"I believe that life itself is an athletic event. Therefore, I believe that most older adults should train like athletes."

I don't like it when I see everyone sitting down as they try to build their strength. There are companies that market their machines specifically to the senior market.

Are older adults being taught how to train functionally? (and why I believe they should be)


It bothers me every time I see older adults being put on strength training machines when being taught how to exercise.  One of our local Senior organizations is constantly promoting their new machines. Both they and their teachers/trainers/coaches are selling themselves short.  I feel the main reason machines are used is it is easier to teach how to train that way. It is an example of taking the easier way out, or following the path of least resistance. IMO, easier is usually the opposite of better.

During my first job in the fitness field (at Wetterau Incorporated Employee Fitness Center) from 1989 until 1993, I taught members who to use the Universal machines we had in the weight room. We had some free weights in the room, but about the only thing they were used for bench pressing and arm curls. This was actually a good thing since I had no idea how to teach anyone how to squat, lunge, hip hinge or deadlift. It wasn't until 1996 when I began studying for my NSCA Personal Trainer Certification that I began to learn how these movements should be taught.  

The clients I have worked with Parkinson's Disease train while standing on their feet. What is your excuse?

Can you imagine older adults doing this for strength. I can. They just have to be able to tailor the exercises to their current abilities.

If you want to get better balance, you should learn to train on your feet. The older we get, the more important training your balance becomes. Therefore; the older we get, the more important it becomes to train while on our feet.

This will help improve balance.

I realize not everyone is going to be able to do all their training while standing. Machines can have their place in training. (It is common knowledge that you can get stronger and/or bigger muscles training on them. All you have to do is look at body builders. A lot of them tend to rely on machines to perform their strength training)  The question is how functional this increase in strength is. How much work do all the supporting muscles get when you don't have to rely on them while seated? How much control of movements do you learn when a machine is in control of the path that your body is moving in? How different muscle groups learn to coordinate their movements is very important to strength and balance training. Keep in mind the phrase: USE IT, OR LOSE IT. This applies to the coordination I am writing about.

How did I develop this attitude when it comes to how I train my clients? One name sticks out.

Vern Gambetta

This quote is mine: "I believe that life itself is an athletic event. Therefore I believe most people should train like athletes."

Once exposed to Vern Gambetta's training ideas I decided when he talks, I better listen.
One of my favorite sayings is: "Pick your mentors wisely." I feel that I did a great job making Vern my favorite mentor. I learned more about how athletes should train from Vern than anyone else.

In addition to being a great coach, he is very good at expressing his thoughts.

His post on the simplicity in coaching sums up my training philosophy nicely. Even though his post share his ideas on training athletes they still apply to older adults. I use these points when training  every one of my clients.

From his blog post:

"The following are some systematic athletic development concepts on which I base my training. They are very simple and straightforward and they can be made as complex as necessary.

Dynamic postural alignment and dynamic balance are the foundation for all training

Train movements not muscles

Train fundamental movement skills before sport specific skills

Train postural strength before extremity strength

Train body weight before external resistance

Train joint integrity before joint mobility

Train strength before strength endurance and power before power endurance

Train speed before speed endurance

Train to build work capacity appropriate for your sport or event

Train sport appropriate - You are what you train to be"

Thank you Vern for being such a great mentor to me.

Smartwatches: Eat your heart out, Dick Tracy!

Maybe he doesn't value his brain as much as he should. More likely just suffering from "it can't happen to me syndrome".

Our TV in the kitchen was on CBS when I turned it on this morning. (March Madness last night) Their Sunday Morning program was covering Smart Watches.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/smartwatches-eat-your-heart-out-dick-tracy/

They are showing a man who is on the cutting edge for his use of technology. "Bob Troia is part of what's called the Quantified Self movement -- using gadgets to monitor your own health, stress, sleep and fitness....." "Over the last five years or so, I've spent probably in the range of $25,000 on devices related to tracking and monitoring and optimizing all aspects of my life," he said.

They then show him bicycling WITHOUT a helmet.

Risky-business-helmet-free-cycling.html

Not Bob, just another John without his helmet on.

How smart can someone be to spend so much on "High-Tech Devices" and not spend a lot less on a "Low-Tech" one called a helmet? Having worked in a Head Injury Unit of a hospital I have seen first hand the terrible effects Head Injuries can cause.

If you are going to be "High-Tech Smart" please try to make sure you are also "Low-Tech Smart"

Is your Personal Trainers Certification safe for you? Do they need to be certified?

Below I am talking about this subject in general terms. There are exceptions to every rule:  No Personal Training Certification is without weaknesses.

Unlike a lot of professions, anyone can call themselves a Personal Trainer. There are no licenses required, and no amount of education required. The only way the public has of knowing if a trainer might know what they are doing is to look for a CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER.  Just because a trainer is certified doesn't mean they are better than a non-certified trainer, it only increases the odds that they are: How experienced the trainer is can certainly determine how qualified they are.


The last time I checked there were over 250 Personal Training Certifications available if someone wants to be able to call themselves a "Certified Personal Trainer" many of them only require you to take an test online to pass their certification. I personally would not recommend anyone that just had to take a test online to obtain their certification.

How do you know if their Certification is worth the paper is it printed on? One of the best ways to determine if a certification is trustworthy is to look for NCCA accreditation. Although there is no guarantee that NCCA having accreditation means your trainers certification is worthy, it certainly increases the odds that it is.

"The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) was created in 1987 by ICE to help ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public through the accreditation of a variety of certification programs/organizations that assess professional competence. Certification programs that receive NCCA Accreditation demonstrate compliance with the NCCA’s Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs, which were the first standards for professional certification programs developed by the industry."



There are a few certifications that have great reputations for only certifying qualified trainers.  Look for the letters ACSM, NSCA, ISSA, NASM, (ACE is a very popular certification in my neck of the woods.) They are a very good organization, and their main focus is on making sure trainers are capable of helping the general population. I have no doubt that many ACE Certified Trainers are very good at training.

I am going to tell you about the two I am most familiar with.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the oldest organization certifying personnel trainers.) A lot of their members are Exercise Physiologist.

While working at Wetterau's Corporate Fitness Center our staff attended a weekend seminar on their certification. Their focus was mainly on cardiovascular conditioning. It was very scientific. I could see how this certification would help those working with cardiovascular issues. Many Hospitals look for this certification when hiring staff that work with their patients after cardiovascular events.

My boss at Wettearu had a Master degree in Exercise Physiology. She new a lot about cardiovascular conditioning. She was the type of trainer that would get ACSM certification. However, her education on strength training could have been much stronger. I remember one specific incidence where another employee was filling out a questionnaire for a job at different fitness center. We were going over the questions with him and my boss knew the least about muscles attachments and insertions out of the group. 

The ACSM are great at focusing on heart rate and blood pressure response to exercise. If you want your cardiovascular response monitored during exercise, this is the certification to look for.

I don't know if the ACSM is certified by NCCA but I trust them without any doubts.

I remember one of my graduate classes (Prescribing Physical Activity) at UM-St. Louis (we called it UMSL at the time) went to DePaul Hospital to see a demonstration from one of their Exercise Physiologist of a stress test on a treadmill. I volunteered to be the victim. They attached the various electrodes to my upper body to monitor my heart rate and the cuff on my arm to monitor my blood pressure. If you have never seen one of these test, you begin walking slowly on the treadmill. At predetermined intervals the intensity is increased and your bodies reaction is monitored. This is an example of what a ACSM member might do on their job. Most trainers are not qualified for this responsibility.

IMP, the weakness of the ACSM certification is the lack of focus on strength training.  This brings me to my next organization.

The NSCA: They are certified by the NCCA:


Taken from their web site: "The National Strength and Conditioning Association (history of the NSCA) was founded in 1978 with 76 strength coaches from across the country with the common desire to network, collaborate and unify the profession of strength and conditioning. Since its inception, the NSCA has grown to nearly 30,000 members in 72 countries and become the leader in the research and education of strength and conditioning professionals.  Take a tour of the NSCA’s past and learn more about how it became the institution that it is today."

They are much more focused on strength training/agility and making people better athletes. The reason I chose this certification was I saw that older adults needed to work on strength and athleticism much more than cardiovascular conditioning. 

Their first certification is the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) This certification was developed so that strength coaches would have a say to prove they are qualified to work with the athletes and teams they are in charge of training.


 




 
In the late 1990's the developed their NSCA-CPT certification. They wanted to offer a certification for individuals like me who where more interested in working with individuals on a one-on-one level.




What can you look for in addition to Certification when deciding to hire a Personal Trainer?
Look for reasons you shouldn't hire this trainer.

1. Ask them what kind of class room education they have when it comes to exercise.
2. Ask them what kind of experience they have in training clients with your needs.
3. Ask them about their insurance coverage as a trainer.
4. Ask them what clients/conditions they don't feel comfortable working with.
5. Ask them for references and then call at least a couple of them to see what they think about the trainers style and abilities.
6. Ask them what kind of continuing education they have. What kind of seminars they have attended. How much time they spend on continuing education.

You only have one body, be careful with who you hire to help you work on it.

How to prepare for joint replacment surgery (Or any other surgery)

(And how I ended up knowing that exercises will prepare you and help you recover faster)

Never rely solely on this to recover from Total Knee Replacement Surgery

In the summer of 1996 my Dad had a Total Knee Replacement (TKR) done at DePaul Hospital. Little did I know that my working as a Rehab Tech a couple of years before this would help him recover from this surgery.

This was a familiar site to me. (Pic not my Dad's knee)

Having work with many patients who had had joint replacements, I had my Dad PREPARE his body for this surgery. Mostly simple exercises such as: GLUTE SETS, QUAD SETS, HEEL SLIDES. (Today I would have him use more complicated exercises as tolerated like: SQUATS, LUNGES, STEPS UPS, HIP HINGES, ETC.) He was also doing a fair amount of upper body strengthening which also made it much easier to recover from the TKR. Think about getting out of bed with plenty of upper body strength verses needing help to get out. 

The best part of his PRE-SURGERY exercise program was the look on the Surgeon’s face when I went with my Dad for his 1^st POST-OP visit. At the time normal recovery included using a walker for a month and then a cane for a month. My Dad walked into the office on his own after two weeks. They couldn’t believe it. He was a rare patient that PREPARED his body before surgery so that his recovery was much quicker than normal. I wasn’t even a NSCA –CPT yet. (Although I was in the middle of studying for the certification exam.)

Today I would have had a talk with the surgeon about adding PRE-HAB work to his patient’s joint replacement programs. 

HOW DID I DEVELOP THIS KNOWLEDGE?

 

They say timing is everything. (If I had started showing up at Barnes West a year sooner, I probably wouldn’t have gotten a job there.)

In 1993 I started volunteering at Barnes-West  Hospital’s Sports Medicine Center in Creve Coeur Missouri.  Little did I know where this would take me.

A few weeks after I starting hanging around there, the Head of the Physical Therapy Department (Mark) started to take an interest in my being there. (The reason I was there was to observe the Athletic Trainers) You know how some times when you meet someone, your personality’s just click. Ours did. (The other interesting thing about my time there was my personality DID NOT click with most of the Athletic trainers there. The Head Athletic Trainer and I got along pretty well.

Little did I know that Mark had plans to hire me to work at the Hospital.  Missouri Bone & Joint had just decided to move from DePaul to Barnes- West. Barnes-West needed a Rehab-Tech to work with the inpatients. Mark had decided I was a perfect fit for the job. 

I still remember my first morning on the job. I felt like a fish out of water, but Mark was a great person to train me and work for. One of the first things he taught me was how to bend the patients’ knees the first day after surgery. I took a while to get comfortable causing that much pain, but Mark had taught me that no one under our care would leave with a stiff knee(s). I knew where Mark was by listening for the patients’ screams and soon enough I would be causing screams. He wanted at least 90 degrees of bend that day and at least 120 degrees before they left for home.  (Unless the Surgeon had given us different orders.)

It use to bother us when we would hear one of the surgeon’s telling the patients before surgery to not work the joint if they were having pain. You shouldn’t have to worry about damaging a joint ANYMORE if it going to be replaced soon. Exercising around that joint can lead to better recovery and less post- surgical pain. 

Another way we could tell how well the patient’s joint would do after surgery was how much they were willing to go through after surgery. Some patients refused to bend their knees on their own since the knee was in a CPM machine. (Continuous Passive Motion) Active exercise (Bending and straightening the knee using your muscles) will always give better results than passively letting a machine do all the work. What happens when you can no longer rely on the machine? You have to try getting the muscles working again anyway and you get better results the quicker you rely on the muscles. I can still picture one Hip Replacement Patient being wheeled to their room from recover doing ankle pumps, and my first thought was; There is a patient that is going to do well after surgery. (and they did)

My lesson for anyone going if for Joint Replacement (or any other) surgery: the better your body is prepared before it, the quicker and better the recovery will be. I.E. BE AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN YOUR HEALTH INSTEAD OF A PASSIVE ONE.