No better a source than Sandi Duncan, managing editor of the Farmers’ Almanac, has said that the new decade begins on January 1, 2021. Most people think it’s January 1, 2020. I’m not going to weigh in here with a decision.

I will just say that my suggestions, below, for the new decade, can either start in 2020 or they can be prepped in 2020 for full-blown implementation in 2021.

Everyone is happy. Everyone wins. The more important thing is the need to address the last ten years of fitness hype and drama, move on the next ten years, and create a better world for everyone.

Say Goodbye to Research Bros

The clinical trial is vitally important, but it has never been, and never will be, the full extent of “The Science Game.”

– Jonathan Rauch, The Kindly Inquisitors pic.twitter.com/labVIhBfnU

— CJ Gotcher (@CJGotcher) October 22, 2019

Research and science are good. Sports research and science are okay and serve a purpose. Normal people, sports science and research, and reactions to every paper that comes out should be put in its place. Too many experts, so-called experts, and commentaries about research papers have diluted the impact of the research.

There are six billion permutations of humanity, and growing, on this earth right now. Each one has a unique chemical and biological profile, sharing a lot of similarities in the core design, but differing in almost imperceptible ways that result in wide swings in ability and adaptability.

Even without statistical issues, sports science faces a reliability problem. A 2017 paper published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance pointed to inadequate validation that surrogate outcomes really reflect what they’re meant to measure, a dearth of longitudinal and replication studies, the limited reporting of null or trivial results, and insufficient scientific transparency as other problems threatening the field’s reliability and validity.

– How Shoddy Statistics Found A Home In Sports Research

Genetics plays a role in your physical well-being. Environment does, too. Your own natural inclinations, prejudices, and devotion will also come into play. The number of ways in which you are different from the person next to you is infinite.

Sports science and research aren’t that well-funded, it often struggles to find bodies for its analysis, and there is valid debate as to whether the statistical methodology is, as a result, even valid.

It serves a purpose, but it isn’t meant to change your training programs and fundamentals every second week of the month.

However, having said all of that, if you really want to go all research bro, stick with Greg Nuckols and subscribe to his newsletter or podcasts, depending on how deep you want to go on this stuff.

Nuckols is a good educator and other coaches gravitate to his in-depth analysis because he gives them a lot of material they can use.

He’s not necessarily someone that I would follow for coaching advice because there’s a swathe of coaches in bodybuilding, powerlifting, and weightlifting who are better suited as specialists, but you can ditch all the other research bros and not miss a beat.

Stop Dieting

Diets are business. They are neither science nor plans nor silver bullet solutions. Dieting is a multi-multi-billion industry. While there are valid reasons for people to diet, particularly in cases of chronic disease, diabetes, obesity, and such, there is very little reason to buy into an industry that is unregulated, untenable, and driven by the desire to sell false hope.

You will diet. You will because you’re human. You buy lottery tickets thinking you may that 1 in 234,000,000 who will strike the Jackpot. You don’t walk under ladders in case bad luck befalls you. You think WWE is real.

What if the answer to our health and wellness challenges is to eat more beef?

This would be amazing news for both the consumer and beef producers like you and me.

– The totally unbiased Beef Magazine

The dieting con is a stain on the fitness industry. The sooner people started to eat better, in moderation, with some thought put into quality over quantity, the better it will be for everyone. If you can’t enjoy eating then you have a real problem and a diet is just compounding the misery.

The study in the well-respected Annals of Internal Medicine rocked the nutrition world by suggesting the negative health effects of red and processed meat had been overstated. The international group of researchers, headed by Bradley C. Johnston, an epidemiologist at Dalhousie University in Canada, concluded that warnings linking meat consumption to heart disease and cancer are not backed by good scientific evidence. The group, which calls itself NutriRECS, recommended meat eaters continue their current levels of consumption.

But undisclosed in the study was that NutriRECS, a consortium of about 20 researchers, has also formed a partnership with an arm of Texas A&M University partially funded by the beef industry. The omission is the latest twist in an ongoing debate about how much researchers ought to disclose to the public about potential conflicts of interest.

– Washington Post

Learn to Lift

Get a coach. Kettlebells, barbells, powerlifting, weightlifting, yoga, running, anything that you can think of requires some expert guidance and technique building.

You may be lucky to be one of a small group, a one-percenter, who can learn any physical movement on your own. That’s great. Most everyone needs help.

Learning to lift properly is a lifetime investment. Learning to lift properly for your body type, your mechanics, well, that’s just gold. A professional trainer or coach, someone who has trained many, many people, will know how to help you identify the cues you need to lift properly.

An interesting article on factors that cause injuries in the warehouse is a good place to start because lifting that should come naturally is problematic enough, now add the complexity of the highly technical lifts you do in typical weightlifting or powerlifting sessions.

What I want to emphasize is how important it is to develop a no-brainer, no cues needed approach to lifting to avoid injury and failure. Learning to lift is a lifetime commitment.

There are generalities that you pick up on social media, and there are a lot of stupid ones at that, but in the main, you are unique and could be so much more efficient if you had awareness of what that means in the physical plane.

It’s the only investment you need to make in yourself.

Drop Your Friends

Not real friends. The fake ones, the ones on social media. The only opinion that matters is yours. You need to feel good in your own skin. You need to have a handle on your health. A comment or an opinion from someone who isn’t you is irrelevant.

There are provisos though: if you are competing and you have a coach, they may tell you that you are not prepared and push you to make adjustments. A qualified professional gives a medical opinion on your health is another area where opinion matters. Other than that, it’s all on you.

A systematic review of 20 papers published in 2016 found that photo-based activities, like scrolling through Instagram or posting pictures of yourself, were a particular problem when it came to negative thoughts about your body.

– The Complicated Truth About Social Media and Body Image

Whether people tell you you’re great or you suck, it’s all the same. Your perception of how others see you is always wrong and their need to comment on you is their problem, a reflection of their own issues.

But, most importantly, you may then feel compelled to reduce your reliance on social media for inspiration, validation, and community. None of it is real because the depth of thought and engagement just isn’t there. You don’t overindulge in your nutrition so, why overindulge your psyche?

Don’t Lead, Don’t Follow

Straight off the last hack, it’s become really easy for people to find succor online among like-minded folk, gurus, and shamans. Everyone gravitates towards that one coach, or trainer, who confirms their own biases and beliefs. It is, as they say, the echo chamber.

The best way forward is to remain fluid, to avoid the black and white of the echo chamber and to accept that there are no absolutes in fitness. Every individual responds to and needs different stimuli to adapt, to grow, to better themselves. While fundamentals are great, we believe that wholeheartedly, how you react on any given day or program is entirely unique.

So, you focus on learning about you more than figuring out how someone else got to where they got. Arnold Schwarzenegger would talk about how he tried different exercises and routines then judged how he felt afterward, whether they felt like they were taxing him, and this method of trial and error guided him in the beginning.

Bodybuilding is a pretty good place to understand the need to be your own experiment, your own leader, and your own follower.

It may also make you less of a troll online, too. Who doesn’t want that?

Buy a New Gym Membership

Unless your life depends on a certain training modality it’s always good for you to treat gyms the same way as you treat restaurants. You may have a favorite place that you default to, but ultimately, we all like to try new cuisines, new places, and often find the experience very satisfying or educational.

You might figure out what you like or need or, you may become certain about what doesn’t work for you. If you try different group classes, you will, undoubtedly, become better at appreciating good versus meh coaching.

Different disciplines humble you because they force you to get out of your comfort zone. It may be as simple as ditching weights one day and doing yoga, which seems way harder than it should be for some people to get over mentally.

You might try having a sports day to break up your activity, a pick-up game of basketball, a tennis match, something that requires you to play with others as opposed to just workout on your thing. All these things build awareness of your physical self and expose your adaptability and athleticism, or lack thereof.

The post 7 Fitness Hacks for 2020 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The real problem is not the noise or the narcissism that get the most complaints on social media. The real problem is it that it has people so immersed in it that they are on all of the time. My kids bury their heads in devices. It’s a constant struggle to manage their screen time. As they get older and prepare to leave home, it is impossible.

Outside of the house, it doesn’t take much to see that I am not alone in that struggle. In fact, it looks like most people have given up on trying to manage their time on screens. I get it. It’s addictive. You get pulled into it. The reasons don’t matter because there are probably too many to care about. Like everything about an always-on world, it is overwhelming.

Devices Shape Our Social Interactions the Way Cigarettes Did in the Past

There was a time when you were the odd person out if you didn’t have a cigarette in your hand at a social event. Today, if you don’t have a smartphone you’re a pariah. The same health and cultural aspects that have changed the way everyone perceives smoking may get their equivalent if and when people start to realize the downside of being always on.

However, we also have to acknowledge that technology and change are inevitable. Neither a good or bad thing. Decades ago, television viewing consumed people. Screen time was 8 hours of watching programs that came on at a specific time and you had to be planted firmly in your seat to watch a show or your favorite entertainer or catch the news. Newspapers arrived at a certain point in the day. You had a rhythm to things.

That lack of a rhythm may be the worst thing about modern phone screen viewing habits. Just like your workout planning and your meal planning need their own rhythms so does almost every other aspect of your life. Everybody has their own life rhythm and it’s not always consistent – I love binge watching shows because with the pressure of family I can only allocate a certain time every week to watching something I enjoy. That time may be Monday or Saturday. It’s a small window. Binge watching a show has just made it so much easier for me to make effective use of that leisure time. It’s fully in my control, and I appreciate it.

Take Back Your Time Online so You Can Succeed Offline

So, I have decided that I need to think about creating a new rhythm because chaos is rarely a good strategy for success in anything. It seems counterproductive to work online and put this post up online and ask people to do things offline, but that’s the challenge we all face. The things we read and watch on Breaking Muscle should have meaning in the real world and they only have an impact if they are helping you reach your goals. That can only happen if you are focused on the moment, free of distraction.

Using your phone, being online, working on computing devices are utilitarian activities. They are a necessity of sorts. But excess isn’t. Neither is being popular online. Neither is feeling connected online. Your relationship with yourself and with your loved ones are only real offline. There is an insidious aspect of the social media culture of always wanting to tell a story to attract Likes; there’s rarely any context and there’s always more than meets the eye. But the eyes are the only thing getting a workout.

It also seems like we are pushing ourselves to be like some “ideal” that has been popularized on social feeds. It’s the tyranny of the masses, a kind of rush to the middle of the bell curve where we don’t offend or appear anything but acceptable to as wide a group of people as possible.

Everyone is different. Everyone has stuff to deal with that sucks. Everyone can’t look like a model wannabe. Your only goals in life should be to find health and happiness. It’s that simple, and it doesn’t have anything to do with what anyone else thinks or does. It’s just you in the real world.

You might also like:

• We Used To Be Humans: Practical Strategies To Combat Tech Addiction
• Parenting Strategies For Healthier Kids
• How We Can Combat The Saboteurs Of Our Health

The post Making Time to Switch Off appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Applying this advice to a global audience can be misleading and dangerous if not qualified, or put in the wrong hands.

It’s virtually impossible to escape all the videos and articles on social media telling you that a specific exercise is the answer to fixing your “pancake butt,” “spaghetti arms,” “chicken legs,” or [insert cliché fitness statement here].

Applying this advice to a global audience can be misleading and dangerous if not qualified, or put in the wrong hands.

For example, somebody says “ass to grass” squats are a must for everyone, because research has shown us that a full depth squat has the greatest glute activation when compared to parallel or partial squats.¹

Chances are, you will get great results, if you can meet the positional demands and execute the technique properly.

For the rest of us, we will find ourselves moving closer to injury, if we haven’t already hurt ourselves. Without assessments and knowledge, people who blindly follow exercise trends quickly fall victim to the laws of natural selection.

How Different Bodies Respond to the Same Movement

Often, it won’t be blatantly obvious or visual that something is faulty with a certain movement or exercise.

It might be something minor that could become an issue over time, or with volume and loading.

It’s like running a marathon with a pebble in your shoe—you’re barely able to notice it in the beginning, but after a few miles, things can be catastrophic!

Generally speaking, isolation exercises have less demanding requirements to perform safely, in comparison to the complex nature of compound movements like the classic barbell lifts.²

This is part of the reason why it becomes much harder to identify problems in compound movements, as the body has an innate ability to compensate for a deficiency.³ Often, it’s only under maximal loading that a weakness becomes visually obvious.

Applying a single exercise can have varying outcomes with different genders, posture profiles, limb length, and torso length.^{1, 4, 5}

If you have two people perform a low bar back squat and one of the individuals has a significantly longer femur and shorter torso, this can create differences in squat mechanics and structural loading.

The individual with the longer femur and shorter torso will most likely develop more torque at the hips by an increased moment arm (hip break), compared with the shorter femur, longer torso person.

If the person with the longer femur and short torso has a program with substantial low bar squatting combined with intensity, there is a propensity for lower back issues to develop if they are not careful.

The low bar squat can have up to 11 times the torque (rotational force) at the hips compared with a high bar squat.⁶

If we factor in a long femur and short torso, there can be even greater force the at lower back and hips, thus creating back pain issues if not monitored. Possible changes in squat style to a high bar, safety bar, or front squat would reduce this issue.

This doesn’t necessarily make the exercise bad, but it’s important to know, as we need to look at the whole picture when selecting exercises. It is crucial to factor in how outcomes can be affected by gender, anthropometrics, soft tissue restrictions, and structural anomalies.^{3, 7}

Find Movements That Work for You

Without taking these factors into account, it can become a matter of trying to jam that square peg into a round hole. Not everyone is suited for every exercise that has been invented, much like food.

What might be considered as a “healthy food” can literally kill someone if they have a strong enough allergy to it. “One man’s medicine is another man’s poison.” With this, it’s imperative that we understand that the cookie cutter approach will ultimately create less than optimal results.

To quote the elite strength coach Brett Bartholomew, “Cookie cutter cultures and organizations never last or succeed long-term, because high quality individuals cannot be mass produced.”

Utilizing what an individual brings to the table is a skill in itself, and must be promoted ahead of the one-size-fits-all approach.

Unfortunately with most “online fitness gurus,” screening, relevant programing, and technique are not as important as how to market and sell the program effectively, with as much automation as possible.

This leaves a large chunk of people up the creek with no paddle, when they inevitably run into soft tissue or structural limitations, technique flaws, and lack of individualization.

Luckily , there is no shortage of coaches, clinicians, and resources that can assess and help you understand what movements or exercises are better suited for you, or how they may be adjusted or avoided for optimal results.

It’s important to understand that getting hurt must not be an accepted part of training!

From time to time, especially when you’re working with maximal loading, there will be niggles and potential set backs, but by no means should training be creating regular injuries. A coach once said to me, “there are no bad exercises, if you can qualify, justify, and execute with good reason.”

Nobody says you have to back squat. Find the movement that produces the greatest benefit for your body.

Your Guide to Better Choices: Find a Coach

When it comes to selecting exercises and training protocols, don’t underestimate the benefit of human interaction and working with a coach to help make the right choices. Having that second set of eyes helps pick up areas that need attention, and to push you in the uncomfortable direction of improvement and growth.

People tend to stick to the things that they are good at without consciously knowing it, and put off the harder tasks. If we’re completely honest, we love doing things that we know we are good at, because we get compliments, a sense of achievement, purpose, and validation, not to mention a stroke of the ego.

It’s part of human nature to move towards pleasure and try to avoid pain or perceived pain.

This is often a problem when people are left to their own devices for picking the correct exercise to maximize improvement.

When I’m working with people, it’s always apparent which exercises that they can perform with ease, and which they avoid like the plague because they are less proficient at them.

The greatest level of growth and bang for buck comes from doing the exercises that you are not good at.

Take the guy at the gym that always skips leg day—he might be able to bench press like a power lifter, but he can’t seem to lift his own body weight on a barbell back squat. Wearing sweatpants to the gym and walking past people half his size as they warm up with weights that he couldn’t lift for 1 rep can’t be a great feeling.

The most significant change and results for this guy won’t come from him furthering his bench press; it would be from stepping out of his comfort zone and attacking his weakness, because therein lies the biggest capacity for improvement. This takes character to act without ego; to work on the weakest link with humility and conviction.

Please don’t be a sheep with your training. Regular, recurring injuries are not okay. Seek unbiased information, learn what works for you, and make sure you step outside your comfort zone on a regular basis. 

How are you going to get where you want to go?

Set Goals and Go: How to Become Unstoppable

References:

The post Prioritize Results, Not Popular Advice appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It’s become fashionable, almost expected, to poke fun at the #fitspiration crowd. The messages are counterproductive, the status updates reek of insecurity, the list goes on. Even magazines with no business in fitness are getting into the act with headlines like these: “People who post their fitness routine to Facebook have psychological problems, study claims.”

There is some truth to these claims, but before jumping on the hater’s high horse, consider this: fitness has always been a social endeavor. Even before the first Olympic games more than 2500 years ago, health, fitness, and nutrition have been closely tied to status, competition, and even divinity. As the times have changed, our victory shout has become our status update and olive wreaths have become Facebook ‘likes,’ but human nature is the same.

The internet allows for new ways to share information and create relationships, and it is up to us to leverage these relationships in a productive way, just like the physical culture clubs of the early 2000s, the Persian zurkhaneh, and the Greek gymnasia have done in times past.

We share on social media for four reasons: a need for validation, self-expression, communication, and to share information. [Photo courtesy of Pixabay]

Social Media and Habit Change

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and 22-Pushup Challenge have taught us an important lesson: community has the power to get us to do things we would normally never do.

In his book Influence, Dr. Robert Cialdini outlines three mechanisms that explain how these systems work, and how we can use these to our advantage to help us generate our own change:

• The Written Word. There’s power in writing things down, and this power is multiplied by the public eye. The internet never forgets, and a written commitment to a clear goal cuts off your exit routes when things get difficult and you start thinking “I didn’t really mean I wanted a 1400 pound total… 1200 is more reasonable.”
• Social Commitment. By publicly committing to a task and surrounding yourself with friends and groups that share your goals, you hit yourself with a compliance double-whammy: you’re now under pressure to live up to your promise, and you’ve surrounded yourself with a tribe of people to emulate.
• Identity. As you do, so you become. It’s easy to think of your actions as arising from your ‘self,’ but often it’s the other way around. Even if you don’t see yourself as a ‘fit person,’ the more you “fake it ‘til you make it,” and the more people see and think of you as fit person, the more you become the type of person who adopts ‘fit’ habits, and change will begin to follow.

None of these is a substitute for personal interaction, and it is certainly possible to get it wrong. The wrong groups can reinforce ‘healthy’ behaviors that have no real positive effect, things like detoxes and coffee enemas.

Still, if you’re struggling to take the first step or facing a wall in your training, why not use every resource possible to help drive success?

Broaden Your Horizons

Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat get all the attention when people start arguing about the merits of #fitspo, but there are alternatives to your Facebook wall if you’re looking for information and community.

Find a subgroup of serious trainees with similar goals, and you’ll often find the exchange a lot more rewarding than getting another ‘like’ from your mom.

Groups like Renaissance Periodization and Barbell Medicine provide sub-communities within Facebook where lifters can ask each other questions and share concerns without the fear of addressing their non-training (‘muggle’) friends who won’t understand.

Personally, I’ve learned a great deal from following the training logs of some great lifters on several sites and keeping a log myself at Starting Strength.

#GWPL

For a great example of how social media can create positive change, look no farther than Ivy Knight, the founder of Girls Who Powerlift.

She is putting herself out there in words cemented in her commitment. The social support and encouragement of the community drove her to compete, and inspired a major life change.

The platform normalized an identity and created a supportive community for many women who hadn’t really considered the possibility of lifting heavy weights.

It’s possible to troll this approach, but why? If taking on an identity as a ‘girl who powerlifts’ and wearing #peachgang shirts helps someone get on the platform, get over body issues, or feel connected to a community of capable and powerful lifters, what’s the problem?

Assess Your Goals… And Don’t Hate

Why are you sharing? In general, we share on social media for four reasons: a need for validation, self-expression, communication, and to share information.

If you seriously look back at your posts, you may find a history of validation-seeking: perfectly posed/lighted/filtered Instagram selfies and post-Fran sweat-angels designed to collect likes.

If that’s the sum of your fitness interaction, you’re missing out on what social media can do to support your program.

Find a mentor or social group. Reach out and make a connection with an author you like to express your appreciation, ask a question, or challenge a point. Follow some credible experts in your sport and actually read what they have to put out.

On the other hand, before you get grumpy about your friend’s zillionth post-run “look at me” photo, consider this: they’re doing something.

Maybe they’re posting to get attention… or maybe becoming fit was a huge transformation for them, and now it’s become an integral part of their life. Maybe the social reward helps them hit it the next day and get past the fact that running sucks (an irrefutable, scientific fact).

Maybe you’re just grumpy because you haven’t been to the gym yourself for two weeks and don’t appreciate the reminder. Maybe we should spend less time studying how other people use social media and turn our lens inward to our own habits. Just maybe.

More on social media sharing:

Social Media and Fitness: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Social media and its effect on business:

5 Ways to Increase the Value of your Brand With Social Media

The post Social Media and the Climate of Fitness appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I’ve read that post, or posts like it, from dozens of my fitness enthusiast friends over the past few years. They create social media pages, blogs, or groups for the sole purpose of hiding their fitness life from the rest of the world.

“Hey, I know I must be getting pretty annoying posting all my run stuff all the time, so I’ve created this other page where I’ll be posting it. If you want to, give my new page a follow…”

I’ve read that post, or posts like it, from dozens of my fitness enthusiast friends over the past few years. They create social media pages, blogs, or groups for the sole purpose of hiding their fitness life from the rest of the world.

I get that they’re trying to be unobtrusive and not alienate friends, but you won’t catch me doing the same thing. I intend to remain a fitness extrovert, and for good reason.

First, why should you filter the good things in your life for the benefit of others’ comfort?

It’s not as if that one friend of yours from high school is going to stop posting vaguely racist, political memes. Or that the new parents on your friends’ list are going to ease up on giving the play-by-play every time their progeny places a bowel movement in an appropriate receptacle. Why should you filter your run stats or CrossFit photos for their benefit?

And all those people you’re worried about annoying? They’re the same people who need to see what you’re posting.

They’re annoyed because your continued flaunting of your athletic prowess (however humble it may seem) confronts them with their lack of effort to match you.

They’re annoyed because they know they should be doing something about the pronounced lack of anything sweat-inducing in their lives, but they lack the intestinal fortitude to go get it done.

If they’re annoyed, let them be. Maybe it will eventually coax them into the actions that will improve, or even save their lives.

What has curbed tobacco use in the United States? Was it the taxes, or the prohibitive laws? The constant preaching about the health risks? No. It was the social movement against the practice that turned the tide.

People stopped smoking because it was no longer cool. Society finally realized (rightly) that it’s a disgusting, self-destructive habit (and I should know).

Smokers became gradually marginalized, even in places like bars and bowling alleys. Yes, legislation had something to do with it as well, but that was the result of the social movement, not the origin of it.

So it must be when it comes to solving the health crises facing America. Proper nutrition and fitness must become a part of the cultural fabric of the country, if we hope to solve the problems that are literally killing us.

Keep talking about your fitness pursuits. Do it unabashedly and often. Not because it makes you exceptional, not because you want to brag, but because it should be normal.

And the more we all keep talking about it, the more normal it will seem, and the more people will get on board.

Take pride in all of your fitness endeavors:

The Athlete’s Manifesto

Headline photo courtesy of Jeff Nguyen Photography/CrossFit Empirical.

The post Be a Fitness Extrovert appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Recently, the CrossFit Games social media department reposted this video of Brooke Wells’ 345lb back squat double. Nice work, Brooke.

A twenty-year year old wunderkind, Brooke took the functional fitness world by storm last year when she was drafted by the Miami Surge GRID team. She went on to dominate the 2015 CrossFit Central Regional, taking first place on the podium and punching her ticket to the CrossFit Games. She followed this with a successful career in the GRID regular season, providing much of the strength and power needed on the female side of the team.

There is no doubt she is a tremendous athlete.

Watch the video. The video has been removed.  It showed Brooke’s knees caving in. The subsequent outcry was deafening. But there is a lot wrong with this post, and none of it has to with her knees.

Haters Gonna Hate

Let’s address the commenters. The so-called haters, or, as Jon Oliver has put it in the past, “Good evening, monsters…” (Watch the whole video or skip to 13:00. Oliver is amazing.)

Context is helpful when critiquing form online. Sometimes, that context is a request for critiques – the “Hey guys, what am I doing wrong here?” posts. Or in the larger sense, CrossFit has its own message board with threads devoted to sharing videos inviting critique. That’s when it is okay to chime in.

But this is not a video of some novice athlete at a random box. Brooke is a solid enough athlete to have won Central Regional. Won it. It’s fairly safe to assume she has squatted thousands of reps and hundreds of thousands of pounds. It’s also safe to assume she has a coach to address any form critiques. Brooke Wells does not need any of us to offer coaching tips via social media, thanks very much.

CrossFit Social Media Is at It Again

I have long taken issue with CrossFit’s social media team, because I know how they operate. They post as much potentially inflammatory stuff as they can to get the biggest reaction. They also use social media to humiliate at times. If you think I am making this up, read this. It’s why CrossFit HQ posts asses, dead bears, bloody animals being hoisted overhead, and their own athletes falling over bars. Trust me folks – CrossFit HQ saw the knees, and they knew damn well what would ensue.

“If you think this video was posted because of the impressiveness of the 345lb double, you are naïve.”

So, like a sacrificial lamb, Brooke Wells was offered up on the altar of CrossFit’s great snigger-fest. They didn’t bother to repost Well’s 200lb snatch from the blocks or her 210lb snatch from the floor. These are amazing achievements, but they are hardly controversial. Rather than celebrate a 210lb snatch (think about how impressive that is for a second), CrossFit HQ would rather humiliate. If you think this video was posted because of the impressiveness of the 345lb double, you are naïve.

Falling Victim to the Troll

Like any marketing team, posting the most compelling, interesting, or sharable content is key. CrossFit’s media team is not going to post a picture of a brand new 20lb wall ball and hope that it gets even a like. No, clicks and shares are everything. This is how CFHQ approaches social media. Sometimes it’s laudable, as in the case of an elderly cancer survivor getting his or her first pull up. Other times, it’s blatant trolling, like the string of dead ‘gator pics from a few years back.

I wonder why we continue to fall for this particular troll. It would seem logical to step back and say, “I know what they are doing there – they are trying to drag me into a fight.” But before long, hundreds of people had posted, “OMG those valgus knees!!” and “Good luck with your ACL surgery.” And hundreds of other people shouted back, “Shut your mouth, you armchair coaches! When you can lift 345 then you can comment!” Our friends at CrossFit sit back and smile, because we’ve taken their bait.

Brooke Wells does not need any of us to offer coaching tips via social media, thanks very much.

Them Knees, Tho…

I almost never comment on someone’s form. I don’t even do it in the gym where I train, unless I am asked. Giving unsolicited coaching advice is like giving liver to an eight-year-old. They don’t want it, they didn’t ask for it, and they will never ever consume it. They will shove it under the mashed potatoes until you aren’t looking, then feed it to the dog. (Sorry mom.)

In any case, there is conflicting evidence as to the harm done in a knee valgus response. Here are some resources for you to look at:

• Bret Contreras offers this article providing some support for a slight knee cave for advanced lifters.
• This fine video from a member of the Chinese weightlifting team offers some cogent thoughts about knees forward rather than out.
• Better yet, this article from Conrad Stalheim goes into great detail on the knees in versus knees out debate.

Let’s face it. Most of us shout, “Knees out!” because we’re taught to do so, without any real biomechanical knowledge as to why. Of course, in novice lifters, knees tracking over feet is a fundamental cue. However, as lifters gain strength, experience, and power, there are multiple schools of thought as to the best mechanical response coming up out of a squat. Femur length, quad strength, and hip flexibility all play a role in shaping the direction of the knees in the ascent.

There is a good deal of support for what Contreras describes as a “valgus twitch” – knees caving slightly on the initiation of the lift before returning to neutral. On max efforts, you will often see the knees do this. Just watch the top lifters in any high-level weightlifting meet, and you will see knees moving inwards in intense effort to make the lift.

“But Pat,” you may say. “Brooke’s knees are way more than a slight twitch.” Maybe. But that’s not my problem, nor is it yours. The proper response? “Awesome job on the 345lb double.” 

More Like This:

• Poking the Bear: Is CrossFit HQ the Ultimate Internet Troll?
• CrossFit Should Not Be Based on a Dare
• Social Media and Fitness: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo courtesy of CrossFit.

The post Is CrossFit HQ Trolling You? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Sometimes, it’s okay to puke.

A Stomach-Turning Spectacle

Last week CrossFit posted this picture on social media, of John Immel from Kauai CrossFit vomiting into a tire. I will leave the snark regarding puking into a tire for another day. But suffice it to say, the near-300 comments were a fairly even push-pull regarding the benefits or detriments of puking:

Now, there are two forks in this particular gastronomic issue. One is the issue of Pukie the Clown and vomiting being a badge of honor in the CrossFit hemisphere. The other is the very real response to the intensity of a workout that may have you bent over a tire every once in a great while. Let’s examine both.

Pukie the Clown Is an Idiot

Make no mistake, I come down solidly against the mascotization (I made that word up) of a bodily process. This culture seems to almost encourage the act of vomiting as an introduction into the club – the CrossFitter’s hazing process. You can win a free t-shirt for puking or get your name on the whiteboard in some boxes, as if exercising to the point of retching is a particular PR to which we should all aspire.

When these gyms have slogans like “Exercise ‘till you puke!” and graffiti artists tag gym walls with the ‘roided-out version of the clown, it’s just silliness. Encouraging the act of puking completely misunderstands the point of training. Saying things like, “Now you’re one of us” to your fellow CrossFitter as he or she is on hand and knees in the parking lot is just foolish.

Celebrating vomiting, tearing, or any injury at all is the old-school, hard-core CrossFit-of-yesteryear, hearkening back to the days when all of this was so new no one knew what was good and what was bad. We’re smarter than that now. We train for fitness, competition, and life. As such, we should no longer subscribe to the ancient practices of CrossFit jackassery. Which means CrossFit’s social media team should stop posting pictures of people mid-vomit and quit being so giddy about the misconception that upchucking is neat-o.

On the Other Hand

I am here to tell you friends – sometimes, you puke. And sometimes, it’s okay.

Some training tests require an intensity that may bring you to the point of vomiting. Keep in mind this bodily reaction is different from person to person. Some people never vomit, no matter how hard they go. Other folks seem to lose their lunch fairly easily because that’s how they’re wired.

I am not talking about training here, I am talking about testing. Most times, in your daily training environment, your prescription will not call for 100 percent sustained effort, but rather, a submaximal pace or weight. Other times, your workout calls for an all-out effort. Whether you’re prepping for competition or actually competing, a test may require you to give everything you have. For example:

Imagine a workout in a competition where you have, for time, 5 rounds of 49 double unders and 7 deadlifts at 275/175 lb. It’s a fairly short workout, so you’re basically going to go full out, 100 percent pace. Let’s assume that in round 4, you’re a mere 1-2 reps behind the leader and you need to increase speed and intensity. You do, and you find yourself having to go to a dark place to find that extra 3-percent effort.

By the final deadlifts, you can feel your guts beginning to well up. You have pushed past any level of effort you even thought possible, but you continue to crank out the final reps as fast and as hard as you can. By doing so, you not only take the workout – you take the podium.

And you vomit.

A Time and a Place

Do you celebrate the vomit? No. You celebrate the win. You celebrate the fact that you found the gear to go there and separate yourself from second place. That’s the intensity and effort that competitors sometimes find themselves needing to truly compete. It’s not funny, nor is it worth a t-shirt or a picture on CrossFit’s social media pages, but it is a reality. It’s not the end of the world, nor is it “intelligence leaving the body.” Sometimes you go there, and as a result, you throw up.

Do you go there on a Saturday partner WOD in a CrossFit group class? NO. During “Fight Gone Bad”? NO. In a qualifier workout for a national competition where four extra reps might mean the difference between qualifying and not? If it happens, it happens. As a community, let’s all celebrate the effort. Not the regurgitation.

More from the Functional Fitness World:

• CrossFitters: Time to Call Ourselves Out on the Shenanigans
• Endurance Is Not a Dirty Word
• CrossFit and the Real Meaning of “No Excuses”
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Jorge Huerta Photography.

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Or how about this scenario:

Picture this: A CrossFit Games Open workout is announced, and immediately, you take to Facebook and huddle up.

Or how about this scenario:

The upside of social media is that we can share thoughts, information, and strategy in a split second with everyone to whom we are connected.

The downside of social media is that we can share thoughts, information, and strategy in a split second with everyone to whom we are connected. (See what I did there?)

Think about it. Every day that you go to your box and embark upon your training, you are most likely seeking counsel from your coach, box owner, or perhaps the firebreather who tends to chew up workouts and always has a solid plan.

For some reason, though, when the workout becomes worldwide, so does our sphere for seeking information, strategy, and advice. I find that curious. Suddenly, the world becomes our coach.

Not that it’s always a bad thing, mind you. In 2013, word of these mysterious “step ups” began circulating via social media hours after the 13.2 was announced, and lo and behold, thousands of us retested the workout and improved our scores – immensely, in fact.

The problem becomes who do you listen to? Everyone is a coach, everyone is a strategist, but frankly, your game is your game. What works for me may not work for you.

If I am a gazelle and you are a buffalo, my gazelle-like “fast on the burpees as though your life depends on it” may crush you before the end of the first round.

So why would you listen to me, unless I am your coach, I know your strengths and weaknesses, and I have helped you strategize up to this point?

Strategy is important, there is no question about that. Going into a workout like 14.5 guns blazing would have resulted in a flameout worthy of a Russian Proton Rocket.

But who do you trust? Within minutes of the conclusion of the Open demo workouts, there were online strategy sessions from everyone ranging from BarBell Shrugged to Outlaw, from OPT to, hell, me.

Listen to enough of those and you’re likely to get directly conflicting information. Outlaw may say unequivocally unbroken on the thrusters, whereas OPT may recommend breaking or, better yet, may recommend breaking based on your ability and your game.

But ultimately, that’s what your coach should be doing. If you don’t have a coach, contact me. If you are a coach and one of your athletes you provide individualized programming and coaching for is bypassing you and turning to Facebook for a game plan, it’s conceivable that there is a rift in your coach-athlete relationship of which you’re not yet aware.

Granted, I get that social media is highly valuable. There can be some real value to the collective amalgamation of chatter that settles into a single voice that rises about the noise.

Information trends, and trends emerge as possible solutions, such as breaking up your deadlifts into sets of five or breaking up your chest-to-bar pull ups.

But before the emergence of the trend, you have nothing but noise. And that noise can be confusing.

And in the context of the CrossFit Open, that noise tends to be the thousands of opinions that bombard you, sometimes mere hours before you’re about to do the workout.

And instead of focusing on your process, you’re focusing on what BroRep Charlie said about using the corner of the box instead of the side.

The bottom line is that the last voice you hear before “3, 2, 1, go,” should be that of your coach. The one who knows your game best.

Photo courtesy of CrossFit LA.

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Like many, I am truly fascinated by this crazy world we live in. We now have the seamless ability to connect with people from all over the globe at any moment. Well above half of the people in the United States have at least one social media profile and for young adults (ages 18-29) 86% have at least one profile.

We can connect with old friends from past lives, stay in touch with those in our current lives, and even make new friends with the touch of a button.

Because of Facebook, my host brother from Germany from many, many years ago was able to ‘friend’ me and now Marc and I are once again connected, which would have been darn near impossible just ten years ago.

In a very short amount of time social media has come to dominate the way we interact and communicate and yet it still doesn’t quite feel real and tangible to me.

Social media is also woven into the daily fabric of our lives in fitness and wellness.

We have access to data, ideas, new exercises, and the latest workout trends with the click of a mouse. We can track our calories, access coaches, and find instant answers to our questions. There are infinite possibilities to find right path for our journeys in fitness and wellness right here and right now.

Indeed, we live in a world of instants – instant messaging, text messaging, Skyping. The technology is dumbfounding and wonderful, and also frightening and confusing at the same time.

Living in a world of instants has affected our health, emotionally and physically.

The instant gratification we collectively seek has never been more pronounced than it is at this very moment in time. People want results and they want them now.

Technology allows us to take immediate steps to improve our fitness and health, yet at the same time technology can hinder or wellness if we aren’t tuned in.

Technology as a whole is neither good nor bad – it’s both. The key is having the self-awareness to decipher how technology is affecting us.

We have superb access to data and opinion. However, there is also a lot of bad information out there – including the information we want to seek rather than the information we know to be true from within. We tend to seek convenience and there is nothing more convenient than technology.

So how do we decipher it all, this mass of information? Here’s my breakdown of the good, the bad, and the ugly about fitness and social media:

The Good

I like data, what’s not to like? Data is specific and measurable, and so is the nature of goals.

Social media allows us to share ideas and access data. Apps also enhance our ability to track our lives in fitness and wellness.

Health apps are everywhere and growing at a rapid clip. The industry expects the number of health and fitness apps to quadruple between 2010 to 2016. Right now More than 40,000 health apps exist and are expected to bring in $1.3 billion in 2012, according to a Research2Guidance report.

The Bad and the Ugly

The nature of instant results and a ‘get it now’ mentality is counter to the nature of health and wellness, both mentally and physically. I find it beyond telling that sites like Facebook have a ‘wall.’

Think of the connotation of the word. A wall is a barrier, and is used primarily for defense. A wall doesn’t allow us to see. It provides a false sense of protection.

Our walls show us/others what we want to see, but not necessarily the reality and what we must see to succeed.

I also find it telling that Facebook only has a ‘like’ button. It seems like we are only interested in finding and seeking what it is we like. Wouldn’t it be nice if life played out like that? However, life, especially in the arena of health, fitness, and wellness, most certainly is not like that.

This much I know for certain – success and lasting results as it relates to our mental and physical health come about only in learning to accept and work on the dislike.

What would life be like if we all put a wall up and only hit the like button? Look around you.

The Next Step

We live in a wonderful, but confusing time. There are more choices than ever and our freedom of infinite choice has resulted in so many new avenues of health and wellness.

Organic vegetables are now the norm at many supermarkets. People have never been so focused on getting fit and participating in sport. That’s good. However, such freedom and access to technology has a dark underbelly as well – namely, the unwillingness and/or inability to look inward to the real answers.

All answers come from within and from above, so to speak. Technology is a tool, not the answer. The answers we seek can be assisted by the media we consume, but not solved by them.

Additionally, we must possess the awareness to see there is a down side to technology and we must seek to control our media versus our media controlling us. Today, for yourself, let down your ‘wall’ and see what is behind it.

If there are things that make you want to hit the ‘dislike’ button, pay attention and sit with that dislike and take a good look at it. My guess is the answers for you lie somewhere down that road.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Social Media and Fitness: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I’d like to think that I follow, and stick with, people and brands on Twitter who keep me positive, healthy, informed and passionate. I took a look at my Twitter stream a few months ago and found a whole lot of noise, negativity, and excuses. So I cleaned house and distilled the best of the best fitness accounts, compared notes with other coaches and athletes, and created the best damn fitness Twitter list you could possible ask for, broken up into eight categories.

You can subscribe to each account individually by clicking on their Twitter handle, or subscribe to the entire list here. Do you know of Twitter account that should have made the cut? Comment below!

CrossFit

1. The CrossFit Games – @CrossFitGames

The ultimate proving grounds of the fittest athletes on earth. Home Depot Center

File this one under, “duh”

2. CrossFit Journal – @crossfitjournal

The CrossFit Journal is the largest high-quality fitness and lifestyle resource on the net. It’s based strictly upon performance and results.

The color commentary to your athletic life.

3. CrossFit WOD Feed – @cfwod

A simple daily feed of the CFWOD. Will also be working on some new projects – so stay tuned!

For all of you CrossFitters who are home schooled.

4. Andy Petranek – @andypetranek

Owner of CrossFit Los Angeles

My first CrossFit coach and one of the first to “get” social media and the power of GIVING you valuable information. Is your coach on Twitter? Sound off in the comments below!

CrossFit Games 2012 Winners

5. Annie Thorisdottir – @IcelandAnnie

2012 CrossFit Games Individual Woman’s winner.

6. Julie Foucher – @Julie_Foucher

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease” ~ Edison

2012 CrossFit Games Individual Woman’s runner up.

7. Rich Froning – @richfroning

2012 CrossFit Games Individual Men’s winner.

8. Matt Chan – @Matt1Chan

2012 CrossFit Games Individual Men’s runner up.

Yoga

9. Tara Stiles – @TaraStiles

wherever you go there you are.

A no BS approach to yoga and a Twitter conversationalist.

10. Daily Cup of Yoga – @DailyCupofYoga

tips, tools, and wisdom on yoga, books, and technology

A huge online influencer of all thing yoga, with a very personable approach to Twitter.

11. Rebecca Pacheco – @omgal

Creator, OmGal.com, Best Yoga & Fitness Blog, 2010 Intent.com web awards. Yoga teacher, writer, Boston Marathon finisher, sports lover & creative gal.

A yoga teacher, and seasoned blogger showing you how yoga is more than just poses.

Running

12. USATF – @USATrack_Field

Official twitter account of USA Track & Field. This is Katie Branham behind the tweets, working in our mkt/com dept. & tweeting about the sport I love!

USATF has been a source of awesome info throughout the Olympics, but don’t forget that they tweet year round!

13. Scott iRunnerBlog

Runner. Blogger. Co-Moderator of #runchat. Social Media and Sales professional. Mets fan. Giants fan. I get stuff done.

Scott lives and breathes running. You won’t be disappointed with his steady stream of knowledge.

14. Heather Gannoe – @runfastermommy

Runner. Triathlete. Mom on zone defense. ACSM Health Fitness Specialist. Adventurer. Dreamer. #FitFluential. Convinced exercise will save the world!

It’s difficult to pigeon hole Heather under the running category. She’s an all around athlete. But you can’t blame me with a twitter handle like that!

15. Ryan Hall – @ryanhall3

If we have thankful hearts we are untouchable.

THE legendary long distance runner and record smasher. His charming and info packed tweets constantly stand out.

Triathlon

16. USA Triathlon – @usatriathlon

USA Triathlon is proud to serve as the National Governing Body for triathlon – the fastest growing sport in the U.S. Olympic Movement.

Great info from the American governing body.

17. EverymanTri

news, views, and interviews of great endurance

The pulse of the Tri world in one Twitter stream.

18. Triathlon Week – @triathlonweek

Free Triathlon training community featuring triathlon forums, articles, race calendars and more. Join thousands of Triathletes, updated daily.

They don’t tweet as often as they should, but when they do, it’s always a great reminder to check into their community.

19. Terra Castro – @terracastro

Professional Triathlete, Elite Sports Massage Therapist, Wife of a Super Triathlon Coach, Fueled by my faith and family.

An intimate look into the mind, process, and training of a humble pro.

20. Lance Armstrong – @lancearmstrong

Father of 5 amazing kids, 7-time Tour de France winner, full time cancer fighter, part time triathlete – LIVESTRONG!

Great info from the legendary cyclist and triathlete. Even despite his recent USADA drama.

Swimming

21. USA Swimming – @USA_Swimming

The Official Twitter Page of USA Swimming

Another American governing body who knows a thing or two about social networking.

22. Cullen Jones – @Cullen_Jones

Olympic Gold Medalist (4×100 Freestyle Relay) American Record holder, World Champion, Philanthropist, Motivational speaker, Aspiring fashion designer

Cullen works hard, and plays hard. Expect a whole lot of personality out of this stream.

23. Jessica Hardy – @swimhardy

Team USA Olympic Medalist & World Record Swimmer, Motivational Speaker, Clinician, Model, Philanthropist. Always looking at life as glass half full!

Smart, funny, AND an olympian? She had me at “Gold Medal”

24. Masters Swimming – @MastersSwimming

U.S. Masters Swimming offers health, fitness, social and competitive opportunites through aquatics for anyone 18 and up.

I saved the best swimming twitter account for last. This stream has been my go to source of info, as I slowly but surely, learn to swim more effectively.

General Fitness

25. Lindsey Smith – @LinzBSmith

I trust God, love @web, and adore @alexisleesmith. Proud to be a member of Team Rogue, ambassador for Reebok, and Stronger Faster Healthier sponsored athlete.

Beautiful, strong and a sponsored athlete. Lindsey is living the dream.

26. Robert MacDonald – @BobbyMaximus

Is currently the GM and ‘Diversity Director’ of Gym Jones in Salt Lake City, Utah. Leader, Coach, Father, Fighter, Friend and AirDyne Aficionado.

Robert is going to out train you, pretty much every day. All you can do is attempt to keep up.

27. Concept2 – @concept2

Leading manufacturer of indoor rowers, racing oars, and the Concept2 SkiErg.

A brand that doesn’t abuse it’s followers with “BUY NOW!” messaging. They’re in it for the love of the sport.

28. Tim Ferriss – @tferriss

Author of #1 NY Times bestsellers, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Workweek, Japanophile, tea drinker, tango world record holder, language learning fanatic.

Mr. 4-hour body himself. Let Tim do crazy experiments with his own body so you don’t have to, then reap the benefits.

Fitness Apps

29. DailyBurn – @dailyburn

Personalized Fitness, Evolved. DailyBurn offers the BEST way to get fit. Access home-based video workouts from your phone, iPad, computer, and more!

One of the first and finest in the web 2.0 fitness world. Tim Ferriss, listed above, sits on the advisory board.

30. RunKeeper – @RunKeeper

Track, measure, and improve your fitness.

After 3 years of testing running gps apps, RunKeeper is still a keeper.

31. Skimble – @skimble

Skimble powers the mobile fitness movement with fun & dynamic coaching apps like Workout Trainer, a top free Health & Fitness app! Cofounders @marialy @vanrenen

The new kids on the block here in SF. I’m a fan of their free workout of the week tweets.

Bonus!

I can’t leave out some of the most knowledgeable writers I have ever met – our very own Breaking Muscle crew!

The Entire Breaking Muscle Staff – @BreakingMuscle

Breaking Muscle is a team of experienced professionals dedicated to providing fitness news and daily exercise programming. New articles & workouts every day! Subscribe to the Breaking Muscle Authors list here

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