Transgender Madness in Sports and Fitness

Political correctness taken to absurd extremes has reached the world of sports and fitness.

• A few years back a transgender (male turned female) MMA fighter broke the skull of her  female opponent. How was such an event even allowed to happen? Mixed Martial Arts isn't a basketball game or a tennis match. Somebody could get severely injured or killed!
• Transgender (male turned female) track and field athletes at the high school level in the USA have been winning women's events by huge margins.
• It is not a matter of discriminating against transgender athletes to oppose such occurrences. It is a matter of fairness to the natural gender females. Someone born a male will have physical advantages. That is just a fact! No amount of being offended by exclusion can change that. 
• If people identify with another gender let transgender men compete with other transgender men and transgender women compete with other transgender women. It may take organization and funding but that would be the cost of  fairness! I'm all for that and if some transgender MMA competition site has a craft beer concession I would be there cheering them on.
• By the way, tennis legend Martina Navratilova, an avid LGBTQ supporter, shares this opinion but got cat called in social media for saying so.
• In many events such as 10 kilometer road races and marathons everyone runs the same race in a mass start anyways. Most participants don't win anything except a t-shirt and a participant medal along with the entry fee. Where is the exclusion that everyone is whining about?

Bruce Jenner
Olympic Decathlon Champion

Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce)
Time for a crack at the women's Heptathlon crown?
Or not!

On a related note the IAAF, the world governing body of track and field wants to handicap Castor Semenya, a South African woman.runner.

• Semenya was born female and does not identify as a male. However, she is classified as 'intersex' because she naturally produces more testosterone than the average woman.
• Semenya was born this way and is not deliberately cheating!
• The I.A.A.F. knowingly turned a blind eye to many 'state sponsored doping programs' so as not to tarnish the sports reputation. 
• The I.A.A.F. wants to only allow Semenya to compete if she takes testosterone suppressing hormones. 
• Why not make Usain Bolt take some sort of marathoner slow twitch muscle hormones to suppress his unnatural abundance of fast twitch muscle fiber.?? Let's level the playing field for everybody! If that sounds like nonsense, then I've made my point.
• Castor Semenya is only truly dominant in the 800 meters. If she drops to the 400 meters she is vulnerable to the sprinter body type women. If she moves up to the 1500 meters, the slighter built distance running women have beaten her.
• Where is the politically correct brigade, in the defense of a female athlete  naturally born with a physical advantage? It is okay to switch genders for an advantage but if you are born with a physical advantage it is unfair! I'm confused. Where is the common sense?

Castor Semenya winning an 800 meter race.

 The fitness training industry has also tried to wade into the transgender issue. I proudly possess a Certified Personal Trainer Certificate (CPT) from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. (CSEP). CSEP is the gold standard for national fitness trainer credentials. However in a recent e-mail Communique there was an article entitled 'Recommendations on a Client Centered Approach to Training and Gender.   An interesting quotation caught my attention.

Gender identity is not always binary; if a client has identified as a particular gender, the Qualified Exercise Professional should assess that client using the protocols specific to that gender

I have some issues with this quotation.

• A male identifying as a female will will likely score abnormally high in the female scoring charts, especially in any test requiring strength and power.
• A female identifying as a male will likely score abnormally low in the male scoring charts, especially in any test requiring strength and power.
• Any comparison to the Health Benefits Ratings charts will be so skewed as to be useless!

The article does follow-up with a more logical statement.

For all clients, program design should be based on current fitness, activity level, and health and fitness goals.

If you have transgender clients, why not just go straight to this step and skip the cross gender comparison of scoring charts.

1. Determine the client's results.
2.  Forget the gender identity issue. Do not even bring it up.
3. Establish baseline fitness levels for gauging future progress. 
4. Create an exercise program that is tailored to the client's goals and objectives.
5. Base the initial intensity level on the fitness level score that the client would achieve with the gender they were born with.
6. Just don't tell them! Use it for your reference only!

Dealing with gender identity issues falls within the realm of psychology or medicine. It is beyond the scope of a Fitness Trainer!!!!! 
If a Fitness Trainer even thinks of venturing there, remember the final lines from the movie 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'           "Madness! Bloody madness!"

Keep Fit
Little Bobby Strong

Links

www.fitnwell.com
www.hwsafaris.ca

www.rabbitview.com

            

Are We Losing the Fitness Battle for Generation Z ?

We are in the era of Generation Z warfare: The war against the machines!!!!!
Generation Z is the demographic born since 1996. They are the generation raised with a hand held phone device affixed to their appendages. Every generation since World War 2 has had an electronic idol vying for control of their youthful brains.

• Baby Boomers, those born 1946 to 1964, used to watch the  television station signal on Saturday mornings waiting for cartoons to start. The T.V. was often sarcastically referred to as 'the Idiot Box'! Fortunately there were many dead time zones with only the news or serious programming so kids still had to go out and play to prevent boredom. 
• Generation X kids, born 1965 to 1976, still had 'the Idiot Box' but with more than 2 channels thanks to cable television and satellite T.V. There were almost no more dead zones for youthful interest.
• Millennials, 1977 to 1995, had video machines which attached to the idiot box. This lead to greater idiocy with video games such as PacMan, Nintendo or PlayStation.. Personal Computers and later the rise of the laptop further conspired to keep the youth away from the playgrounds and the sports fields.
• Generation Z, 1996 and on, now have access to electronic gadgetry such as  iphone, Samsung Galaxy, iPad, Android and Huawai. There is is no need to interact verbally or seek physical exertion to pass the time.

The truth is, we can't fault the kids for replacing physical activity with electronic entertainment. 

• Parents should set rules and time limits on the use of personal phones! However, many parents had their own electronic idols that ruled their time and so the traits are passed on.
• Many parents enroll their kids in organized sports which gets them physically active. 
• Sometimes organized sports are too organized which takes the fun out of it for some youth. A less skilled player may do more sitting on the bench than playing the sport. Sports such as ice hockey are extravagantly expensive. 
• One friend of mine gets his boys out bicycling by bribing them with a trip to the ice cream stand. In the war against the machines, any tactic that works is fair game!

Our educational institutions are also dropping the ball in the battle to keep our youth physically active.

• Physical education classes in schools are being phased out in favor of more computer classroom time. 
• Budget cuts mean selected sports are cut from school inter varsity and intramural programs.
• School boards are afraid of litigation if a student is injured. Outdoor play time and recess is often limited. Soccer balls are banned in some school yards for fear of  someone getting hit and hurt. 

   The result is an increase in cases of diabetes, heart disease and postural problems in the younger population. The decline in health could become an epidemic.

However, there is still hope for our lost generation! Fitness equipment companies have decided to go after this youthful market. The publicly funded recreation center where I work out added an area with special exercise machines for kids. The kids have to run or bicycle on the machine in order to power the built in video games. For example, the faster they cycle, the faster they can blow up the interactive zombies on the screen. This is a brilliant, innovative way to combine fitness and the video culture.
    There is only one glitch in this plan. These machines sit unused. (see picture below) I remember some really young kids climbing all over them about 5 years ago. I have not seen anyone actually use them as intended-ever! Meanwhile on the floor below there are regular video game machines that do not require physical motion (except with the hands and fingers) to play the games. Kids may be inactive but they're not stupid!

A great invention that sits unused.

Why waste energy on a stationary bike machine when this is nearby?

This public use video machine on the main floor is always in use
 with a line-up of vacant eyed urchins waiting for their turn.

Without leadership, the war against the machines will be lost -if it is not lost already. It seems as though the prophesies of the Book of Revelation may be coming to fruition with electronic devices being the right hand of the Anti-Christ!
What type of leadership.would it take to turn the tide against the ruthless onslaught of the techno intruders??

• Parents must take back control. Set limited times for the use of electronic devices. An example would be: no electronic devices allowed during meal times. 
• Make kids go outside and play. Stop using technology as a babysitter. 
• Disable the internet browser on the cell phones for internet use for extended time periods. That way the phones could still be used for emergencies or actual verbal communication.
• Schools should reintroduce physical culture and activity into the curriculum.
• Organized sports should become less organized and more inclusive. Let the less skilled players get more than just a small taste of the action.
• Encourage the youth to look up to physically active role models instead of robots and interactive aliens. I know!  I know! Easier said than done!

Little Bobby Strong: the Pied Piper of Fitness! A role model for active youth!
(Actually these are my nieces and nephews. I had to bribe them
with candy to leave their devices and come outside and pose)

The war against the machines for the physical health, and for the souls, of Generation Z continues. We have not lost - yet!  L.O.L.
(If you enjoyed this blog press like, share on Facebook, and send it out to all of your friends using your electronic devices. If you can't beat the machines, - join 'em.)

Little Bobby Strong

Links

www.fitnwell.com
www.hwsafaris.ca

www.rabbitview.com

Instagram Models, Fitness Influencers, Fake Nattys, Online Coaches

  It is a brave new world out there in the online fitness universe! Twitter, Instagram and YouTube have changed the playing field forever. However, in my case, I am a dinosaur, a relic, the product of a bygone era. I publish an old fashioned blog focused on sports, fitness, weight training and often providing information that may be useful to practicing or aspiring Fitness Trainers. I strive to be factual, interesting and spice up the blog with relevant pictures and videos. I have posted my blogs on  e-mail contact lists, Facebook, LinkedIn and the now defunct Google+. I have a small but loyal following of readers.
   The times, they are a changing! Younger demographics need more instant gratification as per the below example.

Instagram fitness models!
(Actually they are Ottawa RedBlacks cheerleaders but I liked the picture)

  This is what the social media world of 'fitness' or more accurately pseudo fitness looks like in today's era of iphones, Samsung Galaxy, iPad, Android and Huawai:

• Instagram and YouTube have a multitude of sites posted by what are now called Fitness Influencers.
• A social media influencer is a person that has become famous with a large online following. A fitness influencer  has become famous within the online fitness (or more accurately pseudo fitness) community.
• I prefer the term'pseudo fitness" since the term fitness implies healthy living and physical well being. Some fitness influencers  promote unhealthy, extreme or unproven diets, controversial training methods and often the use of questionable supplements. 
• The use of performance enhancing drugs such as steroids is mostly denied but strongly suspected with many fitness influencers.
• Most influencers call themselves fitness trainers and will sell online fitness programs to buyers.
• Some have legitimate fitness training credentials. Many do not!
• Fitness influencers can make money from their site if they have a large enough following. Supplement companies may sponsor them or YouTube sites can make money from Google AdSense.

    There are different categories of fitness influencers.

1. Fitness Models: They may have never been professional models but they post pictures of their skinny, toned female bodies wearing bikinis on Instagram and YouTube. The audience is mostly other women wanting to also look that way with a probably following of male trolls slobbering over the bikini pics.
2. Male Bodybuilder Types: Many have never competed in a bodybuilding contest but they post pictures of their buffed bodies. Most claim to be 'natty' or natural meaning that they have not relied upon using steroids. 
3. The Critics: The critics are usually former gym rats or fitness trainer types that have YouTube channels calling out suspected negatives or shortcomings about the first 2 categories. They often try to prove or at least imply that a self professed 'natty' is actually a steroid user. One high profile fitness  model was called out for selling online fitness programs that did not help the clients. The critics are also on the lookout for feats of strength using 'fake weights' that are lighter than suggested. Sometimes these critics can cross into troll territory.
4. Health Coaches: They offer to sell their online services to help clients better themselves, physically, morally and sometimes spiritually. It all sounds good but could this also have the potential to tread on the turf of of professionals such as registered dietitians, psychologists, or physicians? 
5. Legitimate Educators: These are usually accredited strength and conditioning coaches or even physical therapists. I have found selections of helpful knowledge from this category of fitness influencer. 
6. The Hard Core Muscleheads: These sites are usually dedicated mostly to competitive bodybuilding, strong man culture and sometimes the pro wrestling genre.They are rarely judgmental towards the use of performance enhancing drugs and may actually promote their usage. Some of these sites can be good entertainment. However, many refer to themselves as a 'fitness' site. Pro bodybuilding and fitness are mostly exclusive to one another!  

This Instagram fitness model allegedly sold thousands of online fitness
programs that did not deliver the goods as promised. She has been mercilessly
lambasted on the internet by other 'fitness influencers'

After all of these years as a sports/fitness blogger, maybe it is time for a make over!
It is time to add more videos, tweets, and public 'natty' call outs to my repertoire. It is time to truly define my niche - Men who want to become mean mountains of meat -Magnificent Muscular Monstrosities!
Forget my online moniker - 'Little Bobby Strong! My new niche doesn't want small. They want bountiful, belligerent, bulging, ballyhooed biceps and bison-like, barn-sized banisters of brawling beef! It will now be 'Behemoth Bobby Strong'! The world of the internet demands it!
Hold on for the ride through cyberspace!

Behemoth Bobby Strong !
YouTube and Instagram bodybuilding fitness influencer !
Fake natty or not?? Comment below.

Until Next Time,.....Keep Fit or better yet Keep 'Pseudo Fit'

Behemoth Bobby Strong

Links to the Best Fitness Influencers
www.fitnwell.com

www.rabbitview.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIq5CB9JfKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuCZv9EJwXo&list=PLKVtCg07HElr0dVQhmuUyBJ7-7Q5XcVVe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX4Pbxn7e_E&t=21s
www.hwsafaris.ca

How Fast Can a Baby Boomer With a Hip Replacement Sprint for 40 Yards?

    Early spring is the time when the National Football League (and the Canadian Football League) hold what is known as the 'Combine'.  The Combine is when potential recruits are put through a series of interviews, aptitude tests and physical assessments. The most regaled assessment has always been the 40 yard sprint!

It is often interesting for the average fan to fantasize how they would do against the professionals.
Well think no more! Little Bobby Strong has the answer.

I was a distance runner. I had some sprint speed back then  - and a lot more hair!
  See the following video to see how I have maintained the fast twitch muscle with age.

                         

For the last two years I was updating my Personal Fitness Training certificate to a diploma. One of the required courses was in Sports Performance and Assessment Techniques. There was a lab in which the Trainer or a client performed a linear speed test and made a video of the performance.
I decided that I would make the attempt of the required 40 meter sprint in 2 timed trials. It should be noted that I had a total hip replacement in 2006.! The attempts went better than I thought they would.

40 Meter Sprint Trial

Trial No. 1                                                           Trial No. 2

20 Meter Split Time	40 Meter Time	20 Meter Split Time	40 Meter Time
4.13 seconds	8.1 secs. Split 3.97	4.13 seconds	7.56 secs. Split 3.43

My closing momentum was greater in the 2nd trial.   
If we convert to 40 yards my time would have been around 6.9 seconds. Top combine prospects run around 4.5 seconds for backs and receivers to around 5 seconds for the fastest linemen. If my offensive line opened a hole for me there might be a slight delay before I hit the line of scrimmage.                
   The next day my hamstrings were seized  and I could hardly stand up. Unfortunately, there were also technical issues. (My camera man drank the 6-pack beer payment before we shot the video. The record button was off.)
  We filmed the re-run 3 days later. The running gods did not smile on me this time. I was hit with muscle spasm in both quadriceps as I tried to accelerate from a crouched start. Nevertheless, I think I showed true, raw speed.  The NFL may take a pass but I fully expect a call from my hometown Ottawa RedBlacks of the Canadian Football League.
  
Don't blink or you'll miss it! Believe me, I was much faster in the sprint with the video failure! 


Usain Bolt, stay retired. My time has come!

Little Bobby Strong


Links

www.fitnwell.com
www.hwsafaris.ca

www.rabbitview.com

Corrective Exercise Specialist

I am now a certified Corrective Exercise Specialist.

   Last spring I finished updating my Personal Fitness Training certificate from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to a diploma. The final course that I took was in corrective exercise. This gave diploma graduates the optional follow up to challenge the exam for the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) as a Corrective Exercise Specialist. NASM is one of the most credible Fitness Trainer learning agencies in the U.S.A.
   Corrective Exercise should be a foundation for any fitness training program.

• The majority of people, whether active or not, usually have muscular imbalances. 
• Some muscle groups may be overactive or tight. Other muscle groups may be underactive or weak.
• You often see people with stooped shoulders, sway back posture, externally rotated  knees or foot pronation. They can have one or many such postural misalignments.
• Many fitness training clients are returning from injuries due to postural dysfunction. The injury has healed but the anatomical cause has not been fixed.
• Putting such clients on a cookie cutter training program may reinforce muscular imbalances leading to further dysfunction or even injury.

   A Corrective Exercise Specialist uses static, transitional and dynamic assessments to determine  if the client has postural issues such as:

• Weak muscle agonists.
• Overly dominant muscle synergists.
• Overactive muscle antagonists.

 The Corrective Exercise Exercise specialist can then determine remedial action.

• Overactive muscles are inhibited by pressure using manual pressure or a foam roller.
• Overactive muscles can then be lengthened by static stretching. 
• Strengthening overactive muscles just makes the dysfunction worse.
• Underactive muscles can be re-educated using isolated strengthening techniques. 
• Inhibiting or stretching underactive muscles is counterproductive at this stage. 
• An integrated dynamic movement can then be included to train the body to move in synergy.

  The Corrective Exercise Specialist can then progress the client along the exercise spectrum as muscular balance and posture improves. Exercises can be progressed in complexity or regressed depending on how the client responds to the training program.
   A corrective exercise assessment should precede any fitness training program! 

I also appreciate the fact that this certificate does not expire. The Corrective Exercise Specialist is expected to take continuing education courses and stay updated on current knowledge.

Little Bobby Strong
B.A.
PFT College Diploma
Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology - Certified Personal Trainer
NASM - Corrective Exercise Specialist
All this but I still have to pay $3.50 to get on a city bus??


Links

www.fitnwell.com
www.hwsafaris.ca

www.rabbitview.com

A Wrestling Legend: Jeremy the 'Mad Dog' Podlog

   Over 20 years after scoring a bronze medal in the Canadian Freestyle Wrestling Championships, Jeremy the 'Mad Dog' Podlog has done the incredible. This weekend at the 2019 Canadian Wrestling Championships Jeremy has struck for a 2nd place silver medal! 
Jeremy is in the prime years at age 40 plus but this was not in the Master's division. No! No! 
He wrestled to this astonishing silver medal in the open division against competitors half his age! What type of trickery is this????
    
   

Always sticking his nose aggressively into the thick of the action earned the moniker Mad Dog.
That's Jeremy in the red and black wrestling outfit.

 I take special interest in this legendary athlete's exploits because he is an 'honorary' fitness training client of mine. He lives in Calgary and I live in Ottawa but sometimes I send him online training ideas or corrective exercise tips. However, it is mostly his dedication to wrestling and his adherence to hard training and clean living that has led to this Herculean result. 
   Over the past few years, Jeremy has felt that he has lost many matches mentally rather than physically. I have tried to tell him to go easy on himself because the middle aged body is just not physically capable of past performance. He refused to use age as an excuse. Jeremy has been working on mental relaxation techniques over the last year. A tense muscle cannot execute as proficiently as a muscle that explodes into movement from a relaxed position. 
   In sports psychology, the rule is to focus on the process rather than the outcome! Jeremy felt that in the past years he has been stressing over the outcome rather than just relaxing and then executing the movements honed through experience and practice. Obviously his new mental outlook works.
Hide the steak bones and lock the doors to the meat locker.
The Mad Dog that instilled fear in the hearts of his opponents is back in town!

The relaxed aggression has returned.
The Man! The Myth! The Legend! Jeremy the 'Mad Dog' Podlog!

    Age  eventually overcomes. We can no longer run as fast or in my case run at all. Our time in the the weight room becomes about maintaining function or slowing decline rather than building muscle.  Those hard bike rides into the hills become slower each year. We water ski on two skis only now instead of dropping a ski to slalom. Competitive hockey morphs into recreational old timer hockey. But every once in a while something happens to make us feel young and vibrant and hopeful again.
Kudos to you, Mad Dog! Whether the Legend continues or this was your swan song - thanks for the many exploits!

Little Bobby Strong

Links

www.rabbitview.com

www.fitnwell.com
www.hwsafaris.ca

Baker's Cyst: Curse or Annoyance?

   I was asked about Baker's Cyst by one of my regular readers, Gerry D.Z. Gerry D. Z. leads an active life. He is an outdoor enthusiast, an environmentalist, a stage actor (drama and musicals), and a former rock band singer. Lately this active lifestyle has been hampered by a knee ailment known as a Baker's Cyst which is also called as a Popliteal Cyst. 
   A cyst is a sac of tissue filled with fluid, pus or gas. A Baker's Cyst occurs behind the knee with fluid accumulation in the sac. The name comes from Dr. William Morrant Baker who first diagnosed this condition during the 19th century. The fluid comes from synovial fluid draining from the knee into the bursa where the gastrocnemius muscle of the calf and the semimembranosus muscle of the hamstring cross the posterior of the knee in an area known as the popliteal fossa..
   The symptoms of a Baker's Cyst include:

• Swelling on the backside of the knee
• Ping pong ball sized bump or cyst
• Stiffness 
• Decreased range of motion
• If the Baker's Cyst ruptures there may be swelling or even discoloration in the lower calf muscles.
• Sometimes there are no noticeable symptoms. 
• The actual reality is that a Baker's Cyst is usually a symptom in itself of some other knee condition.

   There are numerous risk factors that can lead to the development of a Baker's Cyst:

• Knee problems such as sprains, strains, ligament tears.
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Cartilage injuries - especially meniscus tears.
• Muscle imbalances that can create knee issues.

Treatment usually depends upon the severity of the cyst:

• If there are no symptoms the cyst may subside on its own
• The cyst can be drained by a doctor
• A cortisone shot can be administered at the location of the cyst
• Cortisone is also a usual treatment for a ruptured Baker's Cyst
• The Baker's Cyst often reoccurs if the mechanism of knee stress or injury is still present.
• Muscle imbalances that can cause strain sprains or tears should be remedied.
• Cartilage issues should also be repaired or the cyst can return

   My faithful reader, Gerry D.Z. found relief from draining, cortisone and a natural remedy known as the Osmo Patch. However his Baker's Cyst keeps returning. He may need further medical advice to determine if mechanical issues affecting his knee are the culprit.

 Rarely is a Bakers's Cyst dangerous or  overly debilitating. What is important is to be sure it actually is a cyst. Have a doctor rule out the possibility of a blood clot or a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).  The important point to remember is that the conditions affecting the knee cause the Bakers Cyst. Remedy the knee issues and the Baker's Cyst should disappear.

Gerry D.Z. (right) in an Edmonton historical musical.
Let's stabilize that knee to keep you in the stand-up roles..

Stay fit my friends.....

Little Bobby Strong

References

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker%27s_cyst
https://www.healthline.com/health/bakers-cyst

Links

www.fitnwell.com
www.hwsafaris.ca

www.rabbitview.com