Peak Physique

Piriformis can wreak havoc on your lower back. The piriformis is a small but powerful muscle that stabilizes your hip and helps with movement. When it’s tight or overactive, it can compress the sciatic nerve or create imbalances in your pelvis, leading to unnecessary stress on your lower back. But tight piriformis are only part of the puzzle. The root cause for your lower back problem often lies in poor posture, imbalanced muscle activation, and other improper movement patterns that overload the spine. I am currently offering a free 7 day trial to help you release your tight piriformis and fix lower back for good. Comment “Align” below to get started! #piriformissyndrome #lowbackpainrelief #lowbackpain #lowbackexercises #hippainrelief

See the 5 minute action in the post below this

What is often the hardest part of a fitness program? Getting started. All kinds of obstacles may seem to stand in your way - no time, no energy, too much fat to lose, to skinny, not sure what all to do. OK, let's start by making things simple. The 5 minute rule. Every day do something for 5 minutes that in some way gets you moving towards your goal. That could be almost anything you can think of:
Cut up some veggies for a snack later
Make a healthy grocery list
Go for a walk up the block and back
Foam roll
stretch some tight muscles

The point is it doesn't matter what you do, just do something. Too simple to make a difference? Well, how is hard and complicated working out for you?
C'mon, get started. It's only 5 minutes.

Does coffee make you live longer? Short answer - YES
Background: Coffee contains not just caffeine but also many polyphenols (such as diterpenes and chlorogenic acids) that may have a synergistic effect on health outcomes and all-cause mortality. However, while some studies associated coffee intake with a reduction in health risk, the literature is inconsistent. Does coffee help you live longer?

Compared to no coffee, ≤1 cup/day was associated with a 27% lower risk of all-cause mortality, whereas >1 cup/day was associated with a 44% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 59% lower risk of cancer mortality. No association was found with cardiovascular mortality.

Compared to no coffee, caffeinated coffee was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (−34% at 12 years, −41% at 18 years). No association was found for decaffeinated coffee.

Note: The results of the present study are consistent with those of previous meta-analyses indicating that coffee drinkers tend to live longer than nondrinkers.

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What is the first step and probably the most important step you can take in your fitness journey? Deciding on your goal. Folks, getting in shape is NOT a goal - round is a shape. Losing 20 lbs of fat, gaining 10 lbs of muscle, or something else you can measure is a goal. Once you have the goal then you can decide on the best approach to reach that goal. I have been asked way too many times - "Is this a good routine?" I have to ask, "Good for what?" A great routine to build your bench is not a good routine to increase size in your thighs. A routine that might be good for bodybuilding probably is not good for football. Having a workout to lose fat while wanting to get stronger is not wise. Decide what you want, then you can decide the steps you need to take.

Lifting is something FOR LIFE! Here’s a story that explains.

Imagine in your head, two friends that are relatively the same body weight, height and age. Friend X could perform a 1RM (repetition-maximum) of 135 pounds. Friend Y could perform a 1RM of 405 pounds. The logical (and correct) thought would be that Friend Y would be less prone to injuries.

Friend Y could do yard work, work a full time desk job, and partake in a weekend kickball game without pain. When Friend X tried to do the same activities, he ran into trouble. I’m going to ruin the surprise for you and tell you that X eventually developed back pain an overuse knee pain. Why did this happen???

Muscles have a certain capacity to perform work. The larger the capacity, the more reserve they have. Let’s use the biceps as an example. Let’s say your best bicep curl is 100 pounds for 1 RM. If your biceps performed 5 pound curls every minute for 8 hours, it could probably hold out and last. However, what would happen if your best bicep curl was only 20 pounds for 1 RM. Your poor biceps are not going to be able to sustain lifting 5 pounds every minute for 8 hours. Eventually you potentially develop tendonitis, DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) or even rhabdomyolysis. They may have to amputate the arms because you just killed it too hard with curls (just kidding!).

Now, let’s switch out the biceps for the muscles used during a squat, deadlift or clean (basically all of the body working together). If your muscles can sustain and lift a heavier 1RM, your body will certainly be more resilient to injuries. Standing up and sitting down would be an easier task if you had strong squat muscles. Navigating stairs or going on long walks/hikes wouldn’t be such an issue with strong legs/core.

The point I’m trying to make and get across is that you should lift for life! Exercise is the best medicine - Think of lifting as a necessary nutrient in your life.

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A quick tip. Many (most?) people have no idea how much they eat. People that are trying to lose weight almost always underestimate how much they eat, while those trying to gain weight usually overestimate how much they eat. You often hear the advice to keep a food journal. I say, take a picture of EVERYTHING you eat or drink (water and black coffee are exceptions). Having a visual pic of not only what you eat, but how much, might be an eye opener for many.

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A study of over 3600 elderly people found that muscle mass was a much better indicator of a longer life span than a moderate BMI. Dr's often measure BMI (body mass index) and if it's too high will often tell patients to shed some pounds. But a focus on weight loss may be misplaced because BMI is not a very good predictor of life span. Muscle mass meant a better chance of living longer. This is only correlation, not cause and effect, at least for now. One of the study's authors though said he thought the takeaway was, "Get up and start moving. Focus on doing more resistance training, and stop worrying so much about weight and calories." This study was published The American Journal of Medicine.

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My opinion on Personal Trainers and their role in helping clients may be slightly different than many other trainers. Too many trainers, in my opinion, seem to be little more than cheerleaders for their clients, working only to boost motivation. Motivation is important, for without that maintaining a routine probably won't happen. But this same motivation can be a bad thing. I think that a greater understanding of anatomy and kinesiology should be acquired Before motivation becomes the driving factor. In other words, learn how to do the exercises correctly, what muscles are worked in the exercise and how to slightly modify them for each client before getting the client excited to do the exercise. I've seen trainers load a squat, when the client was unable to do a bodyweight squat correctly. Why? I believe it's because either the client or the trainer was too excited to take the time to perfect the exercise before adding load. In cases like this, motivation can definitely be a bad thing. Also, trainers use a client's motivation to have them doing routines that are too advanced - either too long, too hard, or both. The goal should never be to exhaust the client or to make the client sore. The Only goal is to get the client better. Only a limited amount of knowledge is required to become a Personal Trainer. For instance (if I'm remembering correctly) less than 40 hours of course work is required to become a trainer under the NASM, which is considered a pretty good certification. This of course results in a pretty limited understanding of muscles, and the actions upon the musculoskeletal framework. If the trainer doesn't take it upon themselves to study, in depth, the science/art of kinesiology, anatomy and physiology, then of course it will limit the ability to build great routines for clients and help build their ultimate health.

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“The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.” John C. Maxwel