Author: Bill

“If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”

Isaac Newton (among many others)

I would hazard to guess that I’ve had few, if any, original thoughts (I don’t even think that that statement is original).

I therefore give credit to all that came before me for any intellect and/or creativity that I may demonstrate to those who came before me in my chosen fields of interest and, well, life in general.

Having parents, mentors, and reading and listening to countless others probably saved me years of mistakes and regrets (I still had to touch the hot stove to see if it really would burn my hand) even though many times I decided that I was smarter than those before me.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a “How to/Success” manual for everything?

What if you could just speak directly to those who were already doing what you’d like to do or were already at the top of the field?

You would never make the same mistakes that someone else made. You’d do things right the first time. You’d be more successful in a shorter time period than everyone else.

That’s what Nate Green figured out.

So he started asking successful trainers questions. He learned and he applied.

The result?

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Nate interviewed some of the top names in the fitness field (and me too) and recorded them so up-and-coming trainers like himself can benefit from the trials and mistakes and successes of those who came before him.

Interviewees include:

Ryan Lee
Jim Labadie
Alwyn Cosgrove
Mike Boyle
Lou Schuler
Susan Hill
Pat Rigsby
Nick Berry
Craig Ballantyne
Chris Schugart
And myself

I’ve listened to these interviews myself and ended up with about 20 pages of notes. It’s a must for anyone looking to build their business.

Later

P.S. Today’s no muss, no fuss spinach recipe: Spinach Popeye Style

Take a large handful of spinach.
Pack it into a small ball.
Shove it in your mouth, chew, and swallow.

I’ve never been a big fan of passive physical agents in the treatment of chronic low back pain. I just don’t think they have much to offer (for the record, short of cyrotherapy [ice], I don’t think they have much to offer in just about any case. I’ve done one ultrasound treatment in the last 7 years and only because I was “ordered” to do so.).

Sure a little ice or heat can certainly reduce pain and temporarily increase mobility in the pre or post-exercise period, but as far as making a huge impact in reducing symptoms or increasing function…well, it just doesn’t happen.

On the other hand, exercise is typically the “fix”.

Oddly enough, aerobic exercise tends to be quite successful in this regard.

In the most recent Physical Therapy journal (Phys Ther. 2007 Mar;87(3):304-12) there was a pilot study that showed just that.

They compared a passive physical agents group (diathermy, ultrasound, electric stimulation, and laser treatments) who did no exercises to an aerobic exercise group. The aerobic exercise group progressively increase exercise time to 50 minutes at up to 85% of their heart rate reserve.

They then compared pre-study scores of subjective pain and disability to post-test score for each group.

Guess what?

The exercise group recorded reduced pain and disability after the 12 weeks, and the control group who just received the passive physical agents didn’t change at all. They also reported reduced feelings of depression and anxiety (so much for anti-depressants…do you think there’s a connection between the number of folks on anti-depressants and the ever increasing sedentary lifestyle of Americans??).

A couple things to keep in mind. The subjects who were successful in this study progressively increased the intensity of the exercise. I think this is an important point.

They weren’t walking casually. They were eventually running on the treadmill for 50 minutes at a good clip.

Intensity is the key to most forms of exercise. We know that higher intensities of activity promote greater fat loss AND promote higher levels of fitness overall over a shorter time period.

Now there’s evidence in that it’ll help your back pain too.

Perhaps we need to adjust our mindsets to “Work harder, not smarter.”

Later

P.S. I’d like to see the results with some strength training and even higher-intensity intervals thrown in.

Question: Why the big concern over upper back mobility in regard to building heathly shoulders?

Answer: Poor mobility of the thoracic spine (upper back) is often associated with a slouched, or more specifically, a kyphotic posture. This altered spinal alignment prevents the scapulae (the shoulder blades) from tilting backward as you raise your arms. This lack of tilt narrows the space in the shoulder joint that the rotator cuff runs through (the subacromial space) and makes it more likely that your rotator cuff will get pinched, called impingement. Over time, if you impinge frequently, you’ll most likely end up with some form of rotator cuff injury.

The mobility of the thoracic spine also directly affects the strength of the lower trapezius which is an upward rotator of the scapulae. If the thoracic spine lacks mobility the lower trapezius will test weak, thus limiting upward rotation. A lack of scapular upward rotation also narrows the subacromial space making impingement more likely.

There’s actually more to it, but you can see in just these two instances why thoracic spine mobility is so important. That’s why Mike Robertson and I included exercises specifically designed to improve throacic spine mobility in our Inside-Out: The Ultimate Upper Body Warm-up.

Later