5 Myths Debunked

1) HIIT is Better than Moderate Cardio

There's no evidence that high intensity cardio is better than moderate cardio. Purely anecdotal.

Yes, you can burn more calories in a shorter period of time when increasing intensity. But when intensity increases, volume and frequency must decrease. So since you must do less, it all averages out about the same.

Moderate cardio is easier on the joints, CNS, recovery, and is proven to be effective.

Yes many lean people do high intensity cardio, but to paraphrase Lyle McDonald "Many lean people do HIIT, but they're most likely lean because people willing to do HIIT consistently are most likely willing to follow a diet."

2) Low Carb Diets are the Best Diets

Low carb diets force people to eat more protein, and make it hard to overeat.

Whey you're left with only meat to eat, you'll be getting more than enough protein.

It's also hard to overeat and snack on rib eye steaks and grilled chicken.

Which is the only reason it works.

If you wan to do it go for it, but it's miserable and unnecessary.

It's just a food restriction.

3) Gluten Causes Fat

Again, just like the keto/low carb/paleo/Atkins/ect. diet, all the foods that have gluten are the foods people overeat.

Get rid of those foods and it's hard to overeat. Yep, the same as the low carb diet.

Only people the few people on earth that are allergic to gluten need to avoid it.

Just another new thing to demonize and market some stupid book. And the're plenty of idiots that capitalized selling this to other idiots.

4) High Reps Mean Lean Muscle

There's no such thing as lean muscle. Terms like toned, and lean muscle are nothing but marketing terms that don't actually mean anything.

Purely used to sell fitness to women because they're often scared to get too bulky, which again, is not something real.


Women like this, who swear they're drug free natural lifters are what scare women. They're on plenty of steroids, but since they say they're not women are scared they'll end up looking like this from lifting weights.

Muscle is muscle, unless you are on steroids you don't have anything to worry about. Keep your body fat low, lift weights, and you'll be lean with muscle.

5) Ab Workouts for Six Pack

Abs are small muscles, working them only helps with core strength.

Core strength is great, but won't help you with a six pack or obliques.

Losing body fat is the only thing to reveal your hidden abs and shed your love handles.

They'll be plenty of scammers marketing abs books, ab workout bootcamps, etc. for those stupid enough to believe it. If you like overtraining a small muscle and wasting money and time, don't let me stop you.

The Fitness Industry is 98.6% Bullshit. So beware at all times.

HIIT vs Moderate Cardio

Best Pre-Workout Supplement

Ab Workouts are Bullshit

Why I Hate CrossFit - Part 2

5  Games

Now, for people that aren't in trainers or athletes (I call them civilians), you're probably impressed with what you see at the CrossFit games.  Jacked up human beings lifting excessive weight,while also doing endurance events, etc. At the end of the day though, bragging about your CrossFit achievements is like a Tough Mudder competitor bragging to a Tri-Athlete. It's a game, not a sport.


Why would I say something like that?

First of all, Deadlifts you can just drop... Where else is that allowed? Not in any power-lifting competition I've ever heard of.

Pullups allowed by kipping. Yeah, those who are best at swinging their body will beat those that rely off actual strength and endurance.

Think about all the CNS drained by people who competing for the most reps of a Olympic lift, combined with maxing their deadlifts, combined with cardiovascular activities, and it's no wonder that injuries are so rampant. Why the hell do you think you see all those people wrapped up in that stupid tape?



Even crazier than that...

The people that win the CrossFit games don't train do CrossFit, they do their own regimen.

Even crazier than that...

There's more people in the show than in the audience. Seriously, check it out on YouTube.

4  Too many things

Ever heard of jack of all trades and master on none. I find it even worse with CrossFit. They're mishmashing so many things together that it makes my head hurt, since I have this weird thing where I strive for logic. But I'm not the only one annoyed by how they try to fit everything into one training program.

If you're a serious gymnast, power-lifter, or Olympic lifter, you most likely hate CrossFit. I have friends in every one of these fields and they think it's ridiculous the way they incorporate their training.

My best friend is a competitive Olympic lifter that wins every meet he competes in. He hates the training style Cross Fit uses,



Worse than that, CrossFit even thinks they can teach you self defense..? As someone who's been training in Krav Maga for 3 years, this is the funniest thing I've seen in a while. But don't take myt word for it, watch it yourself.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOIIguB_ocA

There's corssfitters with better bodies than me, that lift better than, that are much better athletes than me, but here's the thing...it has little to do with crossfit. They're more genetically gifted and if they used a real program, they'd be much better off.

That's the main thing they have in common.

Cross Fit now things they can teach self defense. Wow.

3  Cerfitication

Trainers get certified in a weekend. Yes, you read that right. I'm not talking about they test over a whole weekend. Beginning to end in a weekend.

Great thing for them, $1000 take a bunch of people and certify them over the weekend, repeat each week. Money, money, money, moneyyyyyyy....Money!



You may never look at a level 1 "Coach" the same way.

What's that? You seem to understand now why so many clients get injured?

I'm not saying certs stop people from being bad trainers by taking a longer time, but this definitely doesn't hlep.

I won't lie, $1000 for a weekend sounds way more fun than the 800 page book I studied for a month to get my certification.

2  The Body you get

You're doing CrossFit for a body? Unless you're a beginner, don't expect much. Most CrossFitters look like joggers. skinny fat, soft, and/or very average fitness bodies. The kind of body that says they're healthy, but isn't going to turn heads on the beach.




This is what typical crossfitters look like, far from what they'd have you believe.

Yes,some CrossFitters look awesome, but that's because of lot of former athletes join CrossFit and they would look awesome on any program. Give them a shake weight or Tae Bo and they'd still be ripped. Hell, a lot of cross fitters are on steroids. Gives them a competitive edge for the games and also markets their box better.


You think this is possible without steroids then we have nothing left to talk about.

"Hey Steve, that's not true. I know plenty of girls with awesome bodies that train at CrossFit."
I've seen plenty too, and every time I see them I just think, how much more in shape they'd be if they did proper training. Like I said before, those are girls with great genetics that would do well anywhere, but would've been better off on a real program.


Definitely former athletes, and some look like the roids have effected their hormones.

Think about it, how are you going to get a great chest without bench press? Better arms without curls or chin ups?  My goal was a better body, so I did squat and deadlift movements for legs, chinups and rows for back, curls and skull crushers for arms, etc. Box Jumps and wall balls aren't going to be enough to get you this look.

1  Elite

If you see somebody doing something dumb at the gym, most of the time you can roll your eyes and move on with your day. But when people keep talking about it like it's the best thing ever, and act like you're naive or even an idiot for not doing it, that's when the hate starts. And that's why cross fitters get so much criticism. And if you don't think they think this, look at their motto



Cross Fit is  like Starbucks, with one competing across the street with another. And guess what, the bubble is about to burst. I'm starting to see more of them shut down, because they can't just get away with the name brand anymore.



Yes, there are worse coaches than others. Some coaches really know technique and form, but at the end of the day, they're great for a cross fit coach and that's a paradox in itself. There's a reason that Mark Ripeetoe left CrossFit. There's a reason there are entire websites and YouTube channels dedicated to making fun of CrossFit, and there's a reason I spent two entire blog posts talking about how bad it is.

CONCLUSION

CrossFit, P90X, Insanity, are all gimmicks. They're the new high intensity gimmick. The old days was all about doing the least amount of exercising and supposedly getting the most return. Now we have the new gimmick that make you  have you over doing the act of exercising, but you actually get the least amount of return.



You're working hard not smart. You want a great body, read Tom Venuto's 'Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle'. You want to learn how to lift properly read Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength'.



Some people love their style of coaching and especially love the community. Which I understand. If you already love it I can't change your mind, but that's not the purpose. People want to know why I hate it and this is why.

I'll leave you a quote from Lyle McDonald.

"Even if you want to just be generally fit, there are less rhabodmyoloytic and injurious ways to go about it than Crossfit (go look at the pictures, everyone has that kinesio tape on and they wear their torn callouses and other injuries as badges of honor like the macho idiots that they are). 

Lift two to three days per week and do aerobic work three times per week. Maybe one day of intervals. Instead of trying to mix them up in a truly idiotic fashion and trying to work to all out maximum every day until you burn out.

Random training generates random results. The end. Xfit keeps people occupied and out of the squat rack which is fine with me. But don't try to tell me it's worth a damn as any sort of training system; you might as well do P90X. Or that it produces anything elite except injuries, mediocrity and people who think they understand training but don't understand a damn thing."

Or you could just listen to the guy who created Cross Fit

Why I Hate CrossFit - Part 1

Everyone is always asking me what I think about Cross Fit, so I'm finally going to give my opinionated answer.

10 Whiteboard of Randomness and WOD's

The White Board, it's where coaches write a bunch of random exercises and call it a workout. Basically you select 5-6 workouts, give them a number of reps and sets, then name it after a woman.

"Have you done Nancy?! It's tough! "

"Psshhh, that's got nothing on the Mildred."

If I write 100 jumping jacks, 25 burpees, 20 situps, 30 walls balls, then run a mile, it's a WOD but it doesn't mean it's a great workout. I literally just wrote some shit down and you did it.

Wow, this must've taken a lot of thought.

A bunch of fitness companies and bootcamps are guilty of this, but Cross Fit are the people who got this popular so they're the ones I'm going to pick on. People tell me how exhausted they are after Cross Fit, so it must be a great workout, right? I can make you exhausted moving furniture into a house with no elevator or AC, doesn't mean it's a good workout. You can get tired doing anything.



Even when they don't use the white board it's still random. I've seen them use a lottery wheel to select their workouts, I've seen them use Bingo! If you're wanting to screw around on a free day, go for it. But for a consistent workout this makes no sense. Proper programming requires specificity to get your end goal.

It's a trend of the worst kind.

9 Paleo

First of all, why a caveman diet? Why? Are we now seeking the Fred Flintstone body now? Should I order some Stegosaurus ribs that tip my car over?



Second of all, who wants to live a life without carbs if you don't have to. Here's an idea, eat a well balanced diet, with 10-20% junk food, and see get results while having fun doing it.

Truth is nobody knows what are ancestors ate. We do know, that they ate whatever they could to survive, so a true caveman diet would be eating anything they see to keep existing. For some reason people think neanderthal means six pack.

They've even turned it into a business selling paleo diet pills, paleo whey protein... once again WTF?! What's next paleo bread? ........ What?!!! I was just joking around. Seriously?


This goes really well with Vegan Steak.

This diet is nothing new, it's been around for a long time. Just a new spin on an old diet. Low carb, Atkins, paleo, call it what you want.

The diet can work and has for many people, because it's basically just a food restriction for people who have trouble controlling their carbs. So now people get their glucose from protein instead of carbs. By over eating protein, the excess protein is turned into glycogen (what carbs turn into) in a process called gluconeogenesis. Great word to use if you want to sound smart.

Paleo is a diet without proof, without logic, and lies solely on anecdotal evidence. While it may get results for some, it's purely a food restriction.

8 Workouts

Kipping, kipping everywhere. Kipping is where you use momentum to swing or throw yourself through a movement you're not strong enough to do. I've seen kipping pullups, kipping headstands, kipping dips, even kipping bicep curls. And you wonder why there's so many injuries in cross fit.



The general population has no business doing most of these exercises in Cross Fit. Snatches, Cleans, Box jumps, are sport specific exercises that focus on explosiveness in order to help the athlete with their given sport. Even worse is the high volume that's done in Cross Fit. These are exercises meant to be done at around 3-5 reps MAX, which is why so many people get injured doing Cross Fit. My friends who are strength coaches for schools and colleges hate Cross Fit for all of the above reasons.

The exercises are very hard to get good at and learn, and done in a group setting most can easily learn wrong and get injured. Speaking of that...

7 Injuries

High Volume jump off box jumps screwing up the Achilles tendon, fatigued wall balls messing up the lower back. improper snatches tearing rotator cuffs,  half squat thrusters blowing out the knees, wrenching shoulders from swinging a kettlebell all the way overhead, shoulder impingement from kipping pullups, I'd name more but believe it or not I don't feel like talking about Cross Fit all day.

Rhabdomyolysis, where you throw up from over training, is excessively prevalent. So prevalent they embraced it and made it their mascot, Rhabdo the Clown. Which, I'll admit is brilliant marketing. But I would've probably gone for something more boring like restructuring the programming to not cause cause rhabdo.



I'm inspired, how about you?

Yes, people injure themselves bodybuilding and power lifting all the time. Power lifting too heavy and not doing regular de-loading causes injuries, over training and improper form causes injuries in bodybuilding, but dong Cross Fit right still creates injuries. The high volume, frowned upon technique and exercises are asking for injuries. But don't take my word for it, try it yourself.

6  No End Goal

Cross Fit has a goal of making you fit, but what is fit? It's a vague term. When I see the goals on the boards, it's things like, "Finished the Bertha in under 8 minutes!", or at best lifts this much more now. But what focus are they making at achieving that exact goal when you're doing WOD's?!

WOD'S.... Workout  of the day? Great for variety, not great for getting exact results. You want specific proper programming. If you're doing a different workout for every day what do expect to happen.

This is how you structure a workout, and why Rippetoe left Cross Fit.


If I'm trying to get bigger and stronger legs I don't look online at a one size fits all WOD to up my squat max?! Just like I wouldn't look up a random online swimming exercise before 500 meter swim meet. But for some reason, this is what's done within Cross Fit.

But Wait There's More

But Steven, how do these "Athletes" do so well at Cross Fit games and look like Fitness Models. Great question, and I'll answer that and much more next week in part 2. In the mean time I'll be busy losing friends on Facebook for sharing this post.

Vacations Make Me Lean

3 Simple Rules that get me Leaner every Vacation

By Steven Farmer

I hear and see it all the time. People gaining unbelievable amounts of weight after getting back from vacation. Even worse, they come back to the gym extremely de-conditioned. I realize these are the the few weeks you decided to relax and get away from it all. But do you really want to come back to your previous situation with the added stress of 10 extra pounds? What good is a clear mind if you've got a full belly?

Before you start laying in with the excuses, I've heard them all and I've got the answer to them in the following statements, so sit tight and read.

1. Pick Your Battles

There's all kinds of fun things you're going to be doing on your vacation...hopefully. And a lot of it is going to include food. I'm going to further assume these food choices don't include steamed vegetables and egg whites. Most likely they're going to be delicious but extremely calorie dense. 

Knowing this, why not eat a bit healthier during the rest of the day? While in Germany I knew I was going to be doing touring the beer gardens, so I made sure to drink plenty of water to counter any possible hangover and to flush out the sodium of the giant pretzels I ate.

In New Orleans I ate very badly (Is there a choice?), so I made sure not to snack or eat many meals while there. So that when I did have a bad meal, it was one of the only meals I had that day. Which it was so calorie dense, they did more than did the job of keeping me going. On top of that, I made sure to get enough protein to maintain my muscle and keep my energy levels high as well.

2. Stay Active

You may love laying down all day, but your body doesn't.

I'm not saying you need to be doing barbell squats and deadlifts while on vacation, but it doesn't mean you need to just lounge around all day posting photos of your feet on Facebook. Believe it or not, there's this thing called a grey area.

While visiting my grandparents in Arkansas, I always stay active with a light workout. Usually consisting of running a few miles and/or a body weight workout. Pullups on tree branches, one legged squats, pushups, etc. A pair of dumbbells can take it further but aren't necessary.

A lot of my trips include activities with them. When I went to Germany it included me walking for miles around the cities and country, often including stairs and mountains. Carrying my 100 lb backpack definitely ramped up the workout as well. Not to mention casually biking Berlin and Munich to see everything it had to offer kept that Schnitzel from affecting my waste size.

When you're doing all of the mentioned activities you'll end up drinking lots of water without even thinking about it, and be working off all that bad food you're eating at the same time. The very definition of a Win/Win.

3. Have Fun

This is that stupid rule I read at the end of almost every list, but I had to include it. Because it's true.

Why go if you're just going to worry about your weight and feel guilty the whole time? I actually have had people feel so bad about what they did, they confess every little thing they did. There's no purpose of eating that extravagant desert or laying on the beach if you're going to hate yourself afterwards. Do it and make no apologies.

Conclusion

I had lot's of fun and never felt guilty because I chose my battles and stayed active.

I ate lot's of pizza in New York and Germany, pancakes and cookies in Arkansas, pub crawls and Schnitzel in Germany, fattening Cajun food in New Orleans, high calorie hipster breakfast in Denver, and had fun doing it. Because there was no guilt factor. I picked my battles and stayed active, which cancelled out all the negative of eating bad while I was out.

So follow these rules from now on when you take your vacation, and not only will you have fun, you'll come back in possibly better shape than when you left.