Things I Do Not Like

You knew this post was coming after I made a similar post a couple of weeks ago, Things I Like. So let me give you an idea about some things within the fitness and training industry that I am not particularly fond of, to put it nicely:

• The Bosu Ball: Before I say anything bad about this thing, I will admit that I'll use this piece of overpriced, inflatable rubber for one exercise, push ups with hands on the Bosu Ball. But that's it. You'll never catch me or one of my clients standing on this thing on either side. I watch people who can barely handle an exercise standing on solid ground try to do the same thing standing on this unstable surface. This is not balance training. This is not functional training. This is circus training.
• Nike Shox: A good amount of knee, low back and hip injuries can be traced back to dysfunction at the foot and ankle areas. And a lot of these foot and ankle dysfunctions are a result of today's footwear including the Nike Shox. What they are is basically a high heeled version of sneakers that can cause a shortening of the calf and Achilles area which in turn causes limited dorsiflexion, which in turn can cause knee tracking issues, which in turn can cause hip stability or mobility issues, which in turn can cause low back problems. Follow me? And just because they cost close to $100 or more lends nothing to their ability to improve function. In fact, some studies have shown that as the price of sneakers has gone up, so has the incidence of foot and ankle injuries.
• Cereal: I do not consider cereal to fall under the category of breakfast. Cereal is a way of food manufacturers to disguise insulin spiking sugar in a bowl. You've heard before that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So why then would you choose cereal to make up your breakfast? Yes, there are some good cereals out there. But I know very people who are eating them because they taste like cardboard.
• Toning: You can not be "toned" without having some muscle mass and a fairly low body fat percentage. And neither one of those two things is going to come from lifting light weights for high reps. But somehow that's what the ability to become toned became associated with. A better way is to aim to get strong, clean up your diet and do some form of energy system training a couple of times a week. Then you might actually get lean, which sounds a lot cooler than being toned.
• Overanaylsis: It's great that we have so much training and nutritional information available today, but it's also become a hindrance in getting people to their goals. Another way of looking at it is what can be called paralysis by anaylsis. You become bombarded with so much information that you don't know what to do with it. In my opinion there are very few advanced trainees out there. There are far more beginners. Beginners that should be getting the basics in play first and leaving the thinking and analysis up to the experts.
• Youth Specialization: Kids should not be be focused on one sport or activity for prolonged periods of time. The only thing kids should be focused on is complete development. Kids should be playing different sports with each season and taking part in as many different activities as possible. They should be exposed to as many things as possible. Instead we're seeing a trend towards kids specializing in one sport year round. Where has this gotten us? The childhood obesitty epidemic isn't coming down and the incidence of overuse injuries amongst children is going up. A child should never develop an overuse injury. And I hate to break the news to you. You're little Johhny or Jenny has a very small chance of making it to the big time.
  

And one more thing I do not like, but can not be included on this list because it has nothing to do with fitness or training: the Yankees. Go Sox!!