6/14/10

Best All Around Workout

As a Personal Trainer I have been asked hundreds of times over the years, what the best workout routine is. In the past I have always resisted answering this question because I felt it was inherently subjective thereby defying resolution. However, after more than 30 years in the fitness industry as an athlete and trainer, I’ve come full circle and now believe there is a definitive answer to this eternal question.

In order to constitute an effective workout routine, the chosen regimen must address all three components of fitness, Strength, Cardiovascular & Flexibility. While Flexibility training (stretching) can be performed after either the Cardiovascular or Strength components, most individuals don’t like to train both of the latter two components on the same day for a number of reasons. The two most often given are 1) It’s too time consuming and 2) It’s physically too demanding.

While I cannot really argue with either reason I do feel that the first has more validity than the second. In the fast paced society we live in today most people simply do not have available to them the large blocks of time necessary to train both the Strength and Cardiovascular components in the same day. With respect to the second reason, while it is true that performing both Cardiovascular and Strength workouts in that same day is demanding, I feel this is offset by the fact that you will only have to train every other day. With this longer recovery interval your body should be able to handle the more demanding workout.

Ok, so we have a fast paced society where people want everything yesterday. They want to improve their aerobic/cardiovascular fitness level as well as increase their strength, but they only want to train 3 times a week maximum AND they only have about 45 minutes to do it since they want to be able to train on their lunch hour and have time to grab a quick shower. Is there a routine to fit the bill? The answer fortunately, is a resounding yes and it’s one of the oldest routines around, Body Weight Calisthenics. That’s right. The same stuff that military units have been using for decades.

As workout routines go, Body Weight Calisthenics have much to recommend them: 1) they require minimal or no equipment, 2) They can be performed virtually anywhere, 3) they are quite vigorous from an aerobic standpoint while building a modicum of strength, but there are other benefits that are not readily apparent right off the bat. The classic training recipe for most people is to have separate Strength & Aerobic workouts and there is nothing wrong with this approach except that it requires more time. Time constraints notwithstanding, traditional strength training with weights effectively develops strength by isolating muscles or muscle groups for the particular exercise or movement being performed. As a result, the body doesn’t learn how couple, lower extremity, core and upper body strength in an integrated fashion. This is the hallmark of Bodyweight Calisthenics. The various muscle groups of the body are forced to work as a cohesive unit, mirroring real world applications. The military for example, loves pull-ups since it has a real world application for climbing fences and cliffs. The ability to lift one’s own body weight in this situation is crucial. In contrast, “Pull-downs” done on a machine aren’t quite the same. Many individuals are able to “pull down” quite a bit of weight in this manner because their legs are locked into the seat and yet are still unable to execute a proper pull up. There is simply no substitute for the pull up.

Likewise, Bodyweight Dips are also an excellent measure of a person’s strength with real world applications such as when pressing on a branch or platform while climbing a tree or structure. While generally a little easier for the average person to perform than Pull-ups, Dips are nevertheless a demanding exercise.

Push-ups are probably the quintessential Bodyweight exercise and people either love them or hate them. There are a number of variations of the exercise available and they work a lot of muscle groups. I am personally a big proponent of doing push-ups in many forms instead of simply focusing on the Bench Press. Once one is able to move up in numbers past 50 reps, you begin to place a considerable demand on your core muscles to stabilize you in the push-up position making performing planks unnecessary.

Beyond the upper body, there are a host of highly effective lower body exercises that utilize nothing more than a person’s own Bodyweight. If you really have a limited amount of time to workout each week and are serious about getting in and / or staying in condition, then give Bodyweight Calisthenics a try. You will find U.S. Marine Corp or Navy Seal exercise manuals to be invaluable in this regard. They are excellent sources of information and contain more exercises than you will ever need. NOW MOVE IT SOLDIER!

Sincerely,

“Francis X”

Francis “X” is a highly sought after Self Defense Instructor and nationally certified Personal Trainer operating in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. He has trained both professional and amateur athletes and is a consultant to such major corporations as British Petroleum.

5/25/10

Black Belt Magazine & Sgt. Jim Wagner; Enabling a Fraud.

The Martial Arts have long been shrouded in mystique and legend. As a result, it is an ideal breeding ground for frauds, snake oil salesman and con men. The latest of these is Sgt. Jim Wagner, expert in Reality Based Self Defense, according to Jim Wagner. Visit his website (http://www.jimwagnertraining.com/homepage.html ) and you will be amazed that anyone could have accomplished show much in one lifetime, but there’s a simple explanation. He hasn’t. Put quite simply, Sgt. Jim is a complete fraud. Contrary to his website, Sgt. Wagner was NEVER a Sgt., was NEVER a member of Special Forces, NEVER saw action, NEVER did any real Police or SWAT work and doesn’t know the first thing about Fighting or Self Defense. In fact, I seriously doubt Sgt. Jim has ever stepped into the ring. Frauds like these are not new so why am I singling out Jim Wagner?

Well, because this is a special case in that Jim Wagner had considerable help in perpetrating this fraud from none other than Black Belt Magazine ( http://www.blackbeltmag.com ). For the better part of 5 years Black Belt Magazine has been publishing Self Defense articles written by Jim Wagner and held them out as the standard by which all other Reality Based Self Defense Systems should be judged. No doubt, Black Belt Magazine will be stung by this article and claim foul, but truth is a defense. I didn’t tell or compel Black Belt Magazine to give “Sgt. Jim Wagner” his own regular monthly column to use as a forum for promoting his rather expensive seminars and DVD’s. Black Belt Magazine decided to do that all on their own. Nor, did I hold a gun their heads and make  them vote Sgt. Jim Black Belt Self Defense Instructor of the Year in 2006 and induct him into the Black Belt Hall of Fame to stand alongside true Martial Arts Legends like Joe Lewis and Bill Wallace. No, Black Belt Magazine elected to do all this of it’s own free will. Why? Well, I can only speculate.

Prior to his relationship with Black Belt, Jim Wagner was a relative unknown. His articles began to appear  in Black Belt around the same time he began taking out ads in the publication touting his seminars and DVD’s. I see a “which came first the chicken or the egg” argument brewing. In my opinion, what happened is that Jim Wagner began heavily advertising in Black Belt and in return, Black Belt promoted him in their publication to ensure that he would be successful and able to continue his advertising campaign. As far as I can tell, NONE of this is illegal. However, when it recently came to light that Jim Wagner was a fraud and Black Belt decided to pull his column, it seems to me that the loyal readers of Black Belt Magazine who have supported them all these years, deserved better than to see a generic remark on the editors page naming no one, but simply stating that some columns had to be eliminated in order to make room for new blood. Black Belt  Magazine either knowingly or unknowingly, promoted this phoney for almost 5 years and anyway you slice it, they owe their reading public a full apology since they either knew he was a fraud and put profit ahead of honesty, or they failed to vet him properly and enabled his fraud. Come on Black Belt. Suck it up and clear the air.

Francis X. Drake,

CEO, Genesis Diversified Services

5/15/10

Are Multiple Sets Necessary To Build Strength?

My name is Francis X. Drake, Personal Trainer and owner of Genesis Diversified Services. I’ve trained all manner of athletes from Squash Players to Kick boxers and the simple answer to the above question is no. The secret to building muscle strength is muscle “inroading”. That is to say, the muscle should be made to exert itself for a period of time during which it is completely fatigued in order to “innervate” or stimulate as many muscle fibers as possible. When a muscle begins to exert itself against a load, it calls upon only that number of fibers within it necessary to meet the demand placed upon it. As it continues to perform repetitions and the fibers initially recruited begin to tire, the muscle calls upon additional fibers to join in the effort and so on until the maximum number of fibers have been involved and the muscle finally fails under the load. Unless a particular fiber has been innervated during strength training, it will not increase in size or strength. While performing multiple sets of an exercise can certainly be helpful in achieving muscle inroading it is not absolutely necessary, especially in the early stages of a training program. If you do elect to perform multiple sets of an exercise perform no more than three. If you aren’t achieving inroading after three sets it’s time to re-evaluate your lifting technique rather than ramp up the number of sets. So what’s the correct way to go about lifting? The answer is to make sure that you have properly balanced the three components common to any successful exercise program, Intensity, Duration, and Frequency.

Intensity

Intensity refers to the level of effort you put into an activity. There are only two levels of effort that can be measured with definite accuracy, 100% effort or zero effort. Everything in between is pure guesswork and Intensity of effort is critically important. You should strive to lift a given weight until you reach the point where you cannot complete another repetition no matter how hard you try. That = 100% effort. Does this mean you keep lifting until sunset if that’s what it takes to exhaust you? Of course it doesn’t. Failure must take place within a specific time frame and that’s where Duration comes in.

Duration

Duration refers the amount of time each set or workout session entails. There is an inverse relationship between Intensity and Duration. The more intense your level of effort, the shorter the time period that you are able to sustain it will be. The lower your level of effort, the longer the time period you are able to sustain it will be. With respect to strength training, research has shown that the optimal time for achieving failure is between 40 – 70 seconds for upper body exercises and between 90 – 120 seconds for lower body exercises. If you are failing sooner than that you are using a weight that is too heavy and not allowing for maximum muscle fiber innervation. If it takes longer than that to achieve failure then the load is too light and you are failing for reasons have more to do with aerobic factors than muscle fiber exhaustion.

When lifting be sure to remove all momentum from the movement by lifting in a controlled fashion so that that muscle is under constant load. A good rule of thumb is to take 2 seconds for the positive phase of the movement (the actual lifting of the weight) 4 seconds for the negative phase (the lowering of the weight). This translates into an approximately 6 second repetition. Applying this to the above recommended time frames, you should achieve failure in 6 – 12 seconds for upper body exercises and 15 – 20 seconds for lower body exercises. By using these rep numbers as a guide you won’t have to keep an eye on the clock as you lift.

Frequency

This refers to how often you perform the exercise program. The minimum number of times you should strength train is twice a week. Three times would be even better, but surprisingly strength training twice a week gives you 75% of the benefit that doing it three times a week would so if time is short this is an excellent option. Whatever number of workouts you choose to schedule in a week, they should take no more than 1 hour. Remember that there is an inverse relationship between Intensity and Duration and Intensity of effort is crucial to success. If you are able to lift for more than an hour then you are not putting out the level of effort you should be.

Follow the guidelines I have given you above and I assure you that you will achieve the sort of strength increases that may have eluded you up until now. Feel free to e-mail me your comments at francisx@genesisdiversifiedservices.com. Understand that I may not have time to answer every individual e-mail, but may address your concerns in a future article. Good Luck!

Sincerely,

“Francis X”

Francis “X” is a highly sought after Self Defense Instructor and nationally certified Personal Trainer operating in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. He has trained both professional and amateur athletes and is a consultant to such major corporations as British Petroleum.