Flexibility vs. Mobility

These are two fitness terms often used in conjunction with each other, so I'll try to clear up some confusion right off the bat: flexibility and mobility are two different things.

Flexibility refers to the range of motion you can stretch, passively or actively, a muscle before it snaps off the bone and hits you in the eye. More or less.

Mobility refers to the range of motion you can use a muscle effectively.

Here is side-by-side comparison of a female yogi demonstrating flexibility, and a ridiculously photogenic weightlifter demonstrating mobility:

Side note: a google image search for "flexibility" is the closest thing to porn you will see with safesearch still on.

Both of these girls have great hip, knee, and shoulder range of motion. The one on the right, however, is going to stand up with a big weight at the bottom of her position. She is demonstrating mobility. The girl on the left has "gotten into position" by pulling her hip past the point where it ceased being strong for the sake of a stretch. She exhibits great flexibility.

Think of flexibility as a bucket, and mobility as the water you have available to fill that bucket.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I think flexibility and mobility work are both hella-boring. I'll also admit that I get jacked up something fierce when I stop stretching and mobilizing, so I understand that these are the raw broccoli to my weightlifting's tender juicy steak.

And while the two are not the same thing, they are both, unfortunately, important.

Increasing your flexibility changes the resting length of the muscle and makes them less resistant to being pulled to the end of its range of motion. This is usually touted as a great means of injury prevention. And it is....but not by itself. In fact, flexibility without mobility may increase the likelihood of injury by making it easier to get into positions in which you are not stable. 5 gallons of water in a 10 gallon bucket is just a lot of wasted bucket.

Increasing your mobility, on the other hand, makes you more capable of moving effectively through a large range of motion. Look again at the ridiculously photogenic weightlifting lady above: she's not only showing better flexibility throughout her shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles than most people, but she's supporting a heavy weight in a fairly stable manner at the "edges" of her range of motion. That is good mobility.

I know it sounds like I'm trumpeting mobility over flexibility... and I am. But mobility is certainly enhanced by flexibility, and the latter can aid in releasing chronically tight muscles that are the cause of a pantheon of non-weight training related injuries.

So when should you be working on these qualities?

Mobility work should be a staple in your warm up, and not just limited to what muscle groups you plan on working out that session. Hip, knee, ankle, and shoulder mobility work can and should be a daily occurrence. Don't know how? Why, here's a video, free of charge!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L5KVw2Pwic

Flexibility work can be done literally anytime, ever. Before your workout, after your workout, or my recommendation, on a completely separate day from weight training as part of a recovery protocol. Taking a yoga class has become my favorite way to incorporate stretching into my fitness routine. The common myths about stretching before workouts decreasing strength, or stretching after workouts to take advantage of pliability, are largely untrue. But that's another article.

Hopefully you know just a little bit more about these terms than you did before.As always, if you have any questions about this article or any other, please leave a comment or send me a message on Facebook. And if you haven't liked our page at Skape Fitness yet, we're totally not friends anymore.

Go forth, mobilize, and lift heavy things.

Why? And Other Philosophical Conundrums

There is a reason you're reading this blog post instead of looking at pictures of cats, which is what most of the rest of the internet is doing right now. In some way, shape, or form, you care about your fitness, and you're probably taking steps to make yourself more healthy. You are hopefully working out on a regular basis because you see value it provides, maybe you watch what you eat because you know it is key to weight control, and you are at this very moment putting forth effort to further your understanding of fitness. These, good people, are very admirable traits to have.

But why are you doing all these things?

Goal setting kind of takes a back seat to the ins and outs of training and nutrition, but it is absolutely as important. Nobody takes on a new task without having some sort of goal in mind. There was, after all, a reason you first stepped foot on that treadmill or picked up a weight in the first place.

Goals are the foundation of your fitness program, whether you've written them down or not.

Many of us, at this point, are going to the gym for the same reasons we brush our teeth: we know we should, and it's become a habit. There is definitely nothing wrong with this, but wouldn't you like a whiter smile? Wouldn't you get more out of your workouts and diet if you had a specific goal to be your driving force? 

And let us not forget those of us who are on the brink of quitting. Exercise can be very hard, and working up the motivation to go to the gym after a long day of dealing with the rest of life can be even harder. But if your reason to keep going is stronger than the reasons to quit, you'll stick with your program and see results.

Here's your homework for the day, due by the next time you work out. Write down the answers to these questions, and keep them in mind as you work.

...Seriously, get out a pen and paper, it won't take five minutes, and you'll actually get something out of it.

What is your end-game?

This goes beyond wanting to lose weight or look better; it's the foundation for your reasoning to work out, and it could be the hardest to answer. What do you want to ultimately achieve from working out?

-I want to be with my children as long as possible, and exercise will keep me going.

-I want definitive control over something in my life, and my body is completely up to me.

-I want the constant confidence that comes with having a powerful body.

Really think about this one, because "I want to bench 225" is a lame motivator without context. Remembering you end-game is the only thing that will keep you going during the times you really want to quit.

How are you going to get there?

What path will lead toward your end-game? This one is easier, since it's probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think about your fitness goals. 

-I want to be with my children as long as possible, so I need to lose weight and be healthier.

-I want control over my body, so I need to go to the gym on a regular basis.

-I want the confidence that comes with a powerful body, so I need to build muscle.

These are the traditional goals, and they're easy to write down.

What steps are you going to take?

This might be the most complicated step. These are your programs, your diet plans, your workout schedule, your mousetraps in the cookie jar; the things you do to be closer to your end-game. This is what personal trainers do, which is awesome because it simplifies this step down to "Do what Justin says." This is a philosophy I recommend to all of those people close to me.

-I want to be with my children as long as possible, so I need to lose weight and be healthier. To do that, I'll start eating 1800 calories a day, and work with my trainer three days a week.

-I want control over my body, so I need to go to the gym on a regular basis. I'm going to make it to a Spin class twice a week, work out on my own twice more a week, and cut out junk food from my diet.

-I want the confidence that comes with a powerful body, so I need to build muscle. To do that, I'm going to work hard during the online program my trainer has laid out for me, and make sure to eat at least 150 grams of protein a day.

How are you going to measure your progress?

You need numbers to back up your progress, otherwise you're just guessing. Many of us ignore this step because we almost always guess in our favor, and that's much easier than confronting the numbers to see if we're on track. Pick one or two good indicators of progress, and measure them weekly, preferably on the same day at the same time.

-I want to be with my children as long as possible, so I need to lose weight and be healthier. To do that, I'll start eating 1800 calories a day, and work with my trainer three days a week. I will measure my waistline every Sunday to see if I am making progress.

-I want control over my body, so I need to go to the gym on a regular basis. I'm going to make it to a Lift class twice a week, work out on my own twice more a week, and cut out junk food from my diet. I've downloaded a fitness journal app, and I'll post the results to Facebook every week for my friends to see. 

-I want the confidence that comes with a powerful body, so I need to build muscle. To do that, I'm going to work hard during the online program my trainer has laid out for me, and make sure to eat at least 150 grams of protein a day. I will gain weight while staying within 2% of my current bodyfat, and I will measure both every Tuesday before my workout.

Pick a S.M.A.R.T. number.

If you don't remember this acronym, it stand for "Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant  and Timely."

Or the same thing with different words, for people who want to be difficult.

This is your short-term goal, and it helps to keep your end-game in sight by breaking things down into doable chunks. There are literal books written about this acronym, but if you've read this far I trust your competency in figuring it out. Just don't be afraid to set lofty goals; falling just short of losing 20 lbs by June is still better than achieving your goal of losing 2 lbs by July, and you'll work harder to achieve the former.

-I want to be with my children as long as possible, so I need to lose weight and be healthier. To do that, I'll start eating 1800 calories a day, and work with my trainer three days a week. I will measure my waistline every Sunday to see if I am making progress. I want to lose two inches by June 1st.

-I want control over my body, so I need to go to the gym on a regular basis. I'm going to make it to a Lift class twice a week, work out on my own twice more a week, and cut out junk food from my diet. I've downloaded a fitness journal app, and I'll post the results to Facebook every week for my friends to see. I will not miss more than two workouts every month, and I will not have pizza more than once during that same month. 

-I want the confidence that comes with a powerful body, so I need to build muscle. To do that, I'm going to work hard during the online program my trainer has laid out for me, and make sure to eat at least 150 grams of protein a day. I will gain weight while staying within 2% of my current bodyfat, and I will measure both every Tuesday before my workout. I want to gain 5 lbs at stay under 12% bodyfat by the time I go on vacation.

Look back over your paper, and see if it puts your goals in perspective. If you've been stuck in a rut for months, just going through the motions without getting closer to the end-game you had in mind when you started, it might be time for a change. Remember your end-game, and always work towards it.

Your goal today: lift a heavy thing. 

Want to Get Started? Try Showing Up

"80 percent of success is showing up" - Woody Allen

I don't know about you, but when I need motivation to throw some iron around in the gym, I always turn to the wise words of Woody Allen. Sometimes. Once. Anyway, I like that quote.

Nowhere is this sentiment more applicable than the gym. If you come to the gym on a regular basis -I'm talking, 3 days a week for 3 months or more- and do something, you are on the right side of in-shape. You might still be overweight, you might still be using the lightest dumbbells on the rack, you might still be scorekeeper for every pick-up basketball game you are a part of, but I would bet my favorite Adidas ClimaTee that you are not "need-a-doctor, never-take-the-stairs, cholesterol-higher-than-your-credit-score" out-of-shape.

But it starts with walking through the door. You will lose weight or gain weight or get stronger or get faster one way and only one way: bit by bit. You're building a tower on top of quicksand, and if you take too long adding to the top it's just going to sink underground.

Show up. Here is how you do it:

1. Set a goal, and let the world  know. If you want to bench 225, that's a Facebook post you should be making every bench day. Write your current weight on the top of a sheet of paper on your fridge, your goal weight at the bottom, and a weekly weigh-in that hopefully bridges the gap between the two.

 2. Find a gym or buy some equipment. In all honesty, unless you have friends or a favorite trainer to influence your opinion, the most important aspect to look for in a gym is convenience. Your facility should be close by, or on the way home from work. A thirty minute drive to a gym across town is a great reason not to go. Failing that, spend $50 on a pair of adjustable dumbbells; they're really all you need to get started.

3. Have a game plan. I meant it when I said that doing something was good, but having a plan is the way to go. A plan could be:

-Tagging along with a friend who knows what they're doing. Anyone worth their gym socks is happy to show a newbie the ropes. This is how I got started as a fat kid in high school, and I've shown up ever since.

-Google "beginner program" and stick to it. Stick to reputable sources (Men's Health, Shape, Bodybuilding.com, etc.), but pick one.

-Get a trainer. <shameless self-promotion>This is by far the best option, especially if they've earned their stuff from, say, the University of Kentucky and the National Strength and Conditioning Association and have a fondness for teal. The traditional in-person trainer can provide instant feedback and correct your form, all the while yelling at you to do, like, two more reps. Or, you could try out that new-fangled online personal training, where a trainer sends you a personalized program via the internet and provides an online training log and email feedback so that both of your can keep track of your progress. </shameless self-promotion>

Fitness really is one of those life goals that rewards you for diving right in. But you have to show up and give it something as often as you can, else the fickle bastard will leave you to decay at the bottom of a flight of stairs when the elevator is out.

Go forth and lift heavy things. We're saving you a spot.

Introducing Skape Fitness!

So, remember a few months back, when Darren Powers and myself had an epic contest of mass-itude challenging the very notion of what could be done with the mound of organic clay that is the human body?

You know, when we had a contest of who could look better in a month?

Well, we've set aside our differences (for the time being because I totally won and I don't think his psyche can take it much longer) and started a business venture together.

What business, you ask? Did you not read the title of this blog post?

Skape Fitness is part of a new movement in the fitness industry. I know that sounds cliche to the point of losing all meaning, but it's actually true. You see, we're finally starting to realize that the internet is a pretty neat thing, on account of its ability to share information and pictures and videos, sometimes of things that are not cats.

Online personal training is a growing industry, and for good reason. It combines the personalized workouts and instruction of an in-person personal trainer with the affordability of something you can afford. It works like this:

1. You check out our website, realize how awesome and worth it we are, and contact us.

2. We'll create your Trainerize profile for you. Trainerize is the software we use to send you workouts, and it contains a host of videos and charts to instruct you on exercise form as well as keep track of your progress. Through this software,we send you an online consultation form that lets us get to know you and your goals, you fill it out and send it back, and we give you a basic layout of a program we'd write for you.

3. If it sounds good to you (and it will), you pay for a month's worth of workouts for the price of a single in-person training session with a trainer.

4. We send you your first week's worth of workouts through the software. Please do them, this is actually the important part. Record your progress, either by printing out the workout and writing it down, or by downloading the app on your phone and recording it there. We'll be able to see your numbers like this, and it'll help us both keep track of how you're coming and what we need to adjust.

5. With this software, you'll have access to videos and written instructions of all the exercises, as well as instruction regarding sets, reps, rest, what have you. If you have any questions, you can throw them over the internet at us, and we'll throw answers back at you.

6. (Optional) You get a modeling contract with Hot Bodies That are Sexy, LLC and break the world record in the horse toss and the 400m backflip dash, two events you had to invent because you're too in-shape to do normal things.

Like this, but with the horse still attached. 

All of this, the training, instruction, and nutritional guidance that I forgot to mention, is set up to be tailored to your schedule and equipment options. If you have 8 days a week to work out in the biggest gym in Kentucky, we'll give you the absolute best program to take advantage of your options. If you have 40 minutes a week to work out in the corner of your kid's toy room using only old milk jugs and your body, we got you covered there too.

And, of course, this business is the base of operations for my personal training business at Wildcat Fitness, so you'll find all the information you want about training with me in personal on the website as well. Since in-personal training still trumps the admittedly awesome online option because of the immediate feedback and seeing my face, the ideal setup would be training with me once or twice a week, and on your own using our online services the rest of the time. It's like having a tutor and the best study guide ever and a magic potion that makes you sexier all in one.

Since I'm pretty sure it's now required by law, we are now also doing internets on Facebook and Twitter, and you should totally watch us do that. Here are the things:

Twitter Handle: @SkapeFitness

Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Skape-Fitness

We're just starting out, so we could really use the support of awesome people, and since you're reading this blog, you've passed the Awesome Litmus Test. For our first official week of business (from today until April 30, 2013) if you like, share, or scream from the rooftops our name, we will give you a free week of workouts  through our new online training program. Yes, you can do pushups and squats and one-legged Romainian Dumbbell Deadlifts the way we tell you to free for a week! How cool does that sound?

We've given you the means, now go forth and pick up heavy things, the Skape Fitness way!

Going to the Gym (When You Really Don't Want To)

I am a personal trainer by trade. I spent four years going to school with the intent of doing this for the rest of my life.

I read articles and books on strength and conditioning for at least half an hour every day.

I have, more often than I like to admit, been that jerk who chastises people who find excuses not to work out.

And damn it, I did not want to work out last week.

The first week of April was a rough one for me. I decided to leave my old job at LIFT Fitness and was lucky enough to find work at Wildcat Fitness within two days, but as anyone who has gone through transitioning to another phase in their professional career can tell you, it's one of the most stressful things you can put yourself through. There was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of work put in for little tangible gain. And while I'm not exactly starting over, I know that the next few months will be spent building up a new client base, and there is a lot more stress to come.

Working out seemed like the least important thing I could have been doing.

A friend of mine has a pretty nice home gym setup, complete with a squat rack and adjustable dumbbells, and he was gracious enough to let me use his equipment while I was between gyms. Even with his generosity, it took just about all the willpower I had left over from my job search to put on a pair of shorts and squat. I did six sets with a weight I thought was kind of heavy, and quit.

Sometimes that's good enough.

Even for someone who more or less does it for a living, I know that working out should not be the most important thing in your life. That does not, however, mean it's not worth doing even during the most stressful times of your life. Here are some tips to get you to the gym when it's the last thing you want to do.

1. Get in and do something.

Not every workout needs to leave you drenched in sweat with jelly legs that can barely get you back to the car. Sometimes just getting to the gym and moving around is enough to keep you from losing the progress you have made with such workouts in the past. Do a set or two of goblet squats, some pullups, your favorite machine and ab exercise, and go home. Don't think ten minutes in the gym is a waste of time.

2. Have someone else write your workout.

I've mentioned it before, but this can do wonders for your work ethic. I was surprised at just how much willpower it took for me to write an honest workout for myself, until I bought Dan Trink's arm program and, more recently, started following the Olympic lifting workouts on Central Kentucky Weightlifting's blog. There's no more, "should I do another exercise for my shoulders?". Instead, you look at what's written, and do it.

3. Work out with someone who needs it.

There is no shame in getting out of shape. Life happens. But sometimes it gets to the point where it puts you at risk for losing your quality of life, and going to the gym becomes a literal life-saving endeavor. Maybe you have a coworker who has constant back and neck pain from her office job, maybe your mother is becoming at risk for type II diabetes, maybe your friend is clinically obese. Work out with them. Hold them accountable for making this important change. If you miss a workout, they might miss a workout. When it's someone else's health at risk, getting to the gym makes a big jump on your priority list. And hey- they might end up being your inspiration instead. 

These are just some ideas to get you through a rough patch. My goal is to make everyone I train love the gym as much as I do, and to make those patches as short as possible. As for me, all it took was a new facility and a new pair of Olympic lifting shoes to get me back on track.

Despite matching absolutely nothing I own

Go forth, fight through it, and pick up heavy things.

Knowing Where to Tap It

I heard a great anecdote over at the thePTDC.com the other day:

A guy calls in a plumber to fix a problem he's having in his house. When the plumber shows up and listens to a brief description of the problem, he heads down to the basement and kneels down at one section of a pipe near the water heater. The plumber takes out is hammer, aims it at a particular bend in the pipe, and with one clink of the hammer, the problem is fixed. The plumber smiles, tips his hat to the guy, and is on his way within five minutes. The guy is understandably impressed.

Two days later the guy gets a bill from the plumber for $500. The guy is outraged, and calls the plumber to dispute the bill. "All you did was tap the pipe with a hammer!" he says. "How in the world does that cost you $500 to accomplish?"

After another two days, the guy receives a bill that outlined the charges in his bill. It read:
-$1: tapping pipe with hammer
-$499: knowing where to tap it

To be fair, most of life's problems can be solved in some way with a hammer.

When I was just starting out training a year ago, I felt like I need to use the most expensive pieces of equipment in the gym to make sure my clients were getting their money's worth. I honestly felt guilty when I had them do planks and push-ups because I still thought of myself as a demonstrator of equipment, not a designer of programs.

"Trainers do more than demonstrate exercises."

When you hire a personal trainer, you're not hiring someone to show you how to do a squat. At least, not just how. You also need to know why you're doing this squat, with this much weight, this many times, before these lunges but after those mobility drills, for this many sets, resting this much afterwards, on this day of the week.

There is, believe it or not, a reason I went to school for this.

I'm glad I bought this program for my arms, because it reminded me of my own value as a trainer. I'm writing this an hour after I finished a tricep-focused workout that had me doing 100 rope pressdowns to end the day. For the record, it felt like my arms were about to pop, and I'm having trouble keeping them in place atop my laptop as I type. 

Could I have thought of that on my own?

Yeah, but I didn't.

Do I know how to do every exercise presented in the program?

I have a literal degree in knowing every exercise in the program.

Do I understand the concepts of eccentric muscle contractions, time under tension, and volume principles that are the basis for the design of this program?

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, homey. 

But when someone else puts it all together, they provide a service that is absolutely worth the money.

I wouldn't have stuck with an arm program for this long if I had written it myself. I would have found reasons to switch to something else, or would have convinced myself I had to change something, or wouldn't have pushed myself as hard and let the weights just fall instead of being controlled and stopped at 8 reps instead of 12, and blah blah blah. But I have a sheet of paper telling me to do these things, and that's all it took for me to stick to a program and make some already noticeable gains in my physique. 

Now imagine if that piece of paper could talk, instantly clear up any questions you had, and look damn good in a 1/4 zip pullover, and you'd have yourself a personal trainer.

It also makes me think maybe I shouldn't complain about my doctor's bill from when I cut off part of my pinky. (But I'm still gonna.)

Justin is personal trainer in Lexington, Kentucky. He also writes the blog for his gym over at liftfitnessandwellness.blogspot.com.

The Best Exercise You're Not Doing

Here's the setup: place a thick towel or Airex pad on a loaded barbell at the center, and deadlift the bar so that the pad is pinned at your pelvis. Sit down on a bench perpendicularly, and carefully scoot forward until your upper back is on the bench. Relax your glutes and let the barbell down toward the floor. To come up, push through your heels and squeeze your glutes to drive the barbell up towards the ceiling. This is known as the glute bridge, and no one does it.

There isn't a pretty way to sell the barbell glute bridge.  It looks like this:

My expression does not add much hardcore legitimacy to the matter.

It looks like you're humping the barbell. And to be honest, that's a fair and accurate representation of the exercise.

But here's the thing: I can't think of a better motion to activate the glutes, and as an added bonus it almost completely spares the lower back. As important it is to develop the hinge, it's an easy motion to screw up without outside guidance. But with the hip bridge, it's as simple as picking your hips off the ground by pushing through your heels; there aren't many other teaching cues, at least none that I've had to use. And when you add weight, you're well on your way to a strong and gloriously sculpted butt.

So why doesn't anyone do it?

Because it looks like you're humping a barbell.

Trainers already subject their clients to unique forms of embarrassment on a regular basis, but making one of my guys or girls do a  weighted glute bridge because it's a little more effective than other, far less gawk-worthy exercises just seems....wrong, somehow. Like I'm punishing them for a severe infraction to my being.

Still, I obviously do these myself. Being a trainer myself, anything I do just looks like the next great thing in fitness (at least in my head) and I absolutely love them. I figure as long as I don't make eye contact with anyone, they're worth the trouble and tighter jeans. Wait...ew, phrasing.