40fit Radio

Coach D discusses a recent experience observing the "coaches" at a highly regarded gym while training on the road. These coaches, though well-intentioned, often serve as little more than rep-counters and 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? Coach D gives his thoughts.

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 motor patterns. 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?

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, 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, overshadowing the value of competition itself.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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. Some of the key areas to manage are 1.) nutrition, 2.) sleep, 3.) mental health and psychological stress, and 4.) programming.

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. The SRA cycle is the heart of any systematic, intelligent approach to programming. But what happens when the SRA gets out of whack, and what can you do about it?

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.

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 pastor... neither of whom were allowed to visit him directly.

Journals aren't just for recording your feelz... they are a useful training tool too. Even in today's frenzied technology age, good old pen and paper are the best tools for logging your training and developing a deeper understanding of how well your training is driving you toward your goals.

In the final installment of the Looking Good, Feeling Good miniseries, Coach D lays his case for training as the lynchpin of fitness, looks, and health. As we've made the case for many times, barbell training is the most efficient and complete method of training for achieving muscle mass, losing fat, and improving physical performance. In fact barbell training is, for general fitness purposes, a complete training modality in and of itself and can be improved upon for years.

In the second installment of the Looking Good, Feeling Good miniseries, Coach D takes a deep dive into diet and nutrition for better composition. We covered the basics of nutrition in broad strokes on Episode #6; today we dive deeper into what a diet should look like for achieving good body composition and athletic performance.

In the first part of a new miniseries on not just feeling good, but looking good, Coach D walks you through how to understand and improve your metabolism for better body composition.

If you've spent 5 minutes in a typical globo-gym like LA Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, etc., then you've seen it. Personal trainers guiding their clients through a series of single-joint exercises, abdominal exercises, and other isolation exercises. Endless rows of people on cardio equipment. Stick around long enough and you'll see the same people, doing the same things, at the same weight (or the same intensity), over and over again. We'll call the sum total of this activity "gym trickery," to be polite.