Weight Lifting Belts: The Gym-Goer's Crutch

For many, the weight lifting belt is an essential part of any workout. It seems to be a given that it's the tool that will allow individuals to push heavy loads while protecting their backs. Without the belt, injury can ensue and lifts become weaker. But yet, why do so many serious weight lifters still experience low back pain and injury?

Good Intentions

For the right reasons, weight lifting belts definitely have their place. The purpose of the belt is not, itself, to create stability of the spine. Rather, the compression around the abdomen is a trigger for users to breathe against it and increase the pressure of the abdomen; also known as the val salva maneuver. With the resistance to brace against, this pressure is increased significantly compared to when not using the belt.

On deciding when to use a belt, there are two main reasons. Firstly, when pushing maximal or near-maximal loads that place compression on the spine, such as when trying to break a new squatting record. Having the extra intra-abdominal pressure protecting the spine is going to be a valuable resource to prevent the risk of injury during this instances. The second reason is when training during back-injury recovery. When the strength and stability of your trunk are compromised, the protection turns from helpful to vital, in many cases.

Over-Reliance

Stuart McGill wrote an informative summary on the use of back belts. Most significantly, his research found that, in individuals who had never experienced a prior back injury, a belt did not provide any additional protective benefits.

In fact, based on a study done in the 90's, individuals who regularly trained with a belt had a slightly-increased risk of injury once they returned to their jobs following training. Why would this be?

Well, as I always seem to talk about, training core stability is a crucial aspect to spinal and overall health. Having the external assistance during your workout to help brace the core will, essentially, begin to remove the need for your core muscles to be strong at all. This being said, it makes sense that, if you're training every muscle group except for the core and allowing it to become weak, then you'll be at an increased risk of injury outside of the gym, once that protective brace is removed.

A personal observation that I've also made is that heavy belt use creates a trend toward chest-breathing. Yes, while lifting heavy loads, the belt cues you to brace and breathe into your abdomen. Once the lift is done, however, and you're resting between sets, you're no longer making any attempt to breathe against that resistance. Instead, you follow the path of least-resistance and start reverting to breathing through your chest. As I have quickly demonstrated in the past, chest-breathing does not constitute proper core stability. By becoming a chronic chest breather, you're essentially dooming yourself to an unstable core as well as upper back and neck dysfunction as a result of improper spinal mechanics.

A Physical and Mental Crutch

Can people really be overusing belts so much that their injury risk increase is really going to be so significant? Yes, yes they can. Back to the research, it's been observed that many gym-goers are wearing their belts during inappropriate situations, such as while lifting light loads or doing exercises that do not require trunk stability. Anecdotally, I can attest to this, as I regularly watch gym members still wearing their belts while doing bicep curls, bench press, and even walking on the treadmill.

This becomes a problem. Like any crutch, the more you use it when not necessary, the weaker and weaker you'll become in the areas you're trying to compensate for. Chronic lifting belt use is going to result is chronic core instability, and eventually, these individuals can lose the ability to do even submaximal lifts safely without that support. Furthermore, once they leave the gym and return to their daily lives of lifting boxes or doing yard work, their risk of injury has skyrocketed since they're bodies are no longer trained to self-protect their spines.

It's not as easy as simply telling people that they need to phase out the belts either, though. At this point, people will have also developed a mental reliance on the belts. For anyone who's experienced a bad injury before, think about how it felt when your cast was finally removed, you started walking without a crutch again, or you stopped getting your ankle taped for soccer. As soon as that protection is removed, it's stressful. Many people have difficulty leaving the protection phase (such as in cases of chronic ankle taping) due to fear of reinjury, and this is exactly what will occur when trying to remove - or even decrease - the use of weight lifting belts from many gym rats.

Solutions

The first solution to this problem is education for prevention. Individuals who are new to weightlifting should be encouraged to lift using their own muscular strength without any external assistance like this. Learning proper core stability is vital to learning how to exercise if we are to expect these people to train towards good health. Once people begin to push very heavy maximal loads, the belt may be used. However, caution must be used. I definitely do see proper use of the belt in the gym, which involves use of the belt during those maximal lifts only followed by immediate removal as soon as the exercise is completed - even when it's only a rest period between sets. Dysfunctional patterns cannot be encouraged, so the crutch must be removed as soon as it's no longer necessary.

In those who are already stuck in this loop, the only answer is, essentially, rehabilitation. Many people now have a significant muscular deficit that must now be retrained, not to mention the mental insecurity without the belt again. The crutch cannot simply be removed cold-turkey. It's a matter of restrengthening and stabilizing the core muscles gradually and training the proper muscular systems to fire during exercise. This means more submaximal loads without the belt, but care will need to be given to still allow use - albeit weened use - of the belt during heavy loads in order to not allow the person to lose their overall strength progress that they've worked so hard at over the years.

Closing

For those who have been training for years, these are hard concepts to accept, as their routines have revolved so heavily around these dysfunctional patterns for as long as they've known. (I'm challenging some "core" beliefs here, if you don't mind my awful sense of humour.) Both the research and the anecdotes speak for themselves, however. Traditional lifters are too-often prone to low-back pain and injury. Weekly chiropractor appointments become too common. Clearly, there's has been a problem. Lifters, are you willing to change?

Core Stability and Hip Hyperextension

I've been a runner for years, and in the most recent ones, I've done a ton of core training, to say the least. Ever since I learned, myself, of the importance of core stability, I threw it into my regular routine in order to optimize my running performance.

One thing that plagued me, however, was how I still remained prone to lower back pain while running long distances. Not all the time, but definitely often enough to be a bother. I couldn't understand it though; I was specifying my training in order to prevent this back discomfort. Why wasn't it working?

The solution eventually came to me. When doing exercises such as planks or deadbugs, the core is always being trained to stabilize the spine through the hip's range of motion from 0 - 90 degrees, and nothing more. However, when you jog, sprint, skate, or doing virtually anything else active, we are constantly exceeding those 90 degrees, with the hip moving into hyperextension during activity rather than stopping at 0.

It should start to piece together now. Understand that, since the core hasn't been, at all, trained to stabilize during those extra degrees of extension, the integrity of the support breaks down and allows the spine to deform and extend itself, resulting in low back pain.

Now that we have figured out the problem, please enjoy the solution!

5 Weight Training Tips for the Distance Runner

As an avid long-distance runner myself, it seems about time that I publish some tips for my own sport.

I was a competitive runner back in high school and then continued on to longer-distances during college and beyond. Back in high school, however, I was under the impression that to train to run, you only had to run. Boy, was I wrong. I plateaued in performance and was bogged down with knee injuries and shin splints. Nowadays, I wish that I had the advice that I offer you here now.

1) Stop Training Like a Bodybuilder

I see this issue in my younger athletes, primarily. While the most common advice for weight training in general is typically sets of 10 reps, usually for 3-4 sets, revolving those parameters around running training won't be ideal. Those rep ranges are reserved for beginners to weight-lifting or for individuals wanting to increase muscle size. For long-distance runners, size gains will be counterproductive.

Instead, focus on strength parameters (3-6 reps) to condition your muscles to be able to withstand high impact, and power (2-4 reps) to be able to generate those explosive forces required to propel you forward. Mix in endurance ranges (15-20+) for good measure, but know that more than the occasional set of these isn't necessary, as the running that you're still doing should be close to enough from an endurance perspective.

2) Target Your Glutes

The way that your body works is that all of the strongest muscles are located near the center while the assisting muscles branch out. That being said, the main muscles you need to be targeting for strength are your glutes. During walking and running gait, those butt muscles are meant to be the main drivers of hip extension. When the glutes becoming weak or inactive and the knees and calves take over, this results in overuse injuries. (ie: the knee issues and shin splints that I formerly mentioned.)

It's common to assume that glute work is going to consist of high-volume squats and lunges. In theory, yes. However, the glutes actually tend to be inactive in a large chunk of the population with people being unable to initiate proper contraction of them in the first place during these exercises. Thus, exercises such as glutes bridges and hip thrusters will be vital to isolate the area.

A fair number of people, still, will have an inability to fire their glutes properly during the bridge movement, with the hamstrings being the dominant muscle instead. (If you feel the contraction occurring at the back of your knees, then you fall into this category.) Here's a quick video tutorial on how to deactivate the hamstrings for optimal gluteal activation.

3) Isolate the Glutes and Hamstrings; Leave the Quads and Calves Alone

As I just stated, isolating the glutes is important as they are the main force drivers while you run. The hamstrings are a good idea to target by themselves as well, mainly due to the fact that they're often much weaker than the quads and can be prone to cramps and strains when not strengthened properly.

As for the quads and calves, leave them be. You're constantly targeting those guys during the every single compound lift and while running. (On an average day, you're doing between 10,000-30,000 calf raises already.) Apart from that, isolation exercises to those areas can actually be damaging. I already talked previously about how calf raises can result in imbalances and shin-splint issues. As for the quads, it's been shown without doubt that the compressive forces going through the knees are maximized during the range of motion used when you use the knee-extension machine at your gym. In other words, "Oww, my aching knees".

4) Remember the Little Guys

Straying away from the big muscles that we all like to look at the most (figuratively and literally), we also can never forget to neglect the little muscles that keep them together. Specifically, the lateral stabilizers of the hips. (Glute medius, minimus, piriformis, etc.) Without proper activation of these smaller muscle groups, the biomechanics of walking and running break down and result in secondary compensations and complications.

These muscles are most active during unilateral (or single-sided) exercises. This is important for when you realise that, when you run, only one foot is in contact with the ground at any given time. (Believe it or not!)

With that being said, exercises using a single-leg stance, or with alternating legs (ie: lunges) are going to be your friend. Like with the big glute muscles, however, you may need to think about isolating them if they are not activating properly. That takes us to more of the rehab realm, which I'll touch on another time.

5) Core!!!

Ahh, you thought that we were gonna get through a post without me mentioning the core. Keep dreaming.

During any type of running activity, there are high-volume stresses being placed on the spine. Whenever you swing your arms and legs, physics demands that your spine twist as a result. When you strike the ground with your foot, impact shock is travelling up your legs and into your back. When you push the ground away from you and extend your hip behind you, the spine wants to follow your hip movement and moves into repetitive hyperextension.

As you can guess, these stresses can wreak havoc on your back health and are the reason why so many runners struggle with lower-back pain. Thus, it's vital to train the core with isometric exercises that will prevent these deformities from occurring by stabilizing the trunk against these external stimuli.

What's more, having a strong core will also increase the strength of your strides!

Are these tips the secret to a gold medal in your city's next marathon? Of course not. But they're a tool to use and modify your training to help move yourself past a plateau and prevent injuries. I've gone through quite a bit of research as well as trial-and-error to come to these philosophies which, indeed, I'm sure some may argue. Minds constantly change, however, and I'm sure my methods of training will continue to change in the years to come.

The Shift To Health Shaming

The past decade has seen some interesting shifts. The media era created an "ideal" body image that has obviously been cause for mental and social problems that I don't even need to bother getting into. However, just this past decade or so, there's been a backlash against those who would condemn others for not looking ideal and beautiful. Body shaming has become the new social taboo, and now every time that a celebrity or athlete is photographed having gained some weight or lost their muscle mass, the public lights up and rallies to their defence against the scrutiny that's sure to come. As public awareness projects spring up to support realistic body types, it highlights this excellent and refreshing new trend, to say the least.

With the fight against body-shaming being in full-fling, a different trend has snuck up on us without much notice. Do any of these phrases sound familiar?

• I can't believe you're eating that. It has so much added sugar.
• Do you know how many preservatives are in there? That's so disgusting!
• How can you eat something with so many empty calories?
• Gross, what you're drinking is nothing but artificial flavouring!

Western society is making a transition of people now wanting to be overall healthier now, rather than solely looking a certain way. The beauty aspect will never disappear, but people are now less willing to damage themselves to attain it and strive to find a healthy balance. The problem we're seeing now, though, is the shaming of individuals for poor healthy practices and dietary habits from the few who feel that they have "perfected" their own. The girl at the gym who eats perfectly clean now looks down on her friend for eating a burger. The personal trainer scoffs because his client chose the wrong energy bar that has too much added sugar. It's not limited to food, either. Think of the person who's mocked for not going to the gym often enough. Or even doctors and other health clinicians who get caught in this, putting negative spins on what their patients are doing and creating excessive frustration and anxiety.

To anyone who took a psychology class in school, you'll recognize this as textbook negative reinforcement. The most frustrating examples of this that I see are when professionals start to use this tactic in order to generate business. If the personal trainer can make their client feel self-conscious about what they eat and how they exercise, or if the chiropractor can make his patient feel out of control of their own health, then repeat business is (allegedly) assured.

I asked my friend Alison Quinlan, a Mental Performance Consultan who has a Master's in sport psychology, for her input on this as well.

Although food shaming on the surface appears to be coming from a place of good intent, this type of negative labelling often has an adverse effect causing a person to feel ashamed, embarrassed or guilty about what they are eating. These negative emotions often lead to disordered eating habits that are becoming increasingly prevalent.

Negative comments towards ones’ eating habits is a counterintuitive approach to helping them make a change. “Subjective norms”, which refers to the beliefs and values that we perceive other people to have towards ourselves and our acceptable behaviours, plays a large role in our choices. If a person thinks that other people will criticize their choices but they don’t get to the root of why they are making that choice, this can lead to lying or hiding the choices oppose to openly talking about the reasons behind those particular choices. In a 2014 study examining the impact of feelings of guilt versus feelings of celebration in regards to food choices, Kuijer and Boyce (2014) found that feelings of guilt (when thinking about a typical “treat food” such as chocolate cake) were associated with more negative food patterns and less feelings of control in regards to food. Whereas, people who perceived the chocolate cake to be something special and to celebrate and enjoy, were found to eat less, have more control over food choices, and at one year have maintained a healthier weight. 

Instead of judging people for what they are eating or trying to impose a “has to be this way” mentality, there are a few alternative strategies that have shown to have success and result in more positive changes for eating habits. For example, understanding the person first and how they perceive what is a “healthy” or “non-healthy” approach can be helpful. The second step is to focus on pro-active steps that are within a person’s control to make a change. For example, it just may not be feasible for a person to completely revamp their diet in a week. Instead, starting with small changes that are within their control and the person agrees to will help empower the person to make that change. For example, “this week I am going to focus on having two servings of vegetables at each meal”. This is a proactive, clear step the person can incorporate in. Allowing a person who is trying to make a change a safe and supportive environment to share their challenges and perceptions will be the positive empowerment they need to actually start to create change. (Reference)

It's not a complicated concept to grasp. The reasons on why shaming is more derogatory than beneficial should be obvious. Why does it happen then? There are probably a multitude of reasons. Ego and insecurity, perhaps, or maybe simply an overzealous attempt to offer help. It's not really my place to determine those roots. Regardless, some self-reflection for both the followers and the professionals within the fitness and healthcare industries is vital in order to maintain good mental health among those seeking help.

Indeed, society will never be without it's members who hold themselves on pedestals, and this isn't an attempt to knock them down. However, the high-and-mighty attitudes that are becoming rampant need to be kept under control. The moral here is going to sound like an after-school special; negativity is not a good catalyst for change. Demonizing poor habits creates feelings of guilt, anxiety, and depression. Positive feedback helps promote positive changes.

Be kind, everyone.

Alison Quinlan is a Mental Performance Consultant, an avid athlete, and fitness enthusiast. You can find out more about on her website at http://www.kaizenmind.ca/ or follow her on Twitter.

I Asked A Physiotherapist How She And I Compare

Athletic Therapists are consistently compared to Physiotherapists, and we're constantly asked to describe the differences between us. I won't lie; I see a problem with asking one person alone to describe the gap. An AT will likely come off as prickly to try and measure up to the PT. A PT might view us as inexperienced clinicians of a young profession. So, in that case, I took the diplomatic approach and interviewed my friend Lisette, a Physiotherapist in Vancouver. Between an AT and PT, we broke it down.

-------------------------------

Me: Athletic Therapy is officially defined by Canadian Athletic Therapist's Association as follows:

"Certified Athletic Therapists are best known for their quick-thinking on-field emergency care of professional and elite athletes. The first to respond when someone gets hurt, they are experts at injury assessment and rehabilitation. It’s that same mix of on-site care and active rehabilitation skills that makes Athletic Therapists so effective in treating the musculoskeletal (muscles, bones, and joints) injuries of all Canadians, whether on the field or in the clinic.

Athletic therapists adhere to the Sports Medicine Model of care. They treat a wide range of patients, from kids with concussions to seniors recovering from hip replacement surgery, using various manual therapies, modalities, exercise prescription and even bracing and taping. The treatment varies but the objective doesn’t: an Athletic Therapist's goal is to help clients return to their usual activities, whether that means playing competitive sports or walking to the mailbox and back.

The five practice domains are as follows:

1. Prevention
2. Assessment
3. Intervention
4. Practice Management
5. Professional Responsibility"

More details can be found here: https://athletictherapy.org/en/about-athletic-therapy/scope-of-practice/

Can you please define your field of physiotherapy for me?

Lisette: To put it simply, Physiotherapy is a healthcare profession dedicated to working with people to identify and maximize their ability to move and function throughout their lifespan.

From our association websites, PABC and CPA, you can find more information:

http://bcphysio.org/content/what-physiotherapy

http://physiotherapy.ca/getmedia/e3f53048-d8e0-416b-9c9d-38277c0e6643/DoPEN(final).pdf.aspx

Me: The education process for Athletic Therapy is to complete a four-year Bachelor's Degree in Athletic Therapy (at which there are seven schools in Canada), which consists of extensive practical and hands-on instruction. We are then required to complete 1200 hours of practicum, and then attempt the national board exam to finally certify.

Could you  tell me about the education process of Physiotherapy? Please mention if there's any comparisons or contrasts you'd like to make.

Lisette: The education process within Canada is to complete a 2-year Masters degree in Physical Therapy, with most schools requiring slightly different admission criteria on top of an undergraduate degree. While it varies from school to school, most are looking at GPA of the last 2 years of your undergraduate degree that are 300- and 400- level courses, prerequisite courses, volunteer hours and professional references. Most have the McMaster University adapted “MMI”, or Multiple Mini Interview format, similar to that of medical school. The programs consist of theoretical and clinical components and we have separate national board written and clinical exams to pass in order to fully practice with no restrictions.

When it comes down to it, can you describe the differences between the two fields, firstly in the specific scope of practice, and secondly in terms of experience and focus of work.

Lisette: It is actually quite difficult to describe the differences between the two fields, at least from my perspective. The scope of physiotherapy is quite broad and encompasses several different and varied practice areas. I think the biggest overlap of a PT and an ATs scope of practice is with sport and orthopaedics, which a large portion of PTs work in, sometimes within the same clinics as ATs. As from our association website, physiotherapists are employed in multiple settings, not just in private clinics that many people are accustomed to:

Arthritis

Asthma

Back pain

Cancer

Cardiovascular Conditions (including post heart attack, 
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and pneumonia)

Cerebral palsy

Chronic Pain

Concussions

Critical Care

Dementia

Developmental Delay & An Array of Paediatric Conditions

Diabetes

Falls & Fractures

High Blood Pressure

Incontinence

Multiple Sclerosis

Neck Pain

Neurological Conditions (stroke, concussions, spinal injury, Parkinson’s disease),

Occupational Health

Oncology-Related Conditions (including lymphedema)

Osteoporosis

Pregnancy-related Incontinence

Rehabilitation

Vestibular Disorders (dizziness)

Just to name a few. :)

Taken from CPAs website, our scope of practice is as follows: The ‘foundation practice acts’ are in all provincial legislations and include assessment of neuro-musculoskeletal and cardio

respiratory systems, therapeutic exercise, electrotherapy, hydrotherapy, soft tissue techniques, manual therapy, wound management, and tracheal suctioning. The knowledge and skills required to perform these acts are taught in the entry-level physiotherapy curricula in all Canadian university programs and are included in the blueprint for the Physiotherapy Competency

Examination administered by the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators.

Other acts, such as spinal manipulation or dry needling (acupuncture) are within the profession’s authorized scope of practice but are not considered entry-level. They require additional education and training following graduation.

For more information, https://www.physiotherapy.ca/getmedia/e2541bbc-f95d-4d8b-b689-98365bc4abbd/Scope-of-Practice_EN.pdf.aspx

Me: Definitely, a physiotherapist’s scope of practice extends across a much more broad range than an AT’s, but as you said, there is a lot of overlap in our skillset when it comes to orthopedics, musculoskeletal rehab, and sport. If I were to just pull from your same list, my list would, of course, be shorter, but still encompass quite a range itself.

Arthritis

Back pain

Chronic Pain

Concussions

Critical Care

Falls & Fractures

Neck Pain

Neurological Conditions (stroke, concussions, spinal injury, Parkinson’s disease)

Occupational Health

Rehabilitation

We also have the addition of being the on-field specialists, as you said. On sports fields - and in labour fields and factories as well, in fact - we are trained professionals in quick on-site assessments, shorter-term injury care, and first responders in the events of emergency.

As well, if I dare to make a slight side-step, many AT’s receive full training as Exercise Physiologists as well. While we’re not all necessarily certified as such, and while the exact scope of our skills are different, we are known to be adept with chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and osteoporosis ourselves.

Also like a PT, ATs will further-specialize in specific sub-fields; simply within a smaller pool, but no-less skilled in them. We do have a wide-array of entry-level skills and techniques, but, like I’m sure is the case for you as well, the continued-education is endless if we so choose.

Can you provide an example or two of a type of client or situation that you would refer away to an AT?

As a physio, I firmly believe in client-centred care. To me, that means if a patient is better-served by a different practitioner, whether it be within the same profession or not, that is the most important thing. As I mentioned previously, I think that the scope of an AT falls within that of a physical therapist’s. From what I understand, the majority of an AT’s focus in school is sport and rehabilitation, as well as on-field assessment. When we graduate from physio school, we are entry-level PTs that are considered generalists. I would say that the majority of my classmates have gone on to orthopaedics, and some have started to specialize in sport rehabilitation. I think this is where the lines get quite blurry, because of the overlap in scope. I don’t think one or the other would be better or worse for a patient to be treated by, just as within the domain of physio there are different treatment styles, techniques and theories which seem to have all had success and have better success with some patients than others. Let’s put it this way: if I have a patient who is a basketball player and after trying some things, the patient did not seem to improve, I would consider referring him to either another PT that I knew could potentially be more successful, or another rehabilitation expert, such as an AT.

I often feel like, as an AT, I’m almost akin to a physio that fast-tracked a speciality. While I don’t receive any training when it comes to MS, cerebral palsy, or cancer, I graduated school with speciality-level skills in the orthopedic field immediately. I think a lot of people view us as less competent due to our fewer years of education than a Physio or Chiro, but it’s important to remember that there’s a tradeoff. Fewer years with a narrower, but more specialized scope of practice versus a longer program with a broader, but more general knowledge-base.

That isn’t to say that that, by default, makes me more qualified than a Physiotherapist when it comes to musculoskeletal conditions. If I know of a Physio with more experience with certain types of injuries than myself and I think that my client is better off with them, then of course, they’re referred on. On that note, while AT’s can safely treat orthopedic conditions of clients who also have other chronic diseases (MS, cancer, etc.), if those diseases are complicated to the point that they would start directly affecting my treatment process, then there isn’t a question of if I send them on or not.

-------------------------------

A quick interview for sure, but thanks so much, Lisette, for answering my questions. I hope that this sheds some light on the comparisons and contrasts between these two professions. My goal is to see Athletic Therapy as a well-known and widespread option available to everyone in the coming years. It helps if I can show people that we're more than just soccer team-tapers or a baby-profession that hasn't found its legs yet. At the same time, we're not here to replace Physiotherapists or discredit the amazing work that they do.

If nothing else, I also hope that this post triggers questions to be asked of Athletic Therapists. If you have one, please do not hesitate with it.

When Does Training Become (And Stop Being) Functional?

Functional training. Try defining it in your own words.

In my words, functional training is exercise that is specifically tailored towards replicating and optimising movement patterns. These movement patterns should be those that an individual uses on a daily basis or must use in the foreseeable future.

We typically think of two ends of the spectrum when it comes to training. The traditional and isolated end and the functional end.

The isolated training end is what most people picture when thinking about working out at the gym. Bicep curls and knee extensions, as well as the more compound movements such as squats and deadlifts. Whether you're training for size, performance, or rehabilitation, these types of exercises are vital to the process. Without targeting and isolating a single muscle or select group at a time, an individual's strength and progress will eventually plateau. However, the usefulness of isolated training will eventually run out as a person graduates towards needing a program that's more tailored for their specific performance goals. If we use the example of a baseball player who needs to be able to generate high-power for pitching, bicep curls and tricep dips will cease being useful after a certain point. Sure, the bodybuilder workout will help an athlete or a tradesman to gain size, but when it comes to needing to coordinate those strength benefits into specific, useful tasks, the transfer has its limits.

In contrast, we have the functional training end of that spectrum. This is when the exercises we do become more specific to the activities required of us at optimal capacity once we leave the gym. Athletes will need to eventually move to this side of things in their later off-season and rehab will consist of a lot of this in order to regain daily function. Even the average gym-goer should be working this type of training in to maintain their daily ability as they become stronger. If we speak in black-and-white terms, this type of training may consists of overhead pressing or carrying a load to simulate work, box jumps to train our muscular systems for sprinting, or rotational movements to teach core stability while swinging a baseball bat.

And that's where the thought process tends to stop. However, we often see an additional far-end of the spectrum when we're at the gym. For the purposes of this post, let's call it "complex movement"; although some of the more opinionated professionals may have less-polite names for it.

When we see people moving into this category, they'll almost always continue to call it "functional training". They're using a high number of multiple muscle groups to target balance and power in multiple planes of motion. The problem here is that, often, these people have now surpassed the realms of functional. That is, unless the individual is a Cirque de Soleil performer.

Gym-goers very often get carried away and assume that the more complicated an exercise is, the more functional it is for our daily ability. It's harder, so by default it must be better. There's a certain capacity in which that logic holds true, but it breaks down quite quickly once we add more and more complexity to the movements.

I once saw Stuart McGill, one of (if not the) world's leading experts on spinal health and rehabilitation put on a seminar. I had the eye-popping experience watching him, with his booming voice and towering demeanour, border on becoming angry at a physiotherapist in his audience; she had argued for the usefulness of standing clients on top of BOSU Balls.

"Tell me," he said, "how having a client balance on a BOSU would be productive to their recovery." No one could come up with a scientific answer. In his opinion, when we're trying to train a person's core to support the spine, removing their base of support beneath their feet is counterproductive.

To make the point more clear, when we talk about "daily function", are we normally required to balance on top of rounded surfaces while pressing weights? Do we usually need to stand ourselves on our hands? Should I hold a static pistol squat while passing a medicine ball back and forth with a partner? If you checked no to all of the above, then proceed with the essay question of: Then why are we training ourselves to do those things?

Inherently, these complex exercises are not damaging to an individual so long as they have been conditioned enough to do them safely. However, when we're selling people on the "functionality" of these exercises, whether it's being sold by a trainer, an athletic therapist, or a physio, we need to be careful of trading productivity for glamour. If there's a specific goal of exercise, then overdoing it with complex movements becomes more of a waste of time that simply looks cooler to do than is useful. If you need to train your balance, then external perturbations rather than unstable surfaces are what will more accurately simulate their needs. And if the shoulders need to be exceptionally stable, it's more likely for the purposes of open-chain movements such as throwing and climbing, rather than weight-bearing.

To sum up, more does not mean better. Isolation has it's necessary purpose, functionality has defined borders, and over-complicating movement does not equal health. As one of my brilliant college professors once stated, follow the KISS Principle.

Keep

It

Simple,

Stupid!

Foam Roller Syndrome

Foam roller syndrome. Don't Google it, I made the term up. It's basically the name I give to chronic, self-(mis)treated instability. Here's why...

Foam rollers, lacrosse balls, tennis balls, Tiger Tails - they're all great tools. Without a doubt, self-massage and myofascial release are incredibly useful for working out tension and restrictions in the body. When you have pain and soreness from either injury or exercise, the aid to get through the recovery process is invaluable.

However (there is always a "however"), like most things that pop up in the health and fitness industry, self-myofascial release is being treated as another magic bullet. Foam roll your back before every workout. Dig the lacrosse ball into your shoulder blade to improve your range. Massage your calves out every night to prevent injury. Familiar, right?

Here's the question, though. Is chronic use of these tools necessary? Should the typical individual, whether they're an athlete, gym rat, or average Joe, feel the need to work through their erectors routinely in order to remain comfortable?

My answer is: probably not. To explain, let me just point out that pain and tension are not a dysfunction. They are symptoms. They are indicative OF a dysfunction. A muscle being tight and sore is, itself, not the problem. It is tight and sore because of its need to compensate for the postural or mechanical faults that are occurring elsewhere in the body.

Let's use the most common example of back pain. Again and again, I see people on the foam roller for 15 minutes every day to work through the tension in their erectors. The excuse is that they're stressed, or were on their feet all day, or that the way they workout requires it. Sure, maybe these factors are exacerbating the condition, but why not ask why the condition is there in the first place? Is there instability that causes stress-triggered spasm? Does the improper weight-bearing position of your hips make you unable to stand for long periods? Are your muscles firing in an improper pattern while you lift weights?

Foam rolling dependence highlights a neglect on the mechanical errors that cause us these types of dysfunctions. Like biweekly trips to the chiropractor or daily painkiller medications, relying on self-massage is just another way of covering up the symptoms while not actually coming to a long-term solution. Rolling still has its place, especially when dealing with acute injury or exertional stress, but myofascial release belongs side-by-side with a program to retrain and educate the body's function. While strengthening the core, then of course, you should roll the back to fasciliate the adjustment toward proper movement patterns, and as the dysfunction is trained away, then the need for the foam roller should as well. If you've noticed yourself needing to use it chronically, then it's probably time to reevaluate what you're doing.

You can bail the boat all day, but you're still sinking until you patch the hole.