Searching For Body-Building Secrets Exercise In Futility

June 15, 2009 By 3 Comments

By Sal Marinello

Health and Fitness Advice

Despite reams of evidence to the contrary too many personal trainers and consumers still think bodybuilding is a valid method of training. There are no such things as “bodybuilding secrets.”

Actually the secret of bodybuilding isn’t really a secret; anabolic drugs – steroids, human growth hormone, insulin and a whole host of other illicit chemicals – are responsible for creating the “sport” of bodybuilding.  Without drugs, bodybuilding would have never attracted the attention of the American public.

For all the showmanship and bravado possessed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, without steroids he wouldn’t have given us, “The Terminator,” “Conan the Barbarian,” or the iconic “Pumping Iron” in which he displayed the persona that catapulted him to fame. This isn’t meant to denigrate what Arnold accomplished, but to point out the stark reality.

No drugs, no Arnold, no bodybuilding, no Muscle & Fitness magazine, and the multi-billion dollar Hulk that is the fitness industry is a 97-pound puny weakling by comparison.  The fitness revolution initiated by Arnold and his steroid-taking Muscle Beach behemoths allowed bodybuilding to stake out the territory that bodybuilding occupies in the land of legitimate fitness.  Amazingly, almost 40 years later many personal trainers still employ the antiquated and flawed techniques favored by the anabolic using pioneers with their non-drug using clients.

Thankfully the mainstream has started to turn away from bodybuilding, also known as “reductionist training.” Members of the highest levels of the fitness profession never really embraced the methods of bodybuilding, which breaks down the movements of the body in to component parts.  Using machines and exercises to isolate/exercise one muscle group at a time, and following a split routine for workouts, is incredibly wasteful and counterproductive.

In a quest for bigger biceps and triceps, well-defined abdominal muscles and other appearance-based goals people still search the Internet for bodybuilding secrets.  The answers provided by bodybuilder-types are flawed, the exercises recommended don’t deliver on the promised results (without the drugs pro bodybuilders use) and the quest for other secrets continues.

The never-ending search for secrets – and in effect short cuts – is thanks to the flawed bodybuilding premise, that an improved appearance equals improved performance.  It isn’t sexy and it doesn’t sizzle, but there are no secret ways to build muscle, build fat free mass, burn fat, tone muscle or do any of the other things you can find when doing a Google search for “bodybuilding secrets.”


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Tax Sodas: More Stupid State Interventionism

April 22, 2009 By 1 Comment

By Sal Marinello

Health and Fitness Advice

The Health Commissioner of New York City and a Yale University professor look to expand the nanny state with proposal to tax soda and sports drinks that contain sugar.

In the attempt to save us from ourselves two so-called public health officials have written a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine in which they claim a penny per ounce tax on sugary drinks could reduce consumption by 10 percent while raising over $1 billion dollars in revenue for the state.  This is just another money grab dressed up as a public health measure as the State of New York is experiencing a financial meltdown and needs every dollar it can grab.

The money grab element of this proposal is obvious; the authors claim this tax could be the biggest boon to the public’s health since the tobacco tax. Whoa, doesn’t smoking cause hundreds of thousands of deaths per year?  Yet these learned men suggest that the living benefit from taxes levied on people with this deadly habit, and rather than ban tobacco and save countless lives, they would rather tax those who will die from smoking to (somehow) save others.

That’s messed up.

But back to the soda tax. Millions of people who aren’t overweight (by whatever arbitrary measure these public health types use) enjoy soda and consume sports drinks responsibly and shouldn’t be financially punished at the point of sale.  Harbor no illusions, this kind of tax is all about punishing behavior deemed undesirable by the state.

The logic used by those who say smoking kills doesn’t apply in the case of soda.  The anti-smoking zealots position – and even some otherwise level headed folks – is that if you smoke, you’ll die from smoking. However, no rational person can claim that if you drink soda or Gatorade you will get fat or become obese.

If these public health officials had any guts and really wanted to deter consumption they would propose taxing overweight and obese purchasers of soda and sports drinks, and put scales and Body Mass Index charts at checkout counters in every supermarket and convenience store in New York.  But this kind of action takes courage and wouldn’t generate enough revenue.

These academics propose taxing sugary drinks even though over the past decade consumption is down yet obesity rates have still risen.  Then there is the question of whether higher taxes reduce consumption.  For example, despite one of the highest cigarette taxes in the country New York still has over 1 million smokers and a booming cigarette black market.

Regardless of who you are the soda tax is onerous because it imposes someone else’s arbitrary concept of health and fitness on the public


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Learning Self-Defense Through Krav Maga

April 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

By Sal Marinello

Health and Fitness Advice

Israeli Krav Maga is the official self-defense system used by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and descends in its current form from Krav founder Imi Lichtenfeld’s original organization, the Israeli Krav Maga Association (IKMA).

While there are other Krav organizations, Israeli Krav is recognized by the Israeli government as the authority for krav maga, and Grandmaster Haim Gidon, the founder’s handpicked successor, supervises the training curriculum.  In the United States David Kahn is the IKMA’s Chief Instructor, and he has written several instructional books on the Krav Maga.

Krav Maga is based on the principals of enhancing natural instincts and using the appropriate level of force for self-defense, and all types of people can learn its techniques and tactics in a relatively short period of time.  Krav Maga means, “contact combat,” and the system relies on natural instincts, reflexes, awareness and mental conditioning

According to the Israeli Krav Maga’s web site these are the, “Six Pillars of Krav Maga Training.”

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Simultaneous defense and attack
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Focus on vulnerable soft tissue
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Continuous Combat Movement (Retzev)
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A Building Block Learning Process
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Decisive Action
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Subduing Techniques

Krav’s philosophy is to never use more force than necessary but teaches its students to react with speed and economy of movement in order to end any confrontation as quickly as possible. In extremely threatening situations kravists are taught to do whatever necessary – strikes to the groin, eye gouging, head butts, biting, choking, screaming into attackers ear – to protect themselves.

As opposed to the more well-known and popular martial arts, krav maga teaches its students to use any means necessary to protect themselves and constantly reinforces the reality that there are no rules in the street.  Israeli Krav Maga doesn’t shy away from the aggressive and ruthless approach that’s needed to prepare people to do whatever it takes to survive a possible attack.

From IsraeliKrav.com, “Krav maga is well known for its simplicity, instinctive nature, utility, use of weapons of opportunity, adaptability and proficiency.”  In addition to teaching people of all ages and ability levels how to defend themselves, krav maga offers a fantastic way for people to improve their fitness level.


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Weight Training Guidelines For People With High-Blood Pressure

March 3, 2009 By 1 Comment
strength training2 Weight Training Guidelines For People With High Blood Pressure

Weight Training Guidelines For People With High-Blood Pressure

The American Heart Association in association with the American College of Sports Medicine recommend RT programs that feature lower weight and higher repetitions for people with high blood pressure.  Cardiovascular exercise should be performed 20-60 minutes per session, 3-5 days per week at a 40-70% or maximum oxygen uptake.

Personal trainers and fitness consumers should be aware of these guidelines and how a properly designed weight training program can be a benefit to people contending with hypertension.  Before starting any exercise program people with hypertension should consult with their physician and personal trainers need to get medical clearance from all clients before starting any workout program.

American Heart Association’s Recommendations

·         Individuals with uncontrolled high blood pressure greater than 180/110 should not  engage in a weight-training program.

·         Individuals with uncontrolled high blood pressure of 160/100 should not engage in a resistance-training program unless their physician clears them.

·         Resistance should allow for 8-12 repetitions maximum per set for healthy sedentary adults or 10-15 reps at a lower level of resistance for adults over 50-years of age, those who are frailer and/or cardiac patients.

·         One set of each exercise should be performed 2-3 days per week

·         Full range of motion should be used and a moderate, steady pace should be maintained during exercise. Avoid holding breath (Valsva maneuver) and exhale during the exertion and inhale during the relaxation phase.

·         Aerobics should be performed before weight training.

·         Exercises should involve the major muscle groups of the upper and lower body.  For instance, overhead press (also known as military press), pull down, seated row, sit-ups, back extension, lunges, squats and leg press.

·         Alternate upper and lower body exercises to permit recovery between sets of different exercises.

·         Add weight by approximately 5% when higher reps can be performed comfortably.

·         Exertion perception should range from “fairly light” to “somewhat hard” throughout the duration of the set.

Weight training when used in conjunction with a regular cardiovascular exercise regimen can help to prevent and control hypertension.


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Angel Presinal is Not a Personal Trainer

March 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
presinal Angel Presinal is Not a Personal Trainer

Angel Presinal is not a personal trainer

The Alex Rodriguez’s steroid scandal continues to unfold and now we know that he has a relationship Angel Presinal, a fitness huckster who has been banned from major league baseball clubhouses since 2001.  He has worked with athletes from different sports and has described himself as “a doctor of MLB teams.”

Presinal is not a personal trainer, athletic trainer, strength coach or doctor.  Ascribing any of these legitimate job descriptions to him does a disservice to all the genuine practitioners in these fields.  Calling Presinal a trainer or fitness expert is like calling a person who performs illegal surgical procedures a doctor.

Angel Presinal has been banned by MLB since he was caught at the Toronto airport with a steroid and syringe filled duffel bag that Presinal said belonged to Cleveland Indian slugger Juan Gonzalez. Members of Gonzalez’s entourage claimed the bag belong to Presinal.

The ARod scandal now connects ARod, Presinal and Yuri Sucart – ARod’s cousin – as Presinal and Sucart stayed in a room in the same hotel used by the Yankees and ARod as recently as 2007.  There is no good reason for ARod to have any contact with this shady character, who is certainly not a legitimate fitness professional.

Presinal is on record as saying he helped ballplayers heal from injuries in a week that were supposed to keep them out for the season.  This is pure nonsense.

If Presinal had legitimate conditioning and healing methods he would be a rich, successful and highly sought-after fitness professional.  His services would be in demand from universities, professional sports teams and non-Dominican baseball players.  If Presinal had something legitimate to offer he would be in the employ of a big named sports agent, a best-selling author and successful producer of fitness DVDs.

The reality is that Presinal is relegated to skulking around in the shadows so as to not draw attention to himself because he lacks legitimacy.  Presinal claims he is ostracized by legitimate trainers because they view him as a threat and are jealous of his success and methods.  This is pure garbage as genuine athletic trainers, strength coaches and personal trainers are always looking to find new ways to help their clients.  With strength coaches imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, but it paves the way to riches and success.

We’ve learned enough about these shady fitness charlatans over the past decade to know there is something nefarious going on with the ARod, Sucart and Presinal triumvirate.  Greg Anderson, Brian McNamee, Kirk Radomski, Victor Conte and a host of other lesser-known fitness poseurs have risen to prominence as fitness experts based on the contents of their little black bags and a prescription pad, while the legitimate strength and conditioning experts work in obscurity in colleges, universities and professional sports organizations around the world.

With the Presinal revelation, it’s looking more and more like a matter of when, and not if, Alex Rodriguez will be revealed to be a total fraud.


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Final Verdict In On Multivitamins?

February 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

By Sal Marinello

Health and Fitness Advice

An eight-year study that looked at the effects of multivitamin use in older women found that the pills did nothing to prevent heart disease and cancer.  The collected data is of an observational nature and not the result of rigorous scientific research, yet being that these results echo similar results found in a study with men, there’s less reason to think that vitamins offer any protection from serious diseases.

According to the study’s lead researcher Marian Neuhouser from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, “Get nutrients from food.  Whole foods are better than dietary supplements.”  Other researchers feel that multivitamins can still be helpful for those folks who have poor eating habits.  But on the heels of a study that found a similar lack of efficacy for older men and multivitamins, it seems that you shouldn’t count on multivitamins for any preventative powers against diseases.

After eight years there was almost no difference in disease rates and death rates among the 162,000 50+ years old women in the study. The large number of subjects in the study makes the results noteworthy.

Based on the results of this study people should re-evaluate whether or not they want to spend the money on multivitamins, especially if the rational for taking them is disease prevention.  Certainly, if you’ve never bothered to take multivitamins the results of this study won’t have you running out to the store to buy any.

The results of this study illustrates just how much is still “unknown” when it comes to nutritional supplements as information can be found to support both sides of the argument.  Fitness consumers need to keep this in mind when making decisions about what they want to include in their supplement regimen, especially when trying to stay on a budget.

As more research is done, there are fewer and fewer nutritional supplements that have a bona fide, scientifically sound track record of success.  Keep in mind that there are no magic bullet nutritional supplements and that the proven key to health and longevity is engaging in regular exercise and following a balanced diet.


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Health and Fitness Advice: Personal Trainers need to do more

January 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Personal trainers need to do more than count reps, fix the seat and adjust the weight stack on equipment during a workout. Personal trainers need to be more than a valet. Tune in to get details.

 
Filed Under: Featured Articles, Health and Fitness

Health and Fitness Advice: Intensity Training

January 25, 2009 By 2 Comments

Today’s show will feature discussion about high intensity training and how many people – personal trainers and fitness consumers alike – don’t understand what intensity refers to.

 
Filed Under: Featured Articles, Health and Fitness

Stay Away From Lipozene

January 3, 2009 By 1 Comment

By Sal Marinello

Health and Fitness Advice

Lipozene is yet another weight loss supplement that features claims of effectiveness, but falls short when it comes to providing clinical proof.  Personal trainers should alert their clients to this sham and consumers should save their money.

During a weekend edition of ESPN’s SportCenter I saw a commercial for a weight-loss product called Lipozene.  The advertisement featured the typical marketing claims that we’ve come to expect from the companies that pimp these products, but with a bit of a twist.  Rather than pump the hard-body angle, the Lipozene folks dressed up their ad with a contrived clinical presentation.

I visited the Lipozene web site and was really underwhelmed.  Despite the claims made by the Obesity Research Institute (ORI) – the company name that’s branded on the packaging – that Lipozene is “clinically proven to reduce body fat,” no research is provided on the web site.  Although there is plenty of information about how to buy the product, the ORI provides scant reason to buy their product.

What the Obesity Research Institute does tell us is that their supplement contains Glucomannan, a 100% natural fiber from the Konjac Root and that this substance, “creates a dietary fiber sponge that makes you feel full, thus reducing caloric intake and adding fiber to your diet.”   However, actual clinical data supporting these claims is not available on the Lipozene web site and given the dearth of credible data for glucomannan – except for its effectiveness as a laxative – this is not a surprise.

What’s even more interesting is what I found when I did a Google search for the Obesity Research Institute.  It seems that the good folks that are responsible for Lipozene have a checked past.  Back in June of 2005 the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with the Obesity Research Institute over the false and misleading claims made in the marketing several of their products, among them FiberThin and Propolene, 2 weight loss supplements that contained – you guessed it – glucomannan.  The ORI was also shilling other weight loss snake oils that contained green tea, chromium and bitter orange that the FTC but the kibosh on.

As part of the FTC judgment the principals at the OBI were ordered to pay a $1.5 million consumer redress and had an additional $41 million judgment suspended pending an investigation of their financial status.  More interesting are the details of the settlement “that permanently bars the defendants from making the challenged “Red Flag” claims and unsubstantiated claims for any weight-loss product, dietary supplement, food, drug, or device, or misrepresenting any scientific study for the purposes of marketing a dietary supplement.”

It seems that the OBI folks are walking on pretty thin ice with their Lipozene advertising campaign.  If you haven’t seen it, check out one of their ads.

Needless to say, Lipozene represents the worst of the worst when it comes to working the system in an attempt to take advantage of gullible consumers.  If you haven’t bought Lipozene, don’t, and if you have you can file a complaint with the FTC.


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The Banana Diet Invades Japan? Is North America Next?

December 1, 2008 By Leave a Comment

By Sal Marinello

The Healthy Skeptic

The Banana Diet is all the rage in Japan, but nonsense is nonsense whether you are in the East or the West.

How is this for stupidity?  The author of The Morning Banana Diet says you can eat as many bananas as you want for breakfast along with room temperature water and then eat whatever you want for lunch and dinner, as long as you finish eating by 8PM.  A mid-afternoon snack is fine but you can’t eat dessert and you have to hit the hay before the clock strikes midnight.

I’d say as far as diet stupidity goes, this ranks high on the list.  But then again, who really listens to me?  As a matter of fact over 730,000 copies of The Banana Diet book have been sold in Japan since March.  Not only has the book sold like hotcakes, but bananas have sold like hotcakes, too.  I don’t have any visibility on the sales of banana hotcakes.

As a matter of fact, Japan is facing a banana shortage as a result of this craze.  All of this banana buzz can be attributed to an Osaka pharmacist who concocted this cacophony of cockamamie claptrap to help her hefty hubby lose weight, which he did.  The pharmacist posted the diet on a Japanese social networking service, and another chapter in nutritional nonsense was written.  When a television program featured a story on this diet, the floodgates really opened.  The banana floodgates.

A story posted on Time Magazine’s web site detailed the business of Japan’s banana consumption, and I learned that Japan imported 970,000 tons from Taiwan and the Philippines last year.  It takes anywhere from 10 to 15 months to harvest bananas which makes it tough to meet the sudden increase in demand coming from the Land of the Rising Sun.  Japanese authorities are lining up deals to increase imports, but this increase in demand has brought about a similar rise in prices, as bananas cost 20% more thanks to the shortage.

I have to tell you that I was kind of surprised to learn that the Japanese are prone to dietary dumbness, as since the 1970s Japan has had shortages of the following substances because of ridiculous diets; black tea fungus, oolong tea, konnyaku (alimentary yam paste. Yum!), baby formula, banana and boiled egg, apple, nata de coco, cocoa, chili pepper, black vinegar, carrot juice, soy milk, beer yeast, toasted soybean flour and fermented soybeans.

Based on the nature of fads, and fad diets in particular, by the time you read this item there’s a good chance the Japanese people will have moved on to another, more disgusting food to use as a catalyst for losing weight.  The moral here is fad diets don’t work, regardless of how healthy the featured food is, as evidenced by the never-ending stream of new fad diets.

So consider yourself notified; if the banana diet comes your way don’t waste your time.


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