"Celebrity Trainers", Fitness Mags and Bad Technique

We should be thankful for the cornucopia of fitness magazines that come out each month.

http://www.fitsugar.com

When the zombie apocalypse comes at least we’ll have an ample supply of toilet paper for eternity.

While some of them don’t completely suck ballzzzz and every now and then even the crappy ones actually have some good experts and columnists, for the most part the vast,vast majority of these ….ehhhhh…..“publications”, are riddled with misinformation and

Pure Jackassery passed off as Correct Technique.

How this happens?

The only thing I can guess is that the “Fitness Experts” and the editors have NO CLUE what’s going on.

See, here’s the thing.

Many “Fitness Celebrities” are “Celebrities” because they got hooked up with the right person at the right time.

NOT because they’ve honed their craft and produce outstanding results.

Some Examples:

The Goblet Squat That’s Not:

As seen in Shape.com

Whats wrong here? <—–Besides the fact that, that’s not what the exercise should look like at all.

The dumbbell should be close to her, against her chest.
She fails to maintain a safe spinal position in shot B, completely rounding the lower back.

This is what it should look like, courtesy of Womens Health: <—–who usually gets it right

See what I mean?

Not even in the same ballpark…..

Here Jill does some Kettlebell Swings, except:

Dive?

We Dive?

Where the hell did that come from?

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd again, YOU’RE LUMBAR SPINE DOES NOT LIKE BEING LOADED IN THIS ROUNDED POSITION….

This is a BASIC concept in spinal loading biomechanics. <——movement produced at the lumbar spine creates disc issues…

Ohhh, but it’s cool she’s on TV….

Here’s another example from a popular the fitness mag about yourSELF:

“Deadlifting” like this will, Will, eventually injure your back.

Granted, using 3lbs hand weights will probably buy you a lot of time (reps) cause you’re limiting the loading vs. ohhh, I don’t know, weights that would actually make a difference…..But eventually, after enough loading using this pattern, something will break.

And, by the way…if you set up for a deadlift like she does here….

Credit where it’s due, positions 2 and 3 are not that bad.

Bar out away from the center of gravity
Chest collapsed
Shoulders unpacked
Low back rounded

You’re SH@T’s gonna break.

Instead of the above examples you should be keeping the weights close to the center of gravity and….

Hinging Your Hips.<——-Click it and Learn

Deadlifts should look like this:

Bar Close
Low Back Locked in
Chest up
Shoulders Packed

Biomech….Whaaaaaattttsssss?????

There just seems to be a general disregard for good movement and understanding of muscle actions with these folks.

Quick Quiz:

The Glutes do What?

A: Flex the hip
B: Extend the hip
C: Externally Rotate the Femur
D: Provide Kim Kardashian a living
E: Both B and C

If you answered E. you are correct.

D. would only be correct if the question was; Giant glutes on a sex tape with a second-rate rapper do what?

If you answered A. You too can write articles for fitness magazines:

“Works butt,thighs, back, calves”

Really? Works Butt?

This is clearly Hip FLEXION….

Sorry, the Azz don’t do that…

Or how about this fine masterpiece:

The “Ballerina Squat”…or how to really jack up your knees and elbows.

There’s really no need for a biomechancics lesson here:

Squatting on your toes is muy stupid and will jack your knees.

It’s called tibial Shear and using the back of your kneecap to stop the forward movement of your Femur is really bad.

I should point out, it’s not that overhead triceps extensions are “bad” biomechanically, I just really dislike them and most people can’t tolerate them without an eventual ouchie occurring.

Not condemning the Mags and “Fitness Celebrities”.

Hell, part of the reason they’re so popular is because there is a demand for the info = this means people are paying for what “we’re” selling as an industry = I stay gainfully employed.

But as always, caveat emptor…. buyer beware.

Don’t just buy into something because it was in a magazine, newspaper or especially because it’s on T.V.

Many of the people who get these gigs either look the look or know somebody.

Just because someone is in shape, doesn’t mean they know the best way to get there.

To discount, hard work, GENETICS, some self deprivation and maybe pharmaceutical help (that’s code word for steroids) would be very foolish…

“Celebrity Trainers”, Fitness Mags and Bad Technique