What Are You Doing In The Gym?

As a Fitness Professional, one of the post popular services I offer is program design. My clients realize that they may be an expert in their field, but not when it comes to objectively designing their own results-based fitness program. Makes sense, right? I've studied formally and continue to learn directly from leaders in my industry so that I can stay current. One of the thoughts that naturally runs through my mind as I look around a gym is, “Why are they doing that exercise?”

It's not that I am in disagreement with their choice.

Rather, I'd love to know the context of the choice. Are they doing knee extensions to improve knee extension performance? Gain muscle in that area? How does that exercise, get them closer to their goals?

Chances are, they aren't performing a set of lat pulldowns to win the Lat-Pulldown World Championships, right?

So why have you chosen the exercises that you're currently doing?

What's your goal? Why are you at the gym? See, only once you have clearly defined your goal can you choose appropriate exercises, rest intervals, etc.

You should always question exactly how certain exercises relate to your goals. Are they helping? How do you know?

My point today is to get you to think critically about what you're doing in the gym. In my experience far too many people are doing all sorts of exercises because they think it will help them perform better, they promise to “work” a certain muscle or, worse, because someone else was doing it and it looked cool.

I want you to question your exercises. Do they actually lead to an increase in performance?  Or do they just make you better at "exercising"?  Is your goal to workout?  Or is your goal to become a faster runner?  Let your goals dictate your training program.

Here a few of my favorite examples of PROVEN exercises that improve your performance:

• Heavy deadlifts are proven to increase force output ...and make you faster.
• Performing a chop and lift pattern improves your core timing … and improves your stability.
• Depth Jumps improve leg stiffness and power delivery ...and make you faster.
• Diaphragmatic breathing restores proper core function ...and improves your mobility/stability.
• Push-Press improves power transfer from lower to upper body ...improves efficiency.
• Jumping rope improves coordination, posture and elasticity ...all great things for runners.

If a client comes to me and has a lot of training experience, one of the first things I do is find out if there are any exercises I can eliminate from their current program.

• What is redundant?
• What doesn't match their goal?
• What is counter-productive?

Whenever I learn a better move, I don't just add the exercise. I also take something away. When I first adopted this practice, I threw away several moves that I thought were effective, but really weren't. I was left with 2 exercises! (The deadlift and push-up, an effective, if minimalist, routine!)

I encourage you to do the same. Are there any movements you practice in the gym that aren't helping you reach your goals? If you're not sure, please contact me or a local fitness professional to help you streamline your program. Have a great day!

5 Winning Defensive Strategies For Runners

While discussing a plan of action with a new client the other day I made an analogy that you might find interesting. I equated 'the little things' like soft tissue work, to playing good defense. Your defense allows you to keep playing. In the end, if you're sitting on the sidelines, you're not improving and you're not having any fun! Therefore, we can break our training down into two parts: offense and defense. Our offense is, of course, our running. Any form of running is going to be offensive to our body. And that's a good thing! It causes several markers of physiology to breakdown slightly and, after some time to recover and absorb the stress, we become healthier and are able to run better.

Our defense is anything that enhances our ability to continue running at an acceptable level. This side of the equation is the side that everybody nods and says they know about, but somehow forgets to implement... until it's too late. In my experience, Type A personalities more frequently neglect this stuff because once they've checked 'RUN' off of their list it's on to the next item.  You know who you are.

Granted, playing defense is not as fun, it's not glamorous, and sometimes it can be downright boring. But so can missing out on that one cool, crisp, oasis of a morning during an endless hot, humid summer. Get it? You wanna be a runner? These are the rules of the game.

Here are my 5 favorite, must-do, highly effective defensive strategies:

Hydration – Listen, if you're not hydrated, nothing works well. At the cellular level hydration is critical for energy to be produced and for your body to be in an optimal state. Your muscles and fascia must be well lubricated to allow excellent movement with minimal restrictions. If you're training, consider 80-100 oz per day. Drink throughout the day, not all at once.

Clean Eating – Whether your goal is to race fast or to look better, you need to chose your foods wisely. I know people who think that because they run, they can eat whatever they want. Huh? So, because you move your body, you can eat crap? That makes absolutely no sense and demonstrates a serious disconnect (not to mention lousy relationship with food). Here's what's on my plate for dinner: 2-3 servings of veggies, 1 serving of lean protein, 1 serving of healthy fat. How simple is that? If I just trained, then I'll throw a starchy carb into the mix. Always seek out real, unprocessed, whole foods.

Soft Tissue Work – Sure, you can spring for a massage as frequently as possible, but for the rest of us there's a more affordable option: the foam roller. (Or the Stick, Tiger Tail, lacrosse ball, tennis ball, Trigger Point Therapy...) With an investment of 2-5 minutes a day, you get happy, reliable muscle function. Nice! Also: Frequency trumps intensity here. Go gentle and be consistent. I like to do this before bed as a way to relax and maintain high tissue quality.

Sleep – This is really where the magic happens. Every marker of health and fitness depends on sleep for improvement. Whether you want to burn fat, gain muscle, increase speed and endurance, or just give a kick-ass presentation at work tomorrow you can't afford to miss 'a few hours here and there'. So, rather than simply having a goal of getting more sleep, set a goal of turning off your TV, computer and cell phone one hour before sleep. Habits like sleeping 8 hours regularly actually depend on other habits like shutting off electronics well before bedtime.

Yoga / Meditation /Zoning Out – I don't care if you just stare out a window for 10 minutes, you need some time everyday where you allow your parasympathetic nervous system to become dominant. Wait, what? I'm just saying that between running, working, planning, organizing, texting, socializing, medicating, drinking, caffeinating, etc. we are stressing the heck out of our sympathetic (“fight or flight”) nervous system. We need some balance to the system. Try “stressing” your parasympathetic side (“rest and digest”) more and you will feel better. By combining ancient movement training and relaxation into one package, you can't go wrong with a dose of yoga. Simply practicing a Sun Salutation sequence daily will reinforce good postural and movement patterns that would otherwise degrade due to our predominantly sedentary lifestyle.

There you have it- my top 5 daily defensive strategies. At some point you may find yourself coming down with some running related pain. Always cover your bases and look at your defense. Are you employing these basic, but effective strategies? There's a good chance that you've neglected yourself.

Life can take over and you may find yourself thinking, “I just have to squeeze my run into my schedule”. Well, I understand. Just know that running is only half the game and if you only play offense, you're gonna get beat eventually.

Do YOU have any tricks that you feel have helped you stay injury free? Share below, please!

(There are a million sports related cliches I could have injected into this article. You're welcome!)

Have You Earned The Right To Run More?

Thanks to Gray Cook and his book, Movement, for inspiring this post. I like the following quote, “Historically, the environment forced us to adapt since our ability to modify our surroundings was limited. Today we seem to resist natural and practical adaptation at every turn, while we modify every part of the environment that touches us.” Next time you're at your local boot camp workout or group exercise class take a look around. Listen to the instructor. Notice how the emphasis on quantity often outweighs the emphasis on quality? Workouts are often judged on how much work we do in a given amount of time. How far did you run? How fast did you run? How many push-ups can you do?

Don't get me wrong, I love performance measurement just as much as the next guy. Heck, I just got the new Garmin Forerunner 610 to track my pace, distance, routes, heart rate, etc! The touch screen is pretty sweet, indeed.

But what I'm saying is that as a society we have gotten away from what really matters. And that's movement quality. What happened to progression? A gymnast doesn't start out rocking a mean iron-cross or an elaborate floor routine in year one just as (traditionally) a runner doesn't run a marathon in his first year of training.

Now obviously you can do whatever you want. But you also have to accept the consequences, ok?

Let's say you're a brand new runner who wants to run a half marathon with your friends who are already runners. With or without shoes, you can run 2 minutes before tiring. If I give you shoes, what will happen? Most likely you will be able to run farther and faster than without shoes, right? Clearly the shoes will cushion and protect your feet and that will prevent injury ...at least in the short term.

Now, what would happen if I instructed you to build up your mileage without shoes? What do you think that progression would look like? A lot slower, huh? Why is that?

The reason is that you are forced to focus on quality of movement first, before considering quantity.

If you run with poor technique, your body will let you know because it will hurt! Over-stride and your heel will let you know. If you're feet are weak, then they will start to ache after only a few minutes of running. This is one of the reasons barefoot running can be considered a “self-limiting” activity. You can only do as much as your current ability or weakest link allows. Some other examples include jumping rope, surfing and climbing. If you don't own the movement, you won't succeed.

With consistent training you would eventually build up the necessary strength in your feet and the proper coordination to run for as long as you would have been able to with shoes. Your body will tell you when it can handle more and it absolutely will tell you when it's had enough!

The difference between the two scenarios above is that shoes allow you to modify your environment to allow you to do something you otherwise wouldn't be able to do.

They allow for the possibility of an over-striding gait pattern. They allow you to run farther than your tendons and bones would otherwise permit. They allow you to push yourself harder and run faster. The problem is that you didn't really earn the right to run fast and long.

Cook states the following messages your feet will send you, if you listen:

Let me help you refine the most authentic stride for your current limits and abilities.

I have lots of nerve endings that provide information about how and when to use all the right muscles most efficient sequences to create a low-impact efficient stride customized to your unique qualities.

I can actually do most of my teaching automatically, so you will not need to memorize anything —you’ll know when you are doing it wrong… trust me.

Just listen to me every now and then, and if you choose to opt for the extra protection of shoes that’s cool. Just revisit me every now and then so we can stay connected and I can give you some feedback.

You may think the point of this post is to convince you to ditch your shoes and run barefoot. Not at all. I just chose to use barefoot running as an example. The point is to focus on quality of movement before adding on quantity. Earn the right to train more. Make sure your push-up technique is dead on before doing 100 per day. Balance on one foot and perform a squat with complete control, alignment and balance before adding weights to an ugly squat or lunge. Dedicate some of your training time to a self-limiting exercise like the turkish get-up or walking on a balance beam.

Again, in our society we want to be able to do things NOW. We don't want to wait. Patience? What's that?! Well, if I'm your coach I'm going to make you earn it. I'm going to make you earn the right to run a long distance race. Just gotta run that half marathon in 3 months? I'm sure there's a coach out there that will gladly take your money, but that ain't me.

The Single Best Thing You Can Do To Help Your Run

First off, thanks to those who commented on their experiences with changing their running form. I always find it helpful to listen to those who have had success as well as those who didn't. What obstacles came up? How did you overcome them? Check out the comments here. This week I want to fill you in on a secret. I really think it's THE easiest, simplest, and most effective way to fast track your training to a new level. In fact, if you wanted to improve your running performance and were only allowed to pick one of the following options, which would it be?

*High Tech Treadmill – maybe even an Alter-G!

*Idyllic setting of choice – mountains, beach, Forbidden Drive ;-)

*Unlimited shoes and apparel

*Altitude Tent

*Team or committed partner

*Doctor / Therapist on call

Now, to be sure, they will all help you to some degree. However, the one that sticks out in my mind is the phrase “team”. There are just so many good reasons to train with a team, club, or committed partner/friend.

One of the reasons American elite distance running performance declined from the mid-1980s until recently was that runners began training alone. Prior to that time everyone trained in large groups. Once running became something one could pursue as a professional, runners figured they could more conveniently train on their own. They had a paycheck coming to them from their sponsor so why leave and train away from home?

GETS RESULTS

People like to think Kenyans are genetically different. But people who think along those lines are the same people who like to blame others for their life predicaments, too. Rather, Kenyans have always trained in groups – huge groups. Plus, running is seen as a way out of poverty and so motivation is extremely high.

You combine high motivation with others who have the same mind set and you will get some extremely powerful results. Can you think of any examples in your life where you accomplished more than you thought you could simply because you worked with a group?

CAMARADERIE

When I show up at road races or track meets and I see people wearing the same racing singlet there's an instant bond. Like, “we're in this together”. Running for your team provides a whole other layer of motivation because you want to do well for the team. Plus, it's great to connect with like-minded people who share the same passion. As a member of the Greater Philadelphia Track Club I've shared in some incredible experiences that wouldn't have been possible otherwise, like running in the Penn Relays and watching teammates set a world record in the Masters 4X800m!

IT'S FUN!

Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of training with a friend is the social aspect. My buddy and I lead busy lives and the great thing about running is that we can catch up WHILE getting fit at the same time. Amazing! Love those time efficient activities...

NO EXCUSES

I think most of us can agree that meeting someone else for a workout provides just the right amount of accountability that we need to stay on track. We are easier on ourselves if we skip a workout, but feel terrible if we let someone else down. Interesting? Before you know it, you'll have strung multiple weeks of solid training together simply because you were held accountable by each other.

CONFIDENCE

If you see your friend improving and you're running the same workouts, you should expect to improve as well. If I can keep up with my workout partner during a set of intervals, I should feel confident that I can run with him during a race.

Your confidence will also improve in another critical area: training decisions. Not sure which shoes are right? Not sure what type of run is best for your goals? Not sure which Body Glide product works best? Wouldn't it be nice to ask your friends? They'll give you confidence that you're doing all the right things. Now, admittedly this can go both ways. You could also be so inspired or competitive that you do too much, too soon, but hopefully as an intelligent reader of this blog you'll avoid that pitfall.

STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES

I actively seek out workout friends who are faster than me because it helps me raise my game. Ever notice you play to the level of your competition? I tend to have better speed than endurance. So, as much as it hurts to run with my endurance endowed friends, I've improved dramatically because of it. Same goes for them. They'd NEVER do any sprinting if it wasn't for me!

The bottom line is this: if you're not training with friends, a team, or a club at least some of the time, you are missing out big time. You'll get faster, save time, make new friends, build confidence, have no excuses and, most of all, enjoy your training. Come join us at Lululemon on Walnut Street every Thursday at 6pm for a taste of the good life!

What Does Speed Training Really Mean?

How many times have you read that proper run training should include three types of runs – a speed workout, a tempo run, and a long run? Well, I agree! You should certainly have some form of each of those in your program. The long run is usually slow paced and long in duration – up to 30% of your weekly mileage. The tempo run is usually 20-40 minutes of sustained, faster paced running. And the speed workout? Well, it should definitely be faster than the others!

I sense a lot of confusion regarding speed workouts, though. Exactly how fast should you run? Why this speed and not that speed? How often should you run that fast? Let's find out.

The first thing that you should know is that you are capable of many different speeds. Think of a spectrum that begins at walking and ends in an all-out sprint. I have found that it is good to train at every one of those speeds to develop as a runner. ALL speeds have benefits!

Here are all of my “speeds” or gears. There are at least 11 of them:

Walk

Jog

Slow Recovery Run

Easy Run

Moderate Run (marathon pace)

Moderately Hard Run (10K-Half Marathon)

Hard Run (2 Mile-5K)

Very Hard (1 Mile)

Long Sprint (400-800m)

Short Sprint (100-400m)

Max Power (20-50m)

A beginner will have less speeds to choose from while an experienced, fast racer will have more. For example, a low-mileage marathon rookie will likely run the marathon at their Slow-Easy pace. A fast, high-mileage 5K'er will be comfortable all the way down to 5 minute pace.

When I think of the general programs I've seen in other online sites and running magazines, they often describe speed as running close to your current 5K race pace. This leads many runners to believe that if they do their weekly speed workout of 6 times 800 meters at 5k pace, they will become faster. Makes sense, right?

Well, no. You'll develop the ability to use less energy while running your current 5K pace, but you won't really get faster overall. I mean, wouldn't it be cool to run faster at all of your race distances?

Yes, please!

Ok, so here's what ya gotta do. The faster you are at a short distance race, the faster you can be at a long distance race. This is happens for at least two reasons: more muscle power means a longer stride & speed training makes you better coordinated so you use less energy at slower paces. It's one of the reasons I recommend beginners do slow running and sprint training – and less “in-between” stuff.

Take a look at your weekly schedule. How many different speeds do you engage every week? If you aren't doing any speed training, you'll need to start at the far end of the spectrum by working on your Max Power.

--Tack on two sprints at the end of two of your weekly easy runs.

--Sprint all out for 7-8 seconds (up a slight incline for best results).

--Take 2 minutes between sprints and just walk to allow your central nervous system recover so that you can hit that next one just as hard.

--Every two weeks add two sprints until you reach 8 sprints.

Where to take things from there can depend on many factors like your goals, muscle fiber make-up and time available to train, but this is a great place to start. Once your muscle power and coordination has improved significantly, then you are ready for longer speed sessions. However, without this base of basic sprint speed you are leaving speed on the table and won't reach your potential.

I've helped lots of folks who have plateaued and low muscle power is one of the most common weaknesses. Strength training is another route to achieve this goal, but that's for another day. Stay tuned!

Next week I'll discuss eating and hydration and how to do it right when it comes time for the Broad Street Run. 3 weeks to go!! Are you on track? Let me help you right the ship before it's too late.

The Ugly Truth About Marathon Training

I'm probably gonna piss off a few people with this one. I can hear it now, “Um, John, you make a living by helping runners achieve their goals – including running marathons – you sure you wanna go there?” Yep. I am going there.

Now don't get me wrong, there are all types of runners with all levels of goals and ambition and this post is not to make anyone feel badly about their commitment level. There's only so much time in a day, right? You're an amazing person in my mind for simply desiring to run a marathon.

But what's up with the 30 mile per week marathoner? Or, if you're a triathlete, the 5 training-hours-per-week marathoner? In my opinion, this is just nonsensical. You do know that you're training for a marathon, right?

If you have no intentions of improving as a marathon runner, then cool. Feel free to stop reading here.

I'm concerned about the person who wants to improve (or at least says they do). They seem to think that as long as they do the necessary long runs that they will run well. As if that's all it takes to run a good marathon!

Here are some of the one-liners I hear on a routine basis:

“I'm 4 weeks out from my race. Gotta get that 20 mile run in!”

“And this time, I'm gonna run three 20 milers! Maybe even a 22 miler!”

“I only ran three times this week – 5 on Tuesday and Friday was 6 miles. But Sunday I ran 18!”

Ever heard those phrases? You don't hear smart marathon runners uttering such nonsense. Here's why:

After you graduate from Marathon Finisher to Marathon Competitor, you have to train differently. In order to improve you can't simply modify your beginner program by running longer on the weekend. Weekend warriors belong at the recreation center!

To improve your marathon you must live a certain lifestyle. You must add mid-week miles and there's no getting around it.

As a recent Scottish study confirmed (though experienced runners and coaches have known this for a while), running more miles per week means more glycogen (sugar) depletion than running less miles per week. This is important because endurance improves through the repeated depletion of muscle glycogen stores in training.

A runner who runs 50 miles per week will have more glycogen depletion than the runner who runs 40 miles per week even if the 40 mi/wk runner does a 20 mile long run. Therefore, when I coach a marathoner, I usually try to talk them into running longer mid-week. For example, a 90 minute Wednesday or Thursday run will sufficiently raise your mileage and deplete that glycogen. Plus, you are completing your longest run of the week on tired legs – just like in the final miles of the race.

But beyond the performance benefits of increased weekly mileage, would you believe there are injury prevention benefits?

It's true. You are much less likely to get hurt if you run consistently high mileage than taking extended breaks between training blocks. In other words, by shutting it down and ramping it up, you are de-training significantly and then risk breaking down when you increase your training. Your body has to try to re-adapt to the stress of running every year. No wonder you keep getting hurt!!

Remember, high mileage is relative. Everyone is different and it's a process. It takes time to adapt to a higher mileage level. So take your time!

And so the problem, assuming you're motivated, is that you will need to devote more time to training. Therefore the question becomes, “how badly do you want to improve?” Do you really want to qualify for the Boston Marathon? Or do you just kinda want to? Do you really want to break 4 hours? 3 hours?

So the “ugly truth” is this:

How much of a priority is marathon improvement and are you willing to spend more of your valuable time training?

Running a marathon is an AWESOME experience and flying by depleted, cramping runners while crushing your PR is pretty cool, too. And at Boston it's even sweeter. In fact, it's probably the single greatest feeling I've ever had while running.

I'll get you there if you want.  Fill out my contact form and let's get on with your success!