Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 4/15/2011
Cool News: a few weeks ago, I mentioned in passing how I was offered the opportunity to start writing for a fairly popular fitness website that currently has an Alexa ranking of 1,143. Meaning, it’s the 1,143rd most visited website in the world, and 397th in the U.S (ie, pretty freakin good). So, yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.
I didn’t name any names at the time because nothing was set in stone, and I didn’t want to jinx myself. Kind of ilike what’s happening right now here in Boston with all of the people who claimed that the Sox were easily going to win the World Series this year.
*inserts foot in mouth*
Well, given that I received my first writing assignment from them yesterday, I think it’s safe to let the cat out of the bag and let people in on the secret.
[Cue drum roll, laser show, and smoke machine]
The site is LIVEstrong.com, and I’m really exicted for the opportunity. Adam Bornstein, former fitness editor of Men’s Health, has recently taken over and is in charge of upgrading the content on the site. So, you should see some cool things happening in the near future.
Anyways, moving on to matters at hand, here’s some stuff to keep you occupied for the next hour or so.
Knowledge vs. Experience – Mike Robertson
Mike has writen a lot of great things in the past, but I think this is one of his best. As a fitness professional myself, and as someone who has worked his way up through the trenches, I couldn’t agree more with what Mike had to say in this post. To all the upcoming coaches and trainers out there – READ THIS POST!!!!!
Is Sugar Toxic? – Gary Taubes
Here, Gary Taubes, author of the renowned book, Good Calories, Bad Calories (which admittedly, is still sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read) gives his thoughts on Robert Lustig’s notion that sugar is nothing more than a toxin to the body – which namely stems from his lecture, Sugar: The Bitter Truth, which has gained a lot of attention in the past year or so.
It’s a compelling argument for sure. But sometihng I’m not remotely qualified to throw myself into. I will say this, though: I learned a new phrase – DIABESITY. Clever.
And, to close out the week, here’s a video of yet another “fitness professional” (and I use that term VERY loosely here) demonstrating how to use kettlebells. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
I don’t know what it is about kettlebells, but it seems there’s an epidemic of videos popping up on Youtube of people just butchering technique. I saw one the other day that Leigh Peele posted on her Facebook page of a personal trainer from Florida taking his female client through a tutorial on KB swings, and he just got shit on by the RKC and HKC crowd (and rightfully so). It was that bad. I think by the end of the day the video was removed from his youtube page.
Anyways, to her credit, the woman above apparently is going to seek professional instruction on how to use (and teach) proper kettlebell technique. But shouldn’t this have been something she should have done before posting a video on youtube? And, more importantly, what are the odds that if aliens came down from outer space and kidnapped her, that they’d find a Teddy Bear where her brain should be?
Have a great weekend everyone!
Comments for This Entry
Michael Gray
Congrats man! That's awesome!April 15, 2011 at 5:29 am |
Darrel
hey congrats Tony, well deserved. That is a cool website, but maybe you could put a good word into the editor and have them remove this article titled: How to do sit ups to reduce stomach fat. http://www.livestrong.com/article/421071-how-to-do-sit-ups-to-reduce-stomach-fat/April 15, 2011 at 6:07 am |
Nock
I will be honest here and say Its about time Livestrong.com get someone who actually knows shit about weight training and strength conditioning b/c IMO almost all the articles on that site about these topic are ******. It is a great place to go if you have questions about nutrition though. Congrats TonyApril 15, 2011 at 7:26 am |
Steve Cooper
Great news on the Livestrong deal. They publish some absoulute BS though Tony e.g. http://www.livestrong.com/article/421272-weightlifting-equipment-to-strengthen-the-legs/ http://www.livestrong.com/article/136873-the-best-exercise-machines-legs/ Written by a part time writer/photographer and a graduate of Communication WTF?, why all of a sudden are they employing writers who have actual knowledge of the subject matter? It would be great to see some of your good advices on a mainstream website, and would love to see more people man up in the gym and deadlift etc. However I fear it would be lost in between all the other fitness enthusiast gibberish which they publish everyday.April 15, 2011 at 7:30 am |
Tony Gentilcore
Adam Bornstein, former fitness editor of Men's Health, just took over at Livestrong.com recently, and he's been working his tail off cleaning up the place and contacting high quality people to provide content (myself, EC, Robertson, PJ Striet, Cassandra Forsythe, and many many others). Rest assured that it's going to be MUCH different moving forward.April 15, 2011 at 8:02 am |
Teddy
Congrats, Coach Tony!!!!!April 15, 2011 at 8:16 am |
MOM
So proud of you!!!!April 15, 2011 at 8:41 am |
Jen in Idaho
Congrats for you Tony. The changes for the site will benefit all the folks who use the Livestrong site as their primary source of information. Getting quality advice to the front line for people who really need it and may not know how to wade through all the garbage (Anderson, Michaels, and the like) is so important. P.S. I like the new question- much less subjective than the rock question ;-)April 15, 2011 at 8:58 am |
AC
Tony - Glad to see they are finally starting to get some worthwhile content at Livestrong! Regarding Taubes/Lustig, you should really take a look at what Alan Aragon has to say about it. Both the summary post and the original post (especially the comments) are worth the read.April 15, 2011 at 9:13 am |
AC
Damn, I guess I missed the link... http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/April 15, 2011 at 9:14 am |
Lisa V
I recently finished Taubes' book "Why We Get Fat and What to do About It," which is basically a more reader friendly, shorter version of "Good Calories, Bad Calories." You can borrow mine if you want, but it is highlighted. I thought it was very interesting ~ not sure if I agree with everything he says, but I think he is on the right track. Congrats on the writing assignment. You are a talented writer who deserves it.April 15, 2011 at 9:16 am |
Tony Gentilcore
@ AC: I subscribe to Aragon's Research Review, so I'll have to check it out.April 15, 2011 at 9:33 am |
Cara
Congrats Tony! I'm sure you will bring great things to the site.April 15, 2011 at 9:51 am |
R Smith
Great news, Tony. I just hope you don't forget the little people. And regarding the Taubes piece, Aragon flat out annihilated Lustig's argument via his blog. If memory serves me, even Mark (Young) and Jamie (Hale) weighed in on the healthy "debate" that waged in the comments section.April 15, 2011 at 10:29 am |
Cheri
Congratulations on the writing gig! I'm so proud of you and am happy to see your superb writing making its way further out into the world!April 15, 2011 at 11:56 am |
Greg R
Lance Armstrong told me he can deadlift more than you. Congrats Tony! Also, Mike's article is great. Wow, am I finding out how important heeding that advice has been for me. Coaching, getting coached, and spending time under the bar is invaluable.April 15, 2011 at 11:58 am |
Tony Gentilcore
@ Greg: someone who's name rhymes with Slytherin told me that you attended the Diesel Crew seminar last week. Wish I could have made it myself- great dudes!April 15, 2011 at 12:08 pm |
Daniel
Definitely happy to see you'll be putting up some intelligent information on the site! I think it should be your first order of business to request they take down the video of Lance doing the world's shittiest power cleans on the internet.April 15, 2011 at 12:47 pm |
Kujo
I don't think peeps are watching her videos to learn about her KB swing technique. Just saying. :) Congrats on the Livestrong.com gig. I can't say I've ever really followed that site, but it'll definitely get better with you and AB involved.April 15, 2011 at 1:25 pm |
Greg R
It really shouldn't have taken me a solid minute to figure out who Slytherin was. I had a great time down there!April 15, 2011 at 2:30 pm |
Andrew
The odds of her NOT having a teddy bear where her brain should be are roughly the equivalent of the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field.April 15, 2011 at 4:02 pm |
Tony Gentilcore
Also, for the record, I just checked out that link that AC provided above of Alan Aragon shredding Dr. Lustig to shreds om his blog. Wow, just wow.April 15, 2011 at 4:21 pm |
Hunter
alan aragon and his knowledge bombs just blew my mind.April 15, 2011 at 6:44 pm |
Joe
Tony, how does it feel to you and Eric to be loved so much! Haha! I love reading your blogs and seeing what you have to say! Brilliant! It would be great to see you guys writing even more and helping people to set better standards! =DApril 16, 2011 at 6:18 am |
pete
Am i the only one who was not impressed with Alans counter arguement? I certainly don't think he 'smashed' Lustigs lecture by any stretch of the imagination.April 18, 2011 at 11:14 am |