I don’t consider myself a core exercise guy.  I’m more of a pick things up, put them down guy.  But even though core work isn’t sexy, neither is living life with our ribs and pelvis out of alignment.

This week, I’d like to share my new favorite exercise: the breathing dead bug.  It’s part of my 2016 goal to share more actionable information.  After all, there’s only so many deadlifts and positional breathing drills that any “normal” person can take.

My wife, Lindsay, is slowly nodding her head in agreement.

Anyway, I love this exercise for a variety of reasons and for a variety of people.  And if it seems pretty easy, it's only because you haven't experienced it correctly.

I often feel like I'm a salmon.  Not in a bad way.  More in a "swimming against the tide of outdated fitness information" way.

But sometimes, that tide is just too strong.

Whether it's someone's preconceptions of training, or previous experiences with other trainers/coaches, people are often surprised when they go through one of my sessions or classes. There's this idea that in order for training to be "good" it must be 1) hard, 2) intense, 3) bodybuilding style, and/or 4) cardio based. And really, it shouldn't be any of those four.

So let's start with what "good training" is not:

1. Good training isn't how high you can get your heart rate.
2. Good training isn't how much you sweat, how hard you breathe, or how sore you get.
3. Good training doesn't involve punishing yourself, for whatever reason.

Those thoughts are exactly why so many people - trainers included - get burned out so quickly. After all, most personal trainers don't last beyond 1-3 years, and the drop-off in gym attendance by March illustrates the fleeting nature of New Year's Resolutions.

So what makes for good training?  Here are three things it should encompass:

That damn sit and reach. It's the lingering memory from my Presidential Fitness test. Zero pullups and "running" a 13 minute mile? All but forgotten. But sitting on the ground, having my legs held down by classmates, and being told to "reach?"  I felt like I was failing my country because I resembled the Tin Man.

In a sharp contrast to those elementary school days, I've hacked my way to now touch my toes on command.  But rather than blindly touting "Make America Flexible Again!" we need to look at why someone can or can't touch their toes.  After all, just stretching our hamstrings does nothing but make our pelvis more unstable. It also fails to teach the mechanism behind why we can or can't touch our toes - our brain.

Don't just take my word for it, I'm about education!

The process of losing weight carries different ideas for each person.  I think of vegetables, deadlifts, pullups and kettlebell snatches.  You can thank the upcoming Tactical Strength Challenge for that.

But many people think of depriving themselves, as if that's a necessity to lose weight.  I don't mean deprivation as in actively thinking we need to starve ourselves - many of us are too smart for that.

I mean deprivation in less obvious forms.  For example:

• Holding yourself to strict daily caloric limits.
• Needing to run or exercise in order to justify a meal.
• Thinking we can't indulge in a meal and need to be 100% perfect.
• Giving up stress relieving rituals such as a cup of coffee or a nightly glass of wine.
• Demonizing specific foods (fruit, grains, dairy) even if we like them.

Learning about heart rates is not sexy.  I think that's why I avoided it for so long.  If a topic wasn't about getting stronger or giving me abzz, it wasn't at the top of my priority list.  It's myopic but it's true.

I was also confused with the different types of heart rate data - resting heart rate, heart rate variability, working heart rates, anaerobic threshold, etc.  While obtaining this data is easier than it's ever been with various monitors and FitBits, it's only valuable if you know what to do with it.

What changed? I learned why someone's resting heart rate is directly tied to their ability to get stronger and in better shape.  It's true what they say, "When the student is ready, a teacher appears."