The hang clean is an incredibly effective exercise that will strengthen everything from your fingers to your toes, and clients of all ages and ability levels will benefit from learning and performing this movement. Whether or not you work with a personal trainer you should be able to perform hang cleans.
These guidelines are provided by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and can be found in numerous NSCA publications. The organization provides free instructional videos on their web site. The hang clean is an advanced lift and is extremely challenging. Whether you are a fitness professional or a fitness consumer, an attention to detail is paramount when learning/performing the hang clean.
If you are learning the hang clean on your own, start with a very light weight – a bar without any added poundage – and do no more than 3 or 4 sets of 5 or 6 repetitions.
This is the procedure for the hang clean (From the NSCA’s Fly Solo Program “Flight Manual”).
From a standing position make sure your knees, hips and shoulders are aligned with the bar and at arms’ length, touching the top part of the thigh. Lower the bar under control to the top of the knees by flexing at the hips. Do not bend the knees to lower the bar and get your chest over your toes. For the sake of our discussion, this is the bottom position.
From the bottom position, extend your hips explosively and simultaneously extend up on the balls of your feet. You also must aggressively shrug your shoulders and jump with chest up and shoulders back. Make sure you keep the bar close to your body. As the bar reaches the top of the pull that results from your explosive movement of your hips, pull your body down and under the bar and lead with your elbows pointed up and out.
Rotate elbows down and then up ahead of the bar so they are pointed in front, not towards the ground. Lift your feet and move into a squatting stance and as you catch the bar on the front portion of the shoulders. You have to re-bend the knees to a quarter squat depth and keep your weight on your heels with elbows high.
While “catching” the bar, flex your knees and hips, which will absorbs the weight and impact of the bar while your feet re-contact the floor in a slightly wider stance than the starting position. Make sure you don’t jump your feet out too wide, not wider than 36-inches. Once you gain control and balance, stand up to a fully erect position. In this “finish position” your head is facing forward; neck is neutral or slightly hyper extended; wrists are hyper extended; elbows fully flexed; upper arms parallel to the floor; back flat or slightly arched; knees and hips slightly flexed to absorb the impact of the weight; feet flat on the floor; body’s weight over the middle of the feet.
The hang clean is a great exercise that will help people of all ages and ability levels learn to execute triple extension – extension of the ankles, knees and hips – to generate maximum force and build total body strength. Take your time when learning and performing this exercise and you will improve your fitness level.
Good personal trainers don’t grow on trees and aren’t bodybuilders. There are a lot of qualified and experienced fitness professionals out here looking to help people. You all just need to know what you’re looking for and how to find them. So here’s my take on what people should look for when hiring a personal trainer…
Finding a qualified fitness professional to whip you into shape is just a few mouse clicks away if you visit the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s (NSCA) web site. The NSCA is the worldwide authority on strength and conditioning and is the first fitness-related certifying agency to be accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.
The NSCA offers the gold standard certifications in the field for fitness professionals. Along with the NSCA, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the other certifying organization that offers a meaningful certification. Traditionally the ACSM was involved with professionals working in clinical settings, but in recent years, they have broadened their certification offerings to include those working with people from healthy populations. The ACSM employs an extremely high standard for all of their certifications.
I built my business according to the guidelines developed by the NSCA with regard to staffing, philosophy and every other meaningful aspect of the business and have seen firsthand how the NSCA’s principles are based in legit science and, as a result, produce rock solid results for our clients. My partners and I and all of our employees hold the NSCA’s highest certification – the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) – and we all train our clients according to NSCA guidelines.
There are many factors that need to be considered before you hire a personal trainer, but I like to start with the certification. Your personal trainer should hold an NSCA certification – either the Certified Personal Trainer or CSCS designation. If you cannot find an NSCA certified trainer look for a trainer with the ACSM designation. And remember membership in these organizations is not the same as actually being certified. A lot of trainers who aren’t certified will advertise that they are members of these organizations with the hope that potential clients will be satisfied that membership is indicative of some kind of proficiency in the field. A membership in these organizations can be obtained by anyone willing to pay the dues.
A serious fitness professional should be willing and able to make the commitment to earn a valid certification. The cost is more than reasonable given the importance the certification holds, and the test truly prepares candidates for the realities and responsibilities of the job. In addition to the certification, there are a variety of other important factors such as college education, experience and references.
Every trainer should be willing to provide you with their resume that includes their educational background, certification status and certificate number, years of experience and a list of at least five clients that you can speak with. You should also ask the prospective trainer what their training philosophy is and what their athletic background is. My advice is to stay away from bodybuilders and distance runners. Also, ask the trainer if their workouts are machine based or ground based, and if they use single joint or multi-joint exercises.
Training sessions should involve very few, if any machines. With the exception of the pull down machine and the seated row machine, you should spend all of your training time on your feet and not sitting or lying on equipment. You also, don’t need to have your trainer watch you spend long stretches of time on cardiovascular machines. This you can do on your own. Run from anyone who shows an unwillingness to share any of this info with you.
There are many factors that go into making a decision about what trainer is right for you. But if you look for a valid certification and know answers to some key questions you will have a much better shot at hiring somebody who knows what they are doing.
A review of research prompts New Zealand-based researchers to conclude WBV training doesn’t increase athlete’s speed.
In a review of existing studies researchers from the Institute of Sport and Recreation Research, Faculty of Health and Environmental Science and Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand conclude that whole body vibration training does not increase speed for trained athletes. This literature is published in the March 2009 (Volume 23, Number 2) edition of the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s, “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.”
According to the NSCA’s Editorial Mission Statement, “The NSCA publishes brief reviews by scientific experts in the field. The reviews should provide a critical examination of the literature and integrate the results of previous research in an attempt to educate the reader as to the basic and applied aspects of the topic.” The title of this review is, “Vibration Training: Could it Enhance the Strength, Power or Speed of Athletes?” Online access to the journal is provided for NSCA members-only.
The authors of this paper conducted a review of WBV research. Due to a variety of problems with the current state of WBV research – small sample size, questionable methodology, lack of long-term studies, prominence of studies featuring untrained subjects and the lack of a standard WBV training protocol – there were only six studies that met the author’s criteria for inclusion in this review. All of these six studies were underpowered in terms of subjects.
With regard to improving an athlete’s speed the authors found only two studies that met their criteria for inclusion in this review. According to the authors, “Both studies observed that WBV training produced non-significant and trivial changes in these speed measures.”
Muscle stiffness has been identified as being beneficial to athletes looking to produce high rates of force development or rapid transmission of force, and athletes who perform short sprints, plyometrics (jumping drills), and power movements will benefit from increased muscle stiffness.
One of these WBV studies measured changes in muscle stiffness over a 6-week period and found that squatting on a vibration platform did not change muscle stiffness when compared to the non-vibration group. This serves to counter the theory that vibration training enhances neural potentiation, and that speed and muscle stiffness should improve more than other performance factors as a result of WBV training.
Many WBV proponents have used short-term studies as the basis for their claims that vibration training enhances muscle potentiation. The authors of this review point out that short-term effects do not guarantee a performance improvement over the long-term, and that “vibration training does not seem to enhance muscular potentiation in well-trained athletes.”
The authors – scientific experts in the field – conclude, “The practicality of vibration training also should be taken into account in terms of time, cost, and reduction of other training for what we have observed to be a small benefit.” The words of these researchers from New Zealand are in stark contrast to the hype, “research” and faux-science presented as gospel by WBV hucksters.
Given the exorbitant cost of WBV platforms, the inconvenience of use and the paucity of reliable and legitimate research it’s clear that vibration training is not ready for prime time.
It’s apparent to top level strength and conditioning professionals and personal trainers that the most efficient and effective method for training people is to treat them like they are athletes – whether or not the are athletes. Gone are the days where a “reductionist” – or bodybuilding – style of training is accepted as a valid approach to training.
Illustrating this paradigm shift in training philosophies, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) has completely revamped their fitness model. The USMC has moved away from aerobics and has embraced a more anaerobic style of training that allows Marines to improve their function and performance.
Military brass recognized that Marines – and all members of the armed forces – need to adopt training methods used by elite athletes. According to an article published in the April 2009 edition of the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s “Tactical Strength and Conditioning Report,” the Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration signed a paper titled, “A Concept for Functional Fitness” that all fitness professionals – and fitness consumers – can learn from.
In the paper it was decided that;
- Fitness should follow combat function
- A balanced approach must be used to develop power, strength, flexibility, speed, endurance, agility and coordination
- A program must have intensity and great variety
- A well-balanced program that includes intensity leads to positive physical adaptation
- Variety keeps the stimulus fresh while helping to avoid over-training and related injuries
- Pre-habilitation exercises are a major component of a functional fitness program
- Education regarding proper form dealing with running, lifting, jumping and landing is necessary
Many people will probably be surprised that the military decided that long distance running has been over-emphasized and does little to develop strength. This report recognized the need for soldiers to have a strong core (which goes from the hamstrings to the middle back, not just lower back and abdominal muscles), endurance, speed and coordination.
Inefficient, time-consuming, single-joint/single plane movements, machine-based exercises and potential injurious body building methods are out and working in a multi-planar manner using ground-based, compound-movements is in. Bodybuilding methods cause strength imbalances and produces unnatural stress on muscles, joints and connective tissue, and does not prepare the human body for the rigors of real world situations.
This training philosophy must be applied to everyone, whether they are athletes, soldiers or civilians, young or old. A move away from the reductionist/body building style of training will benefit all members of the population.
Personal trainers who have clients squat in the Smith machine are lazy, ignorant or an unflattering combination of both.
The squat is the king of exercises and I have written about the importance of working with a personal trainer who knows how to teach this exercise. There is a reliable progression trainers must follow and things trainers should not do when teaching the squat.
If your trainer has you squatting in a Smith machine they are doing you a disservice and you should ask their reasons for putting you in this unfortunate situation. Part of the excuse/explanation will likely deal with helping balance and stability while getting to the proper depth with proper form. Which are all wrong answers/justifications.
Every day we move around in three-dimensional space so – as much as possible – we should exercise in this environment, especially when performing a ground-based, compound movement (GBCM) like the squat. To squat in a machine would be like throwing a baseball while locked into a machine. It’s ridiculous to think of someone throwing a baseball or football, swinging a bat or a golf club or shooting a basketball in a manner dictated by a machine and yet many people exercise this way.
When you squat using the Smith machine, the machine is providing you with balance and stability and as a result you will never improve in these vital areas.
As far as getting to the proper depth with proper form, a good personal trainer knows how to get clients to do this without the aid of a machine. A trainer certified by a legitimate organization knows how to get you to squat. As a matter of fact, thanks to the Internet anyone who is interested can learn how to squat properly.
Performing the squat – and other GBCMs – in a machine puts stresses on the musculoskeletal system that are potentially injurious, because the body moves in a manner that’s determined by the machine. Squatting in the Smith machine forces the body to move in an inflexible, linear fashion and not the way the body should move while performing this exercise. Joints and connective tissue are subjected to forces squatting in the Smith machine that are not encountered when doing squats properly.
The squat is an exercise that needs to be performed properly. If your personal trainer does not know how to teach you squats, and does not squat properly in their own workouts, find a new trainer.
There’s a lot of bad fitness advice out there and you need to look no further than the June 24th edition of the New York Post to see what I’m talking about.
When it comes to getting reliable health and fitness advice the vast majority of people are getting a bum deal. You fine folks who have stumbled across HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com and count on me to give you no BS info shouldn’t fall prey to the pap that passes for fitness advice these days. However, people who rely on the mainstream media for their health and fitness info are wasting time, effort and cash.
Last Tuesday’s New York Post ‘s Pulse section provides us with a great example of bad fitness advice. In addition to the usual nonsense dealing with all the gimmicks and posturing employed by Manhattan’s personal training “elite,” there is a section that’s called, “Looking for a fitness guru?” that is classic garbage.
Let’s take a look at the info served up by the Post for those folks looking for a fitness guru.
The Post spoke to 2 New York City trainers – gurus themselves – about what to look for in a guru. By the way, any trainer that wants to be a guru should be avoided like the plague. I worked in this environment in Manhattan back in the late 1980s when the personal training trend kicked off, and I can tell you that the most well known trainers and the trainers who set themselves up as gurus were the worst of the bunch. But that’s a different story for a different time.
The most outrageously bad piece of advice a legit fitness professional could ever give comes from Meaghan Buchan the fitness director at Self magazine, and a personal trainer. Buchan actually said the following, “Look for a trainer with the body type you want to have. If you want to be long and lean, don’t go for a muscle head.” She goes on to say that you should pick a trainer with the look that you want because this means that they should know how their clients to look the same way. I am not kidding. Read the article for yourself.
It is truly frightening that Buchan, as both a trainer and as someone involved with dispensing fitness advice to women as the fitness director of Self magazine, holds this point of view. This statement reveals an incredible lack of knowledge on behalf of Buchan. What the heck is going on at Self? You can’t change your body type anymore than you can change your skin color; this is the most rudimentary truth there is for a fitness professional.
But it gets better as Buchan recommends that people should look for a trainer certified by either the American Fitness Professionals & Associates (AFPA) or the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). Um, no. The NASM is okay as certifications go, and despite the claim that their certification is the “gold standard” of fitness certifications, there are other more meaningful and respected certifying organizations than NASM. No offense. The AFPA is a run-of-the-mill distance education certification that, in my opinion as a fitness professional, is not worth pursuing.
For serious fitness professionals the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ASCM) are the only 2 certifications worth pursuing or holding for personal trainers and strength coaches. Every personal trainer and/or strength coach should be willing to invest the time, effort and money to get certified by one of these organizations. Over the past 20 years, I have seen countless prospective personal training employees with these, and other lesser certifications, who were not qualified for employment.
Another guru the Post spoke to is a trainer from New York Sports Club named Amie Hoff recommends that guru seekers should look for a trainer who’s specialty suits their needs, so if you’re looking to “tone up, lose weight, run a marathon or nursing an injured knee,” you should find a trainer who handles these areas.
Any personal trainer who says they specialize in “toning up,” or who thinks that there is such a thing as “toning up,” should be avoided. The myth of toning up as a training philosophy or goal is right up there on the list of nonsense with spot reducing. Furthermore, legit fitness professionals – personal trainers, strength coaches, physicians, etc. – should never focus on losing weight as the prime consideration when advising, designing or implementing a training program.
You’d be hard pressed to find this much bad fitness advice been given in one place, in so few words. Unfortunately, this kind of advice is all too common these days.
Thirty-five years ago the term “body building “ was synonymous with fitness. But in 2008 these terms are mutually exclusive. If your personal trainer is a bodybuilder, you should move on.
Back in the halcyon days of the mid-1970s bodybuilding rode into the public eye on the muscular back of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie “Pumping Iron.” Filmmaker George Butler followed Arnold and his fellow competitors as they prepared for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests, and this half-documentary, half-scripted movie is largely responsible for bringing bodybuilding to the masses. Thanks to Arnold’s personality and physical presence, and the interesting mix of characters that comprised the supporting cast of “Pumping Iron,” bodybuilding single-handedly kicked off a fitness craze, the effects of which are still being felt today.
The problem with this is that bodybuilding has nothing to do with fitness. In the mid-70s people saw these massive guys lifting massive weights (ignorant of the fact that steroids were producing the massive physiques) and living this Spartan life-style and figured that this was the way to be fit. Without anything to compare to these guys and their lifestyle, it seemed obvious that lifting weights, following a strict diet and hanging out at the beach was the way to go. At the time, these guys were living a healthier life-style than most people, even with using steroids.
In 2008 – and really for the past 25 years – bodybuilding has moved farther and farther away from the ideals that guys lived by back in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Since at least the ‘60s body builders have relied on steroids to create the physiques that have set them apart from the guy on the street. As time passed guys started using more drugs, higher doses and new substances that helped them get bigger, stronger and freakier. The workouts and diets became less important as the drugs took on more of a role in the development of muscular men and women.
Bodybuilders were using human growth hormone back in the mid-‘80s, almost 20 years before most people ever realized that HGH could be used to enhance performance.
Bodybuilding is based on a fatally flawed training philosophy, a philosophy that places importance on appearance rather than function and breaks down natural, multiple muscle group movements into less-efficient and less-effective component parts. Personal trainers who fancy themselves bodybuilders are doing their clients a disservice as they implement training programs that rely on machines that work single joints and single muscle groups.
Working on equipment that affects a single muscle group is a waste of time. Exercising while sitting down or lying down is foolish and for older members of the population is dangerous and potentially injurious. Yet many personal trainers will tell you that people who have trouble with balance and stability need to use equipment. This misinformation is based in bodybuilding-style thinking.
And at the root of the matter, bodybuilding would not exist if not for the steroids and human growth hormone that are responsible for the physiques that are featured in advertisements and articles that appear in just about every fitness publication.
Unfortunately, bodybuilding-based personal trainers are the last to know that their methods are obsolete and counter-productive. There are actually “nationally recognized” personal training certifying organizations that use bodybuilders as poster boys and girls. One of these organizations advertises their program in all of the major fitness magazines, and their ads actually feature 15-year old pictures of a male body builder doing biceps curls wearing only cut-off overalls and work boots.
In 2008 this kind of nonsense should not be recognized as legitimate personal training/fitness education, or as a worthwhile way to exercise.
Bodybuilding is the least effective method of training. The only thing that bodybuilding is better than is inactivity, and there’s more than enough evidence that even the most sedentary of folks – both young and old – can benefit from training by doing total body, ground-based exercises. The protestations come from the devotees that bodybuilding has helped so many people, when the reality is that people would be even that much better off if they had followed a valid training philosophy.
Rather than accept reality, move on and progress, bodybuilders continue to cling to the antiquated, out-dated methods of the past and ignore the reality that surrounds them. Check out any current bodybuilding or fitness magazine and you’ll find routines that feature nothing but machine-based exercises. And really, you don’t need to know how to do 5 different biceps exercises. The biceps are just about the smallest muscle group and you don’t need to spend any real time working on them. Bodybuilders have never understood that using total-body, multi-joint, ground-based exercises are the best way to develop strength and, by extension, a person’s physique.
If you want your arms to get bigger – and get super strong in the process – learn how to do pull-ups the right way, without wrist straps. Learn how to do hang-cleans and dead lifts and the snatch. Performance over appearance.
Before people knew any better it was understandable that bodybuilding was equated with fitness. Now people know a lot better.
Professional certifying organizations such as the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) support and publish research that has advanced the field of conditioning and personal training to the point where real fitness pros know that performance-based methods of training are the most efficient and effective ways for all segments of our population to train.
Bodybuilding personal trainers want their clients to believe that biceps curls, triceps extensions, squats done in a Smith machine and leg extensions and leg curls are the best use of their time and effort. The thought process goes that if it works for John the Juicer, it’ll work for John Doe. Nothing could be further from the truth or reality.
As a matter of fact, the rest of us should ignore anything and everything that bodybuilders do. From the obsession with appearance – and appearance as the main marker of success – to reliance on nutritional supplements with dubious pedigrees, and the core philosophy of the training methods, it’s time for bodybuilding to be put in the scrap heap of history.
According to the results of an American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) survey, the limited availability of qualified personal trainers with a personal training certificate will make these fitness professionals’ careers the hot trend for 2008.
The ACSM has also found that careers in personal training will be a popular service this year, reflecting the public’s recognition of the benefits that trainers offer.
A qualified, properly certified personal trainer can become an important component for anybody’s workout program. Certified personal trainers can guide you through the potentially intimidating process of learning how to properly perform strength conditioning exercises, design a program that meets your individual needs and provide you with a wide range of helpful fitness tips.
Personal trainers offer unprecedented levels of interactivity, something that even the best workout videos cannot provide. Even properly certified online personal fitness trainers can provide a higher level of interactivity than offered by workout videos. The downside of this popularity of personal trainers is that there are people who have completed certification courses and become a personal trainer, but do not provide sufficient instruction.
Consumers need to be careful when choosing a personal trainer. When looking for a trainer, try to find someone with a certificate from the National Strength and Conditioning Association or American College of Sports Medicine, two organizations that set the standards in the field of strength and conditioning for everybody. If you visit the NSCA’s site you can search for a certified personal trainer and see if you can find a qualified pro who works in your neck of the woods.
Not everyone can afford to hire a personal trainer to work with for every workout. If this is the case, find a trainer who is willing to act as a consultant to set you up with a program, teach you the exercises and serve as a sounding board and a source for fitness tips. Really, any certified personal trainer should be glad to work with a client in this manner.
So don’t miss out on the hottest fitness trends of 2008, as certified personal trainers and careers in personal training are 2 great investments in health that everyone should make.
A new study has found that exercise relieves some menopausal symptoms. Walking and some basic strength training can do the trick.
Researchers at Temple University in Philadelphia have found that physically active post-menopausal women handle stress, anxiety and depression better than their non/less-active peers. The researchers did not find a link between increased physical activity and a decrease in the incidents or severity of hot flashes.
These findings are just another feather in the cap for exercise. For as long as exercise – strength training, walking – has been studied as a treatment for, or method of coping with, a variety of diseases, ailments and conditions, there has been overwhelming evidence that exercise is good. How’s that for keeping it simple?
Thanks to the Internet, it has never been easier for people to learn how to exercise. You can hire a personal trainer, learn how to perform strength training exercises, see demonstrations of yoga positions and get advice on how to devise your own exercise programs thanks to web sites like this. And there are great professional organizations like the National Strength and Conditioning Association that provide basic info in easy to understand terms, as well as help you find a personal trainer in your area.
Strength training, walking, calisthenics, swimming and yoga are all methods of exercise that will bring about positive changes in a person’s life. From a common sense standpoint, it stands to reason that a person who is physically fit can better handle the stresses and strains of everyday life, extraordinary illnesses and all points in between. For the better part of the last 6 decades, science has provided ample reinforcement for this common sense viewpoint.
There is the misconception that people need to turn themselves into exercise machines in order to get the real benefits offered by exercise. Nothing can be further from the truth, as research has shown that people who engage in regular baseline physical activities like walking, gardening and flexibility training reap all the benefits that exercise has to offer.
In other words, you don’t have to be a nut like me and go out and hit things with a sledgehammer for 30-minutes in order to enjoy the benefits that exercise offers.
As a matter of fact, this Temple University study involved 380 women who walked 15-45 minutes at a time, as much as 5 times per week. That is certainly not too much to ask of someone, nor is it much of a sacrifice if this level of involvement can bring about real, healthy changes.
So whether or not menopause is a concern, people should take heed of this advice. Go out for a walk, you’ll feel better.
If you employ a personal trainer, make sure that they are including enough strength training exercises in your regimen.
Personal trainers have different philosophies. Depending on the certifying organization from which a trainer has their certification, trainers can emphasize different methods. If your trainer doesn’t have a certification, you should find out why this is the case, and depending on the answer that you get consider finding a new trainer. There is no excuse for a serious professional personal trainer to not have a valid, legitimate certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Strength training should be the emphasized in the sessions that you have with your trainer. People don’t need to be watched while they walk or run on the treadmill, or use any other piece of cardiovascular equipment. That is a waste of your time and money.
You should make sure that your personal trainer spends the majority of your workouts teaching and implementing strength training movements. Everyone who works with a personal trainer should be able to squat, dead lift, do push-ups and pull-ups, perform overhead presses and be familiar with the complete list of explosive exercises such as the split jerk and hang clean. Age, gender, athletic ability or any other demographic isn’t an excuse to not do these exercises.
Your personal trainer should be able to demonstrate and teach all of these exercises to you. If they cannot, you should find another trainer.
Certainly, cardiovascular activity is important and your trainer advice you on the proper way to perform cardio. Your cardio routine should consist of endurance training – with a minimum of any kind of distance running – sprint and agility work and calisthenics. Swimming is the best endurance activity there is, and should be used in place of any kind of jogging. Having this kind of variety in your program will help you to avoid both mental burnout and physical breakdown.
Strength training combined with the proper cardiovascular program will help to get you into the best overall shape possible. Your personal trainer should be able to provide you with a program that is both well rounded and effective so that you can get the most out of your investment.
