~ a book review

Whether we like it or not, we are all living in modern times where our days are filled with minute by minute decisions versus personal reflections, a high rate of production versus a careful analysis and of course, the day-planners, the Blackberries, the outlook calendars, the meetings, and endless to-do lists and piles of paper.  Faced with demands both professionally and personally, many of us likely feel like we are being carried away with life’s currents.  We characterize our day to day schedules as ‘insane,’  ‘out-of-control’ and feel hungrier and hungrier by the minute for down time and peace.  We, as a society, in this modern age need to stop the juggling act.

And did you know that managing our time efficiently is no guarantee in today’s world that we will wake up each morning feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day.  Just because we have mastered the act of answering 100 emails a day, taking the kids to school, making dinner for the family and getting our daily workout in doesn’t mean that we are on track, or even less insane than those people who miss appointments, forget to take out the trash and only get half-way through their inbox before falling asleep at their desk at 9pm in the evening.  Just because we made it through the to-do list and are ahead of the game for tomorrow and even stocked the fridge with fresh veggies for the next two days of who-knows-what, doesn’t mean we are present.  It doesn’t mean we are not distracted by the events of the day when we to lie down to have pillow talk with our spouse.  It doesn’t mean the wheels of the mental engine are taking a break.  Contrary to popular belief, multitasking is not an effective tactic to become an enduring human being of extraordinary talent.

Pretty soon, we are headed, whether we like it or not for burnout.  For feelings of apathy and listlessness, when the things that once ignited a spark inside our soul, now barely scratches the surface.  We feel like each day is just running into the next, like water spilling over the edge of a swimming pool.  The lines are blurred, our energy is gone and we feel tired, depressed, defeated.  What happened?  We were so good at managing our time? 

Let’s throw way the concept of managing time.  I want to introduce you to the concept of ‘managing energy.’  I learned of this concept after reading a fantastic book, by one of my favourite sports psychologist’s:  Jim Loehr.  In his book, The Power of Full Engagement, Jim speaks of a whole new concept, an insight, if you will, into what really drives human endurance and high performance.  I am not taking about marathon runners here.  I am talking about leading the high performance life where we are aware, connected and present.  Jim talks about energy, not time, as being the fundamental currency of high performance (4).  As blatently obvious as this seems, we do not always take this concept into account.  We are often unaware of how much energy we spend on our thoughts, our actions and our emotions.  Each one of those has a cost and some costs are far greater than others.  This, is the first step.  We need to be aware of this and honour those costs.

The only way we can become fully present and enjoy the life we are meant to live is if we learn to manage our energy.  According to Jim, we must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond our immediate self-interest (5).

Life is not a marathon folks.  It should be viewed (just like proper fat loss training) as a series of intervals.  We should intersperse periods where we work very ‘smart,’ where we are hyper-focused, building our mental capacity and periods of complete passive rest, where we are on vacation, regenerating and reaping the benefits of our hard earned work.  But, too many North Americans live with a constant minimal focus on the wrong things.  They are focused on rewards, rather than the process, or the purpose.  They are always living two steps ahead of themselves and not allowing themselves to view downtime as equally productive time.  It is just like training.  Without the downtime, without the recovery, we are unable to attain the highest levels of performance.  We are unable to reach the most intense intervals.  We are unable to manage our energy. And thus, we are unable to reach the highest level of performance.

And stress is not the enemy either.  Ironically, it is the cornerstone of improvement, of growth (13).  When we train, we are stressing the body, breaking it down.  With recovery, it will repair and rebuild even stronger each time.  The other dimensions of wellness: emotional, spiritual, mental, are no different here.  If we go through a period of stress, we also need a period of recovery.  We grow by expending energy beyond what we are currently capable of.  But, if we do this all the time, without recovery; we burn out.  It is that simple.

The last point I’d like to address is something Jim advises.  Instead of having a personal constitution of self-discipline, replace it with a set of personal rituals that are fuelled by deeply held personal values.   Jim describes it this way:  Discipline pushes you towards a behaviour or action, whereas a ritual draws you to it.  Brushing your teeth is an example of a ritual.  And the power of a ritual is that they require very little conscious effort and energy, leaving you free to focus your energy reserves on more important things.

For more information on how to manage your energy, go to www.fullengagement.com

Reference:  The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

Last week I was having a few chats with some of my students at Langara College, who are doing some continuing education in the field of Personal Fitness Training.  I am always interested in what my students are doing outside of the confines of the academic world and how they might be learning to bridge the gap between the theory they are learning at school and its application in the coursework provided by, (for-profit), organizations like Can Fit Pro and BCRPA, plus others into the USA as well.

The general consensus is that they are learning a great deal about program design, or rather, the manipulation of the acute and chronic training variables, such as sets, reps, loads and rest periods.  Well, I am happy to see they are reviewing their grade 5 math skills. But learning that sets of 8-12 are optimal for hypertrophy and  if we want muscle endurance, then it HAS to be 12-15 reps, with, of course, shorter rest periods just doesn’t cut it with my standards.  Hmmmmm, try the turkish get-up with 16kg-24kg for 12-15 reps/side and your workout might take well over 30 minutes just to do that one exercise properly and slowly enough to engrain the stabilization and joint position sense the exercise is fundamentally based upon.   You wouldn’t have time to do anything else, plus you would have lost concentration (something that is require for the TGU) at about the 10 minute mark.  What I am trying to say is that, some exercises do not belong in the high rep category, no matter what the ‘goals’ of the program might be.  Why are students learning these contraints, when if they actually experienced the exercises themselves, they would know what it feels like and what adaptation might occur?

Here is another program design pointer my students have claimed they have learned:  With respect to exercise strength prescription for beginners, only do one to two sets of the exercise.  Why is this?  Beginners are at the cognitive stage of learning and NEED more sets and reps to hone their skills and practice.  What they don’t need is high loads and rapid tempos.  Even veteran lifters with bad habits might want to try more sets to ‘grease the groove’ and work on the technical aspects of an exercise before progressing into heavier loads.  Strength is a skill right?  Why is this mantra not taught in the continuing education system?  

Continuing education bodies should really focus their energies and curriculum on aspects such as:

1.  Teaching and evaluating students free weight exercise technique and the 5 pillars of movement. (Paul Chek)

2.  Evaluation of a student’s ability to teach the exercise to a client and test whether learning has taken place within the client

3.  Teaching students how to correct common faulty movement patterns with creative coaching cues – versus statements like “keep your knees over your toes” – if someone just isn’t getting it, the student must use other means to elicit the response they want.  Hands on cueing and tactile stimulation is often the best strategy and is not emphasized enough.

The biggest problem I see in the industry today is that too many personal fitness trainers do not know how to coach proper technique.  They, themselves often have poor skills on the 5 pillars of movement.  They may have all the theoretical skills and book-smarts, but they cannot put it all together.  And it isn’t their fault, because they were never educated in this manner, nor were they evaluated in this manner. 

Imagine a hair stylist that passes hair styling school, having only written a theory exam on ‘how to cut and style hair’ yet never touching a client.  Imagine a massage therapist getting through their education system without actually giving someone a massage?  I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but currently there are only TWO certifying agencies that evaluate a practitioner’s ability to perform the exercises and teach them as well.  These are the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) and Human Motion’s BSF Cert Course.  Both of these education systems encourage the execution of correct technique and the ability to coach correct technique.  The sets, reps and rest periods – well that is actually the easy part.

At Human Motion, our coaches go through a year of mentorship with myself (MSc. CSCS, RKC) , Cliff Harvey, who is a world champ in weightlifting and a naturopath and Jim Talo, my husband, who is an RKC Level 2.  I have decided that I need to be part of the solution and offer this opportunity to the right people who, if they choose to stay with Human Motion, they can offer an excellent service, or if they choose to leave and do their own thing, well at least I can sleep at night  knowing I have released a bird that can fly.

Please post your comments on this blog.

Or perhaps re-post it – you have my permission to do so.

Yours in strength & health,

Coach bott