I don't talk nearly enough about my clients.  But I should.  Because they're some of the best and most interesting people I've ever met.  

Below is a client spotlight I wrote for our company blog and I'm reposting here.  You'll also note that Sara has her own snarky comments bolded below.  Enjoy her story - she deserves it!

Last year I published my most popular post to date: Is Exercise a Stress Reliever or a Stress Amplifier?  It explained that while we often think of exercise as stress reliever, it can often have the opposite effect. 

That’s right.  Instead of helping your overall health, your mode or intensity of exercise could be contributing to why you’re constantly getting hurt, sick, or unable to sleep.

While this may seem obvious to you, realizing this fact put me light years ahead of where I was as a coach. Everything started to click. I realized why certain people with frequent back pain, or who were always sick, didn't necessarily feel better after their workout.  And sometimes they even felt worse.

So the inevitable question is: how do you know where on the stress spectrum you fall, and that you're not sabotaging yourself with your mode of exercise?  

From age 14 to 25, I was convinced that heavy deadlifts would break my spine in half.  After all, it seems legit.

But my view was molded by user error.  Or as I like to say, "deadlifts don't hurt your back. What you're doing will hurt your back."

Deadlifts look as simple as picking it up and putting it down. However, it's one of the most nuanced and technical exercises out there.  While I field a ton of questions about the deadlift everyday, one I hear most often is:

How much can - or should - your lower back round during a deadlift?

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: