Editor’s note: This post contains what some might consider offensive language or a serious assault on manhood (yours or others). If you find any of the aforementioned potentially offensive, do not read this post. Remaining in denial or being uninformed is better than being exposed (and if it keeps you from getting in trouble with the wife, all the better). Instead, go here, here or here. If those don’t work for you, try this for comfort. It’s likely part of your current problem.

If you’re a man and have bigger boobs than your wife or wear pants with a waist size bigger than the length, you suck. No exceptions. 

It’s the only conclusion that can be drawn – the introduction of the “sucking man” has led to a decrease in stature, an increase in estrogen and a softness you cannot deny. Prehistoric men were not soft or fat . . . → Read More: You SUCK as a Man]]> And it’s embarrassing.

Editor’s note: This post contains what some might consider offensive language or a serious assault on manhood (yours or others). If you find any of the aforementioned potentially offensive, do not read this post. Remaining in denial or being uninformed is better than being exposed (and if it keeps you from getting in trouble with the wife, all the better). Instead, go here, here or here. If those don’t work for you, try this for comfort. It’s likely part of your current problem.

If you’re a man and have bigger boobs than your wife or wear pants with a waist size bigger than the length, you suck. No exceptions. 

It’s the only conclusion that can be drawn – the introduction of the “sucking man” has led to a decrease in stature, an increase in estrogen and a softness you cannot deny. Prehistoric men were not soft or fat (neither was your grandpa). No, their boobs weren’t bigger than their wife’s (like yours).  No, they didn’t wear 44×32 inch pants (seriously?). No, they weren’t vegetarians. No, and most assuredly, they didn’t jump on an elliptical four or five days a week.

And without question, while most of your body is big – the man-boobs mean your “manhood” is shrinking – it also means your brain is small and getting smaller. 

Sorry, but…

You suck for many reasons, stature, dietary, lifestyle. Regardless, in nature’s view, you’re expendable. That soft, cushy body, those man-boobs and low testosterone mean you can’t and shouldn’t reproduce. It means you’re turning into a woman. When this happens in nature, you no longer matter. You’re here to reproduce and be a man. The good news is you don’t have to wait in line at the vasectomy clinic.

Why you suck.

Tendon insertions reveal prehistoric man (and probably your grandpa) as having serious muscle. They were lean, mean fighting machines – able to kill and eat. And avoid danger. In today’s times, you don’t have to kill or avoid danger. All you HAVE to do is eat. The elliptical part is voluntary, not to mention a waste of time. And nothing in your life counts as danger, unless you’re afraid of your wife because she’s more of a man than you, which just makes my point stronger.  

Back to that tendon insertion thing. The bones of men “who do not suck” are thicker and stronger at KEY skeletal muscle insertions, like in the thighs and hamstrings, chest and back, which means they had serious muscle mass. Where are your bones thicker? In the hips and low back, which means you’ve got serious baggage yanking on them all day. It also means…

You suck because your life (and everything else about you) is soft. You get up early; tired because your sleep habits are horrible. Stumble through a shower, brushing your teeth and the bagel (if you eat breakfast) and coffee. Don’t forget statins, metformin and Lisinopril. You fight traffic or take public transport to your job where you sit behind a desk for hours, pretending to work. Lunch is a  sandwich and a bag of chips. Don’t forget the diet coke and cookie for dessert. 

However you make your way home, you either stop off at the gym to abuse an elliptical, run your kids all over the place or go home for a “lite” dinner, chicken and pasta, maybe a glass of wine, and ice cream for dessert. Then you make your way to the chair, where you doze and nod until 10:30 or 11 before going to bed for more crappy sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

Is it any wonder you suck?

A bunch of You cants…

You can’t stop sucking when anything more vigorous than abusing an elliptical causes serious injury. Like a sprint or squat jump. The likelihood either of these rips a hamstring or pops a tendon is high. Too high.

You can’t stop sucking when the only way you could do 10 pushups is by finishing the last 8 in the modified position, like a girl – remember, you’re turning into a woman. Should I elaborate?

You can’t stop sucking when you eat low-fat, no protein, and whole grains (any grains, really), like pasta, wheat bread and Cheerios. Or snack wells. Or M&M’s. Those food groups jack with your manliness, bind up testosterone, increase body fat and reduce muscle tissue (not to mention a bunch of other things). The elliptical doesn’t help here, either. Can you say Cortisol? 

You can’t be a man and eat like a gorilla – either quality (vegetarian) or quantity. Relatively speaking, herbivores have small brains and large digestive tracks. Carnivores have large brains and smaller digestive tracks. Why? It can get technical, what with the Expensive Tissue Hypothesis and all, but suffice to say, you and a gorilla have more in common than you care to admit (*ahem*). Your brain is shrinking and your gut is expanding – it needs more room to digest all the crap you’re shoving down there.

You can’t stop sucking by going to a restaurant and ordering from the “lite” menu. That’s code for low-fat, which means two ounces of chicken breast and three pounds of pasta. No thank you.

You can’t stop sucking when victory in your suburban life is beating some guy off the line at a 4-way stop. This is like the pushup thing, no explanation needed.  

You can’t stop sucking when you’re a douchebag. There is no way to justify your doucheyness. And no matter what you change in the “How to” list below, if the douchebag remains, you still suck.

You can’t stop sucking when you drink “lite beer” because it has fewer calories. Beer is made with wheat. And wheat sucks.

You can’t stop sucking when you’re 5’ 5” and have little man’s disease. This just sucks. Really. You’re more like a gnat than anything else. NEXT!

You can’t …

There isn’t enough space on the interwebs to hold all the reasons. As a man, you suck and it’s embarrassing.

How to stop sucking in 4 easy steps.

Can you ever stop sucking? Maybe. For your sake, I hope it’s not a lost cause.

Here is my very own “How to stop sucking” list. Even if you don’t completely stop sucking, you’ll embarrass me and others who don’t suck a little less, which is bigger than winning a race at the 4-way stop sign.

1. Things you can’t change.
You can’t change your height. Being shorter than average doesn’t mean you’ll completely suck forever. Just partially, unless you can’t shake that “little man’s disease” syndrome. You can’t change your age either, but age has little to do with you sucking. Seriously. Just consider it a confounding variable. See Exhibit A, your grandpa. Who at 80 could wipe the floor with you.

2. Crank up the intensity
Ditch the elliptical. It just sucks. Besides, no self-respecting male that doesn’t suck would be caught dead on one. One or two days per week, crank up the intensity. Do something hard and intense. Get out of your comfort zone. Run some sprints. Do some jump squats or burpees. Go to the park, put out markers and do agility drills. Do real pushups. Go until you can’t go anymore and then do a few more next time.

Go for a nice, leisure, SLOW walk 2 or 3 days per week (more if you’d like). This is more about keeping the sensitivity of your metabolic hormones than caloric expenditure. Remember, back in the day, a walk, at the very least, was a requirement before any food or drink could be consumed. Note: stumbling to the shower or kitchen does not count.

3. Ditch the fake foods
Eat some meat – real meat, like steak, pork, chicken or seafood. Grass-fed, pasture-raised is always preferable. But starting with these at the grocery store is better than what you’ve been doing. And please, ditch the pasta, bagels, chips, breads, most fruits and 99.9% of foods that come in plastic bags or cardboard boxes. They’re inflammatory, they ruin your digestive system and they’re full of hormone disrupters.

They are not good for you, I don’t care what your wife, the food guide pyramid, the guy from CSPI, Dr. Oz, Kelly Brownell, some know it all down the street, “weight loss” programs sending food to your home or counting points say. Even when you don’t suck, they aren’t good for you.  

Take all that fake food and throw it away. Don’t eat it. Instead, put the meat on your plate and replace the stuff you’ve thrown out with vegetables – preferably the above ground variety.

And quit drinking beer. Drink some wine or liquor, like scotch on the rocks.

No more gorilla like tendencies for you.

4. Get some discipline
I’m talking about discipline in your diet and exercise program, and a couple of other areas, which have contributed to your current condition. 

Follow the three steps above for food and exercise.

The other part, sleep. Go to bed earlier. Turn off the lights, TV, computer and cell phone. It can wait until tomorrow. Sports Center is not that important. 

Make sure your room is completely dark and a little cool. Shoot for eight hours. Soon, you won’t be stumbling to the shower or kitchen.

What’s next?

So there you have it. My simple, 4-step process to being a less sucky man. How will you know when you’ve made it? A couple of things to look for…are your man-boobs disappearing? Is the waist of your pants getting smaller than the length of your legs? Can you do more than 10 regular push-ups? Have you stopped abusing the elliptical? Do you have less in common with a gorilla than when you started? You know the drill.

Report back here in 30 days. We all want to see your results.

Sorry if it hurt. Someone needed to say it.

References

Cohen PG. Obesity in men: the hypogonadal-estrogen receptor relationship and its effect on glucose homeostasis.
Cordain L. Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double Edged Sword. 
Cordain L., et al. Fatty Acid Composition and Energy Density of Foods Available to African Hominids.
Diaz-Arjonilla M., et al. Obesity, low testosterone levels and erectile dysfunction.
Live Science (accessed 10/04/2010). Obesity Linked to low testosterone in men.
Lunenfeld B., Testosterone deficiency and the metabolic syndrome.
Yassin AA, et al. Metabolic syndrome, testosterone deficiency and erectile dysfunction never come alone.

Gladwell, on the other hand, was excellent. I furiously took notes on my Blackberry and emailed them to myself – see image below.

As you can see, I gave the email an appropriate subject line: “Gladwell Lessons.” As anyone can attest, typing on a Blackberry can be challenging, but done so like this is typos galore. This is without mentioning my Blackberry seems to have a mind of its own, or at least some of the keys do. The 1, 2 and A seem to only work when they want.

I’ve had many questions about his lecture and wanting to implement some of his ideas, I . . . → Read More: Learning from Malcolm Gladwell]]> While in San Diego last week, the biggest highlight for me (other than my talk, of course) was the keynote, Malcolm Gladwell. Chris Berman of espn also gave a keynote, which I did not attend. But by all accounts, underwhelming would be a compliment.

Gladwell, on the other hand, was excellent. I furiously took notes on my Blackberry and emailed them to myself – see image below.

As you can see, I gave the email an appropriate subject line: “Gladwell Lessons.” As anyone can attest, typing on a Blackberry can be challenging, but done so like this is typos galore. This is without mentioning my Blackberry seems to have a mind of its own, or at least some of the keys do. The 1, 2 and A seem to only work when they want.

I’ve had many questions about his lecture and wanting to implement some of his ideas, I set about deciphering. So, here goes.

His talk was a combination of Blink and Tipping Point. In other words, if you want to have something spread throughout your world in a Blink, you need to identify the Tipping Point. Gladwell calls this a revolution.

To accomplish this, three things are needed. You need to:

1. Leverage your skill,
2. Frame your message and
3. Employ social power.

He made this point through an example with David Sarnoff and RCA broadcasting the first ever, live boxing match between Jack Dempsy and Georges Carpentier in 1921.

First, Sarnoff knew radio. He was working for RCA. He knew how to get the fight broadcast (even if he had to have help). It helped him leverage his skill.

Second, he framed his message. “See what else you can do with a radio?” “It’s not just for news.” “It’s for entertainment.”

Third, he used social power from every store selling RCA radios. He contacted each one of them and had every radio tuned to the station broadcasting the fight. He wanted as many people as possible hearing the fight.

Some estimates were as many as 300,000 people heard the live broadcast. Amazing, 300,000 people in 1921. Within six months, RCA radios were flying off the shelves.

So, if you are in the health/fitness industry, how are you going to create a revolution? One of the things mentioned over and over again (at the meeting and from others), is that we do a good job with those who seek our services. What about the other 60% of the population?

How can we connect with them? How can we draw them in?

How can you leverage your skill to help those that need it most? How can you frame your message so they hear it? That was one of the main points in my presentation. It’s not that the energy balance equation is wrong. It’s the pervasive mis-application of it. For those needing our help the most, we don’t see the problem.

They (patients, clients, customers, etc…) fail because we blame them. It’s all their fault. So we shift. Our focus now is the behavioral aspects of weight loss. They’re not motivated enough. They didn’t write their goals down correctly. They’re eating too many/ not enough meals per day. The list goes on…

It’s why someone like Dr. Phil, who doesn’t know ATP from ketchup can write a best-seller weight loss book.

It’s also why nearly 100% of weight loss books say the same thing, eat less and exercise more, while differing in their approach to behavioral strategies. If it weren’t so ridiculous, it would be funny. All the while, all of this has underhandedly laid the failure of weight loss at the feet of those trying to lose weight.

Finally, how will you employ social power to spread your message? Twitter? Facebook? Email? Local meetings? Local experts? I’ll tell you this, however you do it, you need to have a better understanding of why people fail at weight loss attempts before you use your social power. Otherwise, it will be more of the same.

The last things I want to point out are mavens and connectors. According to Gladwell, mavens are information deciphering machines. They take it all in and make sense of it. Connectors help mavens put it in the right place.

Are you a maven or a connector?

How are you going to start a revolution?

So back to the forum. There were four speakers (including me), each presenting on a topic related to nutrition and wellness. I think the forum was well-received. I listened to all presentations and only one other excited me. Amy Blansit works with obese people in Missouri and she gets it. Her presentation was excellent and she’s doing a bang-up job. The other talks seemed . . . → Read More: San Diego Presentation]]> On March 10, 2010, the Medical Wellness Association sponsored a Medical Wellness and Nutrition forum as part of the IHRSA convention in San Diego. As an aside, Sunny San Diego? Are you kidding me? It was sunny, but, man, was it cold! The wind was blowing. Hard. Felt it to my bones. Probably not cold to someone from Minnesota, but to a Texas boy it was. And can you do something about the homeless people? The only place I’ve been where it was worse was downtown Baltimore.

So back to the forum. There were four speakers (including me), each presenting on a topic related to nutrition and wellness. I think the forum was well-received. I listened to all presentations and only one other excited me. Amy Blansit works with obese people in Missouri and she gets it. Her presentation was excellent and she’s doing a bang-up job. The other talks seemed rather fluffy.

In order to gain more attention, I badly titled my talk: “How to increase revenue with weight loss programs.” IHRSA is not the most scientifically rigorous organization. A more appropriate, but boring, title would have been: “Misapplication of the energy balance equation.” That was the focus of my talk, but no one would have attended. I spent nearly half of the two hours building this up and why weight loss programs fail (or, the misapplication idea).

For more on this, check out Dr. Eades’ blog, Protein Power, more specifically, this recent post. You can also read this post by Robert McLeod on energy balance, it’s at the bottom of the post.

The gist of the talk centered on the pervasive notion of eat less, exercise more. For overweight and obese, hyperinsulinemia equals metabolic domination, efficiency at fat storage and feeble efforts in fat mobilization. Simply eating less does not fix this and leads to failure.

Oh, and before you chime in with ASP, leptin and all the others, don’t bother. ASP is a toothpick to the bat of insulin. While the research on leptin and leptin resistance is fascinating, I have yet to work with someone where it was a problem. I know it’s there, somewhere, and I know it exists. Just haven’t run across it in my day-to-day business.

You can also view the presentation at slideshare.net.  Don’t know why, but the embed code has jacked up the first slide. It’s normal at slideshare. Below the presentation are links to a reference list and white paper.

Click here to download the references.

Click here to download the white paper. Note: I can’t find my white paper. It’s somewhere on my laptop. I’ll hunt it down and post the link in the next day or so. 

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta. In a world full of clutter, how is less more? Already skimmed through. Suits my style perfectly. To the point. Practical and a quick read.

4HWW-Expanded and Updated by Tim Ferris. This one is next. Can’t wait to get started. Should be in it before January is over.

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. Reading it now. After all I’ve heard, very excited to get this book. The sole Navy SEAL . . . → Read More: reading list for 2010]]> In the last post, I detailed the 10 books I read last year. Here’s a list of books I intend to read this year. As stated, the goal is 11 books. The list contains nine, leaving two spots open. There are two reasons for this. One, it’s early and something is bound to come out I’ll want to read. Two, now that the Mitch Rapp series is complete, they will be hard to ignore.  

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta. In a world full of clutter, how is less more? Already skimmed through. Suits my style perfectly. To the point. Practical and a quick read.

4HWW-Expanded and Updated by Tim Ferris. This one is next. Can’t wait to get started. Should be in it before January is over.

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. Reading it now. After all I’ve heard, very excited to get this book. The sole Navy SEAL survivor of a mission gone bad in Afghanistan. In case you didn’t know, SEALS are badasses.

The Covenant of the Wild by Stephen Budiansky. From the back cover, Animal-rights extremists argue that eating meat is murder and that pets are slaves. … shows domestication of animals is not an act of exploitation but a brilliantly successful evolutionary strategy. Sounds like my kind of book.

The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. Because I’m in love with Sandra Bullock and I’d rather read the book than watch the movie. Plus I love me some football.

Memorial Day and Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn. No explanation needed. 

Living Life in the Zone by Kyle Rote and Joe Pettigrew. A book for men on being a better Christian.

The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith. After all I’ve heard and read about this book, I feel like I’ve read it. Sadly, that is not the case. But it won’t be for long.

So there you have it. The books I read last year and what I’m going to read this year. When the open slots get filled, I’ll let you know. What are you going to read this year?

In the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions, I decided to post a list of books I read last year, with a brief review. My resolution this year is to read at least one more book than last. In the next post, I’ll put a list of books I intend to read this year.

Books that I read last year…

Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes. It was my 3rd time through. Each time feels . . . → Read More: Books i read in 2009]]> I”m not one for New Year’s Resolutions. Don’t know why. Never have been. But most people want to lose weight or start exercising more at this time of year. Those great and I help people do this all day, but I also like to read. Books, magazines, newspapers, journals, anything, really. Not much for the pop culture type stuff, something that will keep me involved (Mitch Rapp series) or teach me something (Eades, Ferris, Taubes) is my preference.

In the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions, I decided to post a list of books I read last year, with a brief review. My resolution this year is to read at least one more book than last. In the next post, I’ll put a list of books I intend to read this year.

Books that I read last year…

Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes. It was my 3rd time through. Each time feels like the first. I’ll read it again this year. 

Beating Cancer with Nutrition, Patrick Quillin. Thorough book on dietary practices and cancer with a focus on food and supplements. If your approach is to do all you can,  Beating Cancer with Nutrition is the book you need. 

4HWW, Tim Ferriss. I read this book in 3, maybe 4 days. It was a fast, entertaining and educational read. Read it while in Mexico last year. Karma?

In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan. After two failed attempts, finally forced myself to read it. The message is good. The writing style, not so much. Too many words. Too many long sentences. I thought Pollan was a journalist? 

Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell. Bill Gates is just lucky, I guess. The 10,000 hour rule lives!

Training Camp, Jon Gordon. A book on the importance of hard work and the desire to succeed.

23 Minutes in Hell, Bill Weise. If you’re a Christian and have questions about Hell, read this book. It will change a lot (if not everything), that’s all I’m going to say. 

The 3rd Option, Separation of Power and Executive Power by Vince Flynn, from the Mitch Rapp series. If CIA secret spy stuff is your game, this series was written for you. Mitch Rapp is a terrorist and bad politician killing machine. Is bad politician redundant?

That’s the list of books, all 10 of them. I didn’t mention blog posts and journal articles. Like I said, my objective is to read 11 books this year, which will be detailed in the next post. The list already has 9 books. One little rule: it won’t count if I’ve already read it. 

What did you read last year and what is on your list for this year? Give me some ideas for the remaining spots.

In case you haven’t heard, statins and big pharma took it on the chin in a new study from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The results showed niacin was significantly more effective at reducing carotid artery plaque than statins alone. In fact, results showed plaque continuing to grow in the statins only group while regressing in the niacin group. I’m not going to detail the study and author’s conclusions, Dr. Eades has done a wonderful job of that.

I’m not even going to get into . . . → Read More: statins and niacin … a concerted effort?]]> We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming (Top 10 non-generic and generic prescription drugs) to bring you this, what appears to be a concerted effort on the part of Big Pharma to keep their precious statins high on the list of prescribed drugs. (can you blame them? Between Lipitor and Simvistatin you’re looking at 109.2 million prescriptions and $7.4 billion in sales per year!).

In case you haven’t heard, statins and big pharma took it on the chin in a new study from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The results showed niacin was significantly more effective at reducing carotid artery plaque than statins alone. In fact, results showed plaque continuing to grow in the statins only group while regressing in the niacin group. I’m not going to detail the study and author’s conclusions, Dr. Eades has done a wonderful job of that.

I’m not even going to get into whether or not reducing LDL prevents heart attacks. I’m taking a different approach.

Now, a normal thinking individual might conclude niacin as a better alternative to statins in preventing cardiovascular disease. Such as Dr. William Davis over at the Heart Scan blog. He’s not really normal thinking, more like forward thinking (WAY forward compared to his colleagues) and he’s been banging on statins and tooting the niacin horn for a while.

What really has me perturbed is a concerted effort to keep precious statins at the top of the prescription list. For example, a Google news search today (11/20/09) showed 800+ stories on the search term: statin+niacin. Scrolling through the headlines of those on the first page, you see phrases like, “Vitamin B niacin offers no extra benefit to statin therapy,” “Niacin may not help arteries,” “No benefit for statin patients,” and on and on.

Another example is this, a press release published November 20, 2009, which relates study details showing an approximate 1/3 drop in “bad” cholesterol levels in the US from 1999 to 2006 (study abstract here). The last sentence in the first paragraph sums it up nicely,

“But a high percentage of adults still are not being screened or treated for high cholesterol levels.” 

I’m not sure what they mean by high. As you’ll see in my next post, about 1 in 2 adults in the US are taking a statin. You would think this one-third drop would be cause for celebration, and it is among the statins crowd. But while there is a significant drop in the number of cardiovascular-related deaths, incidence hasn’t decreased.

So the question isn’t whether or not statins work. They reduce LDL cholesterol but they don’t reduce the incidence of heart disease. So why take them? Why prescribe them? It’s like the statinators and policy makers can’t see the forest for the trees.

The unfortunate (for them) news on the effectiveness of niacin, the quick-to-the-table message parroted by the media, that the incidence of cardiovascular disease has not decreased and the $7.4 billion cash cow of statins is enough to make one skeptical, or disgusted.

Your thoughts?

This post is part of the Kathleen Show, Prevention not Rx.

So without further adieu, here are the ones I found most interesting…

Cholesterol Lowering Drugs May Help Prevent Stroke Recurrence

New Research Claims Cholesterol Drug Could Reduce Risk Of Amputations In People . . . → Read More: The Statin snowball rolls on…]]> A couple of more articles pimpin’ the other benefits of statins…

Cholesterol Lowering Drugs May Help Prevent Stroke Recurrence

New Research Claims Cholesterol Drug Could Reduce Risk Of Amputations In People With Diabetes

A pdf version of the article is here: http://www.informz.net/acsm/data/images/worldwidetrends.pdf

In surveying nearly 2,000 fitness professionals throughout the world and corroborating with internationally known fitness experts, a list of 20 fitness trends was identified. I’m giving you the top 10 and adding my comments to each.

Take a look and let me know what you think. Are your New Year’s Resolutions aligned with any of these trends? Are you a member of a health club or fitness center that offers services like these? Do you have access to these services? ============================================

Number 1: Educated and Experienced Fitness Professionals There is currently no regulation of Certifying agencies for fitness professionals. Anyone can offer a “Personal Trainer” cerfitication and not have standards to meet. However, more and more certifying organizations and schools are becoming accredited. This is great. . . . → Read More: Fitness Trends for 2008]]> January 8, 2008

The American College of Sports Medicine published it’s fitness trends report for 2008 in December of last year.

A pdf version of the article is here: http://www.informz.net/acsm/data/images/worldwidetrends.pdf

In surveying nearly 2,000 fitness professionals throughout the world and corroborating with internationally known fitness experts, a list of 20 fitness trends was identified. I’m giving you the top 10 and adding my comments to each.

Take a look and let me know what you think. Are your New Year’s Resolutions aligned with any of these trends? Are you a member of a health club or fitness center that offers services like these? Do you have access to these services?
============================================

Number 1: Educated and Experienced Fitness Professionals
There is currently no regulation of Certifying agencies for fitness professionals. Anyone can offer a “Personal Trainer” cerfitication and not have standards to meet. However, more and more certifying organizations and schools are becoming accredited. This is great. Just as hiring a CPA gives confidence that certain levels of education have been obtained and demonstrated, so should it be with fitness professionals.

As a doctor, I continuously push for higher educational standards of personal trainers and you should too. After all, you literally put your life in their hands. And if a trainer you have chosen isn’t educated and trained regarding contraindications, you are taking a big risk.

Number 2: Children and Obesity
This is an important one. Reports have been saying for a while that this may be the first generation that doesn’t outlive their parents. And a big part of that is obesity and related lifestyle disorders. If we can keep physical education in the schools and take advantage of physically active based after school programs for our children, it will be a major step in the right direction.

Number 3: Personal Training
This will be a staple of the top 10 every year the survey is conducted. Learning to exercise properly, whether it be for health or sport, should be your number one priority. And a well-educated personal trainer is invaluable in that regard. Without proper instruction you are more likely to get injured and may never reach your goals.

Number 4: Strength Training
Personally, I’m glad this is in the top 10. The health benefits of strength training are simply too numerous and profound to ignore. You must incorporate strength training into your exercise routine.

Number 5: Core Training
At one time, people thought this was a fad. But it has certainly lasted long enough to be called a trend. Core training has been defined as training the muscles of the abdominals and lower back. Some include balance training too. Whatever the case, strength in the trunk of your body is needed for support. Strengthen your core and you’ll feel better.

Number 6: Special Fitness Programs for Older Adults
As you age, health becomes more important (it really should be important from day 1). And programs tailored to older individuals are more popular. Programs like these focus on increasing strength, flexibility and performing activities of daily living. As a side benefit, all of these things significantly improve your health too.

Number 7: Pilates
A form of core training, Pilates has been a staple of the fitness scene for years.

Number 8: Functional Fitness
This is a form of exercise that improves your ability to perform activities of daily living. A well-balanced program will improve overall strength, flexibility, balance and heart fitness. As you progress, you will feel more confident when performing regular tasks as your risk of injury and adverse events decreases.

Number 9: Swiss Ball
Most people refer to them as stability balls. These are the large balls most fitness centers now have. They can be used to perform an almost limitless number of exercises, focusing on training the abdominals, improving balance and overall stabilization. Core training incorporates the use of stability balls.

Number 10: Yoga
A form of mind-body exercise that focuses on flexibility, posture and meditation.

Additional thoughts by me…
I like the list and am considering posting 11-20. However, I think teasing out the differences in some of these is difficult. For example, Core Training, Functional Fitness, Pilates, Swiss Ball and Yoga aren’t all that different – at least not different enough to have their own categories.

There are a couple of things I would have liked to seen in the top 10:

1. Greater focus on dealing with chronic diseases and conditions that physical activity positvely effects. For example, there is no mention of type II diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease. This might fall under the auspices of education, which is #1. In my personal opinion, fitness professionals could do themselves (and their industry by default) a lot of good by educating themselves in these areas, creating services to help more people and having a positive impact in the lives of people.
2. More focus on developing services to help businesses improve the health of their employees. All fitness centers and personal training studios have small businesses close to them. They should be developing programs to help these businesses reduce health-related costs. For example, we recently performed a healthy back seminar for two different companies with amazing results. Based on worker productivity, reduced sick time and improvement in back pain, the companies were able to realize savings of more than $40,000. That’s a lot of money. Click here to read our press release.