogether.

This past weekend I had my refeed and while at the grocery store I saw this “Smart Pop!” kettle korn popcorn. A whole bag is 360 calories and will hit the salty and sweet cravings that people tend to get. You can even get 100 calorie mini bags so tracking calories is incredibly easy.