Six-Pack Abs, Functional Training and other Musings for a Monday Morning.

I got an email this weekend that really got me thinking. A person who works for a local sports and fitness magazine had emailed me a questionaire pertaining to exercise and nutrition methods on how to get that 6-pack going. The questions were good. Most had to do with exercise methods, equipment recommendations and training protocol for sculpting the envious abdominals. A couple of the questions related to food choice. Here's the cliff notes version of what I recommended.

• Strength Training - perform strength training workouts 3-4 times per week, utilize "big bang for your buck" exercises (i.e. squats, deadlifts, presses, chin ups, rows) focusing on moderately-heavy to heavy weights. The goal for the strength training workout should be building strength and muscle. Building muscle is probably the best non-nutrition related thing you can do for fat loss as lean mass requires more calories to sustain itself, even at rest, than fat mass does.




• Cardio/Energy Systems Work - perform 3-5 sessions per week. If you are really out of shape and new to exercise lower intensity forms of exercise should be used. If you are in good shape and have a good base of GPP (general physical preparation) higher intensity drills may be used. Exercises that should be implemented are, but not limited to, walking, sprints, sled dragging, battling ropes drills, high repetition kettlebell exercises, BW calisthenics, etc.




• Nutrition - granted I am not a nutritionist, nor do I play one on TV. However, is this stuff really that difficult to figure out? Eat as fresh, raw and whole as possible, avoid refined and processed crap and when you grocery shop stick mainly to the outside perimeter of the grocery store. Most people know what to do, they just lack the discipline because, well, Pop-Tarts taste oh so good.
  

This email got me thinking. What works hasn't changed since the dawn of physical culture. Look at the physiques of the old time strongmen like Arthur Saxon (pictured above left). Saxon sported this awesome physique before steroids, pilates, and body pump class. That's right faithful readers, no wobble boards or balance discs were used by Saxon or the rest of the founding fathers of the physical culture movement. They lifted heavy weights and ate much cleaner foods than we eat now.

Why is it then that so-called professionals are trying to convince us to give up our barbells and dumbbells in favor of balance boards, balls and other "functional training" equipment? Functional training as defined by today's "experts" is a crock! To them the only way to activate your "core" (I get sick saying that word) is to stand on an unstable surface. I suggest that putting a barbell twice your bodyweight across your upper back and shoulders will activate your "core" much more than standing on a piece of foam.

All training can be "functional" and all training can be "non-functional". The application is what is important. There are too many pencil-neck weenies who can't squat or deadlift their way out of a wet paper bag in this industry. They can't squat twice their bodyweight so they come up with a circus trick variation of a squat, label it "functional" and sell it to the unsuspecting public. Then they label those who actually know how to get stronger meatheads using outdated methods. It's crap and it makes me sick.

If you want to get stronger and bigger add more weight to the barbell and put more food on your plate. If you want to get leaner put less food on your plate and burn more calories than you are eating. This simple formula has worked for a long time and it will continue working long after wobble boards and balance balls are out of "vogue".