The first thing to know about nutritional labels is that if there is one, it’s usually not a good start.

Let me explain very simply…

Does meat usually have a label? Do fruits have labels? Do vegetables have labels?

I rest my case.

You see, most of the natural foods that you can either grow or hunt, are sold as is at the grocery store; no nice box, no colorful packages, no nutritional info….because you know what you get!

When you get foods that come in a box, or a wrapper you know that it’s (to different extents) usually processed food…or should I say food products.  Because I’m not sure you’re great great grandfather would recognize this as being food:

As a general rule of thumb, if your great great grandparents wouldn’t recognize it as food, you shouldn’t eat it.

So, processed foods are bad.  They’re usually lacking in any nutrients, they don’t fill you, they don’t provide you with any energy and they’re full of preservatives.  Maybe I’m going to far, and I do realize that nothing as been proven to that extent, but maybe, just maybe those “food products” and their preservatives that have become the bulk of North Americans’ diets are the cause of all the health problems of our society….Hey, how many types of cancer existed before the big food companies started putting dozens of preservatives in everything we eat.  This is a statement that’s not backed by any scientific research (as far as I know), but think about it for a second…

But that being said, there are some foods that will present with a label that won’t necessarily be bad for you.  But instead of looking at the protein/carbs/fat content, I’d encourage you to look at the ingredient list before anything else.  This is where you’ll know the quality of what you put in your mouth.  The less ingredients the better.  And the more ingredients you can recognize (real ingredients that is) the better, as well.  Don’t be fooled by the claims that are being made on the products, or even by the protein/carbs/fat content, because even that can fool you.

If you look at the label of this sample protein bar, you might think that the protein/carbs/fat ratio is not too bad, and considering it’s a “protein bar” it’s probably a healthy choice.  Well, think again.  Read the list of ingredients and tell me you know all the ingredients in it!  This is not a protein bar….it’s a candy bar with protein!

To make wise nutritional choices, you want to pick something with as little ingredients as possible in it, and with as many of them that you can recognize as being ‘real food’.

Eating healthy comes down to eating a lot of real, natural foods with a lot of nutrients and little to no preservatives.  And the more you can avoid pre-made stuff, and prepare  food yourself, the better off you’re going to be!

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1. My friend and colleague Kevin Neeld posted on his YouTube channel 3 presentations of about 10 minutes each about hockey training; one on program design, one on speed training and one on conditioning.  These were the 3 videos that he used to promote his book, which you needed to sign up for to get access to the videos.  Now, you don’t even need to sign up for anything to watch these 3 awesome videos, as they are just one click away for you to see.  Here’s the program design video, which I think is pretty cool:

If you want to check out the 2 other videos check out Kevin’s YouTube channel.

2. Speaking of Kevin and his book, if you haven’t checked it out yet, you absolutely have to!  For some reason, he hasn’t bumped the introduction price up yet.  Let me remind you that this book highlights Kevin’s complete training system to building powerful and bulletproof hockey players.  In fact, the principles in this book could very well apply to any athlete in any sports as well!  Any book of that quality would usually price at over 80$, but Kevin is giving you Ultimate Hockey Training for less than 30$! Click HERE if you want to pick up a copy!

3. My own training for the last 6 weeks have been geared towards muscular endurance and aerobic training (probably not the type that you think) based on Joel Jamieson’s general endurance block from his book Ultimate MMA Conditioning.  To say it is a nice change of pace would be an understatement.  For the past 6 years, my whole training has basically been max strength and very low volumes of conditioning (always in the form of anaerobic intervals) and nothing else.  My joints were kinda hating me recently and I was getting a little bored with my training, so I decided to give that general endurance thing a shot, you know, to mix things up and give my body a break.  The lifting volume have been pretty low (but not necessarily easy)- hey, could have thought that doing DB chest press with 45′s could be so hard? Not me!  And the conditioning volume has been pretty high for what I’m used to, but since I’m working my aerobic system I don’t feel like the intensity is killing me.  The main difference I’ve noticed so far is my recovery improved drastically!  I used to dread every training day because I always felt crushed from the previous one, but with this phase, even if I get pretty sore from some of that stuff, I pretty much always feel ready to go when I’m training.  I also play hockey twice a week, and I noted a major recovery difference between my shifts; I pretty much feel like I can go just as hard every single shift, and it’s like that the whole game!  I used to gas out after 3o minutes.  I know I’m gonna need to go back to lifting heavy stuff soon, so I don’t loose too much strength, but I’m definitely going to use 8 weeks endurance blocks more often in the future.

4. As a big music fan, and having written entire blog posts about music to train to (if you missed it you can check ‘em out HERE and HERE), I feel like haven’t posted anything music related in a while.  Here’s a little something to enjoy… As you may already know I’m growing more and more into a die-hard Foo Fighters fan, which is funny because I used to dislike this band a couple years ago.  But the fact that they stuck with their original roots for almost 20 years, never became a foo-foo fake pop-rock band through the years like many rock bands do (huh humm…Nickelback), and because they totally kick ass in concert for almost 3 hours, I’ve become a huge fan.  Here ‘s Bridges Burning, from their new album, which gets you want to smash someone in the head with a steel chair, a la Stone Cold Steve Austin:

And this next one, even though is not as high-energy, for some reason really gets me going!  The band is called Chickenfoot, which is a band formed by Sammy Hagar, another guy from Van Halen and the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  It has kind of an 80′s sound to it, which Coach Jorts can appreciate, but it definitely pumps me up:

5. Last but not least, I just got 2 spots that opened up on my online training clients schedule.  So if you’re interested, read my ‘Services’ page to make sure you qualify and that it’s what you’re looking for, and drop me an email at the link at the bottom of the page!  You’ll be surprised at how much of a difference a structured program can make, and how much faster you can reach your goals.  I’ve worked with clients from all walks of life from pro athlete to completely out-of-shape 60 year-old women, so don’t be afraid and think it’s not for you!  We’ll have to talk first, but chances are I can do something for you no matter what your training goal is.

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You don’t want to get left behind like this guy….(how did I find a way to relate this to Alf?…go figure)

I’m constantly trying to get better, but there are always ways to do more.  Which pops the question: What should I do?

Unlike Lebron James though, I’m gonna try and answer my own question.  I do think there are things I could do to get better.  Whether I don’t do these things (or not enough) because I don’t have enough time, not enough money or because I procrastinate too much, here’s a list of things I could do to become a better strength and conditioning coach and fitness professional:

1. Build a bigger network.  I realize that it’s important to build a network of like-minded people in the business.  These people can offer their guidance, you can exchange ideas on different subjects with them, get their perspectives on things or they can even put you in touch with new people.  In 2012, with the help of the social networks, it makes things much easier to communicate and get in touch with new people.  I do have a decent amount of facebook friends in the field, but I think I could definitely do a better job at keeping in touch with them and reach out to new people.

That might explain why I’m not more successful with Facebook

2. Attend more seminars.  I already try go to about 2-3 seminars per year, but I feel like there’s room for improvement.  But I’m usually confined by the ones that are within driving distance because of my restricted budget to travel.  There are some live events that I would have liked to attend in the past that were either in the South or on the West Coast that I couldn’t go to because I didn’t have the money to travel there.  Sometimes it only takes a little more planning and saving some money ahead of time to be able to get out there for seminars that are not available on the East Coast.

3. Visit other coaches’ facilities.  This one is a little related to both of  the last 2 points, and I will admit that I’m not really good at this one.  I know that visiting other coaches and see how they do things, talking shop with them and just seeing things from a different perspective (because they live a different reality) can be huge in making yourself better at what you do.  Most of the time there are always things you can pick up from another coach and incorporate in your own setting.  I say it’s related to the last 2 points because it involves making new contacts AND traveling.  This is probably the area I could improve the most.  I’ve done it very sparingly in the past, but there is no reason why I couldn’t do it more; besides the cost of traveling, it doesn’t cost anything and you can spend hours exchanging on different subjects, compared to catching a quick hallway conversation with another coach at a crowded seminar.

4. Read more.  I write this, not because I don’t read, but because there is always place for improvement.  I actually read quite a bit, but there are just so many good resources out there, it’s hard to keep up!  I was reading Mike Robertson’s post last week on his website about becoming successful in this business, and there is something that caught my attention.  Mike was saying to stop reading blogs, and focus your energy on books and DVDs that you actually need to buy.  He was saying that blog posts usually don’t go in-depth on any subject; people usually write blog posts to give their opinion on a given subject or just give a little bit of information about it (and I kinda realize that it’s usually what I do too with my blog).  That being said, I probably won’t stop reading blog posts, (or writing them for that matter…sigh of relief: on go!) because they’re free, easy ad quick reads that can give you someone else’s perspective on a subject.  I will try to use my time  better to read books, and spent a little less time on blogs in the future, though.

Do these books count??

That’s what I think I can do to become a better strength and conditioning coach.  But the question is:

What should YOU do?

Drop your ideas on how you can better in the comment box below!

Last Saturday I played in a fund raising dodge ball tournament in Philadelphia.  Having not played dodge ball since middle school, and not being a natural thrower (my main sports growing up were hockey and basketball) made me a little worried about my dodge ball performance.  As expected I sucked pretty bad, but at least I stole the show with my purple cobra entrance before every game…

A little less glorious when you get hit in the face 30 seconds later, though!

If you’re wondering where I’m going with this, here it is: I was so freakin’ sore the next day it was unreal!  My whole shoulder and arm, starting from the attachment of my rhomboids on my spine going all the down to my fingers, were as sore as I’ve ever been in my upper extremity.  Rhomboids, levator scapula, rotator cuff, biceps, and all of my forearm muscles were completely smoked.

Is that a coincidence that these muscles all have fascial connections?

That just made me realize all the stiffness and soft-tissue restrictions that can build up in a baseball pitcher’s arm when he throws around 100 pitches every time is on the mound.  Of course there are some adaptations taking place; the body becomes more efficient at it as you build up your arm strength, stamina and improve your technique, and you don’t get sore (like I did playing dodge ball) every outing.  But it still makes you think about all the stress that the shoulder and arm are taking on a weekly basis.  And when young baseball pitchers throw with their high school team in the spring, play summer league and fall ball on top of that, the accumulated stress on your arm builds up pretty fast.

That’s why taking care of your pitching arm, using injury prevention strategies, and having an smart (and planned) training program are going to be important factors in the longevity and durability of your arm over time.  Soft-tissue work on the rhomboids, levator scapula, rotator cuff, biceps, and forearm muscles is going to be an important part of that ‘arm care’ program.

Try and not cry the first time you dig a lacrosse ball in your rotator cuff muscles

If I got stiff and extremely sore in these muscles by playing 6 games of dodge ball (realistically ~10 throws per game), I can guarantee you that any baseball pitcher will build up severe restrictions in those same muscles over time, whether they feel it or not.

Do your dedicated self soft-tissue work on a daily basis, go see a qualified active release therapist on a regularly (once a month, as a bare minimum- but College and professional players probably need more) and you’ll increase your chance of staying pain and injury free, and give yourself the best chance to perform at the highest level.

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Regardless of what your training system is and what you believe in, there are some things in common that smart, educated people believe in.  Whether you’re a powerlifting guy, an Olympic lifting guy, a Poliquin guy, an injury prevention guy, or even a Crossfit guy, there is at least one thing everyone can agree on.  If you put all of those people in the same room they might try to kill each other over what they don’t agree on.  But one overlooked principle is actually crucial in making any training system efficient (or somewhat efficient), and that smart people in each camp preach by: form.

Exercise form is often overlooked when judging the efficiency of a training method or system.  No matter which system you believe in, or even if you developed your own, I’m sure one of the things that make your system effective is the way the exercises are performed.  Because after all, good movement is good movement.  This is something that even the smart people in Crossfit would agree on.  I don’t think ALL Crossfit advocates are stupid; I’m sure there are some smart people who believe in it.  And I’m sure that those smart people are preaching good form on their lifts BEFORE trying to get the best time on a given circuit.  There are many things I disagree with about the whole Crossfit thing, but if I was going to get in an argument with a smart Crossfit advocate, I would probably agree that there are some benefits to it when done the right way, with flawless form on every single rep.

Not exactly what I mean by “flawless form”

In the end, no matter what training system you believe in, the most important thing is ‘good movement’.  You want your body to move the right way, and that is not something we can argue over.  Integrity in the joints and in the basic movement patterns is what we’re after.  Moving well and without compensation is the foundation of any athletic endeavor; you develop functional movement first, performance second and skills at last.  Whatever you do, the quality of your movement will dictate the outcome; and the better you move, the easier it’s going to be to achieve high performance and athletic success with minimal risk of injuries.

I’m sure you can agree with me on that….

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But regardless, I usually give a multifaceted answer to those parents.  The points I’m trying to get across are:

- Despite what other sports training facilities might try to sell you, becoming lightening fast doesn’t happen in 6 weeks.

- At such a young age, there are a lot of things happening in a kid’s body.  Getting faster will have a lot to do with the physiological development that happens when you’re a teenager.  There are a lot of things happening in their body (hormones, growth spurt, etc) and these things will influence athletic development a lot.  Before puberty though, you can’t expect drastic changes in a kid’s speed or strength.  The changes you’ll see, even with good training, are going to be on a smaller scale until your kid hits puberty.

- Related to the last point, it’s important to realize that not all kids will hit puberty and develop at the same time.  Because of that, you can’t expect your 4’8″ 12 year old son to be as fast on the field or on the ice as the one year older kids who are 5’6″ and hit their puberty earlier.  Those are transition years; it’s hard, if not impossible, to compare kids to one another.

- Getting faster is about moving better (movement quality) and improving your strength to bodyweight ratio.  Doing endless numbers of sprints and running the kids to the ground will not help them get faster.  Improving the way you move is a process, just like improving strength.  Overtime it will lay the foundations for your kid to truly become one the fastest and most dominant player on the field or on the ice.  Just don’t expect that to happen overnight.  It might take a couple of years…yes, I said a couple of YEARS.

- Consistency and hard work are going to be key to achieving athletic success.  Just because you subscribed your kid to a sports training facility, doesn’t mean that results will magically happen.  Your kid needs to be working hard and be dedicated to getting faster and achieving athletic success; and not just in the gym, in the practice of their sport(s) as well.

- Related to the last point, kids are kids.  Internal motivation at a young age is not always very strong; a lot of it is going to be coming from the parents.  Kids need to be supported and encouraged in what they do.  That’s how they will develop that internal motivation to achieve their athletic goals, or whatever else it may be.  Kids don’t need to be told “you’re not fast enough”, “you’re so slow compared to your teammates”, “are you even trying?”, etc.  Positive reinforcement and encouragements will make your kid want to keep getting better, even in a period of transition when they happen to be smaller and slower than some other kids they play with.  That’s when they need the support because they can become discouraged very quickly.

Speed, like athletic development in general, is a process.  It’s important to see it as a long term project that you need to be working hard for throughout the years.  Work hard, be consistent, don’t give up when you’re faced with obstacles, and most importantly BE PATIENT.  This is a message that kids, AND especially parents must understand.  Getting faster, or quicker, or stronger, or a better (insert sport) player takes time.  Going to a sports training facility to achieve your athletic goals is a smart move because we are there to help, but it is NOT like going to the doctor for a sinus infection; there is no quick fix or magic pill.  Parents need to understand that.

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My actual board of directors…

All kidding aside, this title is in relation to corrective exercises.  If you’ve been reading my stuff for a little bit, you should know by now that I’m a big believer in incorporating injury prevention and corrective strategies in training programs to help my athletes and clients move better and lower their risk of injuries.  And I’m not the only one; there is a pretty big trend in fitness world that seems to be going on right now.  I think it’s a really good thing that more coaches and trainers are now aware of the importance of the glute function in hip extension, scapular stability in shoulder health, etc.  With all the smart minds in this business, new corrective exercises come out every day giving us a really big toolbox to work with when it comes down to corrective exercises.

NOT what I’m talking about!

One thing I feel we don’t stress enough with corrective exercises though is that the way we perform them is crucial.  It’s a good thing to include glute bridges in a client’s program that seems to be prone to low back pain.  But it’s not going to do much good for him if he’s not performing it the right way, or if he just goes through the motion.  Sticking with the glute bridge example, if your client doesn’t know that the whole purpose if the exercise is to squeeze his butt cheeks as he lifts his hips up, he might be compensating with his hamstrings, or even worse, his lower back.  If the ribs flare out at the top, or if the client feels the movement in his hamstrings or low back, there is something that needs to be fixed.  Anyway, you get the point.

Kevin Neeld from KevinNeeld.com knows how to bridge

For that reason, switching around your corrective exercises all the time might not be a good idea.  You want to make sure that your client masters a certain movement perfectly before moving on to something else; the goal is not always to have him do something “challenging”.  It’s still a corrective exercise and it should never be a max effort anyway because that is exactly when your body will look to compensate.  Corrective exercises should be kept simple; you should try to reinforce the same ones with a client until there is some sort of improvement.  You’re really not doing him a favor if you throw a bunch of new corrective exercises at him every couple of weeks, just for variety purposes.  Keep in mind that the client doesn’t know any of that stuff, and for every new exercise, he has 4-5 different things to think about at the same time while he’s perform it correctly.  If you need to stick with the good old 2-legged glute bridge for 3 months before your client really gets it and feels it in his butt, that’s what you need to do.  Variety or results?  Which one are you really after?  Pretty simple answer.

Start with the basics, make sure the execution is flawless, that your client feels the exercise in the right spot (if needed), and never progress a corrective exercise until you see progress.  In a way, it’s just like a lifting program; it doesn’t need to get fancy schmancy with tons of new exercises in every new monthly program, because you’ll never know if you’re making progress or not.

As you can see, getting fancy is not always your best bet…

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Mobility exercises, activation exercises, movement pattern training, dynamic stretching, foam rolling and the dozen of others soft-tissue work modalities are usually some of the components we can include in a good warm up.  Depending on your own situation, it might not be possible to include all of the above, and in fact, for some it might be possible to include only one or two.  The amount of time you spend with each client or athlete is going to dictate what your warm up is going to look like.  But it doesn’t mean that your warm up should take 30 minutes when you have more time with your clients and athletes.  The reason I say this is because there are many different components (as I mentioned above) that can fit into your warm up and it’s easy to get caught trying to include too much, and your warm up routine might end up taking forever to perform.  The warm up is essential to improve range of motion, increase blood flow to the muscles, increase heart rate and body temperature and decrease tension in stiff muscles.  But it’s also called a warm up.  It shouldn’t take half the time of your total session.  You want to choose the things that are going to be the most bang for your buck, get it done and be ready to attack your training.

Here’s the way I structure my warm ups in order to make them as effective as possible without taking forever:

- Self soft-tissue work: 5 min- Working on tight areas, usually 4-5 different areas (might different ones every day, depending on how I feel)

- Specifc warm up: 3-4 min- this is the time where I work on personal weaknesses or corrective work (this can include FMS correctives, correct a dysfunctional movement pattern, etc).  Currently I use this time to do PRI breathing drills.

- General warm up: 3-4 min- this will include more general movement patterns that will help improve dynamic range of motion and body temperature at the same time (combination of lunges, inverted reach, push ups, etc)

- Movement preparation: 3-4 min (if needed)- if I’m going to do any kind of dynamic work like sprints or plyometrics I will always include some sort of skips, cariocas, shuffle, back pedal, hops, etc.  If I only lift, I’ll usually just skip that part.

Following this model, a good, complete warm up would take you about 14-15 minutes (10-12 if you don’t do any movement prep).  It really covers everything and it’s not too long!

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So in a way, we need to have a pretty good mastery of the material or the skills we teach.  We also need to be able to communicate well in order to help the kids get better.  Being a good player will not guarantee that you will be a good coach, or that you will be good at helping the kids become better at playing their sport.

But other than teaching kids to get better playing guitar, playing hockey, learning history, or improving the way they move and helping them get stronger, what are we there for?  Being a teacher or a coach in whatever field is also about making an impact in kids lives.

No matter how old the kids you’re coaching or teaching are, kindergarten or college, you can make an impact.  You can make an impact by making them better at what they do, but it goes far beyond that.  Some kids need guidance, encouragement, rewards, better self-esteem, and sometimes just someone to talk to.  The impact you can make in a kid’s life is huge.  So many of the kids we train at Endeavor leave after training for a couple months with us with more confidence than they ever had, and sometimes it’s all it takes for them to become a better soccer player, baseball player, hockey player, etc.

Too often we underestimate the influence we can have on a young person’s life.  Many habits, lifestyle changes and values can be taught through strength and conditioning, like any sport, discipline or school subject.  Kids are very influenceable and very moldable and there lives are just waiting to be shaped by their parents, family, friends, coaches, teachers and whoever comes in their life.

One of the stories about a coach’s influence in an athlete’s life that I really like is the one of Cus D’Amato and the impact he had on boxing legend Mike Tyson.  D’Amato, who was a nearly retired boxing manager took Tyson under his wing and made him one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Tyson with his late manager and mentor Cus D’Amato

With the help of D’Amato, Tyson found discipline, work ethic, respect and got his life together; D’Amato was the father figure he never had in his life.  Tyson always attributed his success and rise to stardom to D’Amato who helped him have structure in his life.  What is amazing about this story is that Tyson before D’Amato was a bum, who grew up in high-crime neighborhoods all is life, who has been arrested over 30 times by the time he was 13 and lost his mom at 16.  Despite everything in his life that was pointing to him becoming a criminal, Tyson had the chance to cross path with D’Amato, who put him on right track and gave his life structure.

And if you’re not convinced of the positive impact of D’Amato in Tyson’s life, just take a look at how his career turned after D’Amato died in 1985, and after he fired Kevin Rooney in 1988 (who was his trainer under D’Amato); Tyson’s career started to decline, he started having problems inside and outside the ring and he never was the same boxer again.

Of course it is a peculiar situation, and you can’t expect all the kids you coach or teach to be little Mike Tysons who need someone to put them on the right path.  But there is always a way you can impact a kid’s life in a way you can’t imagine.

How are you going to make an impact with your athletes today?

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The Empty Can Test

A quick assessment of their range of motion around the shoulder showed an internal rotation deficit in the painful shoulder for both of them.  Shoulder extension wasn’t too bad in both cases and t-spine ROM was lacking a little bit in the Crossfit guy.

Instead of cranking on their range of motion and possibly forcing something that’s not there (and possibly originates somewhere else), I gave them 2 simple breathing exercises that I learned from the Postural Restoration Institute to re-establish proper diaphragm function, as well as ribs, thorax and scapulae positioning.  I also gave my Crossfit buddy a t-spine mobility and scapular stabilizer drill do to because his posture was not great.

The positioning of the diaphragm can affect all the surrounding structures

After only 5 minutes, both of them had an increased internal rotation range of motion in the painful shoulder; and I did absolutely no stretching or soft-tissue work whatsoever.  And even more importantly, their shoulder pain wasn’t there anymore with neither the FMS shoulder clearing test or the empty can test!

This is how important proper breathing patterns and diaphragm function are.  It can affect the way your shoulder, your pelvis and everything around them is positioned.  Before forcing range of motion and hammering the soft-tissue work, make sure your athletes and clients are breathing right!

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