Every time someone in a social setting finds out that
I’ve worked with PGA golfers, the response is always
the same. “I guess you guys do light weights and lots
of stretching.” It drives me nuts. One thing I hope to
do over the next few months is tell the truth about
training.

Point 1 – No one ever got better lifting light weights.

Light weight is an oxymoron. A weight should be
appropriate to the goal but, rarely, if ever, intentionally
light. The load should be based on the strength level of
the person. The reality is if you are lifting a weight ten
times, numbers nine and ten should be difficult. If you
can lift a weight 20 times but choose to do only ten,
you are wasting your time. Period.

Point 2 – The essence of effective strength training is
a concept called progressive resistance exercise. This
means that that even if the resistance may be light to
begin with, it should not stay that way.

I go crazy when someone tells me about the routine
they’ve been doing with their eight-lb hand weights.
(P.S. Call them dumbbells. Calling them hand weights is
a dead giveaway that you are clueless.)

My first question is this. How long have you been doing
this? Often, people respond with something like, “I’ve
done this three times a week for three months.” The
doctrine of progressive resistance says that the first two
weeks were beneficial and that 10 weeks were wasted.
It’s no wonder people stop working out.

Point 3 – Once you have passed the first three weeks of
training, you should lift a weight that is heavy but allows
perfect form. Be wary, however, of another all-too-common
mistake. When we say the load should be heavy, people
begin to cheat. We are not encouraging cheating. Strive
for perfect technique in all exercises AND progressively
increase the resistance. SportBlocks, from PowerBlock,
are perfect for this. SportBlocks are a small version of the
popular PowerBlock dumbbells that increase in
three-pound increments. If you don’t want to buy
SportBlocks, get a good selection of dumbbells.
Beginners will need 2.5-, 5-, 7.5-,10- and 12-lb dumbbells
in order to progress.

Point 4 – Work on basic strength in basic exercises. If your
trainer has you practicing your golf swing with a dumbbell
in your hands, get a new trainer. Do not wave dumbbells
around and call it strength training. Learn to bodyweight
squat, learn to do a push-up. Good basic training should
strongly remind you of the calisthenics you used to do in
high school.

Here’s the truth. The secret is, there is no secret. If you
want to hit a golf ball further, you need to get stronger.
You will not get strong lifting a five-pound dumbbell.

Regards,

Mike Boyle

I remember when machine training was all the rage
because it was thought to be safer and more effective.
The problem with this “truth” is that it was a lie or at least
a misconception promoted by the manufactures of machines
and often backed up by industry-funded research.

Nautilus was advertised as a 12-machine, 12-minute trip to
the Promised Land. Today it’s Curves.
Tomorrow, who knows?

The Cooper Clinic told us that aerobic exercise was going
to change our lives. Suddenly everyone was a runner.
I think the real beneficiaries of the aerobic training boom
were the doctors and physical therapists who made millions
caring for all those who were injured on the road to the
Promised Land.

The aerobic training boom made us aware of things like
plantar fasciitis, iliotibial band syndrome, and patella-femoral
dysfunction. It gave us RICE (rest, ice, compression, and
elevation) and made sports medicine a household word.

Next came the group exercise phenomenon, the aerobics shoe,
and aerobics classes. More marketing, more injuries. More
money for the doctors and PT’s.

Some of these ideas were well-intentioned attempts at wellness
promotion, others flat out lies propagated to make money. In
either case, we still don’t get it. The truth is that exercise needs
to be smart and safe. but it also needs to be hard if possible.
Very little in life was ever achieved without hard work. Fitness
is clearly not the exception. Some doctors try to say gardening
qualifies as exercise.

Ask yourself this question. “How is kneeling in dirt exercise?”

Others say walking is great exercise. The truth is that something
is always better than nothing, but why aim so low?

The reality is that we should be exercising as hard as we are
physically able. In fact, the medical professionals themselves
said that in 2002 but the information got little coverage.
The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 346:852-854
March 14, 2002) published a study and an editorial titled
“Survival of the Fittest” that said “…the peak estimated exercise
capacity achieved during the test (graded exercise treadmill)
was the strongest predictor of the risk of death among patients
with cardiovascular disease and among patients without
cardiovascular disease.”

The study went on to say, “Greater fitness results in longer
survival.” The study said nothing about duration or frequency, it
only mentioned performance. The people that lived the longest
were not the ones that exercised the most frequently. They were
the ones who lasted the longest on the treadmill test.

The key variable that related to life expectancy was fitness, not
total time or number of days per week. Those that were able
to exercise the hardest lived the longest.

Think about that next time you take a walk or work in
the garden. If that is all you can do, fine. However, healthy
people need hard work.

Regards,

Mike Boyle

Food for thought!

When it comes to improving body composition it is not only skipping certain meals when we need nutrients, but also eating too many calories when our calorie requirements are lowest that are important. Many people will skip breakfast, eat a big lunch, an even bigger dinner and then snack until they go to bed. This is a recipe to get a body like this.

Ok, you get the point, but when should you eat and how much. A person’s basal metabolic rate (BMR) is a measure of how many calories your body needs to maintain your current weight and meet the needs of digestion, respiration, and brain function.

For men:

(Bodyweight/2.2) x 24

For women:

((Bodyweight/2.2) x .9) x 24

Now that you know how many calories you need to maintain your current weight we can determine how many calories you need to reach your goals. If you are trying to put on mass shoot for 500 calories/day (from protein and carbs) above BMR, and if you are trying to lean out shoot for 500 calories/day under BMR (from carbs and fat).

In the next installment I will cover the calorie and food breakdown for post workout nutrition.

In Strength,

Brian Ramage

The concept is not new, with many fitness “gurus” touting the benefits of this dietary approach. As nomads and cave people we ate only when we needed to. If the tribe or group had a particularly hard day of hunting the hunters were given more meat. The only things we hunt today are grease, salt, and sugar.

The beauty of this approach, if done correctly, is that there is very little waste. Think about pressing the accelerator on your car. If the cylinders cannot handle more gasoline it gets dumped into the exhaust. The fuel going into the exhaust is analogous to your body storing excess calories as body fat. More calories are needed in the morning, and pre and post workout, while less calories are needed before bed or while watching tv.

Check back for part 2 of this series where I discuss carbohydrate and protein needs.

In Strength,

Brian

• Motivation
• Great adjunct to a resistance and aerobic training program
• It’s fun!
• Burn more calories for your time
• Compete with others

In Health,

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/nutrition-myths-0?cm_mmc=ETNTNL-_-2010_03_04-_-HTML-_-1

http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow/9-ways-eat-healthy-pizzeria?cm_mmc=ETNTNL-_-2010_03_01-_-HTML-_-dek

Getting ready for summer isn’t hard, but finding the gumption to train and eat right is. I have written about fat loss programs ad nauseam, so here are just a few quick, easy tips to follow. For more on this topic check my other articles.

- Place a realistic picture of what you want to look like on your refrigerator, bathroom mirror, or any      prominent place where you will see it every day

- Don’t eat carbohydrates past 8pm

- Eat a sensible breakfast

- Try high intensity interval training (H.I.I.T) a couple days/week

- Don’t be afraid to pack on some muscle

- Abstain from sugar except during/after training

- Avoid the compulsion to do massive amounts of cardiovascular training

- Fruits and vegetables should comprise the bulk of your carbohydrate intake

Good luck making your shadow smaller.

Exercise should not be something that we do like a chore, or a job. We were meant to move and be active, and when we aren’t there are serious, sometimes deadly repercussions.

Here is a short article to sum it all up.

http://www.health.vic.gov.au/archive/archive2004/localgov/link/link5/link5-3.html

In Health,

Brian

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362004575000991306918812.html