Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work

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As I alluded to earlier in the week, I’m heading up to the University of Southern Maine today to give two presentations. One of our current interns, Chris Pothier, asked me a while back if I’d be interested in going up to speak to their exercise science club, and basically talk about anything I wanted. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity, and I have spent the last week preparing some kick-ass presentations:

1. So You Want To Be a Fitness Professional – Here, I’m going to discuss some of the characteristics, I feel, encompass a “good” fitness professional. Namely, being able to distinguish the difference between making this a career as opposed to a “hobby.” Additionally, I’ll touch on some strategies they can use to separate themselves from the masses – stuff like learning functional anatomy, not having more degrees than a thermometer, the importance of continuing education, and understand that “ur” is not a word.

Above all, I just want to prepare these kids for the “real world” so-to-speak. Being a fitness professional, as noble as it is, isn’t always about rainbows and puppy dog kisses. They’re not going to be training professional athletes right out of the gate, and they’re certainly not going to be operating their own gym. For most, they need some “in the trenches” experience, and really making it a point at getting good at what they do.

2. Program Design Essentials – this is such a broad topic, and all I’m really going to do here is discuss some of the things we do at Cressey Performance that I feel differentiates us from everyone else. As well, I’m sure I’ll go into a few rants on why I hate crunches, and how I think the BOSU ball is about as useful as a poop flavored lolly pop.

Chris is actually riding up with me, and if he thought the intern death circuit he did last weekend was hard, wait until he spends the next two hours in the car with me listening to techno. I’m thinking the over/under of him doing a sniper roll onto I-95 is 20 minutes.

To that end, here’s some stuff you should check out:

1. Should You Stick to the Recipe – Mike Boyle

I actually referenced this in my program design presentation, and think it’s the perfect analogy to use when trying to discuss program design to beginners.

2. The Metabolic Costs of Reciprocal Supersets vs. Traditional Resistance Exercise – Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

Pretty self explanatory. Straight sets suck. Supersets don’t.

3. How I Learn – Bret Contreras

Bret has quickly grown to be one of my favorite guys to read. He’s just really passionate about this stuff, and it shows in his writing. Here, he gives his lists of his “go to” resources for anything and everything related to fitness. And when I say he includes everything, he includes EVERYTHING – websites, blogs, podcasts, magazines, etc. Probably one of the more extensive lists I’ve ever seen. I don’t what he was thinking including that Gentilcore guy, though.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Plus, get a copy of Tony’s Pick Things Up, a quick-tip guide to everything deadlift-related. See his butt? Yeah. It’s good. You should probably listen to him if you have any hope of getting a butt that good.

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