An Anatomy and Physiology Lesson for Georges St-Pierre

First of all, I apologize for the lack of posting. Life has been keeping me busy, especially this past year as I've gone through my dietetic internship (that is, paying to work so I can add more credibility to myself as a nutrition professional). Anyway, UFC 100 took place last weekend, and of course one of the matches involved Georges St-Pierre.

And this fight brought out one of the most memorable fighter-trainer exchanges in recent memory:

GSP: "I pulled my groin."
Greg Jackson (GSP's trainer): "I don't care. This is where champions are born. Hit him with your groin."

Despite having to essentially finish the fight with just one leg, Georges St-Pierre did manage to come out victorious. In both the post-fight interview and his blog, St-Pierre mentioned he felt a pull in his "right abductor."

This immediately made me think that someone needs an anatomy lesson!

Abduction means moving away from the midline, while adduction means moving toward the midline. The hip adductors (the adductor magnus, the adductor longus, the adductor brevis, the gracilis, and the pectineus) are located in the groin area. The hip abductors are the glute medius, glute minimus, and glute maximus.

I can forgive Georges St-Pierre for not remembering the five different hip adductors after having gone through a five-round MMA fight, but the difference between abduction and adduction is an important one, since they are opposite functions. And while I don't expect lay-people to become experts in anatomy and physiology, I did want to make sure that the correct information is out there, lest UFC fans start using improper terminology.

For information on how to prevent these kinds of injuries through exercise, here's an excellent article from Eric Cressey.

The Grind

Today was the last day of classes for Columbia undergrads. Around this time of the year, people tend to stress out about finals. Myself? I have two papers and an exam this week . . . so of course I'm blogging instead of writing my papers or studying!

Anyway, one thing that also tends to happen toward the end of a semester is that people put fitness on the back burner. They skip their workouts and rely heavily on highly processed foods as they spend late nights writing their papers and cramming for their finals.

One other thing I've noticed at Columbia is that the campus gym closes for a week after finals end.

I understand that we can't go 100% all the time. When the stress life impose on us are great, we can't handle as much training stress. And I'm not opposed to taking a week off from training every now and then.

But by taking that week off during finals, that week can easily become two weeks, three, maybe even a month. And by that point it'll be very tough to get back on the wagon.

And just because you're studying for finals doesn't mean you need to rely on chips, ramen, and Easy Mac either! You can always pack an apple or two.

In any case, while you can't expect to get shredded during stressful periods such as finals week, don't neglect training completely.

Not Another Fat Loss Product?

I'm sure you're just as tired as I am of seeing yet another fat loss program on the market. Sure, with so many people looking to lose a couple of pounds, there certainly is a market for fat loss. But there are more than enough ways to get across the idea that you need to eat less and move more (though of course they all have their little gimmicks, like low fat, low carbs, high-intensity cardio, no cardio at all, etc.).

Yet with all of this information out there on a topic that seems so simple, you would think that people would be more successful with their fat loss efforts than they are. Some of these people just aren't doing the programs. Some are doing these programs, but the programs aren't working quite as well as these people would have hoped. Maybe they worked great at first, but eventually stalled.

In all of these cases, there is a missing link. But most fat loss products overlook this missing link completely.

Enter The Fat Loss Troubleshoot.

Like I said, it's hard for a fat loss product to impress me, but Leigh Peele has blown me away. This is a comprehensive resource, covering not just training, not just nutrition, but every single thing that plays a role in whether your fat loss attempts will succeed or fail. It is a product I highly recommend to anyone looking to get the most out of their fat loss program or make the programs you give to clients that much better.

Oh, and for those of you who constantly complain about a slow metabolism, Leigh has the answer for you, too: The Metabolic Repair Manual.

Better yet, get both. You won't be disappointed.

The Meeting of the MasterMinds

Today I attended the Millionaire Workout Live Event in White Plains, hosted by Ryan Lee. Ryan Lee is known as the Trainer to the Trainers, offering a wealth of business advice to many personal trainers and running a number of training sites.

With this particular seminar, we didn't talk much about fitness at all; this seminar was mainly about how to make money selling digital products. But many people in the fitness industry are selling things like E-books and audio interviews over the Internet, so this seminar was definitely applicable to them, and in fact many well-known names in the fitness industry were there, including Zach Even-Esh, Jimmy Smith, Virgil Aponte, Kevin Gianni, Nii Wilson, and Joe Kasper. That's a long list, huh? And they all took a ton of notes on what Ryan had to say.

Those of you who aren't interested in making money over the Internet may be wondering what the heck this has to do with you. When it comes to achieving success in any endeavor, one of the most important things you can do is surround yourself with successful people and see what they do.

The Sustenance of Our Youth

This past weekend there was a Youth Rally for the Pope's visit to the United States. Not only was the Pope in attendance, but so was Kelly Clarkson. Yeah, her music isn't prayer music or workout music for that matter, but I'm not going to hate. There's enough of that already.

What the heck does this have to do with fitness? Well, as cool as it was to see the Pope, the food at this Youth Rally, though free, was absolutely terrible.

But let me back up for a second. According to Dr. John Berardi on Episode 5 of The FitCast, 50% of America's vegetable consumption comes from three sources: iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes. Think about it: what kind of meal comes with these three things?

You guessed it, a burger and fries. And, vegetable-wise, this is a step up from the other option they had at the Youth Rally, which was fried chicken fingers and fries.

And we're being generous by allowing French fries to pass as vegetables here.

Situations like these make me concerned for the youth of our nation.

Weight Loss is an Insult

Jason Ferruggia just came out with a new book, Fit to Fight: An Insanely Effective Strength and Conditioning Program for the Ultimate MMA Warrior. On the release date, he made an announcement on his listserv and on his forum about the release, introducing it by saying how people were commenting that he lost weight and he felt annoyed about this (as someone who was 6'0", 147 lbs. when he started lifting weights, Jason is exactly the kind of person who would consider "skinny" an insult). But now he has a brand new book as a reward for all the hard-earned muscle he sacrificed.

Those of you who have never been skinny might not be able to empathize with guys like Jason. But whereas stressful times can make some people fatter, they can make other people lose muscle. The point here is that it's hard to train to the fullest when you have the added stresses of life. Is the source of your stress worth making sacrifices to your health and body comp goals?

Oh, and I did order Fit to Fight on Amazon, but since I also pre-ordered Eric Cressey's new book Maximum Strength and wanted them shipped together to get free shipping, I won't get the book until May. All the better I suppose, since classes, clients, and training are giving me plenty to do right now.

Athletes and Political Statements Don't Mix

On Wednesday, there was a rally at Columbia calling to boycott the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (partly because of the whole situation between China and Tibet).

The day before, Eric Cressey (of Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA) posted a blog entry that really hit home for me. I wasn't a great track and field athlete, so I never had a legitimate shot at competing in the Olympics, but I know what it's like to have that dream, and I know many who still do. I have a friend who is an Olympic hopeful (though he would not be competing for the US). I'm sure I'll meet more as I continue through my career.

How could you ask people like Saidu to give up what may be their only shot at fulfilling a lifelong dream?