Globo gyms fitness trends to the coming year.

12/29/12

 My  training today:

Warm-up; Stretch bands, Indian Clubs, and joint mobility 2000 meter rowing,  burpees.

Barbell power cleans; Start with dead hang for a few sets, then 10 sets of 2 reps.

Dumbbell snatches sets of 3 reps 10 set. (love those single dumbbell snatches; a lot faster than Kettlebell snatches especially using Oly style bars.) Try them and you will like them!

Second session: WTF, its snowing so don’t want to venture out.

Ring rows:

GHD situps

30 min on heavy bag; with some gear.

 

Trends, fads and failures for 2013 in the fitness business.

            Each year a number fitness industry organizations list the annual new “trends” for the upcoming year. I still get all the major fitness trade journals to keep up with what is happening in an environment that I no longer involved in. Those journals support the “globo Gym” industry, and most exclusively chain clubs as well as the equipment manufactures that provide the club “machines”. ( Sorry folks, I am not a big fan of fitness machines) In looking at the trends, you may want to define trends vs fads. Trend in my vocabulary indicates a forward movement, while fads come on strong, and flame out quickly. Lastly no one wants to talk about failures as that is not good marketing.

 Note this will be a long Blog so if you don’t have the time, you will only see a small volume of my critique of those lists and my trends of where it is going.

            Of all the annual trends prognostications, is the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Trends for 2013 is the best and most professional by review over 3,000 trainers.  All the rest make lists but with little supporting validation as to how they made their decisions. Therefore, most of my review of the industry is based on their well defined work and a minor inclusion of my perspective.

            I believe that the many instructors, coaches, personal trainers from other organizations are really left out of all this edification of what trends are coming and what fell in disfavor with the fickle fitness public. I am sure that those who work the programs in the past were interviewed as to what in their opinion on future fitness activities in the “globo clubs”, but how can that be valid, when the floor people have a vested interest in maintaining those programs. An example would be “spinning”. As a trainer you spend time and money going to a Spinning certification, plus the recert programs so you can maintain your certifications. Then it’s the music and attire you must have to complete the promotion of your micro business. So when you ask a spinning instructor how it is going, he or she will always take a positive approach. You ask the gym owner the same question, and he will tell you the spin bikes are collecting dust and taking up space.

Failures:

            The prime element in defining fitness trends and fads is its failures. The industry never seems to critique its self very much other than lamenting that maybe the profits are down. As an example, how well was the TRX program introduced strongly this year and was it worth the time, space and equipment in terms of tangible results. You would have to be sleeping under a rock not to know there is an obesity problem in the country. Of all the health clubs, gyms and sport clubs, we as a country are not making any progress in taking off the pounds. On the other hand, it may be a little harsh to put all the blame in the fitness industry for not slimming down the nation, but they don’t seem to hit on a successful system as yet or have they and the public is not responding.

            Pilates and spinning are some of the big losers. High cost of these specialty programs that don’t fit in with the rest of the programming and with the economy in the toilet, these extra programs go by-by. People tend to follow the obsolete media lifestyles of celebs that go to the latest fad so the gym owner has to comply to keep his business. Don’t follow the fitness trends of the rich and famous as they are nothing but a bunch of flakes that have more money to burn on anything that captures their whimsical lifestyles.  

            I did not want to bash the gym business as means to provide a foundation for recreation and fitness for the general public. Most all chain gym and health clubs are a great environment to lean exercise and pursue a fitness program without having to purchase a lot of personal equipment. To me the list never seems to change much and it just given a fancy name for exercise.

The  projected trends for 2013 by the globo fitness world.

Educated, certified, and experienced fitness professionals

            That’s always at the top of the list as the organizations that put the list out certify those in the business. Yes, we always need  well educated employees but that should be basic function, not a trend! If you don’t have good people to manage, train your clients or customers, than you don’t belong in the business in the first place. Case closed!!!

Strength training:

            This should never be a trend in the first place as strength training is the foundation of all fitness. If you own a health or gym facility, and your program does not have a strong strength program as a basic foundation, then what to hell are you promoting? I know, give them a comfortable low grade fitness facility, wide screen TV, and Zumba classes and membership will come back year after year like lemmings to the sea.

Body weight training.

            Body weight training is what I use to call calisthenics or old school fitness methods. That sounds first-rate to me as I always used body weight exercise almost daily, however, what are the owners of the big fitness chains do with all the worthless machines if this trend really takes off? If I was a newbie to a gym or health club and did not want to throw weights around for my strength program, I would sign up for a local gym for a month or two, learn all the body weight exercises, quit the club and go to the local playground and do your thing. You could even start an outside group to meet to exercise. Cost; your time. Worse case is go to prison and there is always someone to show you how to exercise so no one takes you “lunch money. I have a few great books on body weight exercise like Convict condition, by Paul Wade, that can show you the body weight exercise in a safe progression and become fit and strong. It’s all good!

Children and Obesity programs.

            This sounds great and noble, but how are you going to pull this off as this is a real labor intensive mission to be an effective trend. Children scare me as a trainer, and if you don’t believe, just fuck up some one kid, then life as you know it, has ended.  Besides being a child, the kid is also a fat ass. If anyone expects you to liberate  30 to 75lbs of fat off Johnny or Mary’s asses, there is not enough marathons or body weight exercise to make a dent in a child  ( I am thinking a 100 burpees daily is a good start) Without life style change, I suggest you get another trainer.

            My suggestion, offer diet and nutrient programming to start as a service, then as the weight come off slowly introduce low grade fitness elements they are so good at and the parents should be happy. This surly a “special needs program” that even for a skilled coach would be challenged to work with, if you can find someone who will do this.

            Schools are a better fit for this program then the commercial fitness business, as they have all the professional personal to handle the physical, but manly the psychological aspects of growing youth. But don’t get me started on school physical ED programming!

Weight Loss Programs

            Weight Watchers and other weight management programs, which don’t even offer exercise, are much more successful than the gym business is getting clients to lose a lot of weight. This is not always a bad thing, as mental and social benefits sometime are more important than having an Adonis physique in the gym culture. Where the gyms are losing out is promoting sustainability once the weight is off……..maybe a partnership with the weight watchers?

            One example of gym weight management. A gym I was working out of had a great spin bike program. The instructors with their personality and programming kept a good following. Even non gym members joined this program as a separate fee. It was a winner for the gym owner.  However, I notice that none of the clients ever appeared to lose weight or gain muscle. However as a weigh lose program this was not successful but as physical-social activity, it was a winner to those who participated.  A young lady asked me off to the side, How come after months of spinning three times a week I only lost less than 5 lbs, what am I doing wrong? I asked her did she like the spinning program; she just loved the program. Then I told her not to stop something physical she liked but address her weight as a separate issue than the spinning. You see the spin instructor loved his ladies and rewarded his class with bagels and cream cheese two times a week as a comfort food reward for training hard. Therefore I enlighten her, that she can still lose weight and keep her spin program, if she just stopped eating the 400 plus calorie bagel each session and looked closely her nutrition program. You see what your lean- mean instructor is not telling you, the 30 min in the spin class will not ever burn off the calories in that bagel. Your instructor however stays slim by having  a calorie requirement of doing 2-3 classes a day , training in road racing, expends more calories than he or she can eat in one day. That is why he is thin. 

Weight loss is all about your food management and the fitness part is a very minor player unless you are a fitness freak or professional.

Fitness for older adults

            What age is being older? Is it 30,40,50,65, etc?  I have witness examples of 18 year olds that can’t do a single push up and 70 year olds that  deadlift 500 lbs. Let’s face it; the “globo” gym business is designed for the under 35year old clientele, don’t bullshit me!  Yet the primary focus now is on capturing the very large ageing “boomer generation” participation that has started a few years back, but it an abysmal failure . The primary reason seniors are not going to join the globo gyms is, they don’t ever feel welcome in an environments that makes youth as the primary client. Personal trainers would rather train a hot 25 year old than a crusty 65 year senior even though the senior will be a better client.  Forget-about-it! Globo gym owners; the seniors will not be saving you bacon!

            Senior woman will sometimes go into a “silver sneakers” program, but not men!  It’s too low grade of fitness and there is very little strength components in the program for being useful in helping seniors. Most personal trainers don’t like to be involved in “special Populations” clients as they are not profitable and very labor intensive.  A small group of men will join a “power lift club, or Crossfit box but stay  away from the globo gyms and opt for playing golf, cycling or swimming at a “Y” My advice for a senior male is to join a power lifting gym or make your own “box” setup where you will be welcome.

Personal training:

            This is a secondary income source for the globo gym business. If you are an independent contractor or work directly for the gym, it’s an extra income stream, just like the “juice bar”. The Personal trainer job title has been degraded so badly, that I have dropped the name I use and no longer provide fitness services as a general fitness trainer to anyone who contacts me. In my experience, the more I become selective as to clients the more successful I become. Of course you are not going to get rich that unless you as a trainer have a secondary income stream like the gyms. Here is the sad news;  the Occupational Handbook put out by the Bureau of labor Statistics, notes a job growth 24%, therefore we can look forward to 60,000 more personal trainers making money in a business with a high failure rate and turnover.  

            It’s too easy to become a so called personal trainer and any one can attend a weekend seminar, take a test, and get your certification. You never have to prove your ability to perform and have experience, to transfer the fitness skill sets you are promoting. Licensing may help as long as there is an approved apprenticeship and not just a new income stream for the government.  This goes for all type of sport specific fitness activities like Zumba, kettlebells, crossfit and spinning, where you get certified over a 2 day seminar and now you can “teach” others and make an income with just a few hours of training beyond those you are now training. It’s a big fucking joke! Only I am not laughing. Good coaches and trainers are usually ex-jocks, or military, who have a fitness experience in the trenches, but now want to show other what they did to be successful.

Functional fitness training:

            I was hoping this trend of functional training was going away as a separate process like ‘core” training. Functional fitness was a trend years back by adding exercise to equipment like stability and Bosu balls to enhance balance and kinestic sense. You can’t really develop strength by just exercising on ball that attempts to challenge your balance or the reverse. If these methods were great strength builders than the Navy SEALs would be using them. Those gentlemen are baddest people on the face of the earth and all they use in basic exercise movements in a real environment we live in. What to hell does doing squats on a bosu ball have to do with enhancing balance while walking down a flight of stairs. Balance is degraded by the aging so to improve the proprioception of balance you never put a client in a machine or chair to correct this aspect. The body is too complex and individual attributes of movement patterns require exercise in a national form, like body weight and, using natural equipment and training in real environment. Crossfit is one of the best programs for functional training, because they don’t really specialize in any one exercise and attempts to cover all modalities

Core training:

            WTF, Here we go again. I guess the media is the biggest problem, with fitness clubs and trainers having to come up with a program for the public, to develop “six pak abs”. Look at the sorry jerks of the Jersey Shore program. They all had “six pak abs” smoke, drink and do a few curls, with a hangover Sex sells…..you know.

            Core training or training the abdominal or mid- section; which includes all the stomach muscles and the back as well.  If you only focus on the abdominal area and not the posterior , you are probably looking at back problems. Separate program for core training is not necessary really all  because that should be part of a total exercise, nutrition and strength program. Here is where the Globo gym finds use for the Bosu balls, fit balls, and of course, wobble boards.     

            They did not mention TRX contraption, which I see in more gyms, or in my world, rings. Basically you are executing body weight exercise using one of these pieces of equipment which is not a bad thing at all, but once again, what are they going to do with all those expensive machines. You may just get that abs, but it not easy without a lot of hard ass busting training.

Group Exercise:

            Group exercise will never go away, mainly it is a second income stream and keep turn over down. Group training is actually not a bad thing as it is the main foundation of the Crossfit movement, which trends never mention either.  To compare the Globo gym group exercise model and Crossfit, the globo gym separate the members in a dance floor setting with little equipment and the Crossfit performs the exercise in the main floor gym using all the gym equipment.  Like I said, group exercise can be a great program, but it highly depends on a personal trainer or coach, with a good personality and skill sets to demonstrate the exercise.

            From the gym owners perspective it a positive income programming, less labor intensive. Its just good business. These programs can go from low grade Yoga to the “boot camp” in-you face exercise routines. If you want personal training in a globo gym it’s costly, but to save money, you can get a “small group” package and spread the cost to a few other members.

You may not agree with all this shit, but give it some thought when you signup to a club especially a long contract. Also the big chain gyms are now owned by holding companies that  focus on profit over the human element.

BEEP BEEP, that’s all folks!   

Ken

“The mission is sacred”

Zercher squats on the menu today

12/15/12

 My training today; Stretch bands, pushups, pullups. Also a 2 mile walk with a 40# Xvest.

Zercher Squat with fat bar 10 sets of 3 reps full depth.

Dumbbell clean and press 8 sets of 5

Heavy Dumbbell floor press 3 sets of 5 reps.

Later in the day;

2000 meter C2 rowing, 30 sec hard,30sec easy

20 min on heavy bag kicking and hands.

            Zercher squats was the brain child of Ed Zercher, who was one of the old time strongmen lifting era. Ed lived to 93 years old before passing away in the 90’s so it never slowed him down. The Zercher squat was ideal for those who did not have squat racks like myself and would have to deadlift the barbell to the quad area, squat down, rest the bar on the legs, to reposition the weight to the crock of the arm, then perform the squats. It looks like it’s painful and it can be with heavy weight. There is always some fucked up padding arrangement, which only complicates the lift position. Myself I found that the 2 or 3 inch “fat bar” is a little more forgiving then the oly bar diameter.

            The Zercher squat has found its home in the strongman training gyms with  some of the events requiring a weight in the crock in the arm arrangement. Like most lifters who use weights, I use this lift infrequently in place of the front squat, which are more quad dominate exercise . However, it is not a bad idea to do this a couple times a month for more core stabilization as well as great leg training even in low rep routines. Don’t be a pussy, try them!

"The mission is sacred"

winter training

12/10/12

 My training today:  2000 meter C2 rowing, Stretch bands, pushups

Up the rack; duel Kettlebell clean and press;

12kg,16,20,24,28kg sets of 5 reps( did one set with 32kg single.)

Barbell rowing: 225lbs set of 5 after each kb set.

Close grip: bench press with speed.  

GHD sit-ups 4 sets.

Training in cold

            I will never profess to be an expert on a lot of things fitness, but I know a plenty about training in cold weather. Other than my stint in the Navy in tropics or desert locations, I have always lived in NY State,  where there is lots snow and freezing weather. How cold was it? “Cold as a whore’s heart”.

            Months back I was reading an article in Starting Strength, by Bill Starr on his adventures of training in winter months. Bill Starr National class weight lifter and coach.  As he would say, made the “biggest strength advances in the heart of winter”, in primitive training environment, like an old barn. I agree with Mr. Starr 100% as I always looked forward to winter, not for cold ass weather, but for the opportunity to train my guts out without overheating sweating my ass off.

            I could afford to get inside when winter rears its ugly head and go to local Gold’s or “Planet Fatness”, but they don’t have any equipment I would ever use.(WTF I don’t use any machines) Therefore my gym mates and I either trained outside, in a garages, or unheated rented buildings like most power lifters do during the winter months.

            When I trained for running races years past, my best conditioning was in the spring when the season started. Those who did not run hard in the winter or not at all, took all spring to catch up. During my Korean karate days, it was normal to have no heated training hall or sometime outside.

             Now a days I have a steel building(crossfit style box) that has a heating system, but I never use it. When the system was activated, heat changed the dew point, and then in a short time, the steel barbells, Kettlebells, pull-up bars would sweat…… then rust. So I never give it a thought anymore that I even have a heating system.

            How to I keep warm when it 5 deg. Outside? Work you ass off, numb-nuts! There are however, a few items that makes the day more pleasant. For head (that did not sound right) is a beanie or skull cap, where heat liberates the most, and you can shed it as you over heat. Hands are a tough issue! I don’t like wearing gloves ever when lifting, but you have to pull back some to keep you hands from frostbite. Actually, if your hands sweat, they may stick to the very cold bar….no shit! I wear light painter gloves, for long duration Kettlebell lifts but leave them off if I am doing single lifts on the barbell with big globs of chalk.

            As for the rest of the body, that becomes a personal preference in winter attire. Normally some sweat pants and hoodie( you always look bad with a hoodie). Actually I only don light sweats and hoodie and  even that comes  off at times when you are overheating; so I am down to a tee shirt. Or there is “Under Armor” that kind of wicks away the sweat and keeps you warm.  Hell, when I ran years ago I only wore a hat, gloves, shorts and sun glasses (snow glare is a bitch on the eyes) and never had any adverse issues other than bleeding nipples. All most forget, a little extra in the crotch for the private areas.

            Only down sides with winter training, if you bicycle, the wind-chill factor can take ambient temperatures to new lows and makes protection a real challenge.  I never found a good foot protection that fits the bike and keeps me warm at the same time. The last thing is when you go for extended training sessions even in the gym, you will sweat even in below zero temps, so if you decrease your effort or stop for a time, the restart will not be pleasant. Matter of fact it will suck!

Ken

“The mission is sacred”