Never Break the (Posterior) Chain

So beyond the obvious Fleetwood Mac pop culture reference, why would this platitude mean much to you? The answer is the "posterior chain", which has become as much a part of the fitness lexicon as "WOD".  Everybody wants you to "strengthen the posterior chain" and that's about the end of it. But what, exactly, is the posterior chain? And why so much emphasis on it? 

From Wikipedia: "The posterior chain is a group of muscles on the posterior of the body. Examples of these muscles include the biceps femoris, gluteus maximus, erector spinae muscle group, trapezius, and posterior deltoids."  

Basically, this definition includes everything from your hamstrings to your neck, which is pretty much the entire "posterior" of your body. So, in terms of building muscle, movement patterns that engage the posterior chain are tremendously effective because they activate a large amount of muscle fibers. This also translates directly into rapid strength gains.  Multi-joint posterior chain movements are also efficient, because they take up far less time than training any of these muscle groups in isolation.  Take the deadlift, for example. It's multi-joint (hips and knees) and it engages every single muscle in the posterior chain. It also is perfectly suited for variation, overload and progression. You can deadlift with a straight bar, a hex bar, a sandbag, or a log you find in woods. It's obviously easy to overload, and progression is literally never ending because you can always get stronger in your posterior chain. Five sets of deadlifts once a week are sufficient stimulation to build strength and gain  lean muscle. 

Deadlifting is also as close to a "normal" activity as you'll find in the gym. Most of us don't lay on our back and push something heavy off our chests, unless we are a farmer and a cow or a bale of hay falls on us. You'll notice that nobody ever asks "How much ya deadlift?' because anybody that asks probably doesn't want to answer the question themselves. But everybody has to lift something heavy off the ground for their entire lives, including - perhaps - each other.  Tactical athletes like fireman base their entire resistance training around variations of the deadlift because it best simulates what they do in real life. That's called "specificity", and I think most of your training should be prioritized in a similar way.  

There are two, less commonly recognized advantages to deadlifting. First, the impact on the strength of your spinal erectors will prevent injury in a range of other movements. Second, if you're a man, lifting something heavy off the floor is the best way to release testosterone. So put that Nugenix away and pull some deadlifts. The release of testosterone will make you feel great and it will counteract the cortisol that gets released under stress, like when you have end-of-quarter financial challenges or major personnel actions to take. For me, personally, deadlifts are "erasers". When I'm over that bar nothing else matters but making that set count.  All other concerns are "erased". Don't we all need some that that from time to time?  

Be well, my friends. 

Bad-assery is not a SMART Way to Set Wellness Goals

"Bad-assery" is when a bunch of tatted-up dudes in black with skulls plastered all over themselves tell you how to do their latest "incinerator", "destroyer" or "brutal" workout. I don't know about you, but I don't interact with that type of person in my professional life, so why am I going to trust them with my wellness?

And what is the obsession with skulls, anyway?  The other day I saw a guy in a video swinging a kettlebell shaped like a skull. All I could think of was "Isn't the symbol for poison a skull?" Let's face it, all this skull stuff got popular after American Sniper, but I don't see how it relates to improving your wellness. In fact, I don't think any of this death star nonsense has any business in the fitness world because it encourages activities that are at cross purposes for making real progress.  In short, they don't encourage the use of SMART goals.

So do you remember the SMART goals? C'mon, at some point in your academic or professional career somebody trotted these out and made you learn them. I can almost guarantee that in some class you had to memorize these things for a test. Well, since my focus is on executive wellness, and we're executives, let's use this as a construct for proving that all of the "badass" stuff is irrelevant for the C-Suite Athlete.


SPECIFIC: The concept of specificity is important.  If your goal is to become a better golfer you don't train like a bodybuilder or Crossfit competitor. You do, however, have to train more in the transverse (rotational) plane, right?  I have NEVER seen a "brutal" workout be effective in this context. "Brutal Golf Workout"? Ask Tiger how that worked for him.

MEASURABLE:  I guarantee that all of you Type-As will be obsessing over your workout logs. That is, however, if you have programming that gives you the data to do so. Notice I said "programming". This means variation, overload, and progression, not "insanity".  You can't manage what you don't measure, and some, certain workouts currently in use are about movements, not progress. Progress doesn't mean pushing the limits of your physical

ACTION-ORIENTED: So why are you training, exactly?Candidly, I do it because it makes me different, and I feel physically superior to those who don't. Is that "bad-assery"? No, it's self-confidence, and the healthier and fitter you are the more self-confidence you will have. It will also help your professional career.  When people see you as fit and healthy they assume you have extra capacity to achieve.

REALISTIC:  The two most common reasons for a middle-aged person to engage with a wellness coach are (1) to modify body composition - either because they want to or they have been told to; and (2) because they have had a health-related incident or diagnosis that forces them to make lifestyle changes. Frankly, it doesn't matter. What does matter is the realization that the changes take time, are incremental, and get more difficult as you get older. "Incinerating" body fat by using a fad diet and going overboard with cardio is not realistic. You will never maintain it and it might make you unhealthy...and even kill you.  Here's what I tell people...at your age you will not become a professional athlete, a special operations commando, or an elite powerlifter, bodybuilder, or fitness competitor. So don't train like one. Train so you can be the "elite' version of YOU.

TIME BOUND: Why have I spent soooooo much time writing about programming cycles? Because I know that the C-Suite Athlete is a planner and an organizer. This is how you have achieved what you have achieved professionally. I'm doing the same thing with your wellness. I'm sure you have an annual plan for your business, department, or business unit, so I think you should also have an annual wellness plan.  You probably are incentivized for achieving the goals in your annual plan. The incentives for an annual wellness plan last a lifetime.

So I'll jump down off my soap box now and focus on what's important: helping you achieve your SMART goals.

Be well, my friends.