Category: fitness

I really do wonder if there’s any hope sometimes. I take a look at a group of people calling themselves strength and conditioning coaches and I find this question: (Coaches, looking at the content of this video, is this right or wrong?)
And what’s the first answer? (There’s no right or wrong, just what’s appropriate for the person.)
Of course. And the coach saying this looks like he’s never had a barbell on his back in his entire life. I also notice he’s certified by an organization that repeatedly shows very little understanding of anything related to strength training but which unfortunately certifies a lot of trainers. I won’t say which one but it starts and ends with an “A.”
We’ve run across this idea so many times that it just drives me crazy. But let’s go with this ridiculous idea because so many trainers now consider themselves “strength and conditioning coaches” that we need to start pointing out things that should be blindingly obvious.
So there is no right and wrong in regards to exercise form, correct? All form is correct, it’s just that some techniques are right for some and not others correct?
Great. Please take a look at this exercise form and tell me who this is appropriate for?

So who should squat like that? Come on “experts”! There’s no right or wrong, correct?
How about this?

So please tell us who you recommend squat like that? Who should squat with a rounded, hunched over back? Who should barbell squat with the right hand gripping the bar but barely gripping the bar at all with the left?
99.9% of the so-called trainers that tell you this stuff say it because they themselves have no idea how to squat, deadlift, or do anything else heavy. They aren’t experts because they haven’t done it themselves. They think reading a book and taking a weekend course makes them experts and it doesn’t.

Now I ask you this – why on earth would you pay someone for their time when they themselves can not tell right exercise form from wrong? What are you paying for? Why would you hire someone like this for personal training sessions? Would you hire a math teacher to tutor your kid that said there was no right or wrong answers? Does 2+2=5?
If your so-called trainer doesn’t have videos of himself and people he’s trained lifting weights, then don’t listen to one word he or she says about lifting weights. Start demanding more from the people you get advice from or you’ll wind up like the people in the videos above.

Lots of talk about Tabata lately because it’s the latest fad to come through Taiwan. Next week there will be another fad to distract you from the fact that all the other fads – mermaid line, thigh gap, bikini gap, slideboard, ViPr, etc. – didn’t get you fitness results. What happened to the “armor line”? Unfortunately, that’s all there really is here in Taiwan, fitness fads. But some of us are fighting back. I was glad to see the article this weekend by a trainer named Coach Hank that called the Tabata trend out.

Our gym Formosa Fitness was founded on high intensity interval training (HIIT) through the kettlebell. I used to personally teach up to four group classes and 10 private sessions a day based on HIIT so I have lots of experience with it. Tabata is one version of HIIT.

The first thing you should know is that Dr. Tabata was looking for a way to increase the VO2 max of the Japanese Olympic speed skating team. Think of VO2 max as your ability to quickly exchange a high volume of carbon dioxide for oxygen in your lungs. It’s basically a measure of cardiovascular power and the Tabata protocol did increase that ability but that’s all it did. The Tabata protocol is NOT a fat loss program, a muscle-building program, a strength-building program or anything else. Don’t care about building your VO2 max? Then why are you wasting your time with Tabata?

Olympic level athletes spend more than a decade training intensely for their sport. Have you trained intensely for a decade? A year? A week? Then why are you wasting your time with this? The athletes got results with the method because they had already gone through a ton of regular strength and conditioning training. Their power output was off the charts already. Tabata found that only an all out effort produced the results he was looking for but it takes a highly conditioned body to produce that level of effort. He also found that the exercises which produced this effect are few. Only a few exercises were simple enough and stressed the body through whole body fatigue enough to be effective. Battling ropes and crappy burpees with a sagging core were not used. Tabata used an exercise bike, period. Nothing else was used to my knowledge. Chair dips that only use a single joint were certainly not used and you aren’t being told that.

Tabata is a trend now because fake trainers and Facebook pseudo fitness celebrities are using it to pander to the public because most people hate exercise and they will swallow any gimmick designed to get them to do less work. Three months ago it was the 7:00 workout and that must have worked so well that we needed to immediately replace it with a 4:00 workout. The :30 workout is just around the corner, I’m sure.

The whole point of this, just like everything else these days, is to get you to look at the trainer. It isn’t about your fitness because they don’t care about that – it’s about him or her, the fake trainer. It’s about being popular and when their stupid video with a crappy, poorly designed workout gets half a million hits, then the want-to-be celebrity can sell their popularity to a shoe company or toy fitness supplier that sells you fitness junk. They can be on TV selling “gym drinks” that you can’t actually find in any store and that have more sugar in them than protein. They can tell you that you should buy the Buttmaster 5000 even though they never used it in their lives, but you apparently should.

So are you going to fall for this fad like all of the others that didn’t work or are you ready to do some real training?

Everyone in mainstream fitness likes to talk about lines, so here’s the next big craze! Have you heard about it? It’s called the “idiot line.” It has to do with the line that is between someone’s ears. Unfortunately, if the person pays lots of attention to the mainstream fitness industry, this space is often empty. So we can shoot an arrow through this gap and they won’t notice a thing. They’ll be too busy reading about the latest line or gap, forgetting that obsessing over the mermaid line got them nothing, as did the thigh gap, the bikini bridge, etc. But I’m sure the new “armor line” will really get them in shape this time! (not likely)

So HIIT cardio got a good rep there for a while. But then the “cool kids” decided they were too cool for school and started putting it down. The fact that it’s excellent training for most people got left in the dust.

So here’s a pic above from today’s workout. Now that right there is what 99% of the public want — they want to sweat a lot, they want to feel exhausted, and most of all they want to burn crazy amounts of calories because that’s how they judge a good workout. So we’re hearing all the time about how great Fitness Blender Youtube videos is because “OMG! I burn crazy calories!” Yawn.

Fitness Blender (if we’re gonna use a blender, I’d prefer a pina coloda) makes you better at nothing. It just makes you tired. They “blend” a bunch of random stuff together for no purpose. It’s nonsense exercise.

The picture above comes as a consequence of dedicated lifting like barbell squatting, barbell deadlifting, pressing, etc. and doing heavy kettlebells. I do NOT routinely do “cardio” especially on machines because I find it more boring than watching paint dry. I have no idea how people tolerate that kind of exercise and I totally understand why people quit doing it. I would, too. But I also get angry and frustrated at people that do that stuff and then quit because they won’t listen and understand that there is another way to exercise — it’s called training.

So what got me able to burn 730 calories in 20:00?

First, I train instead of doing random exercise. I’m always working the same basic lifts or variations of them in order to get stronger or to increase my work capacity. I don’t do anything at random since that would give me random results.

Second, I focus on leg training. Everyone loves to work their biceps but if i have to skip a day, it will be one of my upper body days. Leg training is a dying art. No one gives it enough priority but i feel it’s the bedrock of a solid program.

Third, when I rarely do machines (like today) I incorporate it into the workout so it doesn’t interfere with strength gains or whatever else I’m emphasizing. HIIT is where it’s at.

Fourth, training heavy increases your strength, meaning you can use more resistance in your conditioning/fat loss workouts. This leads to getting calories burned. How long would it take you to burn the above 730 calories by jogging? Do the math. I’ll give you a hint — it ain’t 20:00.

Realize this — every downstroke on the pedal is a percentage of your 1RM squat, just like Rippetoe says. So if your 1RM squat goes up, the amount of force you can apply to the pedals goes up, meaning you can a higher level on the cardio machines. Throw in some high rep work after squatting heavy and you get increased work capacity, lung capacity and added muscle mass. HIIT fits in nicely right after doing stuff like higher rep work.

The high calories burned is a CONSEQUENCE of doing all the above. It’s never the goal, but it is a result. Thing is, I also got stronger in total, my muscle % went up, my lifts went up, my core strength went up, etc. plus my ability to burn more calories went up. So you get the desired Fitness Blender effect as a side benefit. There is no side benefit from Fitness Blender other than boredom and exhaustion.

So how did I do today’s workout to get the above?

I warmed up and worked exclusively on deadlift. I warmed up to my work sets and then did 4×4 with the heaviest weight i could use. I then backed off by 40kg and did several sets of 6-8. That handled my hamstrings and glutes.

Then I got on my bike and set it so my leg was not fully extended on the downstroke. It stopped extending at around 160 degrees. Just think of keeping the knee bent at the bottom of the stroke and you’ll be fine.

Then I set it for the highest level I could go while keeping the RPM 55-60. It was level 21 today and I pedaled for 5:00. At the 5:00 mark and on every minute and every half minute after that, I sprinted for :10 and rested for :20. So I sprinted at the top of the minute for :10, pedaled at 55-60 RPM for :20, then at :30 I sprinted again for :10, then pedaled at 55-60 RPM again. I kept that up for 15:00 to get 20:00 total and the resistance level stayed high the whole time (I backed off to level 19 for the intervals).

At the end of 20:00 I had burned 730 calories. Not bad for an old man.

Doing the HIIT like this builds muscle and you will feel that when you’re done. I’ll be building muscle for the next day or two from that and calories used to build muscle don’t get added to your fat stores. Plus I get all the “cardio” benefit I need. As long as I keep up my running form via the rare run, I can use this HIIT method to sprint when I need to, run for mild distance if I need to, etc. And because I’m lifting barbells and kettlebells, I don’t have to do these cardio machine sessions a lot. 1-2 a week for 20:00 is enough (if i want to do them at all) and that beats the hell out of doing this stuff for 2-3 hours a day slowly like some people suggest.

So keep this HIIT stuff in addition to lifting regularly and doing HIIT-ish heavy kettlebell workouts and you’ll be burning crazy calories in no time.

Why don’t people think about anything these days?
Here’s your challenge: show me ONE PERSON that has transformed their body doing the 7:00 workout. Just ONE. You can’t, right? Why not? I thought it was fantastic? It’s “scientific” isn’t it? Everyone today likes that word “scientific.” As soon as they see it, they immediately turn their brains off and get stupid.

Oh, so you did a Google search and say I’m wrong. You mean this guy? (Please notice the overhead lighting in the “after” picture) The guy who did the workout daily for 50 days…..and apparently got zero results? Or how about this top search result. Hey, she’s hot, right? 30 days of the 7:00 workout…….and no change. Umm…..er…..yeah, there you go. Deal with reality.

First of all, all these articles and “workouts” were written with the general public in mind and the public hates exercise so the “7:00” thing is the hook. The author knows most people won’t even read the whole article, they’ll just think “I can get the sexy abz in 7:00 a day” and pass the article on social media. Did anyone bother to read that you should do the workout 2-3 times a day? Of course not. So it’s not just 7:00, then is it? Details, details.

Second, it’s “scientific”? Really? It’s supposedly based on studies but those studies don’t suggest exercise like this. Many of those studies were based on WEIGHT TRAINING. Whoops. See, the general public doesn’t want to hear that you need equipment or that it can help you in any way. They want to think that fitness is free, just like they want to hear you can get fit in only 7:00 a day. Imagine lifting weights for 7:00 versus lifting your bodyweight only for 7:00. Which is likely to be more effective? And BTW, no study ever looked at this workout. They didn’t tell you that either, did they?

Third, this workout is completely devoid of posterior chain work — you know, all those muscles you don’t see in the mirror. Again, this is done to pander to the public. They WANT what they can see in the mirror, not what they NEED which is to pull their rounded shoulders back after doing 8 hours of computer work and to strengthen their weak glutes and hamstrings after using them as cushions all day long. But to do those things requires people to learn how to do pullups and deadlift motions and that’s hard and requires you actually learn how to do something — which the public doesn’t want to hear. Tough. Posterior chain work is the best type of exercise for normal people to learn.

The 7:00 workout is a crock of lies. It leads no where. There are no progressions to the exercises, it doesn’t make you better at anything, and be honest — no one sticks with it long term. These workouts pander to the public by telling you all the things you want to hear, while not telling you that this stuff doesn’t work. If you want a second opinion, look here.

So put down the viral garbage, learn some real exercises, and get on a REAL workout plan that will actually take you somewhere! Don’t just exercise, train!