Food and Mood

There is a new(ish) article over on Precision Nutrition about the food/mood connection. Basically, how emotions and feelings and mood are affected by, and influence, what we eat.

Food and Mood

It's a good read and if you're struggling to get a handle on what you consume, it's not a bad place to start. It's got the inevitable plugs for their programs and coaching and training, so be aware they'll show up. But it doesn't detract from the value of the information.

Best take away bit? You need to change how you eat one habit at a time. Master one every two weeks or so until it's yours and then work on changing something else. Don't try to do everything at once.

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To Weigh or Not to Weigh

I had a discussion recently with someone about weighing clients. At the gym I work at, we weigh clients, check body fat, and take various measurements. Those numbers are regularly re-checked as we go, to ensure we're getting where we aim to go.

My discussion partner suggested that basically, this wasn't the way to go. People - especially women - don't like to get weighed. I took that rather personally - people hire me because they have a numerical goal for weight ("lose 20 pounds") so I need to know that number.

Ultimately, the way I see it is this - weight is just a number. Not a particularly important number, compared to body fat percentages and size measurements. But it's a number. And it's one people want me to help them change.

If you want a number to change, and you want my help - then we have to know what that number is and check it regularly to see if we're on the right path. It's going to be a subject of discussion and we'll keep coming back to it. If you're shy about getting on the scale, okay, I understand that. That's why we weigh you privately and don't share the number. But it's a measurement you specifically want to address, and I can't address it blind.

My real goal, though, is to convince you in your heart that it's just a number and not an important measurement. One of many. Your health, the fit of your clothes, your self-esteem, you improved physical abilities - these are all more critical than the number on the scale. If you aren't a weight-class athlete, don't fret 180 vs. 170 any more than you'd fret 25 pounds versus 30 pounds on an exercise. It's not the goal, it's just one number that we choose to use to represent it.

But keep it in mind - if you hire a professional to change a number, you have to be willing to share that number with that professional.

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Gray Cook on the deadlift

Thanks to the folks over at Conditioning Research for linking to this originally - it's a good video on deadlifting form by Gray Cook.

It's a bit long - over 8 minutes - but worth watching.

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Texas Method

If you haven't seen it yet, T-Nation just put out an article on The Texas Method by Mark Rippetoe.

What is it? Essentially, the mark of a beginner lifter is that you can do the same compound exercises every workout and add more weight each time for the same reps, even if it's only a small amount. The mark of an intermediate lifter is that this becomes a weekly event, and requires that you fluctuate between harder workouts and easier workouts in order to keep gaining steadily. The Texas Method is one way to do that.

What if I'm a beginner? Stick with something like Starting Strength, and get as strong as you can as quickly as you can. Save the intermediate methods for when you just can't show up each workout and load more onto the bar.

It's been written up before, but it's good to see it written up by one of its originators.

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One thing at a time

I had a client today one-on-one instead of our usual semi-private. I knew I had an hour with this client to do whatever we wanted.

What do I do?

Lunges.

The client has a very poor lunge pattern, and it's hard to fix when you also have another client who needs direct supervision. I can't spend a whole session fixing one thing if I have another person to train who can't be set on his own to keep training. But today, it was one-on-one. Although this client also has some other issues - pushups, some pulling form, posture issues - the lunge was my goal today. Fix the lunge.

What I did was have him work through his lunges one step at a time, one leg at a time, until it was good enough. Not perfect, but good enough to progress from.

Then we did his normal workout. Except every 1-2 sets of whatever we did, be it presses, step-ups, pulldowns, whatever - we did 5 lunges each leg, only counting the good ones. Each rep was preceded by checking his stance, his balance, his hand position, and then doing a static lunge.

This worked out to 50 or so lunges, with good form, each leg. Not a lot, but steady repetition. By the end of the session, he was automatically knocking out his lunges each leg, checking his form, etc. And they looked better - even fatigued - than the ones he started with.

We could have worked on anything or everything, but focusing on just one piece of his movement problems took care of it. Now, he knows he'll warm up with 5 good lunges each leg each workout. It'll become ingrained as a correct movement pattern and he'll get stronger at them. Once that's done, we can do the next problem area. One thing at a time. It just seems easier to break a problem into as many little pieces as you can and attack them one at a time.

Based on today, I'm thinking that's the way to go - I'll try to fix one thing about each client's issues each week or each workout.

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Inverted Rows

A new article over on Elite FTS discusses the inverted row - essentially, hanging upside down from a bar and pulling yourself up.

Five Fun Inverted Row Variations

All five variations are worthy ones - not just small changes but significant and useful ways to make rows harder and more useful beyond just weighting them.

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Too Fat to Squat

YOU.

MUST.

SQUAT.

You'll hear that repeated as a mantra in the weight training world. If you aren't squatting - usually barbell back squatting - you aren't training.

But what do you do when you, or your clients, are just physically unable to squat?

This question came up on the Performance Menu forums in an eponymously titled forum post.

I added my 2 cents there, and I'll quote it here:

That's how we (at the gym I work at) handle fat loss clients and sedentary folks, nevermind people with injuries that restrict their ROM. Generally we have them squat to a box, and lower the box until we find the point at which they lose their neutral spine. Often for heavier folks, the spine is fine but the body/legs gets in the way. In that case, they just keep working on a lower ROM, inch by inch, session by session.

. . .

I [use goblet squats] with light kettlebells - getting the client's hands in the right position seems to be easier than with the smaller dumbbells. We also progress pretty quickly to zercher sandbag squats, using some very light sandbags (maybe 10-20 pounds). The arm positioning and back position is easy to coach - "Don't lean over and drop the bag!" and it helps get the person to a lightly loaded squat.

Basically squatting is natural and healthy, but since I see a lot of injured/injury rehab clients and fat loss clients - often with both issues - we have to take it slowly and work them along.

If you don't have physical restrictions, then I agree with the mantra. Get squatting. The bang-for-your-buck is amazing. But if you do, safety dictates a modified squat pattern . . . until you are strong enough to do the regular version. Getting back to the ability to squat down is a great goal for a beginning lifter.

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