I might touch this up and make it into an academic quality paper. Then I can use it in job interviews as a writing sample as part of my job interview presentation. But for now I will just keep it casual. It is 100% accurate but I am not going to page for page source hunt.

When in a gym (provided you have been going, evil eye to you know who) you see others running around with lifting belts. At some places like Home Depot you see the stock people in them as well.

                                                                                         

Do weight belts work and how? Yes they do work, here is how. Look at the lumbar spine cut away picture at the top. We humans walk upright, and need our spine to give support yet be flexible to absorb shock, while also able to provide range of motion so we do not walk like robots. The spine as you know is many disks stacked on top of each other, with a spongy disk in between each to provide cushioning. The only real support your spine has are muscles the erector spinae and the transversospinalis groups. Think of your spine as a bunch of stacked soup cans held together with rubber bands.  The figure 12 picture shows how this looks.

When you wear a weight belt it will compress the fluids and tissues in your abdominal cavity together giving increased support the the lower spine. This relieves the Erector muscles of much of their burden as the fluid pressure hold the spine in place.

This can work against you while trying to reach fitness goals. People who wear a lifting belt all the time during resistance exercise deny the erector group stimulus to adapt to. The rest of the skeletal muscle adapts and become stronger, but the erector and other spinal muscles remain in an less or even de-conditioned state. This creates a dangerous imbalance vastly increasing the changes of injury. 

The proper times to wear a lifting belt is. 1-when a power athlete is in a peaking phase and is training an 3 Rep-max range or higher. 2-When athlete is doing conditioning that requires heavy repeated lower spinal loading while near an exhaustive state. The exhausted spinal muscles could relax and cause a disk to herniate. 3-When the athlete is recovering from low back injury. The belt will keep the disks and muscle in proper alignment for healing, while client does no spine loading exercises. Once the low back is recovered sufficiently the athlete may return to spinal loading exercise under the supervision of a doctor or physical therapist.

Athletes and exercisers must be trained to self monitor loads on the body to decrease the chances of injury. Everyday life and many athletic events do not have people wearing weight belts, so the law of specificity says to decrease injury, allow the spinal muscle to exercise and adapt along with the target muscle groups.

Ace intro:
"Jessica kicks off her summer series of videos with exercises to effectively train and strengthen the abdominal muscles. Adding the bicycle maneuver, vertical leg crunch, plank, prone walk out and stability ball pull-in to your exercise program will have you feeling good and looking great.

Video Contents -- 2:17 length
0:18 -- Bicycle Maneuver
0:55 -- Vertical Leg Crunch
1:10 -- Forearm Plank
1:40 - Prone Walkout
1:47 - Stability Ball Pull-in "

My commentary:
The road noise is unaccaptable for a professional demonstration by a large organization like ACE, I would expect it from garage guys work out, not someone I pay money to make these videos. However the movements are correct and those are excellent ab exercises for deconditioned people. You can use them to warm up, and/or part of cool down. I use elbow to knee "air bike" warm up in the morning. I would skip plank for reverse hyper extension to warm up the low back.

The best part of this video is how he demonstrated the lying elbow to knee/air bike, that was pretty much perfect. My research shows this to be a big bang for buck exercise.

A near always asked question by new exercisers is what should I do first my cardio or my resistance training. Like all experts I will answer with the positive and absolute statement of "it depends." MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Actually it pretty set in stone depending on your goals. In freshman level classes you learn the SAID principle. Specific Adaptation to Implied Demands. Simply means you body will adapt to exactly what you do, no more than it has to. Knowing this we can plan how to include exercises that give you the most bang for buck as they say.

Most my clients are seniors or the obese. To maximize weight loss, and regain lost physical functioning, I insist on doing resistance first. Here is why. Once warmed up your body will be most capable of doing what you do first, meaning better output potential, the ability to work out a bit harder.  Ability to work harder means more adaptations. Building a pound of muscle is 35 calories used perday even if you sit on your duff! They used to tell differently, they used to say do cardio first. Now that we know more that is not the case.  Can you lose weight doing 30 mins cardio at 60% heart rate followed by 3 sets of ten resistance? Yes you can, but....

Second reason is for weight loss, doing your resistance first delete your glycogen reserves, your carbs, the sugar in your blood. So when you go on to do your cardio next, your body must use more fat as fuel and attempt to conserve carbs. Your post exercise burn. EPOC Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption will be higher. That is like free fat loss after your work out. Think of it as interest earned on your workout investment. Your body soon learns it will need to be more active, and will attempt to save carbs to work out, carbs are the preferred fuel over fats or protein. So while just going about your day, you are burning fat, more fat than those lazy bones that do not work out.

Athletes need to do the focus of the day first while having fresh legs to get the most out of the work out, and to be fresh to avoid injury. Like where I am training for distance I run first then do resistance MWF, and an abdominal circuit T-TH. I need to get used to high output at the end of the race with depleted blood glucose. I am not really an athlete, but you get the picture. Where a football player (NFL type) would do explosive sprints or lifts on days opposite of skill drills. A five mile run is pointless, and asking for injury.

Typical work out

10 mins warm up circuit jumping jacks, elbow to knee, free hand squats, stair steps, ect ect ect

resistance exercises like off the floor lifts, lunges, overhead presses, bench or cable presses, pull up or lat pulls, about 20 mins

30 mins cardio of what ever gets you going

10 mins stretching to cool down. (no, we also no longer stretch before working out, this is found to weaken the muscle before it ever works, causes micro tears before activity)

We know the Star Trek series, and can quote “beam me up Scotty” “Resistance is futile” “make it so” Just for fun and to relax from all the political debate, but yet be who we are and enjoy politics, and the “other camps of thought.” I thought it would be entertaining to look at Star Trek from political perspective of Liberal, Conservative, & Libertarian. My quotes may not be word for word accurate.

 

Star Trek as a “Liberal” Show.

“Earth is a paradise, we have eliminated hunger, homelessness, & disease”...Sisko

“I love you, I do not care what they think you are”…Rikker (figures huh lol)

“Men of peace usually are brave”.. Spock

“We don’t use money in the 23^rd century”…. Kirk

“Torture is outdated and ineffective, no real civilization uses it”…Picard

“Keep your prejudices in your quarters mister” Kirk

"DO not go beyond warp 5, we are destroying the universe" A Scientist

 

The technology has reached a point that people no longer need money, everyone can pursue their passion your survival is a given. Arts and culture are alive and well. So well that even Klingons run around quoting Shakespeare.  Society does not judge Black, White, Asian, Blue, Red, Green, Homosexual, Straight, in between.  People are judged by their character not color of skin. Scientist travel and study those strange new worlds, and new life forms.  Medical care is free, as is shelter, and food, just walk to a computer and ask for it. Liberal Paradise!

 

 

Star Trek as a “Conservative” show

“You can’t let some machine take our jobs, there are certain things we must do to remain men” Kirk

“Excellence is expected, anything beyond that does you credit” Picard

“You are a coward, and you have no honor, get out of my sight”  Worf

“I don’t wage war with computers, I wage the real thing” Kirk

“The honor is to serve” “Your service honors us” Picard and Serek greeting each other

“As long as you wear that uniform, you word is good” Sisko

“We all ask a father, a brother, a god, why am I here?” Spock

“You will just exist living on the charity of others” Odo

 

A free lunch did not build an advanced star fleet.  Not every race is happy to see star fleet, and some aliens find it something useful to consume and conquer.  Smiling happy aliens would make for a very boring show, and is not reality.  Star Fleet has a strict code of honor and ethics, those that break them, even with the best intentions are not treated with respect.  Earth might have some fat lazies remaining, but on a ship you can escape all that.  In spite of all the technology and social tolerance, respect is still gotten the old fashioned way, they earn it.  Buzzwords like discipline, service and honor are alive and well in the future as seen by Star Trek. 

 

Star Trek as a Libertarian show.

“Our culture is based on freedom and self determination” Picard

“No disrespect, but my career choices are my own business” Rikker

“We are here to ascertain my right to choose” Data

“I will work with you, and fight for you, but I don’t like you” Worf

 

Star Treks prime directive of no interference is a pure Libertarian statement.  Based on the old west, Star trek is a western with space ships, a wagon train to the stars. Often having to improvise as you go to survive, day by day.  Civil rights are often the main topic of the show. Does this race have the right to do this that or the other, does the individual have the right to do or say certain things? Often self-restraint and ethics are the only law for light years.  Star Trek asserts that all discipline is internal, not out side force can truly make you do anything. The other sides right to law and due process stop Star Fleet from blowing the other guys to kingdom come. Nobody really cares about your race, preference, or even quirks, as long as you contribute, and be the best of your chosen path.

 

So which do you think Star Trek is? If you like the show you might claim it, if not give it to another political belief.

 

I am certain the show was for all people, since few people fall purely into any one stereotype.  A liberal has honor and can fight fiercely for a just cause. Conservatives enjoy arts and culture, and despise racism. 

 

Star trek is what our nation (planet) should be about. We all work together to improve the quality of life. We will never agree on how to get there, but if we play/fight fair at least you are honorable at all times.  The odd quirks and point of view of someone from a place you dislike might just save you one day.

 

We need the opposing points of view to stop any political or social monopoly. That is what brings back oppression and the dark ages. Losing our right to say no, once you cannot say no, you are a slave. No matter how friendly or benign the monopoly force claims to be, the truth of it is you are a slave.  Saying no has cost those brave few alot, but we thank them for it.

 

Harmless beliefs one does not agree with are trivial so long as no force is used. Becoming advanced beings will mean picking battles wisely knowing that in the end the truth will show beyond all doubt. Truth is something we all need, and can learn from, Liberal, Conservative, or Libertarian.

 

 

 

At first I was thinking 'Thanks a "heck" of a a lot CBS, as if enough people don't already have an excuse to not exercise, you come out with this!"

But it is true, many trainers are totally incompetent. One of my past supervisors was beyond incompetent, and took it to a new level.

Regulation is not the answer. Look at all the law suits filed against doctors. Clients need to follow the buyer beware rule. Know if their traienr has a degree and is certified by a real agency. No gym I know will hire someone from Expert Rating, sheez!

A simple workout with little equipment, but a lot of attitude