The Drawbacks of Endurance Training

Here's an interesting post from super-trainer Jason Ferruggia's blog about why someone he respects stays away from endless cardio, compared to interval training like sprints.

When Trainers Train

My gym's trainers of course use the gym to train during their off hours. Today was one of those cases as two guys did squats. And how did they do them? Not very well.

When they loaded up the bar, their form went in the opposite direction of the weight. They bent at the knees first instead of sitting back and their thighs didn't make it anywhere near parallel to the floor. Basically they were doing half squats.

Once again it shows why it's always good to check out your trainer's credentials and even to watch them with other clients.

One Day

Once I started working out a lot, I became a bit obsessive about getting to the gym. I didn't want to miss a day, always figuring it would set me back.

Of course an approach like that isn't so good for the rest of your life. I discussed it one day with a trainer I knew who put everything in context, "One day doesn't mean shit."

He's right. You can make up that day easily. One day isn't a setback. One day becomes a setback only if it quickly multiplies. But if it is indeed one day and if you get back to the gym the next day, it doesn't matter at all.

So if something comes up and interrupts your gym schedule, don't sweat it. Just get back in there the next day.

Age is Meaningless, Part 9

Dara Torres just won the silver medal in the 50 meter freestyle. She nearly won, losing by less than a second. Oh, and don't forget, she's 41.


She followed that up by winning a silver as she swam the anchor leg of the 4 by 100 medley relay.

SI wrote a nice piece about her, noting that her time of 52.27 in the relay was the fastest split ever in a women's medley relay.

Here and here are my previous posts about her.

When asked by NBC afterwards what she'd tell her 2-year-old, she said, "Never put an age limit on your dreams."

Amen to that.

A Bad Example

OK, I know there's a place for isolation moves like bicep curls. But in general, you get more out of multi-joint moves like squats and pull-ups.

I couldn't help but wonder why two guys at the gym tonight spent the entire time I lifted doing nothing but bicep curls. One after another after another. There were variations but they all were bicep curls, which led me to believe these guys work one body part a day.

And one clearly was leading the other, teaching him this is the way to train.

I once believed this too. But since I switched to multi-joint moves, and almost never do something like a bicep curl, I've seen faster strength gains and I simply feel more in shape.

So they can do their bicep curls. I'm going to stick with what works.

A Good Idea But ...

I watched a trainer at the gym last night rig up an interesting exercise for a client. He took a chair that slides easily, tied a long rope to it and stacked one 45-pound plate on it. The client grabbed the rope and pulled it across the floor and toward him from a standing position, which worked a lot of muscles.

When the chair reached a second 45-pound plate sitting on the floor, the client sprinted to it, picked it up, put it on the chair and ran back to the end of the rope to pull again, until it got to a third plate, when he repeated the process. It ended when he pulled the chair to him.

Great idea, I was thinking. It was far different than most of the junk I see trainers doing.

That's the good part. The bad part is when the client picked up the plates to put them on the chair, he bent over at the waist, rounding his back badly and putting pressure on his lower back. The trainer watched and didn't say a word. All he had to do was say, squat down and pick up the plate as if you were deadlifting the plate. But he didn't.

So a good idea, but one more step would've made it even better.

Strange Happenings at the Gym

I simply don't understand quarter-rep woman. She comes in day after day and never does anything more than a quarter of a rep. Every single time. What's the point?

Super-trainer Keith Scott has noticed someone similar at his gym and I'm sure you have too. Here's a funny list he put together.

A Personal Best, Every Workout

Super-trainer Jason Ferruggia, whose workouts I've used and liked, frequently talks about going for a personal record each workout. A personal best can come in different forms -- a bit more weight, one more rep, a longer interval or a shorter recovery time between intervals.

But the key thing about his approach is that it causes you to push yourself each and every workout.

I like this approach. Tonight at the gym I set personal bests in three different exercises. Sure, each was small, one more rep on one for instance. But if you walk into the gym every time ready to do better than before, chances are you'll do it. Maybe not every time but often than not.

Our Own Olympic Dreams

Olympic athletes do things most of us can only dream of. But that doesn't mean we can't learn things from how Olympians train.

That's the point of my good friend Katie Hobson's recent article in U.S. News. With the help of trainers including Alwyn Cosgrove, Katie offers a road map to what you can take away from these super athletes.

So give that some thought as you watch the Olympics this week.