Category Archives: Uhm?
B-I-N-G-O
So I heard this great quote in an ESPN 30 for 30 last night…
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
YES! This is why I’ve said you need to plan out your workouts and diet program and PROGRESS yourself toward your goal!
But apparently not everyone has heard this quote before.
Yesterday I was also told about a trainer that plays “Bingo” to provide people with their workouts.
BINGO.
Basically, people pull exercises out of a hat and the exercises that they pull out make up their workout for that day.
That means they could pull out all leg exercises and just completely annihilate their legs that day even if they did a leg workout already that week. It could also mean that they pulled out four or five sheets with the same exercise on it so that they had to do burpees the entire workout.
AH!
When I heard this, I honestly had to shake myself because I couldn’t believe it. It was potentially the dumbest thing I’d ever heard.
Talk about a lazy trainer. Sorry…but it’s true. And potentially a dumb trainer…Because who the heck could put such little thought into their workouts for their clients and think it was ok!?!
And the worst part about all of this for me was that it wasn’t even being done with people who were just casually working out (not that it would be good even then!)…BUT it was being done with a college athletic team!
A COLLEGE ATHLETIC TEAM!
A team competing at a high level with specific needs – a specific GOAL!
How the could that trainer think it was ok to have them do random exercises? Did that trainer really think it would help the players reach a SPECIFIC goal!?! Random exercises!?!
And all of the players weren’t even doing the same intensity workout or working the same parts so when they went to do a “planned” workout later that week, some of them may have already completely destroyed that muscle earlier when they played BINGO while others may not have worked that muscle for over a week!
Plus it the stupid game didn’t address imbalances or injuries or ANYTHING!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Seriously hearing that made me so angry.
It also made me sure that I had to post the following statement:
Just because someone has a title or certification DOESN’T mean they actually KNOW anything.
Sorry…but it doesn’t.
So that is why I constantly post that you’ve got to experiment and do your own research.
You should be able to judge if what you are given by a trainer or dietitian or anyone else for that matter has merit. You should be able to judge if something is totally bogus and worthless or something that does have potential to get you to your goal.
And please…NEVER….EVER…play BINGO as your workout!!!!
Would you rather….
So yesterday at work one of the other trainers asked me a few “would you rather…” questions.
One was about which piece of equipment I would choose from the gym as a weapon if a zombie apocalypse happened…
And the other was about which I would rather give up, nuts or dairy.
Which got me to thinking, isn’t a healthy lifestyle really all about “would you rather?”
I mean think about it…If you could eat whatever your favorite food is every day and look and feel great and be healthy, wouldn’t you? Would you really eat vegetables or cut out gluten and processed foods if you didn’t have to?
Probably not.
BUT that isn’t reality.
The reality of it is you are always playing a sort of “would you rather” game. Would you rather eat that pint of ice cream and feel crappy later or eat a natural, whole foods meal and feel energized and good later?
Would you rather eat pizza and chips and not perform well or eat a burger without a bun and a salad and get in a great workout?
I personally would rather eat well and feel great, be healthy and perform well. That is why I eat well most of the time. Plus I do find that I enjoy all of the whole natural foods that I eat. I love grass-fed beef and fish and fruits and veggies (especially cauliflower for some reason haha).
BUT there are those cheat days when I WOULD RATHER indulge and even risk feeling super crappy the next day than eat healthy.
Eating well is a choice and sometimes it isn’t always an easy choice. When you are stressed or pressed for time or put into situations where the EASIEST thing to do is cheat, you are more tempted to just give in without really thinking about the consequences of your choices (and how you will feel tomorrow about them).
Eating well and working out isn’t easy (yes it is easier for some people than for others), but it is a choice.
So think about it…What would you rather do?
Burn off what you eat
So in college I had a couple of teammates who definitely lived by the philosophy of eat what you want and burn it off…aka exercise so you can eat badly.
I even know a ton of people now that have that do the same thing…
“I workout so I can eat what I want. And when I eat badly, I just go workout to burn it off!”
But that is probably the worst mentality you could have.
Working out doesn’t excuse the CRAP calories you are putting into your body. Exercise doesn’t truly cancel out the bad food.
You may not necessarily gain weight on the scale because you burned off the calories you consumed, BUT you definitely aren’t being healthy and I guarantee you would see your workouts paying off way more if they weren’t simply a way to allow you to eat badly!
For one, you aren’t fueling correctly to really get the most out of your workouts. And your body composition is probably not improving.
Actually it is probably getting worse.
And two, you are probably going to at some point really start overtraining. I know a ton of girls that would lift and then even run just to make sure they “burned off” the food.
Let’s just say this is DEFINITELY not a healthy attitude.
Actually I HATE the attitude….So when I saw a restaurant in London that now allows people to eat and WORK OFF the food, I of course had to write a rant about it.
The restaurant is called Steam. And while I like the idea of a restaurant serving whole, natural foods or even healthy meals, I HATE the idea of a restaurant promoting workouts to work off the meal.
AH!
I like the fact that you can play games and have a place to eat and be active, but the whole philosophy of working off what you eat is what kills me. And honestly, maybe it is just the way the restaurant is promote that really bothers me.
I don’t mind offering people a place to be active and healthy while enjoying a healthy meal, but I don’t like when you offer exercise and activities just to burn calories so that you can eat without guilt.
And vibrating chairs to burn calories!?!
AH!
I mean…yea promoting eating well and working out is great…but not if you are promoting working out to BURN OFF what you eat! This restaurant is just seems to promote the disordered eating mentality that so many people already have!
AH!
You DON’T workout to burn off what you eat people! You workout to be healthy and strong and happy!
Really Jillian Michaels? Really!?!
So I wrote a post a while back about Jillian Michaels…It was actually a rant against her.
She demonstrated a crossfit workout and looked HORRIBLE doing just about everything. I had some people rush to her defense…
“She’s done so much for fitness.”
“She looks amazing.”
“So what…crossfit isn’t her thing. It is hard.”
UHM! She is a trainer. A huge, celebrity trainer. She SHOULD be able to do the moves. AND she has enough power that I’m sure she could even dictate which moves they did on the show. She could choose moves that she even looked good doing. AND on top of that the moves they had her do weren’t even difficult!
I’m sorry…Jillian Michaels is an AWFUL trainer!
I mean there is some really really bad form out there…just cruise the Awkward Gym Moments page and you will get your fill. There are some videos on that page that make me cringe.
However, bad form from a person that supposedly has made fitness and a healthy lifestyle their living….now that just makes me want to throw up.
There really is no excuse for her bad form. She does this for a living and has more than enough time to do the research (or have others do the research for her) so that she can master proper form.
Just to set things straight…A kettlebell swing isn’t a squat exercise. It is a hip hinge.
In a squat, your butt goes down toward the ground and you bend your knees. You aren’t bending your knees or dropping your butt toward the ground with a hip hinge. Your butt is going back toward the wall (or the ground if you are doing a glute bridge) and then you squeeze your glutes and drive your hips forward (or up).
So a TRUE swing is a hip hinge NOT the squat that Jillian is doing.
Next…a TRUE kettlebell swing is NOT an arm exercise. Sorry crossfitters but your American swing ISN’T a true swing and honestly destroys the whole point of a swing.
A true swing is a glute exercise. NOT an arm exercise.
Seriously why turn an awesome butt exercise into an arm exercise?
Why?!?
There are plenty of great arm exercises out there. Use one of those and leave this great butt exercise be!
So in a TRUE kettlebell swing, you DON’T bring your arms overhead. That throws off the whole rhythm of the swing.
If you watch and really good swing, there is a great connection between the forearm and hips. The glutes move the kettebell forward and then the hips catch the kettlebell to slow it down.
If you bring the arms overhead, you lose this whole connection! So…DON’T DO IT!
Here is a GREAT TRUE kettlebell swing. Her form is great. I don’t want to hear your excuses for not doing a swing like this.
This is right…If you don’t do it like this…You are wrong….Period.
And honestly, I don’t even know where to start with her long cycle (aka clean and jerk). It is so terrible I almost want to throw something at my computer screen every time I watch the video.
If you do it like that, you may as well just go bash your shoulder into a wall because sooner or later you are going to get injured.
Although….if you use a freaking baby weight like that….maybe you won’t. Seriously…lady at least LOOK like you are lifting something heavy to encourage women to lift heavy!
Way to go Jillian! You have awful form AND you don’t even promote women lifting heavy!
I <3 Brutal Workouts
For those of you unsure of what ❤ means – it is a “heart.”
I “heart” brutal workouts.
Do you think this is cool?
That was the sign hanging from one of the crossfits around here.
And every time I see it, I get annoyed.
There recently has become an obsession with gnarly, brutal workouts. People want to seem “bad-ass” even if it means risking injury.
Like even the other day at the gym, a new woman in her 40s said to me, “I was doing insanity before I came here.”
I said, “Oh yea?”
This woman has movement patterns that NEED improvement. She can’t do half the moves yet and she has no aerobic endurance so the idea of her doing insanity made me cringe.
She said, “Yea it’s super intense. You like want to pass out.”
AHHHHHHHHH!
She was doing these workouts because they were known to be “brutal.” She decided that because they were “brutal” they must be good.(And note when I say “doing” these workouts, she wasn’t actually doing the workout as it was laid out….just like half the people now aren’t truly “doing” crossfit.)
She was doing “brutal” workouts because that is what is cool even though her body wasn’t NEAR ready to handle them!
And what happened?
SHE GOT INJURED!
Yep she came into us with an injury. AND on top of that, her movement patterns were bad enough that it was only a matter of time before she developed other injuries that could affect her for the rest of her life.
BUT it didn’t really matter that she got injured. She still liked the workouts…She still RAVED about the workouts.
Why?
BECAUSE THEY ARE BRUTAL. And apparently brutal is the new cool.
WHY!?!
SERIOUSLY WHY!?!
Why is doing some so intense that half the people who do it get injured cool?
And don’t get me wrong, I love an intense workout as much as the next person. I LOVE pushing myself hard.
But I want a purpose. I want a goal. I want to be pushing myself hard in a way that is actually going to get me results – make me move better, feel better and be healthier!
Can we please stop promoting barfing, passing out and injury as the measure of if a workout is good?
Can we get back to a focus on progression and workouts that actually drive you toward some goal?
Are you brutal workout obsessed? Do you get it?
Please…someone explain to me this obsession with brutal workouts!
Woman vs. Woman
When Nutrition Analyst & Farm-to-School Coordinator Asta Garmon asked me to do an interview about women and the stigma of women who lift heavy, I really got to thinking about my experiences.
It amazed me when it really dawned on me that I’ve gotten more crap from women about lifting heavy and being bulky than I have from men.
Yea I’ve gotten the occasional comment from men about whether or not I’m worried about being bulky. But really most of the trouble comes from men when I then try to give them advice about how to lift better or when they find out how competitive and driven I am (which is honestly a blog for another day).
BUT the true perpetrators are women!
Women are the ones that perpetuate the lie.
WOMEN!
Yes…They perpetuate it by saying things like, “I don’t want to lift heavy because I don’t want to get bulky!”
But more importantly, they perpetuate it by telling women, who lift heavy, but look feminine, “Oh wow…Your arm is so…muscular.” (They say this in a way that makes it an insult NOT a compliment.)
YEP! The worst crime is committed when women say to women who have worked hard to look amazing and toned, “You look so…buff/muscular/jacked.”
They say it in a way that HINTS that these words really aren’t a good thing. They even use those specific words because they know that most women associate those words with masculinity.
Most likely these women give these backhanded compliments because they have some insecurity themselves or because they are jealous.
And honestly, you can’t really do anything about what or how other people say things. You will run into women like that. There may even be a woman or two like that in your friend group…You may even call them your “frenemy”…you know them…you love them…and yet…
But anyway, while I would love to change those comments, I can’t. There will always be people out there that will use any social stigma to put someone else down.
BUT what I can do is change the way we, women, interpret those comments.
When comments like those are made to us, we can choose to do one of two things.
We can choose to become self-conscious and bothered by the comment. We can stop lifting and then tell anyone who asks us about heavy lifting that “we don’t lift heavy because it makes us bulky.” We can be afraid that we did, in fact, become bulky from the lifting. We can then perpetuate the stigma that lifting heavy makes women bulky.
OR we can choose to ignore the comment and know that we do in fact look AMAZING and that those women have their own issues. We can break the stigma and help other women find the strength and beauty that heavy lifting can bring!
I choose to do the second.
I wasn’t born with self-confidence. I fought a long uphill battle to get it – the fake it till you make it battle. (And sometimes I’m still faking it, but no one knows the difference!)
As strange as it sounds, what you have to do to be more confident is to pretend to be confident. To act like you are confident even when you aren’t.
So when you get an underhanded comment hinting that your weight training has made you masculine or bulky, when you know you aren’t and have even had compliments about how great you look, what should you do?
You should smile and say, “Thank you! I’ve been working out super hard and lifting heavy! It just makes you feel so good! You should come with me some time.”
That’s what I say every time.
And guess what!?!
I instantly feel better and completely erase the negativity of their comment from my mind. I may still remember it enough to shake my head at them, but I’ve taken all of the venom out of the comment.
I played the part of a confident individual, which in effect, basically made me confident.
And on top of that, they will never have any clue that their comment may have made me even a teensy bit insecure. (If it even does!)
PLUS, every time you respond that way, you start to destroy the lie that women will get bulky if they lift heavy. You won’t be giving credit to their comment AND you may even convince them to become a woman who lifts heavy!
So while it may not be easy, the key to changing the stigma is by believing that in fact you AREN’T bulky or masculine even though you lift weights. The key is believing that you are healthy and strong and beautiful because you do!
You can’t change the other person, but you can change your reaction.
Let’s start there and maybe then we will silence the haters!
You think you’re a man
So this isn’t a story about weight lifting and being masculine.
It is a story about drive.
A few weeks ago at the Kettlebell Competition, I met a client of another trainer at the gym.
When I introduced myself, he said, “Oh so you’re the Cori that did the VersaClimber stuff!”
I probably blushed a little and said, “Yup.”
He then said to me, “Yea we hear all about you all the time at the 5 a.m. hour! You were so driven…It’s like you thought you were a man you pushed so hard!”
I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped open, although I didn’t have a mirror to confirm this.
Because I really really wanted to accomplish my goal and pushed hard, I must have thought I was a man!?!
UHMM…
I laughed awkwardly and walked away quickly. I had no idea how to respond. I was completely floored.
Yes…I am super driven. I won’t let anything get in the way of me accomplishing my goals.
Yes…I am super competitive. I don’t like losing even if it is just to myself.
But how does being those two things mean I acted like a MAN!?!
Why is being driven and competitive supposedly masculine?!?
I must say, I’m pretty sure it’s not since I’ve been this way for like….EVER.
And I’m also pretty sure I’m female…yep…I checked…I’m female.
Still thinking back on the incident, I’m completely at a loss for how to respond.
All I can do is think about all of the times I’ve then supposedly acted like a man.
Like when training for the VersaClimber challenges. Or the battling ropes. Or the powerlifting competition. Or college tennis. Or the kettlebell competition…
Or like during max out tests in college….
We did max out tests at certain points throughout the year to test our fitness progress.
Hang cleans were always super frustrating for me and I’d been really really working to get my max up so that I hit 100lbs.
I at least wanted to hit 95lbs and thought 100 wasn’t out of the question since I’d been able to fairly easily do 90.
But when I went up to that bar, I just couldn’t get 95lbs. My pull was good, but for some reason, I just wasn’t able to coordinate a good sink underneath it.
I was stuck at 90lbs, which was super easy and only made it more frustrating that those 5 pounds made the lift completely impossible.
And so what did I do because I couldn’t hit my goal?
I cried.
There are very few things that will make me cry in public.
Serious injury might do it.
Someone dying might do it.
But well…failing at hitting my goal will ALWAYS do it.
Why?
Because I’m driven and competitive.
Failing at hitting a personal goal even if no one around me cares about it will 100% of the time make me cry.
It did when I missed that hang clean.
It did when I missed my goal at the KB competition.
And what about that makes me a man? Is it the involuntary crying? Is it the fact that I care about my goals enough to put everything I’ve got into them? Is it the fact that I want to succeed?
I mean seriously…explain it to me…because I sure as heck don’t get it.
It’s funny…I was typing in stuff searching for a cartoon and this is what came up when I typed in manly woman. AHHH!
Paleo is a joke
I LOVE talking about diet and exercise.
I LOVE when people find out I’m a trainer and then ask me a ton of questions.
I LOVE when people ask me about my diet or exercise program.
I HATE when people tell me they’ve started doing Paleo and then tell me about the latest Paleo baked good they made.
Are you a sucker for Paleo products? HELLO! People are making money off of you…they don’t care about your health!!!
To me Paleo and baked good (aka sweets) can’t legitimately be used in the same sentence unless you are saying you’ve switched to Paleo and only eat baked goods on cheat days now.
Paleo baked goods…those three words combined like that make me want to scream.
Paleo has become a joke.
The whole point of Paleo or Primal is to eat WHOLE, NATURAL FOODS. To eat meat, fruits and vegetables and cut out all of the processed crap and sugar.
The whole point of Paleo is to make you healthier and reduce the inflammation in your body.
The whole point of Paleo is NOT to make a less bad for you version of traditional baked goods.
If you are TRULY doing Paleo you aren’t eating freaking Paleo muffins or Paleo pie or pizza.
You aren’t baking with almond flour or using a ton of honey or maple syrup to sweeten things. You aren’t buying “gluten-free” processed products.
Why AREN’T those things truly Paleo!?!
Because they totally miss the point!
It’s true…nothing is ACTUALLY paleolithic, but the point of the diet is to cut out all of the crap and eat naturally raised products!
For example, the reason the Paleo/Primal diet tells you to cut out grains is because of the inflammation grains cause which is what causes cholesterol to build up in the arteries and cause heart problems.
Grains also contain phytic acid, which hinders your body from absorbing many vitamins and minerals.
Guess what also contains phytic acid?
ALMONDS!
So when you eat your normal serving of 1/4 cup of almonds you are fine…BUT a pizza made from almond flour!?!
That is a ton more than the 1/4 of a cup you should be eating.
And that means a TON OF PHYTIC ACID!!
You cut out grains because someone doing the Paleo diet told you to, BUT you didn’t understand WHY you were supposed to cut out grains. So you end up making your freaking Paleo almond crust pizza and get the exact crap that the Paleo diet is supposed to help you eliminate from your diet.
AH!
So because most people don’t really UNDERSTAND the point of the Paleo diet…because people don’t really understand why the diet has them cut out certain foods…because people just do it because their friend lost weight doing it…People end up destroying the diet and eating crap that is disguised as being “Paleo.”
Basically, don’t tell me you are doing Paleo or Primal if you are going to tell me about the latest cookie, pie, pizza, muffin or WHATEVER that you just made.
Don’t tell me you won’t eat cheese or rice because it isn’t Paleo and then freaking go eat gummy worms because they are gluten-free.
Don’t tell me you don’t eat beans (which you probably don’t even realize you don’t eat because they contain phytic acid) and then go eat farm-raised salmon or coconut milk with a ton of extra additives.
Come on!
Understand why the heck you are doing something! Farm-raised salmon is just about the WORST thing you could possibly eat!!!! It is like Paleo 101 that you eat NATURALLY RAISED animal products!
And if you are going to buy something like coconut milk, READ THE FREAKING LABEL.
Ok…deep breath…I’m done.
Now all of you recent Paleo bandwagoners…go ahead and tell me why I’m wrong…I dare you.
Do you know why?
Do you honestly know why you eat the way you do? Do you know why you do certain exercises?
If I asked you right now why eating vegetables is good, could you truly give me an answer?
Or would you just be able to repeat something that someone else told you?
How do you know that what they told you is even true!?!
YOU DON’T!
Unless of course you’ve done your own research.
Ok so I’m not saying to doubt everything that you hear. And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t trust a professional’s word.
But I do firmly believe that no matter what the subject, you need to do your own research.
I mean I tell you to avoid gluten. I tell you that fat is not the enemy. I tell you to eat LOTS OF MEAT aka I’m anti-vegetarian.
And while I hope you agree with me because I firmly believe I’m right, I know that people won’t believe with me.
And while I don’t mind a good debate, I really hate when people tell me that I’m wrong without truly backing up their opinion.
Sorry to pick on you vegetarians, but I really hate when you attack me about how our farming industry is hurting our environment and that we should all be vegetarians to protect it.
Because for one, this shows me that you obviously haven’t really read a word I said. If you notice I don’t promote conventional farming practices…I’m for all naturally raised animal products a.k.a the way animals WERE living on the land originally when we used to hunt them,
And two, no one really ever explains how being a vegetarian is MORE environmentally safe than eating meat raised the natural way. Most of the time when I actually point out how BAD mono-crop farming is for the environment, they have no response.
And why don’t they have a response?
Not because someone out there hasn’t come up with one, but because most people don’t really understand WHY they are doing the things they do!
haha random but funny!
So while I’m sure there will be a few vegetarians offended by this post, my point isn’t to get a response to my above comments. My point is that you need to THINK.
I don’t care what diet or exercise program you follow, even if it is mine. You still need to UNDERSTAND why you are doing it.
Don’t eat a diet low in fat and high in “whole grains” and tell me fat is bad and whole grains are good for you if you can’t back it up.
And saying, “Well whole grains have fiber” doesn’t cut it.
Anyway, next time you decide to take a stance on something, make sure you’ve really thought about your stance and understand the reasoning behind it.
Man Bicep 