Why You Shouldn't "Work Up" To Hiring a Personal Trainer/Coach

Every week I receive an e-mail or inquiry that goes something like this:

I'm looking to get serious about my training but would like to begin in a month. I'm trying to work myself up to working with a trainer.

Here's why you shouldn't feel this way and needlessly spend your time spinning your wheels. Even worse, you may put yourself behind the proverbially eight ball with poor movement patterns and reinforcing bad habits. 

We Already Made the Mistakes For You

Individuals become personal trainers after many years of trials and tribulation both mental and physical. We've failed and learned from mistakes. So why spend weeks or months making those exact same mistakes!

We want to help you get to your goal in the quickest way possible, so you can have the body you've always dreamed of. If you decide to hire a trainer, it's not for an hour of their time, 3x per week. You're hiring them for their years of expertise and knowledge.

I go into work every day with the goal of making you better. Your goals are our goals, if you succeed then we succeed.

We've Been Where You've Been

Nobody likes change. Why go through it alone. Part of why you hire a coach is that they've been in your shoes at some point in their lives. That experience is something that can't be taught.  

And even if they haven't been in your exact position, a great coach should be able to empathize with your fears and concerns. Sometimes you look at a trainer's physique and think they've never been fat or out shape. Which is simply not true. We all begin from the same start line. 

Hair good for the selfie. Now where's that "How to Deadlift video" again?

Trainers Are Usually Not YouTube Educated

What I mean by this is not that we don't occasionally peruse YouTube to learn from better coaches, but that the overwhelming majority of our expertise isn't only from the internet.  

They've often spent years either in school earning a degree, a CSCS or being accredited by reputable certifying bodies like ACE, NASM, NSCA, and ISSA. This is another aspect of what you're paying for. If all they did was open up a magazine or choose a workout from a website, wouldn't you just do it then!? (sadly the answer is no for a lot of people)

I've spent a decade reading countless books and watching video products to be the coach that I am today. I'm not only proud but can stand with my head held high that I provide people the best possible service that I can.  I really believe this, down to my core. 

"Speed" Ladder Doesn't Build Speed

A starting point would be discussing populations that would benefit from using a speed ladder: beginners, youth and/or out of shape deconditioned individuals. You know what else would improve their general fitness, strength, power and endurance? ANYTHING! 

There are "speed" coaches out there who use the ladder drills with their youth population and see great results. Likewise trainers who use them with the elderly population and see an improvement in movement and balance. But I would argue they could perform a rudimentary movement pattern for an hour once a week and produce similar benefits. This holds true for individuals who has less than a year of formal training. 

The speed ladder is often used as a tool to improve athletic performance including speed and agility. Lets go over what speed and agility really means in the context of athletics. 

Speed involves covering more ground in a shorter period of time. If you can run 100 meters in less time after 1 month of training, you've improved your speed. The basic principles to improving speed is increasing stride frequency to go with stride length as a means of quantifying speed improvement. It's often thought of in more linear movements like the 40yard dash shown here by NFL Running Back Chris Johnson. 

Agility is your ability to change direction rapidly while being able to apply more horizontal force into the ground at an angle different than your current direction. To do this effectively your legs must be outside the vertical position of the center of your mass. If your center of mass doesn't move, you won't change directions. All you'll do is move your legs and not fall on your face. Agility often goes hand in hand with change of direction.

Anything we perform in the gym is done to improve general physical preparedness for athletics. Any result to tie-in athletic performance to a drill is pointless since there is a lack of specificity to the activity. Sports in itself is chaotic by nature, and running a linear pattern won't do much to get you ready for the reactive nature of the beast.. 

Speed and agility are based on rate of force, meaning if you go through the ladder at a sub maximal rate, you'll only improve your conditioning. Likewise any true speed training needs to be done with adequate rest periods, anything less than that you'll simply be performing cardio. For any training modality to work, it has to replicate or produce fundamentally similar benefits as the end goal. The S.A.I.D (specific adaptations to imposed demands) principle applies here, your training needs replicate force, rate of force application, metabolic and neural demands of an activity to have true carry over. 

Ladder drills can be very effective as a warm up for true speed training. It can help load and unload the muscles, tendons and incorporates some cardio. Technique needs to be the focal point, so skip the fancy footwork you saw on youtube.

Agility training involves a rapid change of direction from the initial direction of momentum. The most effective way to change direction involves having the legs move well outside of the vertical alignment of the center of mass, and driving into the ground at as horizontal of an angle as possible to create a strong drive against the ground. Momentum can also be overcoming inertia if you aren't already moving. This rapid change from no movement to movement could be considered a “first step,” which does not fall neatly under traditional speed training. The best example of agility would be NFL great Barry Sanders, always amazing to watch!

While ladder drills involve a rapid change of direction from one position to another, the direction one applies force is more linear than horizonatal. As a result any movement outside the center of mass is usually pretty tiny compared to more conventional agility training. Ladder drills would work well as a warm up for the same reasons mentioned above for speed, but in terms of developing higher levels of agility, it may not be as beneficial. It could be incorporated in sub-maximal workouts to involve some change of direction with low loads to stay sharp.

Like with the smith machine and bosu ball, every tool has a job in the gym. The ladder is great when used appropriately. It does very little to build top end speed, agility or quickness compared to conventional training. Relying on the speed ladder as a main cog to your training might actually make the athlete slower.

It's great when used for conditioning, rehabbing and as a warm up for much higher impact movements but as a stand alone training tool, it won't make you an Olympic sprinter any time soon. 

Master Chef 105: Stir Frying

Stir frying or Sautéing is often considered the chef's microwave. Sauté means to jump, which is what you'll be doing (sort of). Quick, fast and tasty dishes are created using this high heat method of cooking and I would say it's my go to cooking method after a long day of work and no leftover prepped food in the fridge. 

The MOST important part of stir frying is having all you ingredients ready to go. Dice all proteins and slice all vegetables even before putting the heat to your pan or wok. Any sauces should be pre-mixed as well. Once all prep work is done, you are ready to begin cooking. 

Mushroom Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb chicken breasts, cubed into bite sized pieces

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp Canola Oil

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

8 oz mushrooms, sliced. (Crimini or white button both work)

1/2 onion, sliced thinly

1 Zucchini, cut into half moons

1/4 c Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Sherry Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar

4 Garlic coves, minced

2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, minced

METHOD:

1. Toss chicken with corn starch

2. Heat the pan over medium and add Canola oil. Cook all the chicken. 

3. Set the chicken aside and turn the pan/wok up on high. 

4. Cook the mushrooms, zucchini and onion until browned.  

5. Add garlic and ginger and continue to cook.

6. Once all the veggies have softened a bit, add back in the chicken and mix well. 

7. Add in the soy sauce and vinegar. Cook until it reduces a bit to a thicker sauce like consistency.

8. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed
 

NOTE: If you watched the snapchat video I added above, you see that I forget to prep the onions. Which took maybe a minute while I was cooking the chicken. Well that minute where I left the chicken unattended allowed some of it to get crispier (because of the cornstarch and subsequently left the pan too burnt to continue cooking with. So I had to remove all the veggies and get a new pan. Take home lesson? DON'T START COOKING UNTIL ALL PREP IS DONE!

The One Thing You Can't Teach

For years I've worked in the fitness industry where at times being ignorant can be the best trait a coach can have. Since you don't know any better and whole heartedly believe in your skills, you don't know that the 10th set of wrist curls isn't doing much to help a 32 year old female client who came to your originally to lose 10 lbs get fit for the summer. You're under qualified, but no one could call you a crook.

What I plan to discuss today isn't this type of coach, it's one LIKE the aforementioned above trainer who KNOWS better but doesn't care. In essence...

The fitness industry is filled with liars and scammers looking to make a quick buck. 

There's often big promises of "fast results" and "easy ways to lose weight", which I can tell you is utter bullshit considering it's the boring stuff we've done for years that works the best. Lee Boyce addressed this problem that has been written about many times in the past. 

When an unsuspecting consumer or follower sees a fit-looking person promoting a questionable exercise, most people will take it at face value and follow suit, assuming that that particular exercise is one reason why that fit person is in shape to begin with. 

Examples like the one above are the reason I hate hearing the term "your body is your business card." Sadly, that quote permeates the fitness industry and won't stop. I also have to admit that there's a fair truth to the phrase.

Related: Read the full article http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lee-boyce/bad-fitness-advice_b_10106516.html

Your body is not your business card, and trainers don't get paid to be in shape or lift weights all day. You should be fit because it's your passion, period. You don't need to look like an upside triangle, but you should look like you could run a 5K without training for it and not die. 

The issue is when an individual only markets themselves via how they look, and a lot of very qualified coaches who aren't as "shredded" lose business because lets be honest, we judge books by their cover. It's imperative that the trainer be as qualified as possible and the client has a bit of responsibility to themselves to do some research too. You don't just go on yelp and pick any mechanic or doctor, so why would you do the same by simply going with the first result or the most cost effective trainer running a grouponesque special. 

I believe that the cream rises to the top, businesses seeking the quick buck often don't last. Trainers should continue honing their craft and expanding their knowledge base (which should also include business and psychology). In time things have a funny way of working themselves out. I'll close with this quote I heard from a fellow colleague

"He doesn't have 10 years of experience, it's 1 year of experience repeated 9 more times."

Run Further & Faster: Strength Training for Runners

It's been almost a decade since I was consistently crushing half marathons at elite level times of 1:10:00. With that type of natural talent and success I of course took the logical next step to quit because I was tired of looking like a typical marathon runner! (sarcasm level 11) Below is a photo from high school and mind you I had been "lifting" for about 8-9 months. I think my wrists were the same size as my arms. 

2003

2013 , I look like a buff oompa loompa

• Competed in a physique competition
• Deadlift 3x bodyweight
• Bench press 2x bodyweight
• Squat 2x bodyweight

And while none of those numbers are going to win me a powerlifting competition, I'm very proud of the weight I've been able to move at 150 lbs. That seems to be where my body likes to maintain homeostasis. Alas I'm a very competitive person and the one thing that I continue to ask myself:

What if I had continued running instead of lifting weights?

In less than a month I will be 30 years old. And I remember vividly saying the day I quit running that I could always go back to running when I turned 30. The rationale was that I should take advantage of my prime years building muscles and getting stronger.* 

As 30 approaches, I've decided to seek out a new challenge in a familiar activity. Now armed with a decade of lifting and years of experience with a wide range of clients, I now want to know this:

Can I maintain strength and what relative size I've accrued and get back to running elite long distance times?

Strength is the basis for all athletic endeavors so it should include long distance running too. While there are diminishing returns on carrying more muscle as it makes you heavier, there is a healthy middle ground. Strength training is the missing component for keeping most recreational runners healthy.

A basic strength program has many benefits such as:

1. Building bone density, something many runners lack due to poor dietary practices leaving them at a high risk for stress fractures.
2. Maintaining muscle mass which is lost during endurance training. 
3. Improve functional strength and capacity which declines as you age.
4. Enhances endocrine and immune function which are compromised by endurance training.
5. Ability to rapidly correct muscle imbalances. Strength is a corrective exercise. The running joke with runners seems to revolve around what injury they're dealing with and how long before they can go back to running and ward off that same injury. 

What sort of strength training?

Free weights mostly and no machines DON'T count. Part of what makes strength training useful is the fact that you have to stabilize in multiple planes of motion as opposed to only working on a fixed track. A machine workout is practically pointless (from a functional standpoint) because running doesn't occur in a seated fixed motion either. 

When you do for example, a weighted step up, your body has to generate force in a single leg position. In order to perform the movement properly you'll need to force muscles like the adductors (inner thigh) and your abductors (outer thigh/butt muscles) to work together to stabilize your leg so you don't fall over. By training in this manner, you improve muscular balance and thus improve running efficiency and prevent problems such as lateral knee pain, hip pain, and lower back pain. 

I should add that many runners like to perform machine work in a slow controlled manner because it's somehow similar to running? Put simply, if you train slow, you'll be slow in competition. If you want to run a marathon, specificity of training is more important than mimicking what you think is hitting those "slow twitch" muscle fibers. When you run, focus on running. When you're lifting, focus on progressive overload and getting more athletic. 

Practical advice: Set tempo runs on days you lift and separate your longer runs at least a day apart from your strength days. 

Weight Training will make me heavy

Endurance training naturally is not conducive to growing muscles, especially in a female population with lower testosterone levels. Getting in enough calories is tough given the amount of volume performed. Any calories you take in will be used to improve overall efficiency rather than actual increases in muscle size. Add in the fact that in order to gain muscle, you need a surplus of calories, that's pretty hard if you're lifting AND running as well. 

Practical advice: A stronger muscle will get a little bigger, but make no mistake, you won't look like the hulk running 26.2 miles. Or JJ Watt.

Imagine if he could run a 2 hr marathon, there'd be no escaping him

Wrapping it up

Does every runner need to be able to squat and deadlift 2-3x their bodyweight? No, but you should focus on strengthening the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) to help balance out all the quad dominant work that goes on with running. Getting stronger in unilateral movements like lunges, step ups and single leg RDL's will help get the hips more balanced and thus making you a more efficient runner. And more core work like paloff presses, dead bugs and planks will help transfer energy to run faster and absorb the forces of the pavement. 

If you found anything I've mentioned helpful, insightful or funny I would request of you one thing, to hit that share button on the bottom and share this piece with another friends who runs or might be needed some guidance. Much appreciated!

*I've been running for about 45 days at 8:00 minute mile pace, with my best one mile at 6:50. I feel REALLY heavy, but I'm sure I'll continue to improve as I get in more miles. On a positive note, I've maintained strength and my physique fairly well while allowing myself to really up my carb intake to around 400-500g/ day which is pretty awesome.