Gym Philosophy: Wooden Shoes > Silk Slippers

That Voltaire was a wicked smart dude.

This quote floats around my head quite a bit. History is filled with stories of hard nosed-people replacing their more decadent, softer brethren.  Don't believe me?  Ask Louis XVI.

This lame joke goes out to the history buffs

Just kidding.  To me this quote is less about fomenting revolution and more a reminder to myself that toughness is a virtue.  If we're honest with ourselves, we can admit that we live in the most comfortable candy coated soft and sweet time in the history of man. Twenty-three hours of your day are filled with air-conditioning and cushions.  You could take one hour to get a little uncomfortable, right?

Yes, exercise is challenging, but that's relative to the rest of your life.  Do you think your great-great grandpappy who grew up on a farm and stormed the beach at Normandy would find your Zumba class challenging?

I don't bring this up to put anyone down, I bring it up as a reality check. While infomercials and fad diets play charlatan to the silk slippered masses, Resolve and Discipline are fitting the accomplished with wooden shoes.

So get hiking, and don't forget to wear your fitbit.

Single Leg

What is it?

- Any lower body exercise executed on one foot. So yes, the Crane Kick applies.

Why should I care?

- Moving on one leg is beneficial for the same reasons as split stance exercises, and generally requires a lot more stability.   Stable ankles, hips, and knees tend to be less prone to boo-boos making me a big fan of single leg variations for people prone to knee valgus.

Click for more on Knee Valgus from Bret Contreras

How?

- Single leg exercises are about precision.  Start with the single leg RDL and focus on keeping your chest and hips square to the floor while loading your hamstrings.  How do you load your hamstrings? Well, the lightbulb went off in my head when I watched this clip from Dan John.  Tune to 3:40 for the  goodies.

Cues

- Establish a tripod foot and get rooted (for some that means "screwing" their foot into the floor and for others it means trying to grab the floor with their foot)
- Push your hips back to load your hamstrings
- As the hip pushes back the trailing leg should rise in harmony with the head as it lowers.
- Pull your hips back under you to return to a standing position.

This is a difficult exercise to do well.  Start with this awesome drill from Tony Gentilcore...

Master that and then trade the foam roller for a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, or a landmine like below...

Split Stance

What is it?
- Split Stance movements are lunge variations and step up variations.

Why should I care?
- Split stance movements allow you to simultaneously train lower body strength and stability, which are great qualities to have if you're not quite ready to commit to Life Alert.  Lucky for you split stance work starts somewhere familiar, the 90/90 position(Half Kneeling).

Remember me?

The Split Squat is our tier one split stance movement. Mastering this will allow you to easily transition to higher tier split stance variations.

How?
- For beginners its best to start from the 90/90 position and then rise by pressing through the front foot.  Soon you'll be able to start from the top and descend into the 90/90 like I did in the video. Also, if you're doing well getting into the position, you may feel a stretch down the quad of the trailing leg.

Cues
- Assume the 90/90 position, aligning the knee and ankle under the hip
- Squeeze the glute on the side of the down knee
- Make sure you can feel your entire tripod foot in front and press the floor away
- Descend and return your knee to the starting position on the floor

Once you have the split squat down, you can attempt other split stance variations like the...
- Reverse Lunge

- Walking Lunge

- Lateral Lunge

- Step Up

Thoughts on the topic from smart folk
- 5 Benefits of Single Leg Training - Mike Robertson
- Nothing Beats Single Leg Training - Ben Bruno
- Only Wimps Avoid Single Leg Work - Ben Bruno

Collateral Sabbatical: Unilateral Training

Thus far we've primarily focused on bilateral(two limb) strength exercises, and core stability exercises.  Now, assuming you've mastered the prior movements, its time to marry Strength and Stability with unilateral(one limb) movements.

What is it?
- Unilateral exercises are those where one limb is responsible for driving the exercise.  The landmine press, lunges, high fives are all unilateral.

Unilateral Grip Strength Training in Predator(1987)

Why should I care?
- Unilateral exercises give you an opportunity to iron out asymmetries.  Trade squats for split squats and you'll likely be surprised how much stronger or stable one leg feels. Even the best training programs can't account for the extra reps acquired by using our dominant arm and leg in daily life.

- Unilateral exercises also allow you to continue training aggressively without loading your spine aggressively.

- Unilateral exercises are HIGH TIER CORE exercises. One limb produces the movement while the rest of the body provides stability.  Remember the Landmine Press? One arm presses and the rest of the body busies itself resisting rotation, flexion and extension.  Killing four birds with one lift.

Thought on the topic from smart folk
- Unilateral Strength Training - Shane McLean

The Foot: Passive or Active

The foot is the foundation of lower body training. Literally. That being the case, its a good idea when training to apply some specificity to what your feet are doing, and use an active or tripod foot.

What is it?
- The active or tripod foot is a reliable means of ensuring optimal foot position for squats, deadlifts, split squats, etc.

The active or tripod foot is the neutral foot

Why should I care?
- The devil is in the details they say.  They also claim he's in Georgia. Sounds to me like the devil is in a salon in Georgia.  That aside, errors in execution are often due to lack of specificity.  If your feet aren't aligned they'll feed that misalignment back up the chain to your knees, hips, and beyond.

Cues
- With shoes off, establish firm connection between your heels and the floor
- While maintaining contact through your heel, press the ball of your foot into the floor
- Next press the ball of your pinky toes into the floor, keeping contact with the heel and other ball
- Finish by tightening your glutes (think screwing into the floor)

Thoughts on feet from smart fellas.
Mastering Tripod Foot - Mike Robertson
Passive vs Active Foot - Tony Gentilcore

Humility

After that last post I wanted to take an opportunity to cut through the stench of any self-righteousness you may have read into and make clear I STILL HAVE A LOT TO LEARN.  In fact a major reason behind developing this blog, in addition to being a service to my clientele, has been to document my understanding of things related to fitness.

By writing down my current understanding of concepts and movements I'm exposed to anyone who comes across this blog and to myself.  I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times I have watched a video of myself demonstrating an exercise only to realize how poorly I performed.

"Didn't this idiot just get done telling us how important it is to stack the hip over the knee?"

Many of these videos were taken a long time ago and my understanding of some movements has developed since then.

"Where's that reach at the top you think is so important, Trev?"

That being the case I plan on reshooting many of the videos and using the old ones to juxtapose my developing thoughts on movements against my previous understanding.  I will however point out that I don't consider any of these errors in movement to be dangerous and thats whats most important.  I don't move perfectly and I don't expect you to. We're all built differently and carry with us our own asymmetries, making perfect movement an impossibility.  Impossible is a friggin' awesome goal though. You know, shooting for the moon and all that.

Gym Philosophy: Clock In

That Einstein was a wicked smart dude.  This idea seems obvious, but the genius comes with application.  Nothing about your health or well being will improve until you take action and make it happen.

After several years of training I've noticed the most significant obstacle standing the in the way of a client's improvement is taking that initial step towards the gym.  If you don't show up, I cannot help you.  Pay me all you want, but fitness is something you can't buy.  For some that may be unwelcome news, but not for me.

The beauty of the gym is that it's one of the only meritocracies I know of.  You can't inherit fitness, your parents can't buy it for you, it does't matter who you are and who you know.  In fitness, the only thing that matters is your effort and your plan.  Lucky for you, I take care of the plan.  The effort is up to you.  Show up and give a 10 and you'll get a 10, give a 6 and get a 6.  Don't show up and decay. I'm sure you've got a good excuse...like this guy.

I realize that working out is not everyone's idea of a good time, but I think we can agree that it is necessary and beneficial.  Kinda like brushing your teeth.  Do you have to work yourself into a frenzy to clean yourself? No...I hope. You realize it is necessary and good for you, so you do it.  Its a part of your routine.  So why not look at exercise in the same light.

Herculean efforts in the gym every two months can't hold a candle to the effectiveness of regular visits to the gym, regardless of how modest the exercise might be.  Consistency is key.

I don't always enjoy working out.  For me those days are "punch the clock" days.  I show up, do the work, and leave.  Keep this in mind the next time sloth comes calling.