Oh no, not more bad news. You guys are going to hate
all of this reality therapy. I guess if you get sick of me …
I’ll keep on writing anyway.

I had a horrific experience the other day. It was awful. Like
a bad movie playing over and over. For the first time in years,
I went to a regular gym and worked out.

I realized one thing. In spite of all the articles and books
people like Mark Verstegen and I have written, based on
what I saw, very few people have read them, or if they
did, they are clearly ignoring us.

I spent an hour exercising, and the painful truth is that in
the one hour I was in the gym, I did not see too many people
exercising correctly. I felt like I was in the gym in 1980.
Exercise after exercise done with no attention to detail or
technique.

There’s even a bigger problem. Gym-goers have fallen in
love with all the wrong exercises.

Let’s start with one basic concept:

If you work a desk job, the three worst exercises you can
do are bench presses, curls, and stationary cycling.

I know what you’re thinking. “But that’s my whole workout.”

Sadly, a lot of people go the gym, do a few sets of bench, a
few curls, and hop on the bike. What’s wrong with this?

The truth is that working all day in a seated position results
in short hip flexors, short pecs, and short biceps. This is due
to the posture adopted while seated. This is also why
Americans suffer from so much neck and back pain.

Just look at what comprises seated posture in front of a
computer. The hips are flexed, the arms are bent, and the
shoulders are forward. If you are going to the gym, your
objective should be to reverse the effects of hours of
seated posture not magnify it. Instead we go to the gym
and magnify the problem. Bench presses further shorten
pecs, curls reinforce the flexed arm position, and 30
minutes on the bike further shortens the hip flexors.

What we really need to do are exercises that strengthen
the muscles that keep our shoulders back, not the ones
that pull them forward. We need more rowing-type
exercises to strengthen the muscles that pull the shoulder
blades back, not more pressing to pull them forward.
Secondarily we need to stretch the hip flexors. Third we
need to make sure that all arm work is done through
the full range of motion to not reinforce adaptive
shortening. The forward head and rounded shoulders
that come with aging are not an accident. They are the
result of the way we live and work.

One of the goals of any exercise program should be
to reverse the effects of aging.

The fact is that most people are not going to stop bench
pressing, curling, or riding a stationary bike. With this
in mind, think rows and scapula-control exercises. Make
sure you do one rowing set for every set of bench press,
close-grip bench press, or incline press you do.
Get off the bike and start walking instead, or when you
finish your ride, spend time stretching out your hip flexors.

The real key is understanding that the muscles you can’t
see in the mirror (the ones in the back) are the ones
responsible for making sure that you don’t end up looking
like grandma or grandpa.   

Regards,

Mike Boyle
http://www.FunctionalStrengthCoach3.com

Why is it different now from then?

 If you are like most people you have searched and searched for an identity for yourself.  The question is why due you search for an identity when you already have one. 

 Now you might not understand what this means so lets take a look. 

 Do you watch things on TV, read articles and listen to music and think I need to be more like that.  If so you are on the right track to finding yourself but the one place you aren’t looking is at yourself.

 While you take in all of this external stimulus and try to piece together your own identity you are overlooking the qualities that make you and always have made you.

 To find your identity you need to take a deep look inside and find the characteristics which stand out for you.  While searching for these characteristics just think of what friends say you are and make a list. For example, if you are outspoken, if you are quit and so forth.  By doing this you have found your identity at the present time.

 Now comes the hard part, use them to your advantage.  What this means is be proud of who you are and the traits you possess.  If you are proud of who you are and the traits you possess your confidence will go up and you will begin to believe in what you are trying to accomplish. 

 By showing the new found confidence in who you are you won’t make everyone happy and might actually offend the occasional person.  Offending people is going to happen but as long as you are you then who cares, you are the only person you need to answer to, besides more times than not if you are yourself people are going to appreciate your views and opinion more.

 So take some action find your personality traits and use them to your advantage. 

To your Success

 Blaine