Most of you know this about me- few things piss me off more than stupid people. Within this category, there’s a subtype that bothers me even more- stupidity in training and the fitness industry.

Most of you also know that I became a coach and got involved in the fitness industry relatively late in my life; most of my adult life has been devoted to becoming a doctor, then becoming an anesthesiologist, father, husband, etc. That being said, I like to think I’m a fast learner, and I do my homework. I am ravenous in increasing my understanding of physical fitness and training, and I try to learn something new about these endeavors on a daily basis. Call it self-improvement. Anyways, although I haven’t been a coach for very long with each passing day I think I can speak more intelligently on the subject, and I realize more and more that there is A TON OF STUPID CRAP IN THE FITNESS INDUSTRY.

As an aside, I would have liked to title this post “Silly Bullshit” but unfortunately Coach Mark Rippetoe beat me to it. Coach Rip has forgotten more about weight training than most of us will ever know, and is a somewhat cantankerous Texan who always speaks his mind. Suffice to say he is hilarious, and the man knows what he’s talking about. Read his article here.

Here’s my (at the moment) top 5 list of stupid concepts, ideas, and movements in training-

5. Bosu Balls

GOOD GOD PEOPLE. Use your head. These balls are supposed to “improve your balance”, “train your core”, and are regularly associated with “functional training”. Let’s start with the balance aspect. Sure, standing on a bosu ball is hard. I’m sure with practice your balance would improve by a bit. But you could make the same comments about standing up on a canoe, or hopping on one foot, or doing pistols. How many of you still can’t do pistols? Maybe, just maybe, your balance has something to do with that. I would argue practicing pistols or some other movement that isn’t so frickin’ stupid as using a bosu ball would confer much greater benefit to your fitness.

“Train your core”? I don’t even know what this means. Core or midline stability is defined as being able to control and generate/transmit power through your trunk. You know, doing things like sit ups, L sits, deadlifts, squats… like we do every day at CrossFit Elysium. The only actual reasonable use of a bosu ball that I’ve seen is for people to do sit ups or back extensions on them when they were INCAPABLE of doing those movements on their own (the ball acts as an assist device). So yes, I suppose if you’re too weak to do a sit up, or squat/deadlift the empty bar, then the bosu ball may have some value.
 

“Functional training”- sure, because standing on an artificially wobbly and unstable surface REALLY mimics the challenges you’ll face in real life. Give me a break. The worst offenses occur when “trainers” do anything with weights combined with a bosu ball. Lifting weights is done most optimally with, and almost by definition requires a stable surface to lift from- that’s why things like lifting platforms and squat shoes exist. It’s also why we don’t deadlift on rowboats. So let’s combine a modality that demands stability and then place it on an unstable surface- GENIUS! You should insta-run from any charlatan who uses this in their training, or alternatively you could mock them relentlessly. Either is fine.

4. Stupid devices and implements.

A new one of these comes out every two weeks or so. This would include things like that shaky-masturbation thingy, the elevation mask, and so on. Read a good review of elevation masks here. Oh, and the machines at your local globo-gym would fall right into this category. Let’s rename the category “things that we can sell for a huge markup, that won’t get you results, but we can market them like they’re the magic bullet you’re looking for so you’ll buy them”.

How many commercials have you seen for some random home-gym contraption that’s supposed to make you “shredded” in weeks? There are some ripped models using the device, all oiled-up, photoshopped and ready to go. Now, here’s the question- have you EVER met someone who used those devices and ended up looking REMOTELY like that? Have you ever met someone using the machines at the local globo-gym that actually look like they’re in shape and can play sports?

I gotta hand it to the people that can invent and market those devices though. They are better entrepreneurs than I am. Hell, I wish I invented that shaky-jackoff-thingy. I’d already be rich and could retire and train with non-shaky-jackoff-thingies every day (you know, barbells).

3. People who say squatting is bad for the knees.

I’m not talking about the layperson saying this. I can understand if they make a statement like this, because they don’t know any better and the media at large has taught them this. I’m talking about the moron trainers/media “experts”/doctors out there that are supposed to be dispensing useful information. Kill them all now. Here’s the deal- again, USE YOUR HEAD! All else being equal, whose joints are more stable- the person who can back squat 500lbs, or the bosu ball- training weakling who doesn’t squat? Whose musculature and ligaments are stronger? It seems to me that the person who can squat 500lbs has some pretty damn strong knees. If both people stopped squatting today, 30 years from now the former squatter will have less-strong knees. The person who never squatted WON’T BE ABLE TO WALK WITHOUT A WALKER. Or they might be dead, because squatting cures everything.

You know what’s bad for the knees? Not using them. Or doing squats improperly (e.g., using more weight than you can handle, doing high squats, doing “stupid crap”).

Gosh! Half-squats with 2lb dumbbells! Sign me up! 

2. People who dispense information despite having no useful knowledge or experience with the subject.

This is a broader example of the witch doctor/fitness “expert”/media idiot reference above. If you are going to talk about something as if you know about it, and you KNOW NOTHING, be prepared to eat your words. If I need surgery, I go to a surgeon. If I need my car fixed, I go to an auto mechanic. The one thing I do NOT do is go to an MD for exercise advice, when they have ZERO formal training on the subject. I am an MD and yet I am making this statement about 99% of my peers- think about that. If I want advice about barbell training, you know who I go to? I go to the people that have been training their whole lives and have gotten results. I want someone who knows what it means to put a barbell on their back day, after day, after day, to give me advice.

This is just common sense. Want to learn about gymnastics? Go to a gymnastics coach. Opening the latest issue of Men’s Health will NOT be helpful. Unfortunately talk is cheap and everyone is allowed to have an opinion (despite the fact that most people’s opinions are worthless). Don’t even get me started on how easy it is to become a trainer- in most cases, a weekend certification is enough (tongue in cheek critique of CrossFit here, but hey, I’m confident most of you actually think I’m a good coach). So some high school drop out can literally take a course and then is “qualified” to put you on a bosu ball with 300lb on your back- yeah, have fun with that. A colleague of mine and Anne Shapiro’s recently started “training” with one of these idiots. She was inspired by Anne’s progress at CrossFit Elysium, and decided… to join a non-CrossFit gym and do whatever BS they shoveled her for 100$/hr. And guess what? Yep, she got injured. Now she blames ME AND ANNE for her injury, because we inspired her to workout! WHAT?! Why don’t you blame the moron who knows nothing, and had you flailing around with pink 2lb dumbbells doing moves I’ve never even heard of? Or, blame yourself for not using your head.

Coach P can’t stand being called a trainer, for good reason. He knows just how easy it is to become a trainer and just how idiotic most “trainers” really are. He wants to be called a coach, because that’s what he is.

Here’s the quick summary in case you missed it- Most doctors don’t know ANYTHING about training or fitness, and should summarily be ignored. Most TRAINERS don’t know anything about training or fitness, and should likewise be ignored. NO ONE IN THE MEDIA KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING, and thus should be ignored. There- useful advice and I didn’t even charge you anything for it.

This "trainer" is probably making more money than you, for teaching THIS. Note use of bosu ball. 

And now, the # 1 thing that I hate in the fitness industry-

1. Partial Range of Motion (ROM).
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Watch the video, and then try and tell me you're NOT PISSED OFF. And on top of it there's some idiot high-school football coach getting PAID to mess up these kids' knees, and he's probably bragging about how big of a "squat" his kids have to anyone who will listen. 

I get an aneurysm every time I see this disease. Coach Paul and I are hard on you guys with ROM, for good reason. IT MAKES ME MAD. DON’T DO IT. I could make this post 1000 pages long with all the reasons partial ROM is bad. Here’s the shortlist.

- You don’t get the full stimulus
- You don’t train all your muscles equally, which can lead to injury. Classic example is the squat- high squats are very quad-dominant and don’t involve the muscles that stabilize the posterior part of the knee. Over time, the result? Chronic patellar pain. Know anyone that complains of this when they’re squatting? Ask them if they go deep enough.
- You don’t train all your muscles equally, which leads to stagnation.
- You can’t measure progress with partial ROM. What happens if you do 30 “half push ups”, then a month later do 50 half push ups? Can you really say you can do 20 more? How do you even know how deep you went if you didn’t go all the way down each time?
- It’s easier, and facilitates egos. The number of high school kids out there with 500lb “squats” is staggering. It’s funny to watch videos where they’re forced to go all the way down, and get stapled with 200lb.
- It’s NOT THE FULL MOVEMENT. It’s cheating- period.
- Every time you cheat a movement, god kills a kitten.

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Coach L