Fit, Fashion, & Function: Are your pants f***ing up your movement?

DOC'S EQUIPMENT REVIEW:

One of the things that I've been paying increasing attention to in the past 8 years with all the traveling I've been doing is how improperly fitting clothing can contribute to decreased performance and/or health issues. I see it with footwear, with sports bras, with eyewear, and even jewelry.

For me, one of the most noticeable pieces of clothing that affect my movement and comfort are pants. When you're forced to sit for hours at a time aboard a flight, or hustling to get to your gate in time, pants that are too baggy or too restrictive have the potential to make life uncomfortable and even unsafe. I'm amazed at how many guys tolerate wearing pants that make them feel like their legs are falling asleep, probably because it's so hard to notice until they try to get up & actually walk.

The more I wear these 5.11 Tactical Traverse pants, the more I like them. In climates as varied as wintertime Canada & summertime Hawaii, the pants have still remained comfortable wears. I don't think I've ever had a pair that looks, fits, & feels as good as these do. Regardless of how much stuff I have to load the cargo pockets with, the elastic "magazine retention bands" inside help keep the phone, wallet, keys, EDC, or whatever else from bouncing all over the place, and the 4-way stretch fabric never makes my legs or hips feel like I'm wearing a tourniquet so that my circulation is never impeded.

Photos courtesy of Fitness Ranes of Honolulu, HI

As a guy who has a bit of a caboose, slacks that are cut without the extra room in the backside make me cringe. The Traverse, however, moves with the comfort of a well-broken-in pair of sweatpants with the look of something respectable enough for a boardroom or a patient consult. While wearing pants that look classy enough to go out to a business meeting dinner, I still feel comfortable throwing a kick vertically without the fabric pinching or tearing.

Since I often have to wear the same clothing to a dinner engagement directly from teaching an all-day workshop on rehabilitative movement (a la Prehab-Rehab 101), Hardstyle kettlebell training, or even martial arts, I was a bit concerned about whether or not the synthetic fabric would show signs of "pilling" with friction, but no signs of any such wear so far. Whether teaching kneeling and ground-based movement drills on Astroturf or dropping shin kicks into a muay Thai bag, the points of hard contact still look unblemished, even after several washes. Unlike some synthetics, this blend hasn't retained odors yet, regardless of how intensely I've sweated in them.

Working on "Sphinx" position during my Prehab-Rehab 101 workshop in Honolulu with participants who came from as far away as Los Angeles & Jakarta!

To have an "all situations ready" pair of pants is quite a feat for me considering all the stuff I spend my time doing - from treating patients, to sprinting after my kids, to training pro athletes, to researching traditional martial arts, to hauling ass from one flight after another, to the rare "quiet dinner & drinks" with the Mrs! The Traverse from 5.11 Tactical leads the pack of all the pants I've ever worn.

My final review: If you live a fast-paced, active lifestyle that requires you to be on point in a variety of situations, these are worth every penny & then some! CEO Tom Davin & crew hit the ball straight out of the park on this one. http://www.511tactical.com/traverse-pant.html

UPDATE: 12/29/14 - After washing & wearing the hell out of these things & long wearing sessions during travel, the fabric is starting to pill around the seat area. I haven't yet gotten a hold of one of those electric things that shaves the pilled fabric off yet, but I'm curious to see how it responds.

Kettlebelling in Korea - Doc & Jon's Excellent Adventures: Days 3 & 4

No rest for the wicked.

While Friday was supposed to be a day of NOT teaching and R&R before the weekend workshop, it ended up being anything but.

While our morning didn't start with roll call at 6am, and we had the chance to enjoy a leisurely breakfast of bulgogi (YEAH, BABY!!! First thing in the morning!!!), the R&R stopped there. In the later part of the morning, Men's Health - Korean edition came by our place for a photo shoot. They knew about as much about kettlebells as I do about speaking Swahili.

I'm gonna digress for a moment here.

Since we got here, the Koreans have been nothing but critical about almost every aspect of how we do things and what we do initially. I got an earful about the lack of PowerPoint presentation and handouts making it harder for students to learn, and then another earful during the photo shoot about how the RKC instructors' uniform (khaki Patagonias & black T-shirt) were unstylish and made me look fat... like I give a $h!#.

But with all things on this trip, Jon & I seem to meet the initial Korean skepticism, and turn it on its ear Hardstyle.

So back to the point at hand... Having had plenty of experience directing photoshoots for Black Belt Magazine, I told the photographer which angles to shoot from, and the results were far more than satisfactory. So while you won't see Doc & Jon in colorful Nikes with spandex shorts and neon T-shirts on with bright pink kettlebells, you WILL get to see some of the RKC's finest representing the system and the organization with the integrity that matches the RKC Code. Just wait, folks.... the pics'll be posted here when I get them.

Following that shoot, which ended up being rather long, we had an interview with MFight Magazine, which is Korea's MMA-focused periodical. Trying to verbally describe the benefits of kettlebell training and FMS-style repatterning with any semblance of accuracy to someone that's never experienced it is almost futile. So we forcefully invited the interviewer to attend the first day of Hard Style Hanguk. His protests about knee pain were met with my cocked right eyebrow and a deadpan reply to just show up.

Day 1 of Hard Style Hanguk was a blast!

We got there at 9am, people filtered in on Korean time, and we rocked the house at Sportime. Much to my surprise, there were at least a half a dozen women in attendance. And in a country where the fitness movement is still in its infancy (although they don't think so) and where female trainers are not as common as in the States, their presence was a pleasant surprise.

The rest of the attendees ranged from a couple of Americans who were working in Korea to personal trainers to physical therapists to strength coaches to athletes to military educators. Hmmmmm, sounds like the roster at a regular RKC, doesn't it?

The first day was obsessively focused on Program Minimum and its myriad of applications. Squat patterning, Hard Style Lock, Deadlift, Swing & Swing variants, Naked Get-Up, & Turkish Get-Ups made for the menu on Day 1. Between my detailed explanations and Jon's corrections that are straight out of the RKC Manual, the participants were treated to a level of training that we heard was "unexpectedly thorough!"