Personal Training, Sports Performance, Weight Loss, Continuing Education, CEU Provider

in Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, Mattoon, and Charleston

 

Healthy Lifestyle vs. Busy Lifestyle

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Well hello everyone!  It has been awhile. It has been crazy busy around here lately!  Like many of you, I have had to make some choices on how to manage time to get through the busyness.   I wanted to share some tips that have helped me get through it all:

 

  1. Prioritize– As much as we don’t like to admit it….we can’t do it all. There simply is not enough time in the day to do everything.  We have to learn how to prioritize what is essential to our professional and personal existence.  For me my family, friends, clients and fitness took priority.  Things like social media, marketing, outreach and some other administrative things went to the back burner.  A big reason why it has been so long since my last blog!  I picked the things that were necessary for my business, my health and my family first
  2. Control the things you can control- When we get busy we tend to feel like we lose control because there are so many moving parts. Sometimes, there are things that we can’t control.  14 hour work days, busy weekend schedules, family obligations, etc. are things we can’t control.  However, a big thing I could control was my nutrition.  I would prepare foods for the week on Sunday, I would only buy healthy foods when I grocery shopped, I made smart choices at restaurants.  When people get busy they tend to eat poorly and thus gain weight.  When there is no time to workout or the workouts aren’t as long or as intense because of our schedule we can combat this with the quantity and quality of the food we consume.  Also, making choices through the day to move….. get up from the desk and walk around, parking farther away, taking the dog for a walk, setting aside time (no matter how little) to do purposeful exercise, and making active activities a part of your social gatherings all help.
  3. Sleep– Getting the proper amount of sleep is huge in recovery, rejuvenation, and stress management. This is the time that our body repairs itself.  This is the time that the body replenishes itself.  Without it, alertness/cognitive function will suffer, energy will be low, fitness progress will be stalled and the risk of getting sick increases drastically.  Everybody requires a different amount of sleep.  A couple of ways that you can tell if you are not getting enough sleep is if you require an alarm to wake up, you have a hard time getting out of bed when you do wake up, you are sleepy through the day or if you fall right to sleep when you do go to bed.  A majority of people do not get enough sleep at night and that is one of the most important aspects of your life where you literally make yourself better without doing anything!
  4. Take your moments- When we get busy we tend not to take time to “smell the roses”. We move from one task to the next, rarely enjoying the process because we have so much to conquer.  From a mental, physical and spiritual standpoint it is necessary to take a moment and appreciate the people and things around us.  Whether it is in the morning sipping on some coffee or as you lay in bed ready to fall asleep, take time to reflect and appreciate what you are doing.  It makes those hectic times worth it!

These tips have helped me in the past and will continue to help me.  I hope they do the same for you.  Now that I have resumed a more “normal” schedule I look forward to sharing more blogs with you!

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Primitive Initiative™- Laying a foundation

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As we age, as we become more sedentary, and as we become more specialized in our movements we develop restriction patterns. Over our lifetime certain muscles may get tight while others get weak.  We start to compensate in our movements and those compensations perpetuate this cycle of tight and weak muscles.  Eventually there is break down in the system of movement.  When there is break down inefficiencies and injuries occur.

Before entering any program, one should be properly screened.  This may be even truer for the Primitive Initiative® because the program is designed around normal human movement patterns.  Movement patterns that potentially have not been done since a person was a child.  Not only do we have to be concerned with someone’s ability and preparation for such movements, but we must also be concerned of what a person just physically can’t do.  If a person is restricted they are unable to move normally.  It’s an issue of can’t and not “this is hard because I haven’t done this in a while”.

Because of this we must first eliminate restrictions of movement and teach the Primitive Initiative® training in a progressive manner.  I call this the foundation phase, or a more familiar term to most will be the General Prep portion in the Preparatory Phase of a Periodization scheme.  Regardless of what we call it the goal is the same: to prepare the body for the work ahead.  To lay a solid foundation so that when higher intensity training is added the body will be able to handle it.

To start this we should do a functional assessment. I can’t emphasize enough how important a functional assessment is before beginning a program (see my previous blog “The Value of Functional Assessments). Movement screens will help identify areas of dysfunction.  Exercises will then be given to help eliminate such areas.  The number of restrictions a person has will dictate the length of time they dedicate to these exercises.  The more restrictions the longer this phase of training will last.

While the largest part of eliminating restrictions will take place in the foundation phase, these exercises will always be a part of the training at varying degrees.  To have quality movement, one must continually maintain corrective exercises.  These can be a part of the warm-up, as their own circuit, or added throughout the workout.

Outside of eliminating restrictions we must prepare the body to move like it hasn’t done in years (because it probably hasn’t).  We will work a lot with isometric holds, slow eccentric contractions, and stabilization, balance, mobility and core exercises during this phase.  Teaching technique of movements and what the body should be doing will be crucial.  Moving slow to fast will help this, as well as knowing/teaching the proper progressions of the 14 fundamental movements.

Without a solid foundation, a million dollar home will collapse.  This is true of any training program (cliché I know….but it is pretty much law at this point).  The Primitive Initiative® aims to add human movement patterns back into exercise to extend peoples quality of life.  If the body isn’t used to human movement patterns and they are introduced too quickly we risk the potential of reducing quality of life. If we don’t prepare the body, then the body will break.

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Primitive Initiative™ Energy System Sequencing

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Primitive Initiative®- Energy System Sequencing

Last week I talked about the 14 fundamental movement patterns that all humans should be exposed to.  Primitive Initiative® aims to incorporate those movements into our training programs in the most efficient ways possible to maximize results.  One way is to place the movements in a specific order within the workout to ensure quality of movement.  I call this Energy System Sequencing.  In order to explain what I mean by this we must have a quick review of our energy systems.

Our energy systems are responsible for providing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to our body.  ATP is basic fuel for muscular contraction and can be supplied directly from the body or derived from glucose, glycogen or fatty acid substrates.  The level of intensity and duration of the work will dictate where the body will pull a majority of its energy from.  It is important to keep in mind that all energy systems are working at the same time.  There is just one that is the dominant system.  Here is a rundown on the energy systems:

The Energy Systems

  1. Alactic Acid or Phosphagen Energy System– An anaerobic energy system.  Uses ATP available in muscle for immediate energy.  This system provides energy for up to 7 seconds.  So movements that would you use this system are as follows:
    1. Speed/Explosiveness:  Maximum Effort, Minimal Amount of time.
    2. 90-100% of max power.  5-7s/set, 1:12 to 1:20 rest.
    3.  Examples exercises: Shot put, throwing a ball, 1 Rep Max, Plyometrics, Olympic lifts, Agility drills, Acceleration
  2. Glycolytic or Fast Glycolysis Energy System– An anaerobic energy system.  Makes ATP using glucose and glycogen as a substrate.  This energy system will become involved at high work intensities once the alactic energy system become depleted.  Provides energy for up to 90 seconds.  So movements that would you use this system are as follows:
    1. Max Strength/Hypertrophy: Max/mod Effort, Moderate amount of time.
    2. 75-90% of max power.  15-90s/set, 1:3 to 1:5 rest.
    3. Example exercises:  Power lifts, bodyweight exercises, complex lifts
  3. Aerobic or Oxidative Energy System– An aerobic energy system.  Makes ATP using fat, glucose and glycogen.  Efficient at producing energy but cannot keep up with the demand when body is operating at high intensities.  So movements that would you use this system are as follows:
    1. Hypertrophy/ Endurance: Moderate to low effort, moderate to low amount of time.  50-75% of max power. 1+ minutes/ set, 1:1 to 1:3 rest.
    2. Example exercises:  Distance running, conditioning drills

 

 

So now that we have reviewed the energy systems I will go into my explanation of Energy System Sequencing (ESS).    ESS is simply structuring training on how we humans utilize/deplete primary energy systems and use muscular contractions through training.  That is to say we order the exercises that we are doing from fast to slow movements.  We start the workout with explosive movements.  For instance, we could start with a medicine ball throw.  The goal is to throw hard and fast for minimal amount of repetitions.  Once one set is complete we rest a few minutes….just enough time that we can throw the ball as fast and as hard as we did in the first set (see above for the work to rest ratios).  With the appropriate amount of rest fatigue does not come into play so we are capable of exerting the same effort.  Once fatigue does come into play and prevents us from exerting that same force we will move on to exercises that can be performed with moderate effort.  We can move onto, say, a pull-up (a derivative of a climb…..we will touch more on this in later blogs).  For most, this will be an appropriate exercise for this energy system, but for those who can crank out 100s of these bad boys, we may want to use this in the next energy system.  Once we go through our sets, reps, and rest at the pull ups we then move onto more of a conditioning drill like shuttle runs (transit).  This will then work within the last energy system.

Obviously this is a very simplistic example of how this works, but the goal, just like adding primitive movement patterns to the routine, is to incorporate all energy systems in our training.  Any time we start to neglect a movement or an energy system, that particular movement and energy system will quickly become our downfall.

 

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Primitive Initiative™- Biomechanical Training

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As mentioned in the previous blog the Primitive Initiative® is a movement oriented training model based on 14 fundamental movement patterns arranged in a specific sequence to maximize results.  It combines biomechanical training with energy system sequencing to provide real life fitness for real life movements.  This can be an “end all be all” program or can be supplemented into current training programs.  Because this is a real life program it is specific to each person.  If someone likes to do bodybuilding, power lifting, distance running etc. many of these movement patterns can still be implemented in each person’s training regimen for better results and less injuries.

So let’s get started……..what is “Biomechanical Training”?  Well, that’s just a fancy way of me saying human movement training.  I have identified 14 human movement patterns that are common throughout life.  As young children we incorporate many of these as we learn to move and play.  As we become older we either begin to become sedentary or very specific in the nature of our training.  In either situation, we start to lose or neglect certain movement patterns.  This gets worse and worse as we go through our life.  The biomechanical training is designed to help reestablish the mobility and movement of the early years in our life.

Here are the 14 movement patterns that I have grouped into 3 categories:

 

Manipulative:

  1. Throwing/Catching: To propel an object through the air from a limb and then to grasp and hold onto an object as it propels back to the body.
  2. Picking up: Bringing an object up off of the ground and then bringing it back to the ground.
  3. Pushing- To press against an object with force in order to drive or impel in the direction of the force.
  4. Pulling- To exert force upon an object so as to cause or tend to cause motion toward the force.
  5. Chopping- To make a quick stroke or repeated stroke in an arcing motion.
  6. Carrying- To move an object through a distance while supporting it.

 

Locomotive:

 

  1. Reaching- ability to touch, pick up, or grab by moving, stretching, or extending limbs.
  2. Jumping/Landing: To spring into the air and then absorbing impact as the body is brought back to the surface.
  3. Getting up: Bringing the body up off of the ground from a laying position to an upright position.
  4. Crawling:  To advance in a prone or supine position where hands and feet are in contact with the ground.
  5. Climbing:  Moving suspended from the ground with gradual continued process.
  6. Crouching:  To lower the body stance while bending at the legs.

 

Variable:

 

  1. Transit:  An act of passing through or over terrain.
  2. Dynamic Methods- Activities that are fluid, connected, and skilled in their patterns. (Ok, I will admit this my catch all category for those movements that were hard for me to classify.  Things like dancing, tumbling and fighting will fall in this category)

 

Some of these are self-explanatory, some are not.  I will use future posts to further explore each movement and how to progress people through the movements.  Much like any program design, progression is key.  After all, if people have come to a point where they have not done a certain movement pattern since their childhood they are just as likely to injure themselves in a gym setting doing it as they would in a real life setting.  That is why they need to be progressed.  This we will leave for later, but for now, try to absorb the movements and look at your own programs to see what they might be missing.  Next week I will discuss another fancy word: Energy System Sequencing.

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Primitive Initiative™- The Movement for movement!

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In my near two decade fitness career I have had the pleasure of working with many clients of varying ages, abilities, dysfunctions, and goals.   In that time span I have worked with many Collegiate Athletes, budding youth athletes, obese and overweight populations, post-rehab/surgical clients, elderly populations, medical populations, the generally healthy, and even an Olympic athlete.  With this wide spectrum of clients I began to find one common problem within each demographic: the lack of movement within their training programs.

I am sure that it is not a surprise for some of these groups, but it may come as a surprise for other groups.  In my experience modern life has made us less and less likely to move.  As the human race has evolved we have developed lifestyles of efficiency.  Unfortunately this efficiency of life has made us inefficient operators of our bodies.

When we are brought into this world we are a blank slate, ready to absorb as much as we possibly can.  Everything we learn is through experimentation and exploration.  It is trial and error.  The more error there is the quicker we learn.  It is an amazing time in our lives.  Everything is a new experience.  We learn to smile, laugh, talk, crawl, walk, and run.  We learn to interact with others.  We learn to interact with and manipulate objects.  We learn to play.  Our play is wide and vast, almost limitless.

At some point in our lives we take one of two tracks.  We either become sedentary or we become specialized.  We may choose to play video games and watch tv instead of going outside and running around playing.  We may choose to play organized sports.  If we do play sports we start to specialize very early.  Many sports have become year round with the school season sport, AAU sport, Travel leagues, and sport specific training.  Our wide and vast movement patterns that we once had begun to disappear.

As we grow even older we go to college and take jobs that have us bound to a desk, hunched over a computer.  If we have the time and motivation to go to the gym, we pick select exercises that are inefficient and may cover only a very few of the movement patterns that are woefully missing from our lives.

Due to this slippery slope of non-movement, as we age we are unable to perform certain tasks efficiently.  Picking things up off the ground, reaching for a seat belt, getting up off the floor all become arduous tasks.  Our joints begin to get immobile, sore, swollen and broken down.  Sudden movements become risks of severe injury.  If an injury occurs it will take nearly two to three times as it once did to recover fully from it, if at all.  Chances are there will always be a limitation from the injury which ultimately will cause a compensation pattern. This will put undue stress upon another system or joint until there is another injury.  Once this injury cycle is entered into it is hard to escape.  Quality of function and ultimately quality of life is severely diminished.

It has been said that exercise is the only singular thing that reduces the risk of every known disease and illness and prolongs life.  I submit that movement is the only singular thing that will enhance and extend functional capacity, reduce injury, and increase quality of life.  My aim is to add movement back into fitness and into people’s lives.

Because of this I have created the Primitive Initiative®(notice the that I trademarked it!  That’s how strongly I believe this is the direction that the field should be and is going). The Primitive Initiative® is a movement oriented training model based on 14 fundamental movement patterns arranged in a specific sequence to maximize results.  It combines biomechanical training with energy system sequencing to provide real life fitness for real life movements.  Whether you call it athleticism, mobility or functionality, Primitive Initiative® enables the human body to operate in all planes of motion, in all positions of center of gravity, at all levels of intensity, in varying bases of support with efficiency and proficiency.  The Primitive Initiative® aims to add real human movement patterns back into fitness and exercise.  This is the movement for movement, and I am excited to share this technique with you over the next several blogs!

 

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