"Resolve" is a Verb.

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At this this most wonderful time of the year a lot of ink is spread all over the usual media outlets regarding how you can "keep" your "New Year's Resolutions (NYRs)". Of the Top 10 most common NYRs more than half are health and wellness related, which should not surpise anyone who has tried to find a 45 pound plate at the gym the first week of January. Recent data indicates that 88% of NYRs are not kept at all, and 45% are gvien up on within the first 30 days. That means that a whole bunch of unhealthy people stay unhealthy year after year.      I think I know why. 

Most people think of NYRs as a list on a sheet of paper. Maybe it's on your refrigerator, or your bathroom mirror, or your screen saver (I did that one year - it didn't work).  In the end, the word "resolution" becomes synomymous with "list". I think that it's because they are  both nouns that don't, in and of themselves, describe any action  How many of you make a to-do list every day and then re-prioritize it so you avoid either (a) the hardest thing on your list; or (b) the one that makes you actually get up and move away from that protective cocoon of your office space and venture out into the world?  This latter affiliction is only enhanced in the dark days ofwinter, where short days and bad weather can be a convenient excuse to re-write something like "work out" on "tomorrow's" list. Eventually, "tomorrow" becomes "never".

"Resolve", on the other hand, is a verb. When you "resolve" to do something, you are making an oath. You are publicly stating that you are commiting to do something. Saying  "I resolve to make daily  investments in my health, nutrition, and fitness" is a commitment.  It also lacks absolutes, and I suspect that people will criticize that as being "too subjective". But if you resolve to make those investments, you don't need a list, and you will create habits that will last forever. Here are the four things I suggest you resolve to do in 2018.

1. Get a physical exam. You can paint with whatever colors you want to once the canvas is prepared.  Don't assume that you're healthy, especially if you're over 50. Once you have the physical and learn exactly where you stand it will be liberating and serve as a catalyst for more wellness investments. 
2. Drink more water.  It doesn't matter how much more. Just make it more than you drink now. Is it a pint, a quart, or a gallon?  Who cares. 
3. Track what you eat. As an executive, you have probably said "You can't manage what you don't measure" about 10,000 times. Go to the App Store, search for MyMacros+ , pay the $2.95 and start using it.  Changes in body compoisiton come from a combination of caloric and nutrient adjustments. Before you decide on a meal plan, determine where your starting point.  
4. Put a "fitness appointment" on your daily calendar.  People respect those who codify commitments. Make it a recurring appointment for the entire year so you see it every day. Over time you will build a force field around your workout time, which will give you more freedom to do more.  

That's it.  I can fill in the rest for you.  Just resolve to do those four things. What will happen is that you will realize how easy it is to make changes and then you can expand your wellness investments organically.  

I'd certainly appreciate the opportunity to coach you through the process and add a level of accountabilty as you resolve to increase your wellness investments  I can be reached directly at 407.717.1540, at 3Sigmawellness@gmail.com, on Twitter @3Sigmawellness, or Intstagram at 3Sigmawellness. 

The Winter Soltice: Things Are Looking Brighter!

In October the C-Suite Athlete suggested that the "Wellness New Year" starts on the day that Daylight Savings Time ends. This wasn't my opinion, this was science. Your body wants to store fat in the dark months of the year in order to create natural insulation against the cold. Well, unless you live in Florida, and then it's just dark. At any rate, matching up the amount of sunlight and warmth that is available with your wellness programming will certainly make it easier to achieve your goals.  Starting your strength phase at the same time as Daylight Losing Time starts will match up your programming with your natural circadian rhythm.  So as the days get gradually shorter, you should gradually ramp up the intensity on your strength training.

So this Wednesday is the Winter Solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. So where are you in your strength training program?  Are you ahead of schedule? Behind? Well, there's plenty of time to get back on track, just like there's time for the C-Suite Athlete to get back on track with regular posts so you'll have that voice in your head telling you to push through the dark days, the holidays, and - God forbid - your "New Year's resolutions".  From 12/20 on, each day will get longer and will give you more time to make your wellness investments. Embrace the grind...do the work...and be accountable to yourself for achieving your goals.

Breaking up the year into twelve week blocks will keep all of you Type As focused on achievement and progress. You know, like personal KPIs based on MBOs.

Stay well, my friends.

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.

Fitness Programming Part Two: The First Macrocycle - Building Strength NOT Testing Strength

A quick update: Daylight Losing Time (DLT) is only a little over a week away (11/5) so let's talk about the first of your four macrocycles for the year - November through January. This is going to be your "building strength" phase. So what does that mean, exactly? 

Most of the wise men in the fitness industry suggest that you spend your first macrocycle building muscle so you can support the strength phase. It's called the "hypertrophy" phase. Well, most of us in our age cohort remember our younger days where that's ALL we did. We got completely polluted by
Arnold and "Pumping Iron" and just wanted to get "swole".  So if I cut you loose on a "hypertrophy" phase I'll never be able to reel you back in. Strength training is also done in lower rep ranges, which means that the workouts are generally shorter and increasing more intense, which leads to greater strength gains. In my mind if you focus on getting stronger the body composition changes will follow, so I don't subscribe to the idea that you have to do a hypertrophy phase first.

If you haven't done any resistance training for a while you will be tempted to base everything on what you "used to do".  That's not reality.  At one point in my early 20s I could bench press 335 pounds at about a 205 pound body weight. That will never happen again. Never. And I dont't care. I'm not trying to keep up with my 20-year-old self because I'm comfortable with my 55-year-old self.  I just want to be the baddest 55-year-old I can be.

So what are we going to do in the first macrocycle? The first thing is to realize is that we are "building strength", not "testing strength". Overload and progression are the keys in this phase, with the emphasis on "progression". I suggest you select five multi-joint compound movements and then make this the basis of your resistance training during the "building strength" phase. So what are the movements? They are variations of the following movements, all with "two hands on the bar"
(1) Deadlift. The king of all strength builders
(2) Squat. The crown prince of strength builders.
(3) Bench Press. 
(4) Barbell Row
(5) Overhead Press

Notice that there are no curls, skull crushers. leg extensions, calf raises or any other bodybuilding exercises listed. That's because they are not core strength builders and I don't think they are useful in this phase. Also notice that I said "variations". Look, I understand that you've got aches and pains and some of them may actually be legit. I have had five knee surgeries, three herniated disks, and arthritis all over the place. So what? If it hurts, go to the doctor. You should not be limited by pain - or the fear of pain.  If you say "I can't squat because I have a bad knee", then get it fixed. If you say "I can't deadlift because I have a bad back", I would say it's because your core is weak. This is an investment in the rest of your life. Are you going to simply deteriorate without a fight?  I"m not, so I'm not scared of any strength movement.

I am a true believer in the 5X5 workout for beginners or those returning to training after a long layoff. Take a look at 5X5 Workout Overview for a primer on the subject. Why do I promote this? First of all, it's simple and easy to track progress.  Second, it's efficient.  You can knock this out easily in one hour, including warm-up and cool down. Finally, it allows you to progress gradually, but in a way that makes you feel like you are getting stronger every day.

In the next episode we'll set up a 5X5 program for the 12-week "building strength" phase that incorporates variation, overload and progression.

Be well, my friends. 

Fitness Programming Part One: It's almost Daylight Losing Time So Let's Ride the Metacycle!

Daylight Losing Time (DLT) is upon us and I thought I would take this time to talk about the basics of fitness programming. Now when you're studying for certifications there are - like in most subjects that are studied - a series of "foundational items".  You'll recall some of this from the slightly boring - but highly informational - tomes I have recently published on nutrition.  Fitness programming is no different, and one of the "foundational items" is "training cycles".  "Programming" is the fitness term for scheduling your workouts so you make longitudinal progress. Most people think of this as linear progress: "If I bench press 5 more pounds every week I'll  be bench pressing 260 more pounds by the end of the year".  Sorry, but it doesn't work that way.  What  really happens is that you build up your fitness level in stages over time, in a similar way to how you transform your body composition over time.  We fitness gurus are trained that there are three fitness "cycles" contained in a calendar year, and they roughly equate to how we keep time: a year, a month, and a day.  The "macrocycle" is traditionally the calendar year; the "mesocycle" is a month; and the "microcycle" is a week. But for me, the mesocycle is more like a quarter, so I have added a fourth term: the "metacycle".  So to summarize:

• Metacycle: Any twelve month period.  It doesn't have to be Jan-Dec. Think of it as your "fiscal" year.
• Macrocycle: This is like your "quarterly results". And we all know how much fun it is to do those Wall Street analyst calls, right?  But a quarter is a good time period to monitor progress.
• Mesocycle: A month. Why not just call it a month? If we did then we wouldn't have to pay all that money for certifications.
• Microcycle: A week.  Why "microcycle"? See "mesocycle", above.

So what's with the Daylight Losing Time, reference? Unbeknownst to you, your body adjusts to the seasons just like all mammals do. You put on extra weight in the winter to insulate your skeletal muscles and organs from the cold. This is likely when you will be the strongest each year. To me, that would coincide with the start of DLT, so think of your metacycle starting on the day DLT starts, which would be November 5th this year.  Similarly, your body wants to shed fat in the summer to keep your muscles and organs  cooler. So don't fight it!  Set up your program to accommodate what your body wants to do. Something like this:

• Metacycle: November - October. This is your "fiscal year". All of your results should be based on this calendar year.
• Macrocycles: November - January (Build Strength). February - April (Build Power). May - July (Build Endurance).  August-October (Build Muscle Density). These would be your quarterly results that you report to "the street"
• Mesocycles: Each of the twelve months of the year. The monthly "close" that the CFO drives you crazy about as is rolls up to the annual projections.
• Microcycles: Each of the 52 weeks of the year. Those weekly status reports are a pain, but you have to admit that they keep you on track.

How we treat each of these cycles will depend on your "training age", which is basically how much training you have done and what limitations you may have.  More to come in part two.

In the meantime, please follow me on Twitter @3Sigmawellness and Instagram at 3Sigmawellness. 
I am beginning to pick up some online coaching clients and would love to help you achieve your goals. I am 100% discreet and honor the coach-client privilege - and HIPAA - as it pertains to health information.

Be well my friends. 

Blue Chip Strength Investments: A Tale of Two "Cores"

Never in the course of human endeavor has a term been more misused than "the core" as it pertains to personal wellness. For about 80% of you C-Suite Athletes, "the core" means the muscles in the front of your stomach, which for some of you means looking at Gray's Anatomy because you haven't seen your own in 30+ years. However, that definition would be mostly incorrect.  In fact, what you are referring to in that instance would be your "abdominals", which are a muscle group that make up a part of your "muscular core". Your obliques, the other most readily identified part of the core, are a separate group, as are your spinal erectors, your serratus anterior, and even your lats.  The primary function of the "muscular core" is to support and stabilize your spine. That's it.

Now the other "core" is not a muscle group at all. It refers to the basic exercises around which every successful strength program is built.  The requirements for a "core exercise" are simple: it must utilize multiple joints, use a two-handed grip on a barbell or other implement- or use bodyweight, and have a closed kinetic chain (NERD ALERT....NERD ALERT).  A "closed kinetic chain" means you have both feet on the ground.   So...with that in mind, how many core exercises are there?  Let's see...Squat, check...Deadlift, check...Clean, check...Snatch, check...Overhead Press, check...Bench Press...ummm...ok, check. Not many.  Now, take away those that will absolutely cause injury in the C-Suite crowd:  Snatch, double-check...Clean, check.  I removed the last two immediately because they are very technical movements that are ballistic; they require a sudden expression of power that can dangerous if not executed perfectly  So here is a declarative statement: I will never include cleans or snatches in a resistance training program for any C-Suite client.  If that's your thing, go do Crossfit. Then call me when you have your rotator cuff surgery. And note that there are no curls, EZ curls, dumbbell curls, cable curls, or curls of any kind.  You don't need them. Ever.

So what are we left with for the core?  Deadlift, Squat, Overhead Press, and Bench Press. Man does that sound boring, right?  OK, you can skip the bench press, too. "Oh, my God...this guy is disgracing the whole bodybuilding and powerlifting canon". That's because you should train like an athlete and not a bodybuilder or a power lifter.  Remember the first "core" above? You know, the muscle groups that support your spine? Well, guess what muscle groups are trained by all three core exercises? Yep, the "core".  "But, dude, what about my back? My knees? My shoulder?" Please note, again, that you are not a bodybuilder, so the intensity used will build your strength, not TEST your strength. 

Now please note that I did not say anything about the "core" exercises being the entirety of a strength training program, just the centerpieces around which the rest is built. Remember, your wellness program is a series of time investments and the core exercises are the blue chips. We will talk about the mid- and small-caps later, but you can go to the bank with deadlifts, squats, and overhead presses. They use the most total muscle mass and the largest muscle groups, which build lean muscle most efficiently. Recall that more muscle mass means a higher resting metabolic rate and more space for glycogen, which means more calories burned and less carbohydrate stored as adipose fat.

Next time we will fill in some of the blanks on programming and begin to put some of the pieces together.

Stay well, my friends.