Social Media: Where Pros Give Unsolicited "Advice"

It's late one night and you're scrolling through a social media feed on your phone and come across some friends working out. Like most individuals you might give them a like or comment about how that's awesome or congratulating them on a new accomplishment in the gym.

You go to the comments and see:

"Not hitting depth, smh"
"I'd be careful, your back shouldn't be like that"
"Shoot your hips back more and focus on arching"
"Leg drive! Arch! You'll push more once you learn to do that"

The "Fit Pro" Commenth

You click on the profile of the individual who left one of these types of comments and discover they're trainers and coaches who've decided they know best on how EVERYBODY should train.

Now I'm not talking about the fitness enthusiast who fancies themselves an uncertified trainer because they have a six pack or competed in a powerlifting meet. I'm talking about a true "professional" who puts food on the table training others. These are the guys I have a gripe with. I used quotes because these "pros" aren't very professional. 

Here's why it's a load of bull for one fitness "professional" to call out another publicly on social media.

I'm ACE, NASM, NCSA, ISSA, ABC123 CPT

While you may not agree with what you're seeing, it's also not your job to be judge and jury for all things fitness simply because you passed the most rudimentary of Personal Training certifications. Nor does ripping off someone else's training philosophy and system suddenly make you an expert. As a professional it is your job to help YOUR clients and contribute to the fitness industry. It's easy to move on and not waste your time being the form police. Instead of tearing others down why not be a positive beacon building others up by reaching out. Don't try and hijack someone else's feed by putting them down and trying to show how superior you are and why they or their followers should add you, they won't.

Did it ever cross your mind that the person you're critiquing is the very person in the video, a person who is NOT a professional but a paying customer? Now I know what you're thinking, hey if that coach did a better job the client would be moving better. Heres the problem with that line of thinking. You have no context as to how long this client's been training and more importantly how much progress said client has made.

While you may be watching someone perform a squat to a less than desirable depth or deadlift with a slightly rounded back, you didn't know that the coach wanted the client to be focused on hip positioning today. They're crushing their hip position and in time I'm sure they'll fix that back position as well. This often can be the case for very untrained individuals because they can easily become overwhelmed with dozens of cues and checkmarks. A good coach breaks things down into easy manageable steps. Sharing progress is that, progress and not the final product. Critiquing the technique of a beginner is as ridiculous as over analyzing a T-ball swing, really man what are you doing?!

Social Media Crusader

Here's my biggest gripe I have with other fitness "professionals" criticizing other pros via social media: Your critique can be the sole reason another person loses business and is unable to keep the lights on in their home. Said client may read your comment and decide that maybe their trainer isn't good and decides to stop. While you may think you're doing a service to the industry, all you're doing is a being a jerk. I've meet thousands of trainers, some good and some needing more CEU's, but for the most part they've been good people. Judging others coaching abilities isn't up to you! Who are you to be reaching in and taking money out of somebody else's pockets?! Don't be upset with them, be upset you aren't better at marketing your services to help more people. 

I firmly believe the cream rises to the top. If a coach is good they'll succeed on their own, just like they'll run themselves out of business all the same if they don't deliver results. It shouldn't be because you're planting the seed of doubt into their client's head. Yes sometimes these coaches have their clients performing less than stellar technique on a regular basis but also remember that their poor training only highlights how good you are without saying a single word. 

If you really feel the need to criticize another coach, for all that is good and holy just send them a private message.

Lastly lets stop being lazy with these bot comments and copy+paste DM's. I get you're trying to build up your following but you're trying to do so by being lazy and trying to take a short cut. Some of these comments don't even make sense, I'd ask for a refund for that bot if I were you.

I continue working on my own social media presence, it takes work and if you're a true professional, you'll be working on it yourself. 

Fad Diets

Fad Dieting

"I've tried everything, I lose some weight but when I go back to eating regular food I regain it all back."

• I only eat veggies and drink water for two months.
• Detox juices
• The Blood type diet
• Cabbage soup diet
• Paleo diet
• Cucumber and milk
• I only eat fruit 
• Drink this tea and lose weight

These are all examples of fad diets. Some better than others but really what they all have in common is that they tell you NOT to consume certain foods for the sake of maintaining a specific "diet". 

What is a Calorie?

A Calorie is chemistry. It is the measure of energy stored in food. More specifically the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1L of water by 1 degree Celsius. Food energy is turned into eat which is how we measure what we understand to be food calories.

Science and Your Body

70% of weight and body shape is hereditary. This is where we get body shapes like the ones below. 

Photo Courtesy: Precision Nutrition

However I believe that while you may be predisposed to a certain body shape it isn't an excuse to blame your parents for why you can't lose weight. No matter your body shape there's no reason you can't look the best YOUR body can be. You can lose some weight on any diet, but it comes right back on if it wasn't built upon proper nutrition habits. 

Psychological Aspect of Weight Loss

John goes on a diet to lose weight. And he is able to lose 10 lbs in 3 weeks. John proceeds to tell everybody how great his diet was. He gives full credit to the diet. The problem is John proceeds to go back to his usual eating habits and regains the weight. Instead of blaming the diet, he blames himself.  Does this sound familiar?

Often times these diets restrict and cut out a large macronutrient. That alone will force weight loss, albeit mostly water and glycogen stores. The diet had very little to do with the person's success and now it damages the individual's psyche because they don't believe they're able to succeed. And that alone is large enough of a reason to not entertain trying these types of diets. 

Many fad diets have little science to back-up their crazy ideas and claims. This is why the results aren't what you're hoping for. Just because something works for someone else doesn't mean that it works for you. When you're looking to lose weight like getting a thinner waist or smaller thighs, your body doesn't know that's all you want. Metabolically speaking, it adjusts and when you continue to consume the same amount of food you ate to lose weight; you stop losing weight. In the same way that exercise needs to be progressed so too does your nutritional protocol. 

Food Quality and "Gainz"

Would you rather consume:
A fully "organic" meal regardless of the distance the ingredients had to travel for you to eat
or
A fully locally farmed meal?

To me there's no real answer, because like in so many facets of exercise and health "it depends" is the correct response. It's widely known that the organic certification is a lengthy and expensive process that some farms are unable to pay for. They may have fully organic practices but simply can't afford the process of getting certified. 

Organic biodynamic farming practices have been shown to have a less detrimental effect on the soil where all of the micronutrients are. This is to say that most of the studies that compare conventional farming methods with GMO's and Organics are identical because the method of farming remains the same. The only change are the pesticides sprayed which are "organic", the yield will still be nutrient deficient. 

On the other hand today is Wednesday and around lunch time millions of people will head out in search of a "healthyish" meal. They walk into a restaurant that serves green juice, kale salads and chicken; sounds like you hit the jackpot. You want to order your favorite cherry tomato, corn, blackened chicken salad. Here's the problem: Tomatoes and Corn aren't in season.

So where did they come from?
How far did they have to travel for you to eat?
Chances are the corn is commodity corn which is subsidized by the government (GMO CORN).

So back to the question, which would you prefer?

Today local farmer's markets are growing in popularity and I know as long as you buy something, farmers are more than willing to share with you the growing process. To me it will always be a case by case basis in determining what I choose.

I'm likely to choose locally sourced ingredients over supermarket "organics" because it both decreases resources used to lug my vegetables to Los Angeles but because my purchase supports a small local farm, a small local businesses like ME! Would you rather give your money to Whole Foods Market, Sprouts (a company owned by Smart and Final btw) or a small family farm? 

It's not easy because life gets in the way. Meetings and trips come up where you hadn't planned on not being back for lunch or dinner; you have to make decisions. In my opinion for most it boils down to being prepared. When we're not prepared we often make poor choices, so always have a plan!

The Best Workout For Your Butt

What I want to lay out for you is the framework for a program you can alter accordingly based on how you're feeling and what you see staring back at you in the mirror. 

I'll outline a few guidelines and you can increase weight, reps and exercises as you see fit along with the rationale for why.

Progressive Overload

This is the concept that you're continually be trying to get your body to adapt to the stresses you're placing on it. It's a key component to both growing a muscle and decreasing body fat to improve muscle tone.

When discussing progressive overload, it's about building strength. You want to build strength because:

• Stronger muscles are generally larger muscles
• Strength gets rid of nagging pains (I.E: Nagging low back pain)
• The stronger you are the heavier your rep work will be (more on that in a moment)

Getting Your Reps In

After the main strength component will be more targeted repetition work. Think of this as supplemental work to the squats, deadlifts, and thrusts you'll be doing. Often this includes things like lunges, step ups, and squat-deadlift variants. Even here we still want to be moving the weights in an upward trajectory albeit not as aggressively. 

Targeted Glute Work

You'll be performing some sort of glute work EVERY SESSION. This is a concept borrowed from High Frequency Training. Short band exercises will be included every time. Skip the abductor/adductor machine, band work is a superior option since it will maintain structural balance of the joints and muscles.

Program Overview

Day 1: Main Strength Day + Rep Work

Strength will be a Squat, Deadlift or Hip Thrust in a progressive manner. The numbers listed below simply mean a percentage of your one reputation max. You would test then plan your month accordingly. Your warm up sets DON'T COUNT towards the 5 work sets.

For example lets say your 1RM is 200lbs.
You warm up: Barbell-5x, 55lbs-5x, 80lbs-5x, 100 lbs-5x, 125lbs- 5x. NOW you perform 5 sets of 8 at 70% which would be 140lbs.  

• WK 1: 5x8 @70%
• WK 2: 5x5 @75%
• WK 3: 5x3 @80%
• WK 4: 5x2 @85%

Rep work (5 sets of 8-12 reps) can entail:

If you Squatted: Reverse lunges, step ups, front squats
If you Deadlifted: KB Swings, cable pull throughs, Romanian deadlifts

Afterwards you would perform a superset (back to back) of core and a side lying clamshell (3-5 sets of 15-20 reps). 

Day 2: Main Thrust Day

Today you'll be performing a lot of prone hip extension movements. If you're someone who's happy with the size and shape of their legs I would opt for the glute bridge over a hip thrust.

I would treat it similarly as the squat and deadlift strength days where I'm progressing clients through the rep ranges while simultaneously increasing the weight on the barbell. The one difference would be the final set or two. 

EX: 5x10 Hip thrust @70% of best thrust. 
185lbs- 5 sets of 10 repetitions. 

On the final 2 sets of 185 lbs I would perform a hard long isometric hold at the top squeezing the glutes as hard and as tightly as possible.

Now where the real magic happens: perform 2 more sets decreasing the weight about 30-50% for no less than 20 repetitions. Even better if performed as a continuous hip thrust.

Supplemental Work: I would include MORE thrusts or bridge variations like single leg and stability ball leg curl+bridges along with a seated band abduction for no less than 20 repetitions.

Day 3: Unilateral Day

This day would include split squats, Bulgarian lunges and reverse lunges. These days will often be a variation of 5-8 sets of 8-12 repetitions each side.

I would then include a superset of side lying clamshells with frog pumps (4 sets of 20) and core work. 

Day 4: Power

This day you can pair however you like:
Squats + Vertical Jumps
Deadlifts + Broad Jumps
Thrusts + Swings

I'd keep the weights more conservative on this day, your goal is to get a good pop from the weights and train explosiveness. 

Afterwards I would include more band work: Seated band abduction into bodyweight weight hip thrusts off the seat (5 sets of 20) and core. 

Notes:

• You should perform some sort of upper body pulling every day, examples include: Rows, pulldowns, inverted rows, and chin/pull ups. 
• 2 days of upper body pressing, examples include: Push ups, dumbbell bench presses, dips, landmine press variations, dumbbell overhead press
• Core work should include: rollout variations, paloff presses, side planks, planks, and offset loaded carries like a one arm farmers walk. 

Personal Training and Massage

Walk through your local gym you'll see dozens of personal trainers stretching their clients. No doubt this has been going on forever, but is technically outside of the personal trainer's scope of practice.

Scope of Practice- Procedures, actions, and processes that a healthcare practitioner is permitted in undertaking. 

Scope of Practice for Personal Trainers (according to NSCA)

 "Developing and implementing appropriate exercise programs, assisting clients in setting and achieving realistic fitness goals, and teaching correct exercise methods and progression.” 

Nowhere in there does it mention any sort of muscle manipulating techniques.

Ouch That Hurts

Hey can you move back to that other spot...a little lower....YEAH! OUCH! You got it. 

This was a typical exploratory palpation session with clients whenever they were unable to release muscle on their own and so it made sense for me to get it out for them so we could get back to training. When I started doing bodywork I had already been a trainer for over 5 years and was decently versed on anatomy and biomechanics.

This all is a rationalize for what I was doing, which was outside the guidelines of my liability insurance and scope of practice. The results I got were positive across the board, but I also knew I wasn't allowed to do what I was doing. The more injuries I would encounter, the better I got at feeling healthy tissue and fibrous restrictions in the fascia and muscles. Though in the back of my mind I knew what I was doing was illegal.

I observe dozens of coaches, many of whom I see jam their elbows and fingers in areas where they shouldn't be. And not because now that I'm a manual therapist I'm on my high horse but because they're actually pressing down, rather hard I might add given the discoloration of the skin around said area, into a place where there's way too many nerves or organs.

Pot Meet Kettle

I will never tell any other coach they shouldn't be placing their hands on their clients, because that would make me a giant hypocrite. I do however advise these coaches to exercise ALOT of caution. In an effort to add value to sessions coaches range from the harmless assisted static stretching to downright dangerous let me dig my elbow into your anterior triangle. 

What I've Learned

I Didn't know WHY only how
A Manual therapist, massage therapist or LMT has undergone more extensive training than personal trainers where it pertains to understanding of how and more importantly WHY to work in a given area. They learn more manual muscle testing and specific assessments to address movement compensations. I could copy a technique but didn't fully grasp the methodology behind it.

Most trainers who perform assisted soft tissue via foam roller, ball or roller stick think: harder is better. It's not.

Getting work done on you doesn't in turn show you how to treat your clients
Copying a given technique performed on you might help YOU, but could injure your client. In the same way you wouldn't give a 65 year grandma the same exercise protocol a 25 year old would receive, the same goes for soft tissue manipulation. In the past I've seen coaches receive a quickie treatment only to see them performing the exact thing on their clients that same evening.

I hadn't earned the right to put my hands on clients. Trainers are not therapists.
Many colleagues who are both manual therapist and trainer had to juggle massage therapy school and a full slate of clients at the same time. Depending on where they're located, schooling can range from 500 hours to over 1000 hours. And while this may be a lot or a little depending on how you look at it, it's a large commitment for anyone with full time obligations. 

Trainers are not physical therapists. Most of the corrective exercises seen today don't work because the coach implementing them lack an understanding that the issue needs both manual therapy and corrective exercise.

I of course will not fool myself thinking that I am anywhere near the level of a DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) either. I always had a firm grasp on anatomy, or so I thought. I came to see that I lacked a comprehensive understanding of:

• Origin and Insertion sites
• Layers above and below muscles
• Feeling the difference between muscle and organ
• Progressions for treatment
• Contraindications with degenerative and acute diseases or injuries

I understand now I had not earned the right to put my hands on a single client because I had not committed to fully understanding the topics above. I had not put in the time, literally. I thought because I could recite muscles and actions off the top of my head that I could manipulate muscles. I was wrong. On one hand all the clients I've helped has allowed me to get a head start on my education in treating soft tissue restrictions but I also understand I probably shouldn't have ever laid a hand on a single person, no matter the outcome.