The old saying that, “Everything old is new again,” is really appropriate when it comes to exercises. There are so many old school exercises that have been forgotten and forsaken and replaced with new, “exciting” but not necessarily better versions. People looking for a way to get their children to exercise and off the Playstation and XBox need to look no further.
I’m very lucky in that I have active kids, kids who love to run, jump, hop, skip, fall and roll. At ages 10 and twin sixes, my boys love sports and look forward to exercising. They are interested in what I have my clients doing at the gym and on their frequent trips to visit me at work or at practice, my kids love to imitate what they see the grown-ups doing and are always looking to show me what they learned in gym class. Not one to leave well enough alone, I’m always looking for different ways to engage and challenge my boys.
Enter the Pogo Stick. I think you’d be hard pressed to come up with a piece of exercise equipment/kids toy more old school. Almost 100 years old, the Pogo Stick is a great way for kids of all ages to get exercise. You don’t have to be an exercise expert to watch a kid work a Pogo Stick and see all the different ways in which the body has to work in order to perform the task.
In case you can’t figure it out, the Pogo Stick is a great way for kids to develop balance, agility and strength. They can be used almost anywhere – unlike skateboards and Razor scooters – and there are endless variations that kids can perform; on one leg, with one hand, no hands, change directions, change elevation, etc. And the best thing is that they aren’t very expensive.
The Pogo Stick is a great old school piece of equipment – it’s not really a toy, is it? – that can get kids to enjoy exercise and develop skills that will help them to be healthier and more capable.
If you’re in the market for a fun and challenging way to get your child healthier, take a look at some of the examples below. My son has the first one.
Last week I posted part 1 of a workout using my home-made weighted PVC pipe exercise equipment. In this week’s video I do squat thrust variations with a 40-pound, 3-inch wide PVC pipe weighted with water and stone.
It’s really quite easy and inexpensive to make the PVC pipe exercise equipment. The unstable weight of the PVC combined with the long length of the pipe makes this home-made equipment quite challenging to perform any kind of exercise imaginable.
When the weather gets nice I try to do as many of my workouts outdoors as possible. Check out this video where I incorporate PVC pipes, weighted with water and stone, into my calisthenics warm-up.
These exercises can be used as a warm-up or as an entire workout and provide a unique training stimulus beneficial to people of all fitness levels. People have been using weighted PVC pipes as training implements for a while and I wanted to find out for myself what it felt like to use them.
In this video you will see two basic PVC pipes but check back regularly as I will provide more clips that utilize different sized pipes.
It’s really very easy and inexpensive to make this home-made exercise equipment. All you need is PVC pipes of various sizes and the appropriate caps, primer, PVC pipe adhesive and a hack saw – just as if you were doing some plumbing work. A scale will help, as you can load the pipes with the exact amount of weight that you want.
Cap and seal one end of the pipe and then load it with stone and water to the appropriate level. If you can, place the pipe on a scale as you fill it with water and you don’t want to fill the pipe all the way, as this prevents the water from sloshing around. Depending on the circumference of the pipe you should fill from half-way to three-quarters with water before adding the stone.
Drop me an email if you have any questions about how to put these babies together as I am glad to spread the word about the benefits of homemade exercise equipment.
The latest piece of infomercial equipment to hit the airwaves is the Contour Core Sculpting System, which is nothing but a $200 dollar vibrating belt that makes use of the same old Electro Muscle Stimulation (EMS) technology that your parents wasted their money on.
The old saying that, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public,” is never more accurate than when it’s aimed at the abdominal exercise equipment and nutritional supplement boondoggles. It’s incredible that in the year 2010 the same old snake oil is being recycled and than that people are actually buying.
My senses were assaulted by the Contour Core Sculpting System commercial during an otherwise enjoyable experience of watching the Auburn University spring football scrimmage this past weekend, and I felt compelled to visit the Contour web site. I knew what I would find, but I just had to see for myself. Or perhaps deep down I was hoping that – for a change – one of these products would offer a unique and effective product.
I was wrong.
The Contour Core Sculpting System web site is your boilerplate infomercial equipment product. During the commercial the announcer tells us all the great things about this EMS belt; science proves it works, the FDA has approved its sale without a prescription, your core muscles will be more activated than they are during other abdominal exercises, etc. However, when you go to the site there is no information to back-up any claims made during the commercial.
There are plenty of anecdotal success stories. Anecdotal success stories are like a certain orifice that we all have…if you don’t know the saying, ask a friend.
The FAQ is a testament to the lack of scruples that exists in this industry. Terrible nonsense that provides potential with no real answers. Actually this FAQ should be subtitled, “That are not actually answered.” Double-speak, double-talk, mis-information, jargon and gobbledygook are all you find in the FAQ for the Contour Core Sculpting System.
If you want to waste your money on this nonsense feel free. If you are looking for an excuse to not perform any actual exercise in your quest to improve your health and fitness level and want to spend $200, knock yourself out. Actually if you buy into this garbage you deserve to be taken for 200 bucks. It doesn’t work, it’s never worked and all the anecdotal stories that you can wrap one of these belts around doesn’t change this reality.
Sledgehammer training is a great non-traditional method that can improve functional strength for lacrosse.
Regardless of the phase of training, sledgehammer training is a low-tech, inexpensive, highly effective sport-specific method of training for lacrosse. The demands placed on the body – specifically true core strength – by shooting and passing motions make sledgehammer training an incredibly appropriate strength training exercise.
Swinging a sledgehammer can increase strength that will help to improve both phases of the lacrosse swing, the draw (pulling the stick overhead or “side arm” and behind the shoulder) and the release (the forward and downward “throw”). There are a variety of ways to incorporate the sledgehammer into a lacrosse-specific strength-training program and build functional strength in the muscles of the shoulders and torso.
The basic sledgehammer swing is a great way to develop true core strength and improve endurance, as well. Hitting a tire or log with a sledgehammer is the basic move and serves as a viable alternative to the using a cable machine. Also, sledgehammer training can be performed outside in conjunction with sport-specific sprinting, agility and skill drills.
It’s important to keep in mind that the sledgehammer swings should be used as a complimentary training method, not as a manner to try to replicate the shooting/passing motion used in lacrosse. The weight of the sledgehammer should not be so much to prevent proper swing technique and the speed that approximates the speed of the lacrosse shot. Taking the sledgehammer all the way back into the draw position and following through properly through the release range should be the main priorities so as not to change the mechanics of the swing.
Another key point when using the sledgehammer is to “train against the shot,” and not just work from the shooting side. So players should work from both the right and left sides when swinging the sledgehammer in an attempt to minimize any strength imbalances. If it is apparent that a strength imbalance exists, the player can perform extra work on the weak side in an attempt at achieving symmetry. Strength and flexibility imbalances can contribute to injuries, so addressing any potential asymmetries is very important.
Sledgehammer training is an efficient, effective, inexpensive and fun sport-specific method of training for lacrosse.
There are plenty of telltale signs that a personal trainer isn’t up to par. If your trainer has you using equipment for a majority of your sessions this is a sign that he doesn’t know what he’s doing (or she doesn’t know what she’s doing).
Personal trainers do all kinds of bad things and you can tell a lot about a trainer by the amount of equipment they use in a session. If your trainer puts you on machines for just about everything, it’s an indication that you should find another trainer.
Regardless of fitness level, the majority of exercise should be done while standing. In the business we call them “ground-based, compound movements” (GBCM), and they are the most efficient and effective exercises that you can do.
Exercise in a machine does nothing to develop balance and stability, two vital skills, because the equipment is doing this work for you. There is no better way to train “the core” (which is much more then than the abdominal and lower back muscles) than to perform GBCMs;
- Squats
- Lunges
- Standing military (overhead) presses
- Push-ups
- Pull-ups
- Dead lift
- Explosive lifts
Take an exercise machine and there’s a free-weight/GBCM exercise equivalent that is superior.
In effect, balance and stability gets worse from using machines. The older we get, the more our nervous system deteriorates thanks to the inevitable aging process, the more we need to stay away from machines and “get into” GBCMs. Trainers defend their use of machines along the lines of, “Mrs. Jones’ balance is so bad/back is so weak/range of motion is so diminished that she needs to work in a machine so she can regain some function.” Incorrect!
Machines avoid strengthening the weaknesses by taking them out of the equation. The person with bad balance who uses a hamstring curl machine instead of modified split squats or lunges, uses the leg press instead of body weight squats or military press machine instead of performing the lift standing with dumbbells, is not addressing their needs.
Athletes who use machines can’t improve performance and are training in a manner that impedes progress. Athletes never compete in a seated position (except for rowers!) and work in all planes of movement; machines cannot provide the proper training environment for athletes or weekend warriors.
Your personal trainer doesn’t know what they’re doing if they have you using exercise machines.
I’d like to thank MsFitOnline for allowing my “Biggest Loser” video blog (Vlog) entry to appear on her site.
MizFitOnline is one of the most influential fitness bloggers on the Internet and last week I was lucky enough to have her appear as a guest video blogger on HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com.
In what can be filed under the heading of, “One Good Turn Deserves Another,” MizFitOnline was good enough to feature my video blog on the problems that I have with “The Biggest Loser” on her site, MizFitOnline.com.
Regular readers to the site know that I think “The Biggest Loser” represents all that is bad with the fitness business and how personal trainers are portrayed. Check it out.
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.”
This week I’m honored to have as my guest video blogger MizFitOnline, one of the most influential bloggers on the Internet.
This topic wasn’t originally my plan for today’s Monday Facetime—-but I couldn’t get your comments on this post out of my head.
I was touched, saddened, heartened, inspired and, honestly, shocked by the stories you shared.
The comment-snippets below sparked the above Facetime.
I’d be honored if you’d make the time to share your thoughts so we can compile an uplifting commentversation thread.
Last week’s comments (while entirely what I’d asked for and quite powerful) verged on sad.
I know we may not come up with one answer (as per the last comment below) but at least we’ll have a start.
I would love a tip post, Miz. How I can not duplicate in my children how I feel.
what I want my daughter to take into the rest of her life is that healthy and strong is beautiful. DD should find an activity she’s good at and enjoys, and then get out there and kick butt… .
I wanted to share that in your video when you said that your daughter would be enough just being who she is I cried a little. That’s all I ever wanted.
I think you may be correct that there is no one answer—-Id love to try and find one. Will you address this again?
The infomercial for the Ab Circle Pro, a piece of home abdominal “exercise equipment,” should be inducted into the “Shameless Infomercial Hall of Fame”.
The worst element of the fitness business is on display in an infomercial for the Ab Circle Pro abdominal equipment. The infomercial features all of the elements we’ve unfortunately come to expect from these equipment shills, breast-implanted body beautiful spokes models, great testimonials and the promise of results from only 3 minutes of exercise. When it sounds too good to be true, it is.
A disclaimer that tells you all you need to know about the potential effectiveness of this product, and actually serves as a reason NOT to buy this piece of equipment, accompanies all the testimonials and success stories. I’m going to use bold type for emphasis.
“RESULTS NOT TYPICAL.”
Do you need to know anything else? The disclaimer goes on to add that the people featured in the infomercial followed reduced calorie diets and followed a regular exercise program. Hmm, so what do you think is responsible for the success these people enjoyed – the reduced calorie diet and exercise program or the 3-minutes of sliding around on this gadget?
Interestingly, there are no disclaimers attached to the success stories on the Ab Circle Pro web site. However, the fine print on the web site says that in addition to the equipment you’ll receive some free vitamins that will then be sent to you regularly in 2 month supply batches for @29.95 plus $6.95 shipping and handling.
Oh, and the Ab Circle Pro costs $199.75 plus $34.50 for shipping and handling. As a point of comparison, it doesn’t cost anything to do sit ups, watch your diet and get a little exercise.
Do yourself, and your wallet, a favor and do not buy the Ab Circle Pro abdominal exercise machine.
