1. Apparently with the conversion of the website back to WordPress last week there’s been a little glitch with the feed, and numerous people have mentioned that they didn’t receive any of the updates last week. Rats! So, for my own edification (and to help put my mind at ease), below is the actual feed that you’ll need to use to receive updates via email. You should still be able to use the RSS feed located on the top right-hand side, but I’ll provide the direct feed directly below in this post as well. I appreciate those of you who went out of their way to inform me of the issue, and I apologize for the inconvenience.
PLEASE: if you notice anything else that’s “WTFish,” let me know and I’ll forward it to my web guy. Thanks!
http://feeds.feedburner.com/gentilcore
UPDATE: It’s been brought to my attention that the feed above doesn’t work, either. FAIL! Needless to say, it will be fixed soon. I promise. With dark chocolate covered cherries on top
2. Here’s something cool: Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body will be available to purchase in DVD format very, very, very soon.
We’re going to be re-launching the product within the next few weeks, and while it will still be available in digital format, there will also be an option to purchase it in DVD format which many people who originally purchased the product expressed interest in.
What’s more, MIRU has officially been approved for 0.7 CEU’s by the NSCA, which means you’ll earn continuing education credits just for purchasing the product! How badass is that?
More to follow soon.
3. People are always asking me what I’m currently reading, and it’s funny, because I’m usually reading 3-4 different things at once. Firstly, it goes without saying that I’m always reading something related to my field. As it stands now, I’m currently perusing the following things:
Mass Made Simple – Dan John
It’s kind of hard NOT to take the advice of someone who’s been coaching longer than you’ve been alive. I’ve always admired Dan John’s stuff, and this is no exception. Unlike pretty much everyone, Dan John has an uncanny ability to put things into perspective. And, as the title suggests, this book is perfect for anyone looking for a simple (albeit effective) plan to put on mass.
Power! – Joe Defranco and Jim “Smitty” Smith
Admittedly, I JUST received this in the mail from Smitty the other day, but will be viewing this in it’s entirety shortly. Nevertheless, I have no doubts that it’s going to be awesome and that I’m going to want to jump through a brick wall after watching it for ten minutes.
Secondly, I’m and avid reader in general, so I’m not JUST reading things that are relevant to my profession. I’m not opposed to reading some non-fiction material, and I just finished reading Michael Lewis’ book, The Big Short, which, besides making me want to punch a baby seal in the mouth, gave an excellent behind the scenes look into the economic collapse of 2008. Seriously, I don’t think one book has made me more aggravated at how douchy people can be than this one.
On a lighter note, I’m currently listening to The Art of Fielding, written by Chad Harbach, which follows, among other things, a star collegiate baseball player as he deals with stardom, pressure, relationships, school, and teammates. It’s a light read, but written spectacularly and in a way that’s more than JUST about baseball.
4. Whenever I feel rundown and lose a little edge in my training, I always chalk in up to several factors:
- I just need to cut down my training. While I normally train 4-5 times per week, for the foreseeable future, I’m going to revert to 3x per week utilizing more of a full-body split. In actuality, I’m going to be taking a page from Dan John’s book (see above), and follow more of a Train, Rest, Recharge split, where I’ll train/make people destroy the back of their pants one day, rest the next, and then follow that with more of an “active recovery/blood flow” day. In the past, I’ve just found that this approach works really well for me in terms of allowing me to recoup from the ass-kickings I routinely give myself, as well as allow me the opportunity to focus more of the tissue quality side of things. Ie: more foam rolling, ART, massage work. Basically, I just need a break. I’m still going to be lifting heavy things, of course. But I’m hoping that the additional days “off” will give me a little boost in the long-run.
- I don’t drink nearly enough water. I swear to god I live in a chronic state of dehydration, and it’s no surprise that I end up peeing battery acid once per day. Sorry for the visual. So, with that, Operation Hydration has commenced, and I’ve promised myself that I’m going to drink at least a gallon of water every day.
- Not enough of cowbell. We all need a little more cowbell in our lives.
5. I had an interesting conversation with one of my distance coaching clients who happened to make the trip up to CP this past weekend (with two of his clients). He was curious as to what I do as far as measurements with my fat-loss clients, and he was surprised to hear me state that I don’t really go out of my way to do any skip caliper testing, electrical impedance, or the like.
Sure, I do it from time to time (mainly only if it’s requested), but for all intents and purposes, I avoid it like the plague.
My thought process is this: I want people to focus on the performance side of things. One of the last things I want to do is make it so that someone’s only sense of accomplishment is boiled down to a freakin skip caliper test. On numerous occasions I’ve had clients who, in the span of several weeks, went from not being able to perform a body-weight reverse lunge without falling over, to well, not falling over, to breaking PRs left and right. Too, they improved on EVERY lift in terms of their quality movement and the amount of weight they were able to use.
And yes, they also started eating more veggies, thank you very much.
Moreover, they felt infinitely better from a mobility standpoint, and I could sense their confidence levels sky-rocketing. Unfortunately, in the past, this was all for naught if they weren’t somehow satisfied with what the caliper told them; or if the impedance test wasn’t what they expected.
All the hard work they put in basically went down the drain. All because they weren’t able to see the bigger picture.
To that end, today, I don’t really go out of my way to take “measurements” with my fat-loss clients. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going out of my way to educate them. I teach them why saturated fat isn’t their worst nightmare, or why they should emphasis eating more protein, or why steady state cardio probably shouldn’t be their first choice in terms of effective exercise. Trust me, they’re learning.
I’m just not a fan of allowing one simple test dictate their progress. Like I said, I want them to see the bigger picture, and I feel relying solely on ONE thing is a dangerous slope to walk on.
And that’s it for today. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this last point. Just to cover my own butt, though. It’s NOT that I’m against using quantifiable measurements, and it’s NOT that I never take them. I just don’t like setting a tone where people feel like the end-all-be-all of progress is dictated by what a piece of plastic tells them.
