Happy New Year and greetings from Jamaica!
I’m here in the lobby of my hotel in Montego Bay where my wife and I are attending the wedding of good friends of ours “sans enfants”!!! (That’s French for “without kids”).
This is the first time in 10 years that we’ve been away without children for an extended period of time.
Needless to say, we’re quite relaxed right now.
Being away has allowed me enough time to catch up on work, get some rest, get some workouts in and start the New Year off right.
And so, while sipping a nicely brewed Jamaican Blue Mountain cup of coffee (I don’t drink alcohol), I’m writing this post and telling you what to expect in fitness for 2012.
So straight from my crystal ball, here are…
My 5 BOLD Predictions For 2012
1. Exercisers – especially those in aging populations – will begin to realize the value of being physically strong and will alter their workouts accordingly.
For years the aerobic “feel the burn” movement has infiltrated the fitness industry and gave those loyal exercisers what I like to call “a false sense of strength”. For a lot of of enthusiasts, strength was defined as your ability to withstand and endure long bouts of physical exersion. People likened strength to being “heart healthy”, like being able to run a marathon (which, if you’ve ever run a marathon before, is more about MENTAL strength than physical strength). That’s not strength, that’s endurance.
This quote sums things up nicely…
“Physical strength is the most important thing in life. This is true whether we want it to be or not. As humanity has developed throughout history, physical strength has become less critical to our daily existence, but no less important to our lives. Our strength, more than any other thing we possess, still determines the quality and the quantity of our time here in these bodies. Whereas previously our physical strength determined how much food we ate and how warm and dry we stayed, it now merely determines how well we function in these new surroundings we have crafted for ourselves as our culture has accumulated. But we are still animals – our physical existence is, in the final analysis, the only one that actually matters. A weak man is not as happy as that same man would be if he were strong. This reality is offensive to some people who would like the intellectual or spiritual to take precedence. It is instructive to see what happens to these very people as their squat strength goes up.”
-Mark Rippetoe, Author of Starting Strength
Men and especially women will start to realize the value of being physically strong and will not shy away from heavy squats, deadlift and military presses.
2. Quality of movement will take programming priority and more exercisers will demand that they work with someone who can correct their functionality.
Working with kettlebells has taught me a lot about my body and the functionality of the bodies of my clients.
Too many times I see trainers start off with their clients with some type of advanced fat loss programming when their client can’t even squat of lunge properly.
As a trainer, we get caught up too much in giving our clients what they expect or want instead of what they need. As a result, people get injured in a hurry and the trainer ends up looking like a dufus for hurting their clients.
Now – again, especially because of the aging population – trainers will pay more attention to proper movement before hammering the crap out of their clients.
3. Challenge Workouts will be the new hot workout phenomenon.
Much like how MRT workouts was the hot new workout phrase for most of 2011, challenge workouts will be THE hot trend for 2012.
Challenge Workouts – usually done with bodyweight strength exercises, but can easily done with any exercise – involve the strategic use of progressive overload to challenge your body to acheive more. You can do this within a set amount of time or you can challenge yourself by performing more reps than you did the previous workout.
For more information on cool Challenge Workouts, check out Shawna Kaminski’s Program HERE…
4. Trainers and rehab practitioners will see the value of the kettlebell for rehabilitation purposes.
After reading this study…
Scand J Work Environ Health. 2011 May;37(3):196-203.
Kettlebell training for musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health: a randomized controlled trial.
Jay K et al.
…where exercisers suffering from various forms of neck/shoulder and back pain were put through a monitored regimen of mainly hip extension exercises using a kettlebell (deadlifts from the floor or 2-arm swings), both groups saw a significant reduction in pain and discomfort and an improvement in strength in the hip extensor muscles.
Kettlebell Swings offer exercisers the opportunity increase the flexibility and mobility in their hips, strengthen their trunk muscles (abs) and improve cardiovascular health just by performing one simple exercise.
With this in mind, I see more chiropractors and PTs seeking the expertise of RKCs to help them design the rehab programs for their clients.
=>Get one of the BEST RKC Certified Kettlebell Programs HERE
5. More professional strength coaches will be using kettlebells with their athletes.
The most fundamental power movement is an explosive hip extension. You extend your hips with force when you sprint, jump and throw and because of that, the pros will start to acknowledge the effectiveness of basic kettlebell drills when training their athletes.
This past summer when I was working with the Canadian National Beach Volleyball Team, I had my athletes swinging KBs prior to their training in hopes of allowing them to better utilize their glutes when they jump. (Because jumping out of the sand is a lot harder than jumping off a stable surface like a gym floor).
During our sessions, we tested their vertical jump prior to a swing session and we saw a marked improvement in jump height immediately after the finished swinging.
Why?
It could have been that they hip flexors “opened up” after swinging the bell so many times. It could have been the activiation of their glutes. Or we could have just gotten lucky.
Either way, I think the majority of strength coaches will now follow in the steps of guys like Dan John & Joe DeFranco and utilize kettlebells more in their programming.
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It’ll be interesting to see how correct I am on all of these.
Remember, if you’re reading this blog then you’re already ahead of what’s going on. The predictions above, I believe, are predictions in trends that I see the GENERAL POPULATION following.
You and I are NOT general population.
Make 2012 your best year ever!
Chris Lopez, RKC
Leave A Reply (3 comments So Far)
Joe
47 days ago
Good post.
Jeff Cather
41 days ago
Chris,
At 66, I know the importance of strength. I have been losing fat and gaining a little muscle. My problem is that my testosterone is low and building muscle mass is extremely difficult. My physician has started me on a testosterone injection program; however, like most things I have tried in my life, I am still waiting for the surge of energy. I have found that my physiology for these “miracle” elixers and potions never give me what “hundreds of users have described.” I have been using kettlebells about a month, and I am still trying to be sure that the mechanics are correct. Nothing like swinging a 16 kg hunk of iron when the body is off balance or out of alignment. I bought your program KB Revolution, and I am trying to get through the preparation phase. I eat lots of greens, I take vitamins, I have a juicer for lots of green drinks, I take Whey Protein powder, and I drink about a gallon of water each day. I don’t seem to be gaining any endurance here. Maybe I should just realize that at 66, unless I start with HGH and other stuff as Dr. Jeffrey Live recomends, I am about where I can go with what I have.
Thanks for listening to the whining. I am just so tired of not seeming to move forward.
Kylie
38 days ago
#1 – Woo hoo! As they say, “Strength is the new Black for women”
I love how strong I have become (pressed 20kg for the first time the other day – YEAH!! And yes, *without* ‘bulking up’…) And it’s certainly helped since we are doing house renovations, digging holes, carrying 20kg cement bags, playing with augers
#2 and #4 – Couldn’t do all that without learning about my strengths, weaknesses, asymmetries, etc, and applying correctives in the right way.
@ Jeff – Just keep at it. The gains will come. A month on the prep phase probably won’t build endurance as such, it’s just as it says – preliminary. See #2 above
When I started, I couldn’t even get the first part of the TGU without my leg flailing around, before even adding a KB! Now I can do them with 20 kg, and have done 24 with a spotter ready to catch it.