The Current Character in Sports

Gary Player says steroids are in golf
The nine-time major champion urges golf organizations to start random testing.

Give me a break. Do people really think golf would be clean with the impact that the power of a players drive has on his game and status. Today's society is all about image, and winning gets the headlines. "Just Do It", " Just Win, Baby". These are the sayings that typify our contemporary mentality.

The fact is, creating habits of striving for excellence, a work ethic of raising the bar continually, and respect for physical culture, yourself and the benefit and purpose of sport is what creates champions and builds character. If these are your guidelines you will win plenty and more importantly respect yourself

On that same note: We need to give Floyd Landis a break. The only reason he took steroids was because his testicles were too large. Apparently, the friction with the inside of his thighs while peddling was causing significant resistance and discomfort. It was surgery or reducing the size of his testicles through steroid use. Being terrified of surgery he had no choice. His choice to use steroids had nothing to do with the performance enhancing ability of the banned substance.

Physical Culture

Athletes, Nutrition & Performance

Athletes go well beyond normal standards in energy expenditure and physically stressing the body’s limits. Unbalanced or deficient diets and dehydration not only will curtail performance ability of an athlete but will also create a much greater risk of injury.

It is assumed that because one is an athlete that they are good examples of physical fitness. In truth their understanding and application of healthy lifestyles is on par with the rest of society. Two recent studies have shown that the eating habits of college athletes are sub par and these athletes are as ignorant of and indifferent to healthy eating habits as the general public.

A recent sports psychology study done on college athletes suffering from overtraining and burnout found that inadequate amounts of caloric intake, sleep, and recovery were the culprits. It took sports psychology to make this obvious deduction. While training intensity adjustments are needed to ensure progress, the monitoring of this is impossible to ascertain unless caloric, hydration and sleep needs are applied by those responsible: the athletes themselves.

While the reasons why vary between genders and across sports, a recent nutrition study of division 1 athletes found out that the vast majority of athletes do not eat enough calories to fuel their performance. Complex carbohydrates are the primary fuel for intense muscular effort yet only 15 percent of the athletes studied consumed adequate carbohydrate amounts. Protein synthesis and muscle hypertrophy will be limited or negated if protein intake is low, even if total energy is sufficient and yet only 26 percent consumed adequate protein. Nearly two-thirds of the female student-athletes reported wanting to lose weight, which is almost always at odds with fueling for athletic performance. Many male athletes, while falling short on overall calories, were consuming more than the recommended amount of fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.

Email me if you are a college athlete and want to make improvements in your diet to fuel your academic and athletic efforts. I do 1 free phone consultation per week to interested college athletes who impress me via email introduction.

Move That Gluteus Maximus and Quit Whining

It is mid Summer and traffic at the gym has returned to normal, as 99% of all those hell bent on making changes to their health and fitness and getting a hard, buff, sexy body for summer have said screw it, thrown in the towel, and gone right back into allowing their unhealthy lifestyle habits to take charge of their life. If you want something you need to do what it takes to get it! Whether that be loosing body fat, building lean muscle, improving your sport/activity or life performance you are not going to get it with a potion, pill, or 3 minute per day, 1 day per week “revolutionary breakthrough” workout. You are going to get it when you figure out and buy into the fact that it takes a day in, day out effort to get results.

Your performance in life defines you and the level of your performance is dictated by your preparation. That preparation is a series of habits that are all designed for your specific, optimal health and performance. To satisfy yourself and your work, sport or family team your performance has to be the best you are capable of. To perform your best you need to be in a state of optimal fitness. We all know when we look into the mirror if our performance was the best we could give. If it was we feel good, if not we know it and if we continue to underachieve we stop looking in the mirror and detach ourselves from our decline and let it live a life of its own.

I have trained, coached or consulted with over 1000 clients and players in the last 10 years. I wish I could say that everybody I have been associated with had successfully met their goals, as that is my goal. I can say that those who stuck with it and followed my guidance where all successful in attaining their goals. I can design a program that will get your goal met as long as that goal is realistic, but, you have to do your homework exercise, follow the meal plan as prescribed and show up for your workouts. I have helped countless clients and players totally rebuild their physiques, increase their on the field/court performance, speed, agility and quickness. Those that where successful all had the discipline to follow the plan, those that washed out always had excuses and couldn’t do the homework and/or show up for the work consistently. Besides the fitness or conditioning goal accomplishments those that were successful gained much satisfaction from creating sound health and wellness habits in their lifestyle. and felt good about themselves for having taken control of their destiny and disciplining themselves to create those habits in the training and diet.

In our contrived, politically correct society we allow and, at times encourage people to accept mediocrity. Many of the world's most respected health, fitness and medical organizations are reducing their recommendations regarding wellness in fear of more of the public throwing in the towel because they don’t have the will to take responsibility for their life and do it right. Lyle McDonald, Diet guru and Author of the Ketogenic Diet wrote in his forum:
"From a public policy standpoint, there's that huge trade off: Get a small improvement in health (and presumably decrease health-costs) by getting folks to do something, or risk a much larger dropout rate by telling them to work harder. They keep scaling back their recommendations and they still can't get the majority of people to do it. Something is going to be better than nothing, I suppose."
Having the luxury of not being politically correct I say that is bull *&%#, horse *&%# or maybe chicken *&%#, whatever the type it is definitely *&%#. I say why bother to add a couple of unproductive years to a pathetically unhealthy life or go from grossly obese to moderately obese and all the while feel bad about yourself and stress over your limited, negligible attempt to create a state of wellness. I say why bother to do it at all if you are not going to do it right and finish the job. I say just ignore it and continue on in your habits of self abuse and enjoy whatever superficial gratification you gain from your debauchery minus the worry and stress.

Then again, maybe I have it all wrong and people are helpless victims of a conspiracy created by the power-elite through mind control substances in fast food and subliminal messaging on prime time "reality shows"to generate a weak minded, physically feeble population thus limiting the resistance to their paramount need of manipulating the masses to continue their rule.

If Bruce Lee was alive he would be training with David Belle

I can't get enough of this guy. David Belle is awesome. What is so cool is that it all about just doing it with as much precision and style as possible for the joy of taking his physical abilities to the limit. If Bruce Lee was alive and Jack Lalanne was under 70 they would have to get in on it.

This was a particularly good clip as it showed some of the training involved. I know of some fairly serious mishaps with amateur "free runners" bypassing figuring it out in the gym and approaching it with a skater's mindset and just "doing it".

3 Generations of Physical Culture

I thought I would add some videos to my blog that I felt were examples of physical culture, which I am passionate about and provides me a living. First up is David Belle whose non-competitive "Parkour" is pure art. He is grace and power in perpetual motion. Next is the man who influenced my life long love for and practice of martial arts, the legendary Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee, known for his fighting prowess, but much more impressive in his pursuit of physical culture and philosophy. Finally, the physical culturist of the the 20st century in a clip eschewing the benefits of a healthy, wholesome diet.

Staying Fit on the Road

I get a kick out the emotional attachment people connect to their fitness routines and the specific equipment used. Although I admit to the benefits and my own satisfaction in lifting weights they are such a small part of the picture. In our superficial, "Madison Ave", ruled mentality we are driven to stand out physically. I have parent's coming to me wanting to get their child the needed tools to lead the pack, assuming that the magic pill is weightlifting. My reply shocks them and turns many of them to find a trainer who will tell them that 4 weeks of weight training is going to make their son, grow, get faster, become more skilled, be more aggressive and dominate his peers in his chosen sport. The sad fact about that is they will find a trainer with that ignorant belief sooner than later. My approach is to improve the movement skills (speed, agility and quickness), core strength and functional strength combined with sport specific skill work, if there is any(soccer players need ball skill work while football linemen don't have much skill work . This is all done with minimal equipment (stability balls, medicine balls, mini hurdles, pull-up bar, kettlebells) and maximum variety.

What has this to do with training on the road? I'm getting there now. I have all my clients perform exercises enhancing their athleticism regardless if they are a soccer mom or a golfing 80 year old grandfather because it what we all need , it is fun and the results are fantastic. All of my clients, athletes through grandmothers, perform personalized " Dynamic Wake Up Exercises" that prepare the body and mind for its day. These routines primarily focus on flexibility, core strength, balance, mobility, and a still, focused mind for control and precision of movement and are done with no equipment. For athletes and more ambitious clients the functional strength work and plyometrics are increased to create a vigorous warm-up for them but would be considered a bone jarring torture for others.

With the above repertoire on hand training on the road is not a hassle but an adventure. Recently my daughter, who is a college soccer player, had surgery on her ankle and needed me to nurse her for a couple of days. Not feeling at home in the dorms, I opted for a room at the local Red Lion. Once I got my first break of the day I went to check out "The Exercise Facility". Wow, was I ever blown away. 1 treadmill, 1 stair climber, 1 recumbent bike, 1 weight bench, 1 - 20# dumbbell in this 20 x 15 ft room. Although a bit sparse in equipment there was plenty of space to exercise. I went back to the room and quickly wrote down a workout.

Dynamic Warm-up:

- Hip X-overs x 20 each
- Scorpion x 20 each
- Ankle Dorsiflexions x 20 each
- Body Weight 1 Leg Deadlifts x 20 each
- Alternating 1 Leg Quad/Hip Flexor stretch x 20 each
- Inchworms with a 4 point extension x 10
- Wall Drill/Marches x 20 each
- Stationary Quick Skips x 20 each
- Stationary Carioca x 20 each
- Stationary 2 Inch Runs x 20 seconds
- Alt. Knee Hug Front Lunge & Reach x 20 each
- Alt. Back Lunge & Twist x 20 each
- Alt. lateral Lunge x 20 each
- Alt. Drop Lunge x 20 each

As you can see I believe strongly in the need for a thorough warm-up and this basic Optimal Performance Fitness warm-up does the trick. I go through this warm-up in 12-15 minutes. On a day too busy to get in a workout this performed upon waking serves me well. If you try this on your own you will no longer doubt the possibility of a quality 15 minute work out. This is not only a warm-up but it is the most effective part of a necessary flexibility component in your fitness approach.

Now onto the workout. I created a circuit of exercises alternating between antagonistic and upper and lower body muscle groups. Keep in mind that although the primary movers are located in one part of the body the whole body is involved in all these exercise stabilizing and holding the positions. I set the weight bench at the end of the tread mill to put my feet on while I held the rails to perform horizontal rows. The hindu squats w/ alternating front raise is a modified hindu squat raising the heel but maintaining your body weight centered in your hips while starting the front raise with palms inward and working the motion like kettlebell work. 1 leg stances work on your balance, core strength and hip stability.

Hindu Squats w/ Alt. Front Raise 20# x 20 each ( 40 squats, 20 each, alternating front raises)
Hip Rotations x 20 seconds
1 Leg Hindu Push-ups x 20 each
Single Deadlift w/ 20# DB x 15 each
1 Foot Lateral Quck Feet Hops x 20 seconds each
Alt. 1 Leg, Oppsite Arm Snatch 20# x 10 each
1 Leg Push-ups w/ Alt. 1 arm Lateral Bridge x 10 each side
6 Point Front Bridge- 3 1/2 minutes total
Alt. Front Lunges w/ Single Arm Curl & Press 20# x 15 each
Concentration Crunches x 50
Straight Leg Jumps x 20
Plyometric Push-Ups x 12
Horizontal Rows x 25
Alt. Lunge Jumps x 10 each
Plyometric Push-Ups x 12
Horizontal Row x 25
Knee Tuck Squat Jumps x
Plyometric Push-Ups x 12
Horizontal Rows x 25
Multi-Directional Lunge Circuit (Front, Back, Lateral, Drop, Diagonal) x 20 each

Cool Down: 10 minutes of compound stretches using 10 repetitions for each side with a 2-3 second hold.

This workout took 30 minutes with 30 second rests between exercises used any time I was light headed or having excessive lactic burning. I was in need of a particularly intense training session and didn't feel slighted in the least with this minimally equipped facility. This is a good example of what can be done at home, in the yard, at the beach, in a park or in a hotel room. Find a level that is right for you, adapt to your situation and get in some type of physical activity every day.

Forget About Burning Fat and Start Burning Calories

It's about calories and fitness. Period! Forget about the fat burning zone.

Let’s set this straight once and for all. In my opinion the fat burning zone and the Atkins diet are in the same category: designed for the lazy and a gross distortion of the facts. Do you really think that moving at a “walk through the park” pace is the best use of your “fitness” time? The Fat Burning Zone is another one of those health club propagated myths. The fat burning zone is fiction. The reality is that it's about the number of calories burned, not the number of those calories that come from fat as a source. The "fat burning zone" describes a level of physical exertion that results in a larger number of the burned calories being derived from fat. True, but by picking up the pace you will burn more overall calories including more from fat and increase your heart and lung work rate thus improving your cardio fitness. The fat burning zone actually describes what percentage of calories burned are derived from fat as an energy source. If you want to utilize burning the highest percentage of fat then take a reclining position on the couch and do nothing. The highest percentage of fat utilization is at rest. The more intense the exercise becomes, the more carbohydrate is used as a source, not to mention your cardio output and muscle fiber recruitment Utilizing interval training or circuit training is far superior for loosing fat that exercising in the “fat burning zone”. In other words the more intense the output of exercise the more fat is going to be burned. The best approach to loosing fat is to exercise at high intensity.

A study from the University of South Wales released in January 2007 supports this approach.

The study involved a group of 45 overweight women who cycled three times a week over a 15-week period. “The group which did around eight seconds of sprinting on a bike, followed by 12 seconds of exercising lightly for twenty minutes, lost three times as much fat as other women, who exercised at a continuous, regular pace for 40 minutes,” said the team leader, Associate Professor Steve Boutcher, Head of the Health and Exercise Science program, in the School of Medical Sciences at UNSW.

“We think the reason that it works is because it produces a unique metabolic response,” said Professor Boutcher. “Intermittent sprinting produces high levels of chemical compounds called catecholamines, which allow more fat to be burned from under the skin and within the exercising muscles. The resulting increase in fat oxidation drives the greater weight loss.”

The women lost most weight off the legs and buttocks. “This maybe unique to this type of exercise,” said Professor Boutcher. “We know it is very difficult to ‘spot reduce’ troublesome fat areas. When you do regular exercise, you tend to lose fat everywhere and you tend to look emaciated. Our results are unusual but were consistent across the women who performed the sprinting exercise.”

We Don’t Need No Stinking Gyms

The Health Club industry is a 20 billion dollar, smoke blowing operation that has most convinced that they cannot be fit without their hi-tech, over crowded, germ infested, group sweat factories. This is ludicrous insanity. You can and need to do some things that don’t use any equipment. I can create a different workout for everyday of the week that will leave anyone limping, whining and feeling muscles that they didn’t know existed without using one piece of equipment. Are you one of those trapped in a mindset of believing you need cardio equipment to do cardio? Wake up and see the light. You can create a cardio workout anywhere, anytime with nothing more than 10 square feet of space inside your house or hotel room, in your backyard, in your front yard (if you need to show it), at a park, a track, a hiking trail or a beach. Not only will bodyweight-exercise/movement cardio workouts supersede those ridiculous, robotic, group fat burning scenes but they will create a more mobile, active, functional you and if done in the sunshine, provide you with a healthy dose of vitamin D.