Just yesterday I was prompted to write this article because on some downtime I was surfing the internet reading various things posted on my Twitter.  Sometimes when articles come up that are posted on blogs I take a look, and this time what I saw made me just shake my head and wonder how people call themselves “fitness experts” when they have something posted on their web site that is so blatantly idiotic.  This particular article was all about “functional” training which this particular trainer revealed she did with her clients through her boot camps, as a marketing thing of course.  However, she then proceeded to list some exercises that she considered “essential to the functional training of any person”.  Number one on this list was a bench tricep dip.

Just in case you as a ready don’t know, a bench tricep dip requires that you place your hands on a bench behind you, extend your shoulder usually beyond what it should be at and then flex and extend your elbows in order to work the back of the arms while keeping your legs extended and usually stationary.  What I wondered for immediately is what the heck is that possibly “functional” for?  If I had to throw something behind me (and down towards the ground) really hard?  Sure.  If I was going to climb a mountain backwards (ie facing AWAY from the cliff face).  Maybe.

Part of the problem is the whole hype behind the word “functional”.  The first question I always ask is “functional for what?”  Believe it or not, the primary definition of functional is a math term – meaning relating to a function (of, involving or relating to a function).  The second definition is “designed for or adapted to a particular use”.  To me, this means that if you’re going to classify something as functional it needs to be applied towards a specific purpose – therefore in mechanics, your movement should be applied towards enhancing your ability to do a certain joint movement (or series of movements) or strength within those movements.

This person even had a “push up” listed as another of their highly recommended functional movements.  So what is a push up functional for?  What will it make you better at doing?  Pushing your body up with both hands off of the floor?  Sure.  This might apply to seniors who want to be able to pick themselves up if they fall down.  If you are in the military you are required to be able to do push ups.  However, if my goal is to be able to jump higher, how does a push up help me?  Would another type of resisted pushing movement probably help me more?  Push-ups generally are functional for one thing – helping you be able to do more push ups.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  I like push ups and use them often with my clients to develop strength in their shoulders, elbows and wrists.  But I don’t claim that it is “functional” for anything in their day-to-day life beyond being able to do more push ups.

There are certain words that a person really should be required to have a license to use.  In my industry the claims that I hear and read on a regular basis more often than not make me cringe, but honestly what makes me cringe more is comments written from people who are completely misinformed saying how right they are.  Some of the bigger ones in my industry that trainers use on almost a daily basis:

Functional                                             Imbalance

Core                                                          Tone

Stabilization                                          Isolation

The funny thing is if you actually ask the person in question what these words mean or why they are applying it to anyone they will probably look at you with a blank stare and give an explanation that isn’t even close.  I actually had someone ask me about a course they could take not too long ago where the instructor of the course claimed that he could actually turn muscles on and off.  Of course he had no scientific basis for it and couldn’t even explain how muscles work properly but he decided to charge lots of people over a thousand dollars for a weekend of instruction in it.

So for those of you reading this who are trainers, think about what things mean and make sure you know exactly what you are talking about before you spout off about something you are actually being really inaccurate about.  It takes nine months to become a cigar roller in Cuba and two years to become a massage therapist but we as trainers are allowed to call ourselves experts about exercise after twenty hours over a weekend, a multiple choice test and a 45 minute practical exam.  Find out the real meaning behind your words.  We want the sound bite that makes us sound smart, but we don’t care to learn the actual meaning behind it.  That just makes you lazy.

For you who are clients, please challenge your trainers.  I love it when my clients ask questions because it means they are engaged and they are interested in learning more about what’s going on.  If I don’t know the answer, then I’ll admit it and make sure that doesn’t happen again.  Don’t blindly believe a line of crap, especially when it is about something as important as your body and how it moves.  And don’t do a bloody tricep dip because it is “functional”.  Unless of course you’re going to climb a mountain backwards soon.

Often in the evenings I like to stand back and just take a look around a crowded gym.  There are usually lots of guys and a few brave women lifting weights in various forms.  We all have seen that guy that makes us cringe, who is flailing around with a cable over his head, or guys doing some sort of modified bench press with two inch range of motion, or the guy standing in front of a really heavy deadlift bar thinking about lifting it, but not actually doing so while his buddies stand there staring too.

People doing their own thing in the gym is one thing, but when I see a trainer who is staring off into space while their client is doing a bicep curl standing on a BOSU trainer, I’m always reminded of a very important question that both trainer and client should always be asking.  What is the goal of this exercise?  How does it fit into the overall program and goal for the client?  More often than not, when I ask my fellow trainers this I get a blank stare and usually some kind of generic justification.  Some of my favourites (using the exercise example above) are:

“It works the core.”  Does it?  More so than being on the ground?  More so than doing something a bit more without standing on an unstable surface?  Can you actually tell me what the core is and what it does?  Can you tell me what parts of the core you’re working by standing on that that you aren’t by standing on the ground?  Is there a safer way for your client to be doing that?  Oh, and by the way – how does it apply to the overall goal?

“I’m doing a circuit.”  Okay, why?  Are you trying to get their heart rate higher?  Are you trying to have a light balance movement as part of a conditioning circuit program?  What movement pattern does that contribute to?  Is there a more effective way to do the same thing?  How long is the circuit lasting?  How much rest?  How many intervals?  Oh, and by the way – how does it apply to the overall goal?

“We’re doing upper body today.”  Because you did lower body on another day?  Have they had adequate rest from their previous workout?  Are they okay within their movement patterns in their upper body to be able to take a harder workout right now, today?  Why did you choose to split things like that?  Since you’re obviously doing elbow flexion, are you doing extension as well with them standing on an unstable surface?  Why is their hand position like that?

In any good exercise and strength program, there should be a purpose behind absolutely everything that you do with your trainer.  Whether it is to develop a part of a kinetic chain, working on something that can’t fire properly, or even just as simple as doing a movement in order to achieve a heart rate level or a level of speed and power, there should always be a reason.  When I’m designing a program they normally go through phases of change and different types of movement, but during each and every session there should be a purpose for each exercise and the amount of repetitions, sets, timing, and even breaking it down to things like range of motion and angles.  What this all breaks down to is the ultimate purpose behind each exercise – the intention.

Personally, I love it when clients ask me questions because it gives me a chance to teach, and the harder the better.  It also means that they are actually interested in learning – and that means that they care.  If they care, they will continue to do what they are doing, so they will get better results.  Results come with consistency over time, not with quick fixes and immediate responses.  This applies to many things in life and in nature as well.

So today, if you are going into a workout, ask yourself why you are really doing the exercises that you are doing.  Is it because you want to look good?  Be able to do more?  Work on a weakness or further develop strength?  Recover from an injury?  And if you are working with a trainer, do me a favour and challenge them.  Why are we doing this?  Why this way?  Why with that weight?  The best trainers can answer these questions right away because they already know – they have a plan in place and they are executing it so they should be able to explain the process.  If they can’t, question why you are paying someone to not plan things personally for you when they are supposed to be a “personal” trainer.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go and plan my workouts for the day.  At 8am I’m doing strength and conditioning work with a 25 year old ½ marathon runner.  At 9am I’m doing assessment on a chronic shoulder issue from a physio referral.  And at 10am I’m dealing with an ACL tear and a herniated disc.  Can you guess what exercises these people will be doing?

I don’t have to guess.  I know.  That’s the point.

I guess this article is my first real rant, although you can check out my article on bad personal trainers previously posted if you want to.  One of my main problems within my industry of personal training (and the gym industry as well) is that there is so much misinformation put out there to poor uninformed people who are just desperate for anything to help them.  I don’t think a day goes by without me hearing some person saying, “I heard blah blah is good” or “I’m trying this new thing to help me” or “what is your opinion about x?”  Often this is also a way for them to magically change faster, without putting the hard work in that is really required for permanent change.  Then the cycle rinses and repeats.

The latest one that made me snap this week was for a wonderful new class where the participants hold something called a ViPR, which is touted as “the evolution of fitness”.  There is a great promo Youtube video of people doing classes and movements with this thing.  Here’s the funny part – it is a log.  With handles.  It really kind of looks like s strongman log that someone looked at one day and said: “if I could make that lighter, I might be able to sell it.”  They have varying weights and if you go to their web site they have all sorts of crap on there about how effective it is for “whole body integrated exercises”.  Because you can’t do these types of things without holding a 10 pound log?  Or just maybe you can do the exact same thing holding ANYTHING that weighs the same amount?  Even better – if you want to buy one (and please remember that this is essentially a weighted plastic log with handles) the 10 pound version costs $180 plus shipping.  The 45 pound one (so the same as any standard Olympic bar) costs almost $400.

I’m going to a conference next weekend in Montreal.  I just know that at the trade show for that conference I’m going to see booths and booths of equipment just like this that make me cringe when I see people spending their money on them.  From the Shake Weight to the brainwashed masses who support Body By Vi, my industry unfortunately is a marketers dream, because they prey on the fact that people want a quick fix and any solution that they can find to their issues of being overweight and unhealthy.  Here’s a novel idea:  why don’t we as fitness professionals decide one day to get rid of all the extra things and actually teach people how to move properly and get strong without all of the toys?  Last I checked, I actually don’t need any fancy machines or special ropes in order to make someone increase their heart rate, add force to a joint to help make it stronger or stimulate some positive change for your mind and body.

Tell you what.  For your next workout try to do one with only your body.  No extra equipment beyond altering mechanics and motion in order to make things a bit more difficult.  Can you squat a lot of weight?  Try increasing your depth or changing tempo to go really slow.  Do lots of push-ups?  Try handstand ones.  Pulling?  Wide grip chins can be quite difficult even for a strong person.  Try a totally isometric workout and see if you are sore the next day.  I’ll almost guarantee you will be.  Work on a movement you have trouble with – without weight – before loading yourself up.  Get it perfect.  Make sure that you can do one variant before moving onto the next.  Forget about things like amount of reps, weight, how many calories and what the WOD is for today and just work on controlling your movements.

Always remember that the body adjusts and improves based on application and specifically designing things in order to stimulate the change required to head towards your goal, whatever it may be.  No goal?  That’s a completely separate issue but an easy one to address.  So many people spend years and years fighting to improve themselves when the answer, as simple as it is, is right there in front of them.  Breathe.  Move.  Eat healthy, vital things and get enough rest in order for your body to repair itself.  These things are what will help you the most, not a $180 stick you could make yourself at Home Depot for $5.  Do this for long enough and within a year you will be looking in the mirror at a whole new body wondering why it took you so long to figure it out in the first place.  And, you will be miles ahead of all of the other struggling masses buying gym memberships on a daily basis and then never using them.

Now, if you will pardon me I’m going to go and exercise.  Without a $180 log.  I think it will work just fine.