The Three Dirtiest Words in Fitness

The three dirtiest words in fitness these days are "Functional," "Movement," and "Screen" -- especially when used in that order [1].

For anyone who's unfamiliar, the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a series of seven functional movements (e.g. squat, push-up, lunge) designed to screen (i.e. check for) for pain, movement quality, and injury risk.

By providing objective criteria for scoring the various movements (‘0’ for ouch, ‘1’ for shitty, ‘2’ for passable, and ‘3’ for perfection -- all my words, not theirs) the FMS enables practitioners to establish a movement "baseline," as well as to identify mobility/stability deficits and side-to-side asymmetries, which can then help guide program design.

The actual FMS scoring system

Sounds like a great idea, eh? In theory, yes. But it’s created a whole crap-ton of controversy.

Some trainers are diehard proponents of the FMS [2], using it on all of their clients at intake and follow-up assessments for comparison to baseline. Others think it's complete garbage, citing studies that have found the FMS’s injury prediction capabilities to be moderate at best.

It’s true: in many of the populations that have been tested, the FMS doesn’t do a very good job of separating people who are at risk for injury from people who aren’t. Potentially due to having too few data points (7 screens × 3 points = 21 total points possible), it fails to do what it was designed to do. Yikes!

Why not just change the scoring criteria to better differentiate between performance on each test, one might wonder? Instead of scoring from 0 to 3, why not make it, say, 0 to 5?

It turns out that by increasing that number, you actually decrease the reliability of each score. This is because when there are 5 possible points it’s much harder to come to a consensus about what a ‘1’ is versus a ‘2’ or what a ‘3’ is compared to a ‘4.’

Even the most skilled testers may not give a particular movement the exact same score on a scale from 0 to 5. At that point, chaos would ensue, and the results of the screen would have even less meaning than they do now. No bueno.

The Secret to Maximizing Strength and Muscle

Shannan Maciejewski was one of the first fitness people I connected with on social media many moons ago. Lucky for me, he’s also one of the good guys. Despite residing a million miles away (in Australia), his genuine, caring personality easily bridges the great divide.

Over the years, I’ve learned a hell of a lot from Shannan. Today, I’m honored to share an original guest post he wrote for my site. His “tension-volume knob” analogy is worth the price of admission alone (which is free since it’s my blog!). Enjoy! -TP

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The Secret to Maximizing Strength and Muscle
Guest Post by Shannan Maciejewski

Have you ever experienced that moment in training when something just clicks?

It’s like an ‘aha’ moment where everything falls into place. From then on, it seems as if all the puzzling conversations, all the lead up work, and all the cues that once didn’t make sense, now for some reason do.

Understanding the importance of tension in training to maximize performance can be one of those times (especially specific to certain exercises).

As coaches, we often communicate the importance of certain focus points in relation to improved exercise execution with cues like

• “Get tight.”
• “Bend the bar.”
• “Get the lats on.”
• “Crush the bar.”
• “Shoulders back.”

Oftentimes we find ourselves hammering these cues until the cows come home with little to no effect. It’s our job -- the art of coaching, if you will -- to figure out why our cueing is ineffective, and then devise a plan of attack.

It could be that they just don’t get what you’re putting out. In this case, it may be time for another cue, another demo, or a brand new approach to achieve the desired outcome.

That’s where today’s post comes in. 

Why You Should Care About Macronutrients

Guest Post by Jake Dermer

Bodybuilders and gym rats alike obsess over their macronutrient splits, a term that refers to the ratio of carbs, protein, and fat consumed per day.

When it comes to my online coaching program, I rarely call clients’ attention to macronutrient splits, trying instead to make a weight loss friendly split happen naturally. I like to have them track their protein intake and aim for their target body weight in grams of protein per day. Additionally, I tell everyone that vegetables should make up half of your diet.

So what does that look like on a daily basis?

My 5 Biggest Personal Training Mistakes

Most seasoned trainers and coaches will tell you unashamedly that they’ve made a ton of mistakes over their decades in the trenches. For instance, Mike Boyle himself wrote an article a few years back called 25 Years, 25 Mistakes.

In 25 years, you’d expect a guy to make a few boo-boos here and there. No one’s perfect. But what about relative newcomers to the training game? I for one don’t have nearly the tenure of Coach Boyle. (I obtained my personal trainer diploma in 2013.) Yet I have to admit I’ve also made quite a few mistakes.

For younger trainers, however, there seems to be a taboo surrounding this admission of fallibility. After all, if people know I’m not always right when it comes to fitness, will they still want to train with me? Or will they realize I’m nothing more than an imposter in a personal trainer costume (i.e. sweatpants and a dri-fit t-shirt)?

Real personal trainer or imposter?

I think it’s safe to say that eternal professional damnation will not be in the cards if I admit to my snafus. I state this with confidence for the following reason: You have to make mistakes to stay fresh and keep learning. If you’re not screwing up every now and then, you’re not improving at your craft.

It’s exactly these “Oh Shit! Moments” that engrain in you the lessons you can’t learn from reading a textbook, blog post, or T-Nation article. Not only that, but experiencing them firsthand solidifies them in long-term memory, so you’ll never make the same mistake again.

How Being Born with One Leg Gives Me Strength

When I first met Jen Sinkler in person a few months ago and she told me she was in the process of rebranding to “Unapologetically Strong,” I thought, "Wait, I like Thrive as the Fittest!”

But as I reflected more on the meaning of her new mantra, “Unapologetically Strong,” it quickly began to resonate with me. Perhaps it does with you, too.

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I’ve had the cards stacked against me ever since birth. In fact, when I was born there was a pretty good chance I would never walk, attend a regular school, join a swim team, or deadlift 175 pounds.

Yet, one by one, I accomplished each of those feats. While they might not seem like much without context, you can probably imagine what a big deal they would be for a guy who was born missing a leg.

“Unapologetically Strong?” To me, this motto means being strong not just physically, but also emotionally -- and not being afraid to show it.

That's me.