“I just want the scale to go down!”
“Absolutely, but look, you lost a total of 12 inches, you can tie your shoes now without having to sit down, your blood pressure has gone down and you told me that all your friends are noticing that you lost weight!”
“Yeah, I know! But I just want the scale to go down!”
I hate having this conversation with people. Hate it. Hatehatehatehate it. The first time I have to have this conversation with someone it is ok because I try and explain to them that out of all the variables I look at (clothing size, tape measurements, skin fold, before and after pics, functional movement screen, scale weight, internal feelings/external attention, etc.) the scale by far for most people is the most important.
To me it doesn’t make any sense! Everything goes in a positive direction…except the scale weight and people concentrate on only the negative aspect of the scale.
“I lost 4 inches on my belly but the scale only went down 2 lbs in the past 2 weeks!”
That was a conversation that I had yesterday with a client.
Very few people will lose 4 lbs a week every time they weigh in. That would be 96 lbs in a year! Sorry folks, not gonna happen.
So look at it from a different perspective, a positive perspective, a point of view that will lend itself to making healthy decisions and focusing on the positives and not the negatives. As long as something positive is happening, enjoy the changes and enjoy the journey!
A negative attitude will drag you down the ladder of weight loss success faster than binging on a bag full of corn nuts and snickers.
So instead of “watching your weight” ask yourself these questions the next time you weigh in:
Do I feel better than I did two weeks ago?
Am I stronger than I was two weeks ago?
Am I more flexible than I was two weeks ago?
Are my clothes fitting differently than two weeks ago?
Are people noticing changes?
Am I notices changes?
Has my internal health changed? (i.e. blood preassure, resting heart rate, etc.)
If you answered YES to any of those questions then you have been successful in your body transformation endeavers.
November 14th, 2009
Posted by
bendearman |
Uncategorized |
Mike: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. First so we all have some perspective, how long have you been a trainer?
Alwyn Cosgrove: I started training people in 1989. Actually 1987 if you count teaching martial arts classes.
In 1995 (after college) I went full time. Since day one I’ve been very particular (i.e. ANAL ) about what I do. I track and tweak everything. When we opened Results Fitness in 2000, we really started to gather a lot of data. We currently have 250 members and we track all their workouts and body comp changes week in and week out.
Mike: So it is like you run your own fat loss studies at your gym?
Alwyn: Exactly. We had read all the studies showing interval training to be superior for fat loss than steady state training. This confirmed what we were seeing with our clients. But I am a big believer in that there is no physiological limit to the amount of weight a person can lose in a week, month, or year so I kept tweaking and tracking the results.
Mike: What has been one of your biggest breakthroughs lately?
Alwyn: One day it hit me — cardiovascular programming is an ass-backwards concept.
I don’t know when I first thought this - but it was confirmed to me when viewing Lance Armstrong’s performance in the New York Marathon.
I’d been taught through my college education and countless training certifications and seminars that cardiovascular exercise was necessary to improve the cardiovascular system and subsequently aerobic performance.
But there seemed an inherent flaw in that argument….
Why didn’t Lance Armstrong - with perhaps one of the highest recorded VO2 max levels in history - win the New York Marathon? Or beat people with lesser aerobic levels than himself?
The greatest endurance cyclist (and possibly endurance athlete) of all time - the seven time Tour De France winner - finished 868th and described the event as the “hardest physical thing” he had ever done.
Runner’s World Magazine actually examined Lance’s physiology (and VO2 max which was tested at 83) and compared them to the numbers of Paul Tergat (the World Record holder and defending NYC Marathon Champion at the time).
They concluded:
“This figure wouldn’t mean much if it weren’t for the pioneering research of famed running coach Jack Daniels, Ph.D., who first published his Oxygen Power tables in 1979– According to Daniels, who’s rarely off by more than a smidgen or two, a max VO2 of 83 is roughly equivalent to a 2:06 marathon”
Based on his other physical qualities the magazine suggested that Lance was capable of running 2:01:11.
The world record at the time was 2:04:55
Lance ran 2:59:36 (and don’t misinterpret me - that’s still a great time). But it’s clear that the physiology didn’t transfer the way the running community expected.
The flaw in this thinking was looking solely at aerobic capacity — VO2 max - the “engine” as it were. And it’s fair to say that Lance had a “Formula One” engine.
But he didn’t have the structural development for running. Lance was a cyclist - his body had adapted to the demands of cycling. But NOT to the specific demands of running (in fact Lance had only ran 16 miles at once EVER prior to running the marathon). Lance had developed strength, postural endurance and flexibility in the correct “cycling muscles” - but it didn’t transfer to running the way his VO2 max did.
From this example we know that cardio training doesn’t transfer well from one activity to another - and it only ‘kicks’ in because of muscular demand - so why don’t we program muscular activity first - in order to create a cardiovascular response. Makes total sense.
So how does this relate to fat loss? We have found that our most successful fat loss programs center around stimulating the muscles to burn more calories - not ramping up and down the cardiovascular system. What matters is total caloric burn and how much you can increase the person’s metabolism. It is a total shift in thinking.
Mike: Wow. So it is this the death of intervals and cardio? How to you put this into action with clients?
Alwyn: What we have found is so great about this approach is that you burn more calories, lose more weight, while putting a lot less stress on your joints.
Here’s how I like to think about it. Let’s look at traditional interval training which uses running.
Depending on stride length - walking a mile takes about 2000 repetitions and running takes 1000-1500 and will burn on average 100 calories or so.
So if we use an interval training model of running and walking - we’re looking at around 1500 reps to burn 100 calories.
If we take traditional models of caloric burn - this means we’d need to do 35 miles to lose one pound of fat from our interval training efforts (discounting the metabolic afterburn for now).
So we have a problem. It’s a very poor “rate of return” on our “rep investment”.
Additionally - running applies a vertical force of 2x bodyweight on the joints of the lower body.
So now we have a dilemma.
Let’s choose a 180lb deconditioned overweight client.
1500 reps x 360lbs = 540,000lbs of force to burn 100 calories. (The 360lbs is 2x 180lbs)
That’s a LOT of stress on the joints. Literally - TONS!
Now no one was getting injured, but it seemed like there had to be a better way. A better “return”…
So — we started to think of how we could use different interval training methods other than running to get the same metabolic effect without stressing the joints so much.
We used the airdyne bike, other bikes in order to create a training effect with less load. But whenever you take the bodyweight out of the equation in cardio - you have to work harder to burn the same calories. So this usually needs more reps. So that didn’t seem like a much better idea.
At this point we started using metabolic training with weight training implements/kettlebells and bodyweight exercises in the same interval format.
So a circuit of five exercises, performed three times round (15 total sets) would actually burn more calories than the same time spent doing traditional cardio. That was a plus.
But we could also do sets of just 10-15 reps. So we’re looking at 225 total reps (with a force LESS than your bodyweight) as opposed to 1500+ reps at double bodyweight.
We gave it a try. Clients loved it (which was a huge plus), and actually started to get better results than we were getting with intervals.
So we get more fat loss, less stress on the body, and happier clients. It is a win-win-win. Currently we don’t program traditional interval training our regular fat loss clients anymore.
So, yeah…it is the death of traditional intervals.
November 5th, 2009
Posted by
bendearman |
Uncategorized |
According to one of the largest studies ever conducted on the outcomes of ACL surgery, patients under 40 and women are both more likely to have second knee surgery within a year of an ACL repair.
Investigators looked at surgical outcomes in 70,000 patients who had ACL reconstruction surgery from 1997 to 2006 in New York state. The results, published in the October 2009 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, found the following:
- Patients 30 to 39 years old had a 19 percent increased risk for additional ACL surgery.
- Patients 20 to 29 years old had a 43 percent increased risk for additional ACL surgery.
- Women patients are 18 percent more likely to have additional knee surgery after an ACL repair.
- Patients treated by less experienced surgeons and at hospitals that perform fewer ACL repairs are at higher risk for having a second knee surgery.
The study authors speculate that younger athletes may be at higher risk for another ACL repair because they may return to activity more quickly and may be less likely to follow a rehab guidelines. For these athletes, following an ACL prevention program is extremely valuable.
They also reminded patients that ACL reconstruction is a complex surgery that is best performed by a surgeon who has a great deal of experience and does these repairs routinely.
October 20th, 2009
Posted by
bendearman |
Uncategorized |
This was an email that I recently got and I decided that I would post my response below it.
Hello Ben,
We got your bulk mailing for KDR Fitness.. I did spend some time on your web site and liked the overall concept of your program.. maybe place a photo of you and your staff in the about us section..
I wanted to say I think you miss the point of the Wii Fit.. if there is a point.. owning one I would never never say that it replaces a good fitness program and common sense nutrition life styles.. what it does is, hopefully, get young people to get off the couch and do something with their body other than push a game controller button..(come on parents get your kids active please!) .. maybe even a few adults.. it certainly does not replace a personal trainer.. or trips to the gym.. my grand daughters use the Wii Fit (and yes Guitar Hero) and both play soccer, hoops, dance, are active young adults.. I admit that I use it for yoga poses as a cool down after treadmill or elliptical work outs.. the Wii may seem like crap to a Navy Seal.. but if it motivates a kid to get up off the couch for some light weight workouts.. maybe they’ll begin to see the value in sweat equity.. now if we can just get them off fast food and high sugar sodas..
Best regards and wishes for a successful venture
My response:
Great points. Wii fit is just a bad concept period. There is no good point to it. Basically you have society saying “hey, we have a serious problem here. Our kids are the first generation in the history of human kind that are predicted to die before the parents. We have to do something about it!”. Enter the Wii and Nintendo. Enter Wii Fit. Everyones happy because they “think” that its just about getting kids active, but you have to get kids active in the right way. For instance teaching a child how to run. My girlfriends son got home from spending time with his grandparents and he told us that he played the Wii and it was a running game. The whole while he was running in place. Not a bad thing, however, running in place is not RUNNING. It is actually a single leg hop w/alternating knee drives. Running requires propulsion forward and upward initiated by the toes and finished by the force absorption of the opposite foot.
So the Wii is fit is good because it elevates your heart rate, makes you sweat, gets you breathing heavy and is better then the traditional video game. However, a high school student goes through those same body functions on their first date, or any time their “crush” walks by. I know some friends who get that way about eating a big meal! In fact, I just saw an episode of Man vs. Food where the host was kind of looking like that! Activity for activity sakes is not good in young kids. Let’s get them moving is a good quote. But it should be lets get them moving in a way we were meant to move. We were not meant to move in place, in side with incorrect tactile/visual and proprioceptive feed back. I wont even go into the incorrect messages the brain is getting with the Wii fit as it pertains to “sporting movements”. I wish I could agree with you about maybe leading them into a more active lifestyle by showing them the value of sweat. But the only real value they are getting is an external rewards based system. The more I sweat, the more points I get. Not the more I sweat, the better I can perform at my chosen activity, the better I feel, the better I look, etc.
As a stand alone, there is no excuse for using the Wii and classifying it as exercise. As a supplement, absolutely! Speaking of which I think I may challenge my girlfriend to a game of tennis now…on the Wii!
Great thoughts!
Ben
October 12th, 2009
Posted by
bendearman |
Rants, Uncategorized |
30 days in a month
6 meals in a day
180 meals in a month
That means to be 90% compliant you can mix 18 meals in one month.
Or, 4 meals a week…plus another 2 meals during the month.
1 meal does not make or break you when you look at it from the “long view”. Consistency is what makes or breaks your health goals. If you eat perfect on the week days, and miss 4 meals during the weekend, every weekend…you still have 2 cheats floating around per month!
A normal person can eat 100% compliant with small changes in habit during the week. Worry about what you’re doing right, not what you’re doing wrong.
October 5th, 2009
Posted by
bendearman |
Uncategorized |
I gave a lecture last night on the 8 keys to healthy nutrition. Great lecture, good turn out, awesome questions! One of my clients just came in and after I asked her if she learned anything from the lecture. Her reply was, “Yeah, I just don’t know how I am going to eat like this for the rest of my life”
AHHHHH!!!!!! My reply, “Listen. You aren’t doing it now, why would you think about doing it for the rest of your life!?”.
Habit must be developed before nutrition can take place.
That is a a common response I get from people. “How can I do this for the rest of my life?” Simple! By starting small and developing habits which then lead into nutrition. Look at it like walking; before you ran, you walked, and before you walked you lost your balance, fell a bunch of times before you finally stopped falling and finally caught your self. You turned a lost of balance into a series of controlled falls and then into walking. Small steps before big steps. And before you even take a step, you need to lose your balance first and catch your self a couple of times.
September 30th, 2009
Posted by
bendearman |
Uncategorized |
Ok seriously…for real. WTF is that! If you are reading this with out watching the above video you need to STOP and watch the video first.
Now…moving on.
We as a society have finally reached the point where our attention span is soooooooooo low that exercising out side has been eclipsed by exercising indoors in front of a TV. I know this is no surprise to some people, but you can’t do yoga out side if the bugs are bad. Just like you can’t do a step class out side if there is no one there to lead you (i.e. on TV). But there are so many things wrong with this concept:
Running on the Wii - holy shit. Running. In place. Does not take the place of running out side, nor does walking in place vs. out side. The whole reason why walking and running are good for you and burn calories is that they require you to actually push against the ground and use a lot of muscles. Where as lifting your legs up and pretending that your walking will most likely make areas that are already tight and weak more so.
Squating/weight training on the Wii - I shudder to think how many people this will cause knee problems too. I mean the next best thing for a 400 lb person to do is to squat…after running for 20 minutes. I joke. How about the Wii Nutrition? You could hook up one of the joy sticks to the fridge so that every time you open it the TV would yell out profanities and ego whippings. People, you can exercise all you want but if your diet is crap you won’t go anywhere. Just take a look at the local “high end” gym. Tons of people exercising, not many people really going anywhere.
I can’t think about this anymore. It is like a train wreck.
June 23rd, 2009
Posted by
bendearman |
Uncategorized |
