What is Healthy Living?

This is something that is so commonly said, but often undefined. I thought I would take a stab at how we view it at CPP.

Eating foods that have a high nutrient density – You are what you eat is overused and true. Let’s start with a concept I got from Precision Nutrition, nutrient density is the ratio of the good stuff in food versus the calories in that food. One end of the spectrum would be veggies and the other would be donuts. Food needs to supply more than energy to properly support physical health. Vitamins and minerals that come from whole food sources are better utilized than from a pill.

When someone follows this they are getting the majority of calories from whole foods instead of processed alternatives. This will result in better physical health, improve body composition, and increase energy levels.

Move everyday – For every hour spent sitting spend an hour on your feet being active. This can be tough for office workers, but even more important. The human body is not made to sit in a chair all day. Physical activity in general becomes harder from the whole body tightness that sitting creates. Get on your feet and fight it.

Moving more can help you be happy. I am thoroughly convinced people who get up and do something are generally in a better mood than those who don’t. The improved blood flow and endorphins have a large role in this. Activity in general helps clear the head and reduce stress levels. So find something enjoyable and do it!

Being able to clear your mind – People worry, stress, mull things over; all this is normal. However, when it becomes constant it can negatively effect wellbeing. Some people meditate. Others have hobbies that allow them to be focused enough to temporarily forget everything else. For me working out, specifically lifting has been this. When I am working hard enough or that there is enough weight on the bar, for that moment nothing else exists.

When contemplating a problem, it is easy to get stuck. Being able to pull out of this even if only momentarily is important. Exercise, meditate, stare at a wall; anything that will get you out of your own head for a short time can do wonders. The anxiety from not being able to do this will often be a trigger for our bad habits.

Having something that you are passionate about – For a lucky few a passion can be a profession, but if this isn’t you that is perfectly fine. A job can just be a means to an end. This would allow someone to support themselves and still follow a passion. The great lie about following your passion to pick a career has caused much unnecessary stress.

Having something that you love and can put full energy into is part of the human experience. Shutting off that fountain of inspiration can make your worl

d gray. It’s ok if that passion changes. The things that we love as children don’t often retain the same meaning as adults. But find something. And to those that struggle to find one, the search is just part of the experience.

Having people to share positive experiences with – Humans are social animals. Being able to share the above experiences can make every one of them better.

Thanks for reading. I’m sure that there can be more said about each one, but this is a quick take on how we view healthy living.

Seminar Recap

Last Saturday I attended a Perform Better seminar in Seattle. It featured four presenters. Each talked for an hour in the morning and had a 30 minute hands on section in the afternoon. There were over 200 people in attendance. I try to go to at least two seminars every year, and always come back with new ideas and renewed motivation.

This was the order of presenters, the topics from the Perform Better website, and my comments:

Charlie Weingroff, DPT, ATC, CSCS - I Left Heavy Things & Put Them Down
There is often agreement that developing strength is a brilliant strategy to meet goals in both fitness and athletic development.  There are many ways that strength can be developed, ranging from neurological "tricks" to basic technical proficiency of compound lifts with dumbells, kettlebells, and barbells.  Principles of the nervous system and basic mechanics will always apply to different implements based against ultimately the laws of gravity.  Charlie will address the different perspectives in how we move and address specific adaptations to imposed demands in the effort of getting "strong."

Weingroff is a physical therapist and strength coach that has a powerlifting background. Having seen him speak before, I was excited that he was presenting because the perspective that his background brings.

He talked about general physical preparedness (GPP) vs specific physical preparedness (SPP) and how understanding where a trainee should be placed will help with exercise selection. The difference being that most personal training clients will never need SPP because the goal of being in shape does not necessitate specialty exercises to produce specific adaptations as an athlete training for a competition would need.

The other point that I took was considerations for loading an exercise. Essentially when a given training result can be produced by various means, choosing the option that has lower absolute loading (total weight used) will reduce the incidence of injuries.

Lee Burton, PhD, ATC, CSCS - Functional Exercise Progressions: Mobility, Motor Control and Strength
Every exercise professional should create a holistic exercise program that improves performance while creating more durability.  In order to do this effectively functional exercise should be utilized as a fundamental component of the program design. We must design a program that uses proper exercise progressions, which are designed to focus on the weaknesses while maintaining and progressing the strength and power. We must ultimately work towards overall gains in strength, power and endurance, which are laid on top of a solid foundation of mobility and motor control.  The focus of the session will be describing the importance of functional exercise and demonstrating how to implement and effectively progress functional exercise.

Burton is the co-creator of the Functional Movement Screen. He talked about the history and philosophy of the FMS. It did give me a better understanding of the FMS. One of the purposes of the screen is to determine what movements can be trained and what movements need to be developed with corrective exercises.

He also talked about what corrective exercise are and how they can be misapplied. Corrective exercises can be used to increase range of motion of a joint or to increase coordination, but only by incorporating those gains into bigger exercises in a training program can the correctives be productive.

Alwyn Cosgrove, CSCS - The Next Fitness Blueprint: New Programming and Operation Strategies
The only guarantee in the fitness business is that everything changes! 

This seminar will cover the latest changes and developments in programming and business practices.  From new fat loss studies and practices, to the latest in metabolic training and business delivery options (including semi-private 2.0), no stone will be left unturned.

He and his wife own a training gym in California that inspired much of how I setup Cascade Peak Performance. I have seen him speak twice before. He talks about the structure of gyms and the evolution of personal training. He and his team are constantly working to improve the model of a training gym, and it is always interesting to see the changes that they make each year.

Many people seek a trainer when the need to lose weight and feel better, but after a year or two of training that have enough success that they then reach “well now what?” Cosgrove terms this as the “Executive Athlete.” These are people that are now in shape and need something else to train for.  Finding races or powerlifting competitions to give them a goal to aim at becomes a big part of maintaining the lifestyle.

Martin Rooney, MHS, PT, CSCS, NASM - The Art and Science of Small Group Training
In this thought-provoking lecture, world renowned trainer and presenter Martin Rooney will examine the growing fitness trends of “microgyms” and small group training sessions.  His presentation will cover important and commonly overlooked training concepts like coaching, leadership and session architecture while teaching you how to increase client consistency, community, retention and most importantly, results. The motivational hands-on will show you how to combine the three important E’s for delivering a legendary session: Energy, Education and Equipment.  This promises to be an “Experience” you will not forget.  If you are a coach, trainer, or fitness enthusiast looking for new training direction or simply for ideas to better your small group classes, this is for you.

Rooney might be the most enthusiastic person alive. He started by asking how many of us eat broccoli every day. This obviously was a strange question to ask a group of personal trainers and strength coaches, but his line of questioning was purposeful to get those in attendance to think about how effective they are at getting people to make positive changes in the way they live. He also talked about how many clients come to us not because they don’t know to move more and eat less, but that they come to a trainer to be inspired to do it.

Rooney touched on how to create raving fans and to build an atmosphere that anyone looking in will want to be part of. His is a big advocate of high fives. Focusing on these points will not only increase client compliance but make you a more successful coach because people will be drawn to the experience.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I’m sure a few of you will notice the changes that these lessons will bring to the gym.