Know What You Don't Know

I watched a guy in skintight shorts, the kind men should wear under shorts only, not as shorts, giving instructions tonight to a woman at the gym. Normally I wouldn't care what he or anyone else wore. But what he wore fit what he knew, which clearly wasn't much.

He was showing her the barbell squat and he couldn't have been more wrong.

First of all, he bent at the knees first, not the hip (think about sitting down in a chair).

Then he told her to only do a three-quarters squat, but his three-quarters squat was about a quarter squat.

Finally, he told her to never go all the way down to when your thighs are parallel to the ground because it's dangerous. Sure, it's dangerous if you do it incorrectly like he did, rounding your lower back.

If that all wasn't enough to tell me he didn't know what he was talking about, there was another indicator: His legs showed almost no sign he'd added any muscle to them. Someone who knows how to do squats wouldn't have chicken legs.

Alwyn Cosgrove is a Genius

I've mentioned the name Alwyn Cosgrove many times in this blog. He's a trainer I learned of during my time running the Men's Health Web site. And he's a genius.

I know this because I basically follow what he preaches, if not his direct workout plans, and it works. He bases his beliefs on a huge amount of data he collects on clients at his California gym.

His blog is always great reading even though it's often written for other trainers instead of those of us trying to get or stay in shape. But even in those posts, he has wisdom for the rest of us.

Today is a classic example. Give it a read.

Make Common Tasks a Workout

I helped a friend this weekend spread all the gravel that her lousy snowplow guy dug up when he plowed her driveway this winter. There was a big pile of it.

My job was to shovel it into a wheelbarrow and cart it to various places, dump it and then she'd spread it.

So here's how I thought about it. Each time I dug the shovel in I bent my knees to keep my back straight and then straightened my legs to raise the shovel. That's basically a quarter or half squat each time.

Then when I turned to dump the shovel into the wheelbarrow, I twisted to the side, which worked my core.

I also made sure to switch sides and shift my grip (changing which hand was at the top) to guard against imbalances.

Then when I lifted the back of the wheelbarrow, I made sure it was with my legs and I braced my core for stability.

When I dumped the wheelbarrow, I used my legs again, pushing upward, braced my core and lifted my arms, which basically was a full-body move.

Today as I surfed I could definitely feel what I'd done yesterday.

So I helped her and helped myself.

The More Weight the Better?

A guy at the gym tonight kept loading up the bar with plate after plate as he did squats. Impressive, right?

Well, it would've been if he'd even come close to using proper form. He didn't. He barely squatted, not even coming close to getting his thighs parallel to the ground.

So what did he accomplish? Not much.

Go for form and the weight will follow.

The Strenuous Life

Theodore Roosevelt said that people should live a strenuous life. By that, he meant active. Get outside, do things.

Roosevelt of course went well beyond anything most people do today. He started a ranch out west almost on his own. He swam in the Potomac. He boxed. He explored an unknown river in Brazil.

But I do believe he's right, that we all should strive to be as active as possible. So this past weekend I snowboarded Saturday morning, split wood for three hours that afternoon (it's a great total body workout) and surfed Sunday. Then I worked in the yard, though that was the least strenuous of everything I did.

For me that's an extra-strenuous weekend. But it did feel good.

Just remember that being active can be as simple as getting in workouts when you can or taking the stairs instead of the escalator.