40fit Radio

After lower back pain, shoulder issues might just be the most common form of injury and aches and pains experienced in the gym and on the field. When you consider the anatomy and physiology of this complex joint, it's no surprise. The shoulder is a somewhat delicate ball-and-socket joint, loosely slung by a capsule of ligaments, tendons, cartilage and muscle. Yet it's delicate nature allows for tremendous range of motion, one of the largest ranges in the human body, and allows us to take advantage of our dextrous hands.   Shoulder aches and pains are just a reality of human existence. Injuries, however, are not. And if we want to build strong, healthy, injury-free shoulders, we need a basic understanding of the anatomy of the shoulder joint. Coach D breaks down the basic components of the shoulder, how they function, and why this important when it comes to shoulder training and health.   In Part 2, we will discuss common injuries of the shoulder, and in Part 3, strategies for managing pain, rehabbing injuries

In episode #5 we discussed one of the ten general physical skills: flexibility, and it's analog mobility. Most people believe that they are not flexible enough, that they need more mobility, and the path to acquiring it lies in a gauntlet of contortionism. Or yoga. How much flexibility and mobility do we really need though? Is it possible to be too flexible? How much time should we allocate to mobility work? Coach D takes us through the research and his decades of coaching experience to answer these questions.   To recap, flexibility is defined as the range of motion (ROM) in a joint or body segment. All joints in the human body have a normal degree of ROM established in the medical literature, plus or minus a few degrees depending on individual anthropometry, amount of body mass around the joint, tissue elasticity, and other factors. Mobility is a function of flexibility, the combination of a joint's passive ROM and your ability to utilize that ROM by producing force (strength). Skill also plays a role in mo

It's an innocent question... when is strong, strong enough? For most people, the answer is never. They will never be strong enough. Because most people aren't actually training, and if they are training they are not training for strength. Those of us in the 40fit Nation aren't most people though. So back to the question: how strong is strong enough?   Like many things, the answer is "it depends." Mainly, it depends on your goals and interests, and how much priority you place on them in life. For the competitor, the athlete, she may never be strong enough. Every athlete needs a high level of strength, and athletes in strength sports, naturally, need as much as they can attain. For those with no competitive aspirations, it may not be worth the time, effort, and pain to pursue the highest level of strength.   Everyone would benefit from at least running through the entire novice phase of their linear progression. Coach D recommends, for men, working toward a 2x bodyweight deadlift, a 1.75x squat, 1.5x bench, and

Last episode we posed the question: why do our workouts have to be so hard? The scientific answer to this question lies in the concept of the stress-recovery-adaptation cycle, or SRA cycle, derived from Hans Selye's work in the first half of the twentieth century. Simply put, in order to generate an adaptation, which we would recognize as an increase in one or more of the ten general physical skills (strength, endurance, mobility, etc), then you must progressively increase the amount of stress applied during the training program. That is the nature of training: it must become "harder" over time to continue driving progress.   In the 1950's Austro-Hungarian endocrinologist Hans Selye developed a theory known as the general adaptation syndrome which describes the effect of acute stress, generated by a stimulus (real or imagined), on an individual. Selye observed that the effect of stress on an organism was to disrupt homeostasis and, if continued unchecked, eventually kill the organism. If the stress was remove

As the saying goes, it's a feature, not a bug. Hard, that is. Any training program worth its salt must be hard, at least part of the time.   Connect with 40fit Radio 40fit website Facebook 40fit Masters Community 40fit Radio on Instagram

Robert Santana is back for part 2 of a deep conversation on nutrition, dieting for bodyfat loss, and fostering healthy eating habits for sustainable weight loss. In this episode, Santana breaks down the roles of the macronutrients in a weight loss situation, and explains why carbs are NOT evil (and in fact do not lead to body fat gain). He explains why it's the combination of high fat and carbohydrate -- especially in processed foods -- that leads to caloric surplus and, therefore, body fat gain.   He also offers some practical advice for very overweight or obese people who need to lose weight. Santana's approach favors a moderate reduction in calories to drive weight loss at approximately 1% of total bodyweight per week (so, for a 300lbs person, about 3lbs per week). This has proven to be a sustainable weight loss target in the short term, and ensures that the trainee will see results fairly quickly while, importantly, not keeping them in "diet mode" for too long. At this point, he will hold them steady at t

Coach D sits down with dietician and Starting Strength Coach Robert Santana to talk about the million dollar question: how do you lose fat, and keep it off? First, it's important to understand why we get fat -- the body chemistry of fat and muscle gain -- and where we've missed the mark on the science of fat loss in our modern culture.   Santana discusses the phenomenon of the skinny fat body, sometimes referred to as "dad bod," and why we need to shift our ideas about "weight loss" toward "muscle gain." Many people who fall into the normal and overweight category, typically as measured by BMI, don't need to lose weight per se, but rather gain muscle and lose bodyfat. Thus, the scale is the wrong tool for measuring progress. Instead, these people should focus on tracking waist measurement, bodyfat (via a simple test like skinfold caliper test), and their progress under the bar. Yes, they should be weight training!   As he explains, metabolism is largely driven by the metabolic rate at rest. Physical activity

Everyone's got one, and they all stink. We're not talking about opinions. We're talking about excuses. As the New Year approaches -- and along with it new resolutions and promises to change old habits -- it's easy to imagine yourself six months or a year later with exactly the body you want, performing exactly the skills you want to learn, achieving all your goals... but it doesn't work like that. Time and time again, people make resolutions and fail, often before the first quarter of the year has come and gone.   Why does this happen? It's simple, really. Consistency is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to training. Consistency is easy when the year is young, spirits are high, and motivation is plentiful. As soon as life gets busy again, as soon as a setback occurs -- travel, sickness, a minor injury -- people often miss sessions, and never get back to the consistency they began their training program with.   They come up with excuses to justify missing workouts. Or worse, they hide behind these

Coach D and Coach Trent discuss how routine and habits can impact your mindset and sometimes get in the way of good training. As the saying goes, humans are creatures of habit, and that holds true for training. Whether it's a pair of lucky underwear, a rocking tune, or doing the haka before a PR deadlift, we all develop habits and quirks which help us focus, clear our minds, and prepare to train. But what do you do when something's off? Maybe you left your gym bag at home and you're without a belt and shoes to squat in, or you have to run a new route with unknown surfaces and unfamiliar inclines. Is that workout a bust, or can you adapt on the fly and get some productive training?   Good coaches encourage productive habits and routines. Teaching a lifter to approach the bar the same way every time, for example -- right hand, left hand, then right foot, left foot, take a big breath, brace hard, etc. -- promotes the repeatability of a movement and gives the lifter's mind something to focus on while executing a

Trent and Coach D return for round 4 of the series on lower back pain, wrapping up the topic with a meaty discussion about exercise for treating chronic low back pain as well as acute pain from injury.   As mentioned in previous episodes, it's very important to first get an accurate diagnosis to understand what you're dealing with before getting back to training. Hard neuro symptoms such as loss of motor function, drop foot, etc. are more serious and may require a different approach to treatment than chronic sciatica, for instance. The diagnosis helps identify the source of the pain, and provides some idea of the likely healing time of the tissues affected (muscle, tendons, bone).   Once an accurate diagnosis has been made, treatment should -- in most cases -- begin immediately. Rarely is rest the right answer, unless the athlete is dealing with a severe injury. At this point, the coach or medical provider should begin educating the athlete about the nature of their injury and some of the things they may expe

Coach D discusses a recent experience observing the "coaches" at a highly regarded (and premium priced) gym while training on the road. These coaches, while well-intentioned, often serve as little more than rep-counters and, essentially, babysitters for their clients, in the absence of a clear, logical training model, intelligent programming for their clients' goals, rigorous training, and plenty of experience of training themselves. So what makes a good coach? And what kind of qualities should you be looking for when you search for a coach?   Need a Coach? Starting Strength Online Coaching The Starting Strength Coach certification is the most rigorous in the world, and only the very best earn the credential. Visit our friends at Starting Strength Online Coaching to get paired with a top notch Starting Strength Coach who will coach you through all the barbell lifts and manage your programming on a daily basis. Use the discount code "40fit" at checkout to save $79 off your first month with SSOC.   Connect with

Coach D and Trent are back on the topic of back pain, this time tackling the treatment* of back pain. As discussed in previous episodes, many people experiencing back pain lack both strength in their back musculature and proper control over the motor patterns the back was designed to move through. Back pain can lead to nervous system changes in which the patient becomes hypersensitive to new sensations of pain, and it can lead to maladaptive behaviors, which in turn can lead to comorbidities. So, how do we pull someone out of this spiral?   Darin reaches for education first. Similar to how these back pain episodes are laid out, Darin first educates his patients about the anatomy and function of the spine, pain science, and the literature supporting the use of strength training for building muscle and regaining function. Next, he uses "exposure without danger" therapy to slowly and incrementally expose the person to greater range of motion and heavier loads. These steps help the person reframe their ideas abou

Competition is deeply woven into the fabric of our world. It drives the animal and plant kingdoms; it is the very beating heart of Nature. Removed as we are from physical competition in the modern world -- our survival needs long ago taken care of by industrialization -- it's easy to become disconnected from the essential drive to compete. Western culture, particularly American culture, complicates this urge by placing a high value on winning, often to such an extent that overshadows the merits of competition itself. For many Americans, the last physical competition they had occurred in high school sports, or perhaps college. Competition fades in adulthood, and often gets supplanted by a sedentary lifestyle.   As we outlined in earlier episodes, hard physical exertion is a necessary condition of life, whether we like it or not. We address this need through training, a logical process of stress, recovery, and adaptation to drive strength and conditioning gains. For many people, however, it is difficult to cont

In Part 2 of the back pain miniseries, Coach D and Trent discuss the science of pain. The traditional pain model describes pain as pain messages (nociception) delivered to the brain as a noxious stimulus in response to tissue damage. While this model works well to describe acute pain, such as smashing your fingers in the car door, it does not adequately explain the great number of people who experience pain without tissue damage or other pathology. Likewise it fails to explain people with tissue damage who do not experience any pain. The emerging biopsychosocial model of pain, which describes pain as not only a physical experience but an emotional one, attempts to reconcile these gaps. While our understanding of pain is still developing, it is clear that pain is a complex experience.      Articles Referenced During the Episode Back Pain and Back Strength by Mark Rippetoe The Vertebral Column (Spine) on Wikipedia In the spine or in the brain? Recent advances in pain neuroscience applied in the intervention fo

In Part 1 of a new miniseries on lower back pain, Coach D and Trent dive into the causes, treatment, and prevention of back pain, the most common form of pain reported by patients and trainees. First, however, they lay down the foundation for understanding back pain: the anatomy and function of the spine and the musculature and connective tissue of the trunk.   Simply put, the spine functions in two ways. First, it rotates, twists, and flexes to allow us to move and perform everyday functions and interact with our world. Generally these movements are performed with light weights, if any, and they constitute the majority of our use of the spine. Secondly, the spine can act as a rigid lever to allow us to transmit force from the powerful muscle groups in our posterior chain (the hips) through our hands; think about a lineman driving his opponent off the line of scrimmage, or a powerlifter performing a low bar back squat. In this case, with the help of the spinal erectors and other musculature of the back, the s

There's a saying that goes "I'll sleep when I'm dead." Well if you don't sleep, you might be dead sooner than you like! We all know intuitively that sleep is very important, and this intuition has been reinforced by the volumes of data coming out of the science community emphasizing the importance of good quantity and quality of sleep. Yet so many of us struggle to sleep well, especially as we age. Coach D offers some tips for improving your sleep habits.   Here's a few interesting statistics according to the NIH: At least 40 million Americans have a chronic sleep disorder 20 million more have trouble sleeping Additionally, people with chronic sleep disorders have a: 15% decrease in testosterone 20% increase in driving accidents 30% increased risk of obesity 45% increased risk of heart attacks 2.5x increased risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome The exact numbers vary by study, but in general humans should get: Adults: 7-9hrs sleep/day Teens: 9-11hrs Children: 11-15hrs Darin's French Bulldog Dozer: 20+

Last week Coach D discussed the signs and symptoms of overtraining. Today he talks about strategies for preventing overtraining and treating it when it does happen.   Nutrition - this is one area that blocks the progress of many novice trainees. Your eating habits need to support your training. First and foremost, make sure you are getting enough protein. For most men, this is going to be at least 200g per day, and for most women 150g a day. The majority of that protein should be from animal sources. Secondly, don't ignore carbohydrates! As you advance in your training, you will need adequate stores of glycogen to complete heavy strength training and HIIT sessions, and skimping on carbs will impair your performance. How much carbohydrate an athlete needs will be specific to the individual, but most of them will require moderate to high carbohydrate levels. Sleep - sleep is the body's time to repair, remodel, and build new tissues, and thus it is a critical component to the recovery process. You can't short y

In the first ten episodes -- the "Foundations" series - we discussed the Stress Recovery Adaptation cycle, a simple yet powerful model that describes how organisms, including ourselves, adapt to stressors in their environment. It also helps us understand how we go about creating the change we want in our bodies. There must be a stress, that stress must be specific to the desired adaptation (i.e. you have to pick up heavy weights to get stronger), and recovery must be sufficient or else the organism gets injured or dies. The SRA cycle is the heart of any systematic, intelligent approach to programming.   While the model is simple, real life, unfortunately, is not. Despite our best intentions, the Stress and Recovery factors don't always balance, and when one or the other gets out of whack, overtraining can occur. The word "overtraining" has been a hot topic in training circles for a while now, and it's definition is still debated. Is overtraining really over-"training" (too much stress) or is merely "under-rec

Continuing from Episode 23, Dr. Steve Lawson recounts his harrowing tale of contracting cerebral malaria while on a mission in Nigeria, then falling ill a few days later in the middle of Siberia on another mission. In Part 2, Steve describes how weak and frail he had become following the sickness, and the utter helplessness he experienced as a result.   As a pastor, Steve had often preached about helplessness, losing faith in God and leaning on others for faith. After one particularly bad fall in the hospital during his convalescence, however, he realized he had never really lived these lessons. He found himself truly vulnerable for the first time, and that vulnerability ultimately strengthened his faith, having watched his family and the global community they contacted pull together for his recovery. Steve also credits his wife as the "human hero" of the story (after God), as she also fought with losing faith while Steve was in a coma.   After returning home to the States, Steve began physical therapy doing

Coach D invites Dr. Steve Lawson back on the podcast to recount his death-defying journey to Siberia and back. While on a mission to Nigeria, Dr. Lawson contracted cerebral malaria -- a particularly deadly expression of the disease -- however his symptoms did not manifest until arriving in Siberia a few days later. At this point he quickly descended into a coma, stuck in an under-equipped hospital in Siberia with only his wife and a fellow Russian pastor... neither of whom were allowed to visit him directly.   Most people die within a few days of contracting cerebral malaria sans treatment. Despite the incredible odds, Steve managed to survive for several days longer than that, without the proper medication for treating the disease. He survived long enough for a specialized tropical disease medical team to fly in from France and airlift him to an appropriate facility where he could recover.   Today Dr. Lawson is still recovering from his ordeal, using the barbell to strengthen his body. He credits his miracul