Suntan or Sunburn?

Sometimes this is up to opinion, but there is a pervasive attitude in the fitness world that a workout needs to be something that leaves you on the ground gasping for air or unable to walk for days.  More often than not I hear other trainers’ clients come in and say things like “I’m so sore!” or “This hurts today”.  Through my experience and education I learned a long time ago that a workout is something entirely different.  There is a big difference between what somebody thinks is good for him or her and what is actually good for him or her.  In my RTS courses the instructor gave us an analogy that really rung true with me.

Imagine you decide it is a beautiful sunny day and you want to lie out in the sun to get a tan.  Depending on how hot it is, whether or not you have sunscreen on and what type (and how it is applied), what you are wearing and even something as simple as what time of day it is, there is a magic window.  At some point lying out you will walk over an imaginary line from tanning and get a sunburn.  You have no idea when, or why – it just happens.  And it can completely vary from one day to another.  You might get some subtle warning signs but for the most part it is very hard to tell exactly how long it will take before this happens.  So a nice pleasant experience can suddenly leave you suffering and cause damage to your body for no reason other than you went just a bit too far.

In the exercise world it is very similar.  I can manipulate sets, reps, load, and even finer points like angle, momentum and tempo in order to either give you a suntan – or take one of these things just a little bit too far and give you a sunburn.  What makes for a really skilled trainer is someone who can manipulate things with precision so that hopefully this doesn’t happen.  Your body will recover from one burn.  However, if you keep burning it over and over again eventually you might cause some permanent damage.  One of my missions as a trainer is to make sure that this never happens to my clients over the long term.  It requires a lot of thought, careful preparation and also simply making sure that if the client isn’t in the condition they normally are that you are mindful and can take that into account during their workout on that day at that time.  What is good for someone on one day is definitely not the same as the next.  If my client hasn’t slept, eaten well or is simply stressed out due to work or family, it all has to be taken into consideration.  This high level of care is something you should expect from the person responsible for improving your body.

Anyone can kick somebody’s butt and get them gasping for air and collapsing.  When I run into a client that wants that I can certainly do it.  That’s the easy part.  But what makes a really skilled trainer and an excellent workout is being able to control the workout to the point where the person is getting what they want without potentially sacrificing their performance the next day.  It’s like what Michael Jordan’s trainer used to say: “All I have to do is NOT HURT HIM.”  What I want for my people is not only to make progress, but for there to be absolutely no risk of not being able to do the things they need or want to do that day or in the days after.  My job is to make you better, not make you worse.  And with a high level of attention and guidance it’s actually easier than you think.

If you’re interested in finding out more, I welcome you to contact me and find out what the Exercise Experience is all about!

Why doesn’t Physio always fix my problem?

Over the many years I have been practicing the application of exercise, I have run across many physiotherapists and practitioners of other modalities like chiropractic and massage.  Since I don’t want this article to become several dozen pages, today I’m going to discuss the world of physiotherapy and specifically the limitations that I have seen within that system and how it can be helped by a competent trainer.  Like any type of practitioner, even medical ones there are both good and not so good people in the respective industry (including my own).  However, one of the biggest trends that I see with my clients is that more often than not, their experience with physiotherapy results in limited results and often doesn’t cover the whole need for the person involved.  This is what I’m exploring here. 

The format is fairly consistent whenever one of my clients or someone I know sees a physio.  They are evaluated, which can take the form of simply glancing at a person and doing a cursory examination and then diagnosing (and yes, I have seen this) or a full musculoskeletal workup including x-rays.  A diagnosis is given of what the person seems to have affecting their body in the form of painful movement.  Treatment is given, which normally takes the form of a couple of different types of therapeutic modalities (most commonly massage, ultrasound, hot/cold packs and TENS).  Sometimes simple exercises and stretches are prescribed as well depending on the patient.

When I went into some research about some of these modalities, some interesting things came about.  For example, did you know that ultrasound has rarely if ever been proven to actually do anything beneficial for pain reduction?  And, on top of that a recent study published in May of this year in the Ultrasound Journal found that therapists displayed “a lack of knowledge” of the basic physiological effects of ultrasound.  After several hours of searching, most studies I found basically stated that there was little to no difference with most patients in terms of reduction of pain whether they actually received the treatment or had a turned off machine hooked up.  The research on TENS is remarkably the same – there has been little to no evidence that it actually does anything useful in terms of healing or pain reduction.  One statement I found (from an actual physio site) suggested that TENS and acupuncture are essentially the same thing.  But many therapists use these all of the time of all of their patients without even considering if they will be useful.  Don’t even get me started on the various versions of stretching – that’s a whole other kettle of fish I’ll open up another time.  Of all the things that are performed, massage and hot/cold packing is most likely to create some relief, but it does absolutely nothing to address the joint and muscles in question strength wise, which is normally the source of the injury.

Then we head into the exercise area.  Granted, many people who come into clinics like this have quite limited function and simply want to get back to their normal daily sitting on the couch and in their office chair.  However, therapists often don’t even give exercises at all beyond simple joint mobility movements and suggestions like “take a yoga class” or “stop lifting heavy”.  I realize that therapists deal with some very broken people, but to me they should have some solutions in place in order to help the people make sure that these things do not happen on a recurring basis.  Doing rotator cuff rotations with a 2-pound weight isn’t likely to improve the ability of a muscle to maintain tension or generate force, especially if it isn’t even affecting what you think it is (standing dumbbell external rotations anyone?).  Many therapists who prescribe exercise in my experience have little knowledge of how to do it properly in order to maintain joint strength and increase the ability to generate force.  Machines are the devil and “functional movement” is the best thing.  I actually had a therapist months ago – who had been seeing her patient for a YEAR (and the injury happened several years prior) – tell me she should “definitely never do” anything like squatting, lunging or lifting.  Within about three weeks I had her client squatting and lifting without pain and able to at least hold herself on one leg without any problem or loss of control whatsoever.  From what I know of the therapy profession, if something isn’t improving after that amount of time, don’t you think it is time to try something else or stop taking that person’s money and admit you aren’t helping?

The other side of that coin is that patients are not educated and often try after a couple of treatments (thinking they are now reduced pain wise) to go right back to what they were doing before the injury.  They don’t realize that the body takes a while to improve back and they might have to modify their movements for a little while or simply approach their joints in a different way – and it will make little to no difference to the muscles in question.  In fact, by “rotating their tires” most of my clients find that they improve faster and can do more after they have laid off of a specific pattern for a while.  But they need to know what to do and how, and most therapists either don’t have the time for this, or don’t have enough knowledge in that area.  I acknowledge that there are also a lot of PT’s who think they are therapists and massage their clients with sticks and diagnose things they shouldn’t, but they don’t have a big official title and public trust behind their names.

I think that every PT should have to take a therapy based course, if not to get some more knowledge in anatomy and proper movement of joints, then for a very simple reason – to learn how to de-progress somebody to the point of ridiculously low loads that they might need at first.  Through my RTS/MAT knowledge I can do things like remove bodyweight, change the intensity of a load halfway through a movement, change directions of force entirely or even apply forces differently so that the joint can learn to maintain tension.  I realize that not a lot of trainers have this type of knowledge.  I wish that some of my colleagues cared enough to study these things.  I realize the fear that most physios have is the typical “boot camp” trainer who is going to take their client just getting over an injury and hurt them again (if it wasn’t the trainer who did it in the first place).  There are biases on both sides and instead of competing for clients, I often find the best solution is to work together so the client gets the best benefit.  Physio can take you to the point where you can move properly again, but more often than not much, much more needs to happen after that to ensure that nothing happens again, and that’s where someone like me comes in.  Many therapists simply don’t have the tools for what happens after and aren’t trained in them through no fault of their own.

Very recently (Monday last week) I had a client come in after not seeing her for a couple of weeks with pain down her leg which she said had been there for a few days after a weekend of doing things at the cottage.  She was upset because she didn’t know what she did and was worried that it was going to set her back with her running program.  After doing an assessment I found that her problem likely wasn’t anywhere near her leg and seemed like it might be the result of some strain from painting – with her opposite side on her upper body.  Her midsection was also not responding well to muscle testing.  After I applied some simple MAT and movements to those areas, she came in two days later claiming that I was a “wizard” because the next day she was 90% better and pain free.  One of the things I tell my clients constantly is that the body has no rules, and more often than not the source of the pain is not where the pain is.  These are things that a lot of practitioners fail to explore.  I often use the analogy of a person coming in with a headache.  You can give them an aspirin to mask the pain – or try to find the source of the headache and not only stop it completely but also prevent it from coming back.  Using MAT and RTS principles I am able to do this consistently with success.  And, the great thing is that usually they end up stronger as a result over time.

My advice is always the same with any practitioner, including my own industry.  Get referred to one (and please not through someone you don’t trust) and evaluate them while they evaluate you.  Get a sense for what they are trying to do to help you.  Don’t believe anything just because they say it, research and evaluate on your own as well.  Some people will research televisions they are planning to buy more than the person who is going to affect their body in a very fundamental way.  Never assume anything.  And good luck with whatever you are doing to your body today.

Why does that number matter to you?

Last week I was doing a session with one of my clients and the subject of her measurements came up, which is something I do with my body composition clients fairly regularly to keep them on the right path.  By the way, fairly regularly means every 4-6 weeks, not every week like some people would think.  She also basically said she was concerned about her scale weight, because it hadn’t gone down a lot.  When I asked her “does it matter?” she said yes.  Then, when I asked “why?” she couldn’t come up with anything.  This is a woman who can deadlift over her own bodyweight, sprint, do pull-ups and push ups without batting an eyelash, generally is very strong and healthy, plus can do it all without the back pain she came to me in the first place about.  The fact she couldn’t even explain it really made me think about the reasons she cared in the first place.

One thing I’m constantly trying to do with my practice is really make people think about the reasons that things happen to their bodies, but also the reasons behind why they are there in the first place.  When I’m doing an initial session with someone and taking girth and calliper numbers (if that is something they want to change as a goal) they often ask if I’m going to weigh them.  The truth is, I really don’t care what you weigh and neither should you.  If you do, then there is something else going on that we need to explore.

None of us walk around with our weight tattooed on our foreheads, and even if we did it would change hourly throughout the day.  To most people, however losing weight means scale weight, which is really kind of a dumb way to look at changing your body anyway.  One of my main goals with clients is to actually add muscle tissue to them (and the fear of that requires a whole other article) while also reducing the bodyfat on top of it in the hopes that they will not only be able to do more with their tension producing tissue (ie lift stuff, run, whatever they want to do) but also look better doing it – if that is their goal.  All scale weight really means when it comes down to it is how much gravity is pushing down on the tissue that you already have.  By trying to get lighter, you are more commonly going to actually reduce muscle tissue along with fat, and be actually worse off than before, even though you might think because of some arbitrary number that you are better off.

One of my clients who is a fitness competitor was training for her second show and it was a year since her first show and she looked amazing.  She had also gained ten pounds from what she had competed on stage at last time weight wise.  This actually upset her until I pointed out that she looked better and placed higher, while also having the same bodyfat level.  She could also lift more and do more without hurting herself.  So why did that silly scale number matter?

Here’s my suspicion, and you can jump all over me if you like but I’ll say it anyway.  While they are growing up, people hear about some ideal “number” that they should be, and either have a bad experience with a person who made them feel terrible because they weren’t at that number or had a good experience while they were at that number and think that the good experience was a result of their weight, not because they might be a good person or deserve something good.  Our society conditions us to think that one thing is “good” while another is “bad” which is typically garbage marketing anyway.  We have conditions in our brain that tell us that we are not where we should be, and more often than not those are imposed by somebody other than ourselves.  An abusive spouse, a really nasty co-worker, a friend who is jealous of something can all be examples of this.  When people come to see me I try to get them to focus on what matters, which is what you can do, not what you look like.  It’s how you live your life for yourself, not for anybody else.  Like I said, if you tell people you weigh a certain amount and it changes the way people think about you – then those people suck.  In my opinion.

So the next time you want a good experience, come and see me for a session and ask me how much you weigh.  My answer will simply be: “I don’t fucking care.  Let’s go change your body for the better.”  And then we will go and have some fun.  Sound good?

Why is change so slow?

Recently in my city there has been a surge of people participating in a brand new MLM company.  I’ve been approached by these types of people many times over the years, and to a number they have all been exposed as companies that are not at all interested in your health, they are interested in your money and taking it from you while promising that you are going to be wealthy and have an amazing life if you just work for them and get all of your family and friends to participate.  I’m not totally against MLM, because some companies are more ethical and provide some really good things, while others simply are a method for some good salespeople to make a quick buck and then move onto the next company they choose to represent.

The most recent one has you taking two shakes a day and then eating a small meal for dinner, and promises that you will lose weight, feel amazing and totally transform yourself – all in only 90 days.  I can digress quickly and ask what these people are supposed to do after the 90 days are up?  Go back to their previous eating habits and lifestyle?  In fact, on some blogs for this company, their representatives actually state that “exercise is NOT required to lose weight on this program”.  To me this is completely ridiculous, and just feeds into the idea that you can have a quick fix and get results (while also parting with about $200 a month) and not have to worry about establishing a long term healthy lifestyle.  Digression over.  I’ll rant about that at the end.

So when I see things advertised like this or hear people talk about it, it makes me cringe, and then it just pisses me off.  95% of the time, these quick fixes do not work, and the poor people who have fallen for a line from a salesperson just lose their money, maybe some water weight and then gain it all back plus a bit more.  I have dozens of examples both personal and professional of people losing weight rapidly and then gaining it back just as rapidly (if not faster) plus a few reinforcements just in case that ever happens again.  I’m sure you have too.  One of my clients recently told me of a friend who actually did the Bernstein diet – three times!?  And now her body is still obese because she gained more weight back each time and as an added bonus her kidneys and digestive system are constantly in turmoil and discomfort.  Go figure.

Here is the funny thing about your body.  It doesn’t like rapid change.  There is something within your body called homeostasis.  It is the way that your body regulates everything and “tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties”.  In a nutshell, when something changes within your body skews it one way, under the condition of homeostasis your body will do what it can to skew it back.  For example, when we get really hot or exert ourselves, our body kicks in and starts to sweat as a cooling mechanism.  If we exert ourselves too much and drive blood away from the brain, our body makes us fall down (fainting or passing out) in order to put blood back to the brain.  Blood clotting, metabolism regulation, and insulin/glucagon balance are all examples of positive and negative feedback loops.  In a nutshell, your body likes to stay stable as much as it can, even to the point of simply shutting you down if it needs to.  Your body isn’t stupid.  It is a massive supercomputer that deals with trillions of chemical interactions every minute.  You can’t expect it to be happy when you suddenly make a radical change.  If you suddenly decide to go outside and run for 20 kilometers when you never do it you are likely to have a heart attack or get hurt also.

So what happens when you go into caloric deficit like in these diets?  Well, you lose weight.  Of course you do.  Typically on diets like these people are dropping their caloric intake by up to 1000-1500 calories a day while also greatly reducing the amount of crap they are eating on a daily basis.  Then they get where they want to be (or “finish the challenge” with lots of pictures and raving fanfare) and simply change back to what they were doing before.  Most people under report how much they eat and over report the amount of exercise they actually do.  So the weight comes right back to where it was before, and you typically gain more because you feel like you deserve more after all of your hard work.  By the way, the whole “starvation mode” thing is a myth.  If you actually kept your calorie intake the same as it was when you’re on this “diet” then you wouldn’t necessarily gain all the weight back.  But nobody does that.  We magically think everything will stay the same, even though we have radically changed the rules of the game.

In our society today we all want quick fixes.  We want results right now and are willing to pay more money in order to get them faster if we really want something.  That email needs to be returned right away so I get a 4G phone instead of 3G.  That item you want you can buy online in five minutes rather than going to the store.  Results guaranteed in 90 days.  Even my clients expect miracles sometimes with removing their pain and getting them moving properly again or changing their body composition.  Sometimes I’m actually good enough to pull it off, but more often than not, it takes a while to get everything right again after years of abuse and neglect and a lot of work on their part doing everything right to bring it all together.

Olympians train for four years for one event, and we expect our body to change completely in 90 days.  The thing is, you can’t do that to your body.  It’s too smart.  It knows that stress, doing things quickly and trying to push beyond its’ current capacity means bad things, so it takes steps to not have that happen.  I’m going to ask you to simply listen to it.  Take the time to let it adapt, learn and move forward because whether or not you think you have time, you certainly don’t have time to waste.  As a society we need to get away from this idea that everything needs to happen right now and get back to what nature intended – slow, gradual change for the better.  I’m a firm believer that you can do anything that you want to do, but you have to give your body the chance to get there.  Let me know if you agree!