1. I don’t know about you, but I had an awesome weekend. No, I didn’t become an inaugural member of the Masters of the Universe. No, I didn’t win a million dollars in a cereal eating contest. And no, I didn’t practice karate with Matt Damon in my garage.
As many of you know, I was back in my old stomping grounds – Central New York – this past weekend to take part in the SUNY Cortland Strength Symposium alongside other my esteemed colleagues John Gaglione, Dr. Mike Roussell, Lou Schuler, and Dr. Cassandra Forsythe.
It was an amazing event, I felt honored to be a part of it, and if I learned one thing over the weekend it’s that Lou Schuler knows what it takes to keep college students awake and engaged during an hour long presentation: f-bombs!
Oh man, it was awesome to listen to him speak. Not only because it was an interesting topic (obesity), but also because Lou has a knack for making ANYTHING entertaining.
There were roughly 70-80 people who braved the cold, windy, conditions to come listen to us speak on various topics such as business advice, why high-protein diets won’t make your kidneys explode, obesity, why the Paleo fanatics out there are just that: fanatics!, squat assessment, and the rationale as to why women SHOULD train differently then men.
It was a diverse day for sure, but there was a TON of easily digestible and applicable information handed out.
Here’s me looking all gunny and stuff.
And of course, there was some heavy lifting to be had.
One of the things that left a profound impression on me was the culture that has “infected” (in a good way) the atmosphere there.
When I was an undergrad student at Cortland (1999-2002) it was rare to walk into Tomik Fitness Center and see a girl lifting weights. Honestly, you were more apt to see a Smurf riding a unicorn while eating a bowl of Lucky Charms than you were seeing a girl lifting any appreciable weight.
It’s just what the culture was back then. Girls didn’t lift.
Flash forward to this past weekend, and it’s apparently done a complete 180.
We walked into the fitness center early Saturday morning and there were quite a few girls benching, doing chin-ups, squatting AND deadlifting. There were even some digging into their gyms bags for chalk!
Like, holy shitballs!
Even cooler was Sunday morning. A bunch of us decided to meet up early for a deadlift session (see pic waaaaay up at the top) before everyone headed back home. It was 8 AM and there were a group of girls – right alongside the guys – who showed up, Chuck Taylors and all, ready to get after it.
So refreshing to see. In fact, here’s one of those girls, Nancy, getting coached up by John Gaglione performing speed pulls with 185 lbs.
That’s right…..SPEED PULLS!
So badass. And she wasn’t the only one. There were other girls there too, bench pressing, performing kettlebell swings, and getting coached up on their technique by myself and John.
All told, I counted more girls training in the free weight area than in the cardio area. It almost brought a tear to my eye.
Slowly but surely, the paradigm is shifting. And it’s glorious.
2. Speaking of female specific training and content, my good friend, Emily Giza Socolinsky, shared a fantastic blog post with me titled It’s Only a Number, which details her (past) battle and insight with regards to using the (weight) scale to measure success.
It’s a trap that many women fall prey to, akin to two for one shoe sales…..;o)
In all seriousness, though, I felt it was a great piece of writing with a solid message. Check it out.
3. Some VERY cool news.
I’m coming to London!!!!
I figured if Jack Bauer was making a cameo appearance there, why not yours truly? Except in my case I won’t be blowing things up and stuff.
Dean Somerset and I are taking our show global and will be putting on a 2-Day workshop in London in early September at The Third Space located in Soho.
Pre-Registration is now open, and you can get more information regarding topics covered, price, location, and Dean’s all-time favorite Spice Girl HERE.
4. One of the perks of running a fairly successful website and being “kind of a big deal,” is that people are always willing to send me free stuff to try out.
Note: T-shirt size = large. Shoe size = 10.5. Sorry, Kate Beckinsale, I can’t accept women’s underwear.
Oftentimes things aren’t a good “fit,” and I graciously decline the offer, as was the case when someone reached out to send me samples of their soy protein powder line.
I LOL’ed a lot when that happened.
Clearly they didn’t read the blog much. What’s next? Tofurkey burgers? No, wait, running shorts?
Many times, though, I’m more than happy to oblige.
Last week I was sent a sampler pack from Sweet Spreads, which is a company that sells delicious (with a capital D!) coconutters.
All the spreads are coconut based with minimal ingredients. Ie: you can actually comprehend what it is in fact you’re eating. I’ve been using them on toast and putting them in my protein shakes the past few days and am loving it.
I’m not making a dime off of saying anything, so take that as you will. Regardless, if you’re looking for something to spice up your shakes or to use a spread, and would like to support a small business…….give this a try.
Sooooooo good.
