CategoriesUncategorized

Best Articles of 2015: Reader Edition

It’s that time of year. The time I sit back, rewind, reflect, and highlight the BEST ARTICLES of the past year on TonyGentilcore.com

I’m still amazed at how many people support the site and go out of their way to make it a daily ritual to check out.

Thank you, sincerely, to everyone.

I pretty much expect to take over Google any day now.

Today I want to list the TOP FIVE posts from 2015 based off the total number of hits/pageviews from you, the readers.

1. The Forgotten Quality of the Fitness Industry

Like any industry, the fitness industry has it’s fair share of shady characters and questionable shenanigans. It’s par for the course. However, maintaining one’s integrity isn’t for sale. At least not in my book.

2. The Key to Program Design: Diamonds?

Program design should be boring. What’s boring is what works.

3. The Next Chapter: Reflecting on Eight Years at Cressey Sports Performance

I am SO honored to have been a part of and to have helped build such an amazing place. CSP will always have a special place in my heart.1

No, I’m not crying. What are you crazy? It’s just, you know, I’m wearing this onion suit is all. Yeah, that’s it. An onion suit.

4. The Most Underrated Exercise in Strength & Conditioning

HINT: it’s not the POS pictured above.

5. Gym Etiquette 201

I had a lot of LOLs writing this one.

Be sure to check back later this week to find out which articles made the cut for Best of 2015: Tony’s Best Bicep Poses Picks Edition. 

Because it’s all about me, and I have impeccable taste

CategoriesUncategorized

The Athletic Shoulder Workshop in Frisco, TX

I’ve been fortunate enough in recent years to have the opportunity to do more traveling for both business and pleasure…oftentimes combining the two.

Upon being told by my wife that we’ll be making the trek down to Dallas, TX to visit family for Christmas, I asked if she’d be cool if I put out a few “feelers” to see if there’d be any interest from local facilities in me doing a 1-day workshop in the area.

Frisco, TX won2.

When I say “Frisco won” lets implement a bit of expectation management here.

Unfortunately this isn’t one of those surreal Oprah moments where I walk down the street and scream, “You get a car, you get a car, and YOU get a car3.”

Nope. Instead you get an entire day of me talking about shoulder assessment, program design, and at least 1,078 references to Star Wars.

NOTE: the workshop will take place three days after having watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so don’t be surprised if I show up dressed as an Ewok, a Storm Trooper, or Han Solo. I haven’t decided yet.

The Deets

Date: Sunday, December 27th.

Where: Full Throttle Athletics, located in Frisco, TX.

Time: 9-5 (with an hour for lunch and mechanical bull riding. Clothing optional).

Cost: $99 Early Bird rate until December 1st, and $129 thereafter.

It was important to make this event something that would be affordable given the time of year, and considering you’re going to be able to hang out with me for eight hours it’s pretty much a win-win.

Sign-Up: All you have to do is go HERE and you’re all set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iumZQ4taAU8&feature=youtu.be

 

Hope to see you there.

CategoriesUncategorized

Articles, Podcasts, and Procrastination.

Lisa and I made it back to Boston yesterday after spending the weekend on Seneca Lake (in the Finger Lakes region of NY) touring all the beautiful wineries and vineyards in the area.

I’m not a wine person – or an alcohol person, really – but I have to say: listening to Lisa describe wine is a crash course in adjectives.

All weekend I heard words like “smooth,” “peppery,” “opulent,” “crisp,” and “it punches me in the mouth and I love it!”

She prefers her wine dry (not sweet) and the more it “punches her mouth” the more she likes it.

I was driving all weekend so I wasn’t tasting any wine, but Lisa had me attempt to explain what I smell:

I’m not as good with my adjectives.

In any case I’m back home and have to catch up on a ton of work. There’s programs to write, article deadlines to meet, and emails to be answered.  And, it’s time to get my butt in gear on prepping for mine and Dean Somerset’s Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop which kicks off in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in three weeks.4

I’m going to be “stealing” some older material from myself of course, but am planning on adding a ton of new shoulder assessment drills, correctives, and exercise flow charts that trainers and coaches can use to better serve their athletes and clients.

I’m a serial procrastinator. It’s the worst. But as my good friend, Ben Bruno, likes to say, “if you wait till the last minute, it only takes a minute.”

That said, I need to get to work and instead of writing a blog post today I’m just going to share a few things that have popped up on the interwebz I’ve been involved with.

1. Building. Stronger. People. Podcast

I had the chance to sit down with friend and exquisite strength coach, Todd Bumgardner, on his podcast recently. I love talking shop with Todd, and that’s exactly what we did. There’s “strength stuff” included. But really it’s just two dudes talking about life.

https://soundcloud.com/toddbumgardner/buildingstrongerpeoplepodcastep4tonygentilcore

2. Workout Program Design for Beginners

This is little sumthin, sumthin I wrote for STACK Magazine on program design for beginners (not that the title gave it away or anything), specifically young athletes.

3. 5 Exercises Professional Athletes Do That You Probably Don’t

* But should.

This was an article I helped contribute to on Details.com.

4. Advanced Core Training

Just a reminder than Dean Somerset’s Advanced Core Training is on sale all this week at 40% off the regular price.

I get it. The world needs another “core training” resource like it needs another Kardashian spin-off reality series.

This isn’t your typical core training resource, though.

 

Dean’s one of the smartest coaches I know, and he does an amazing job digging deeper and challenging many sacred cows on the concepts of core training. If you’re a personal trainer or coach it’s well worth the investment.

Alright, I need to stop procrastinating!

CategoriesUncategorized

Registration Now Open for the 4th Annual Cressey Sports Performance Fall Seminar

It’s that time of year.

Sorry, but it’s a little early for Christmas.

And no, it’s not that time of year where I put on full movie quality Chewbacca costume and perform an entire deadlift session like a boss.5

It’s time to sign up for the annual Cressey Sports Performance Fall Seminar.

We’re very excited to announce that on Sunday, September 13, we’ll be hosting our fourth annual fall seminar at Cressey Sports Performance. As was the case with our extremely popular fall event over the past three years, this event will showcase the great staff we’re fortunate to have as part of our team. Also like last year, we want to make this an affordable event for everyone and create a great forum for industry professionals and fitness enthusiasts alike to interact, exchange ideas, and learn.

Here are the topics:

Pete Dupuis — Empowering Your Fitness Team

This presentation will serve as an introduction to the Cressey Sports Performance method for leveraging each coach’s unique skill-set in an effort to create a superior training experience. In this presentation, Pete will discuss the importance of cultivating distinctive assessment skills, personal brand development, and the importance of employing a broad spectrum of personality types on your fitness team.

Greg Robins — What Matters Most

One of the characteristics that makes the fitness industry special is the variety of approaches. However, it can also be a bit noisy. Constant access to new ideas and the plethora of free information may leave trainers, coaches and clients a bit confused. In this presentation, Greg will reflect on what he has found to matter most, both in getting you and your clients where you want to be.

Chris Howard — Referred Pain: What is it and what does it tell us?

Practically every fitness professional has encountered an athlete or client dealing with referred pain whether they knew it or not. In this presentation, Chris will discuss what referred pain is, what it tells us about our clients, and training modifications to alleviate our client’s pain. Whether you are a strength coach, personal trainer, physical therapist or athletic trainer, this presentation will provide a new perspective on your client’s pain.

Tony Bonvechio — Creating Context for More Efficient Coaching

Coaches put endless focus into what they say, but this presentation will illustrate the importance of how they say it. Creating context with your clients goes beyond internal and external cueing, and the ability to create “sticky” teaching moments will get your athletes moving better and more efficiently. Tony will discuss different cueing approaches, how they resonate with different learning styles, and how to say more with less to help your clients learn new movements with ease.

Tony Gentilcore — Wearing a Pink Dress Shirt Spinal Flexion: A Time and Place

Spinal flexion is a polarizing topic in the fitness world. Spine experts have illuminated the risks associated with loaded spinal flexion, leading to crunches and sit-ups getting labeled as taboo. In this presentation, Tony will discuss when encouraging spinal flexion – specifically on the gym floor – can address pain and dysfunction in our athletes and clients while also improving performance.

Miguel Aragoncillo – Cardio Confusion: A Deeper Look at Current Trends

Designing the cardiovascular aspect of a comprehensive exercise program often leaves us with more questions than answers: Is it helpful for body composition or performance? Should you run or should you sprint? Are there other ways to improve cardiovascular fitness? In this presentation, Miguel will discuss the trends and evaluate existing research of various conditioning methods. Finally, he’ll offer practical strategies for immediate application with your Monday morning clients.

Eric Cressey – Bogus Biomechanics and Asinine Anatomy

The strength and conditioning and rehabilitation fields are riddled with movement myths that just never seem to die. Drawing heavily on case studies, scholarly journals, and what functional anatomy tells us, Eric will “bust” some of the common fallacies you’ll encounter in the strength and conditioning field today. Most importantly, he’ll offer drills and strategies that can be utilized immediately with clients and athletes in place of these antiquated approaches.

**Bonus 2:30PM Saturday Session**

George Kalantzis and Andrew Zomberg– The Method Behind CSP Strength Camp Madness

Group training is rapidly overtaking one-on-one training as the most profitable fitness service. However, an effective group fitness system is often difficult to create and sustain. In this session, George and Andrew will take participants through an actual CSP strength camp. The training session will be accompanied by a brief presentation and handouts that dive into the components of programming, coaching and marketing strategies to drive new business and client retention within a group training model.

Location:

Cressey Sports Performance
577 Main St.
Suite 310
Hudson, MA 01749

Cost:

Regular Rate – Early Bird $129.99, Regular $149.99
Student Rate – Early Bird $99.99, Regular $129.99

The early bird registration deadline is August 13.

Date/Time:

Sunday, September 13, 2014
Registration 8:30AM
Seminar 9AM-5PM

**Bonus session Saturday, September 12 at 2:30pm.

Continuing Education:

0.8 National Strength and Conditioning Association CEUs pending (eight contact hours)

Click Here to Sign-up (Regular)

or

Click Here to Sign-up (Students)

We’re really excited about this event, and would love to have you join us! However, space is limited and each seminar we’ve hosted in the past has sold out quickly, so don’t delay on signing up!

If you have additional questions, please direct them to [email protected]. Looking forward to seeing you there!

PS – If you’re looking for hotel information, The Extended Stay America in Marlborough, MA offers our clients a heavily discounted nightly rate of just under $63.00. Just mention “Cressey” during the booking process in order to secure the discount. Their booking phone number is 508-490-9911.

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 7/17/15

Only two weeks left until the Elite Training Workshop – Boston is held on Saturday, August 1st.

[Can you believe it’s almost August?]

I’m really excited for this event and think it’s going to be a awesome experience for those who attend. The line-up is pretty rad and the flow of the day is set up in a way where each presenter presents and then immediately follows that up with a hands-on portion.

So it’s less blah-blah-blabidy-blah and more “holys*** did you see Artemis Turkish get-up Tony? That’s badass.”

It’s going to be an awesome day for fitness professionals to learn from some of the best minds in the biz. CEUs are available. And I may or may not wear a movie quality Chewbacca mask.

Click HERE for more information.

ALSO: The Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop

 

Dean Somerset and I are excited to announce our latest series: The Complete Shoulder & Hip Training Workshop.

We teamed up last year for a handful of workshops – London, DC, LA –  and didn’t want to kill each other, so we figured we’d do it again this year

This time we’re going to place a ton of emphasis on the hips and shoulders. We’ll talk anatomy, assessment, corrective exercise, programming, and we’ll also be doing a fair amount of coaching/hands-on demonstrations. And maybe, just maybe, in honor of Dean’s Canadian heritage, play the entirety of Bryan Adams’ library of songs. So much awesome to be had!

CEU’s will be available for all workshops.

EDMONTON (in August, so it won’t be cold as balls).

ST. LOUIS (in September, maybe catch a Cards game?)

CHICAGO (in October, it won’t be windy then, right?)

(Just Added) LOS ANGELES (in November, Tony finally does his tour of bars from the movie Swingers).

Now on to this week’s stuff to read.

7 Bad Foods That Are Good For You – TC Luoma

First: TC is an amazing writer, one of my favorites.

Second: bacon.

Third: that is all.

What Being Obsessed With Your Phone Can Teach You About Fitness – Jessi Kneeland

There’s a joke amongst my friends that I’m one of the hardest people to get a hold of because I hate carrying my phone with me everywhere I go.

It’s not uncommon for me to answer text messages 24-48 hours after the fact.

And don’t even get me started on those people who walk down the sidewalk (or worse, across the street) with their head pointed down towards their phone.

I loved this post by Jessi.

Why Do We Give Caffeine a Free Pass? – Eric Cressey

[Ironically, as I type these words I’m pounding a Spike. Oops]

Excellent post by Eric.

CategoriesUncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 7/10/15

I wanted to keep all of you reading abreast on some upcoming events I’m involved in you may be interested in.

First up: I wanted to take a few moments to highlight a few things coming up on my speaking itinerary that many of you may be interested in.

1. Elite Training Workshop – Boston

An entire day hanging with the likes of me, Mike Reinold, Artemis Scantalides, and Ryan Ketchum.

It’s going to be an awesome day for fitness professionals to learn from some of the best minds in the biz. CEUs are available. And I may or may not perform an interpretive dance of “I Believe I Can Fly.”

Click HERE for more information.

2. The Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop

Dean Somerset and I are excited to announce our end of summer into early fall traveling workshop series: The Complete Shoulder & Hip Training Workshop.

 

The idea is to discuss and breakdown anything and everything as it relates to shoulders and hips, obviously. Including but not limited to anatomy, assessment, corrective exercise, performance training, programming, etc, in addition to analyzing World of Warcraft strategies. Because, why not?

Like I said, we’re excited about it and we feel everyone who attends will be excited too.

CEU’s will be available for all workshops as well.

EDMONTON (in August, so it won’t be cold as balls).

ST. LOUIS (in September, maybe catch a Cards game?)

CHICAGO (in October, Wrigley. Nuff said.)

Now on to this week’s stuff to read.

Training Clients Around Pain: A Guide for Personal Trainers – Will Levy

As Will notes in this article: some personal trainers like to play the “corrective exercise” card despite 1) not having any idea what that actually means and 2) not knowing what they’re doing.

BOSU ball + body blade + stand on one leg = Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

With regards to the term itself – corrective exercise – there’s a phrase I often use to help explain things:

“Correct movement is corrective.”

Or in more sassy talk:

“Doing shit right is corrective.”

Taking things a step further, corrective exercise could also mean simply adjusting or regressing a certain exercise to better fit the needs and ability level of the individual.

Deadlifts hurt your back? Try bracing your abs and squeezing your glutes at the top. Doesn’t hurt anymore? We just straight up corrective exercised the shit out of you.

Anterior Pelvic Tilt Influence on Squat Mechanics – Mike Reinold

I’m always amazed when a coach or trainer writes something or or says something to the effect of “everyone needs to squat this one way, and this way only, no deviations, ever, or else you suck at life.”

It could be reference to bar position, foot position, depth, whatever…everyone should squat this one way dammit!

It’s stupid. And Mike addresses why it’s stupid in this excellent video.

The Last Word on Lats – Tony Bonvechio

For some reason, in recent years, the “lats” have gotten a bad reputation. The fitness industry is prone to over exaggerate things. “Dietary fat will make you fat,” or “Deadlifts will make your spine explode,” or “people didn’t eat grains in Paleolithic times”6.

While overactive or short/stiff lats do need to be addressed in certain populations (like overhead athletes), you’re not some walking ball of dysfunction if you happen to turn them on to perform an exercise.

Tony B breaks it down in this excellent article.

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 5/22/14

Guess who’s Bachelor Party is tomorrow??

This guy:

While I’d like to sit here and say the whole event entails Vegas, Victoria Secret models, vodka, and F-16 fighter jets (in no particular order)….lets just say there’ll be no jets.

Or Vegas.

Or models.

Vodka? Probably.

Either way, fingers crossed the night won’t turn into some replay from the movie The Hangover where I get stuck on the rooftop of the “Pru” in downtown Boston while the rest of the guys wake up the following morning in a haze of confusion trying to piece together the previous night’s shenanigans.

Part of the plot of The Hangover included Mike Tyson (and his pet tiger). Ironically, Saturday night starts with the bunch of us heading to Agganis Arena to watch good friend and CSP athlete, Danny O’Connor, fight.

I don’t think Danny has a pet tiger.

Anyways, it’s going to be an awesome night. I can’t wait.

Here’s this week’s stuff to check out:

The OMEGA Body Blueprint – John Romaniello

If there’s anyone I’d label a “fat loss guru” it’s my good friend (and fellow nerd), “Roman.” The OMEGA Body Blueprint is the direct descendent of his breakout hit from a few years ago, Final Phase Fat Loss.

Full Disclosure: I haven’t done this program personally. But I know John, I know his programming style, and I know he always puts out quality information and content.

I’ve been able to peruse the program, and it’s top-notch.

This is an advanced fat loss program, however. The idea here is that it’s harder to lose those last 5-15 lbs than it is the first 20, 30, or even 50 lbs.

This program is designed to target those “trouble areas,” the stubborn fat (for lack of a better term), and it does so by explaining the relationship of certain hormones in the body – leptin, ghrelin, testosterone, estrogen, to name a few – and how each can be manipulated (via specific training & nutrition protocols, heavy emphasis on the latter) for improved body composition.

If you’re looking to lock yourself in and really take your fat-loss efforts to the next level, John is your man.

The OMEGA Body Blueprint has been on sale all week, and the sale ENDS THIS SATURDAY (May 23rd). Don’t miss out. Check it out HERE.

The Science Behind Caffeine – Examine.com

There’s a reason why caffeine is the world’s #1 stimulant. Well, the world’s #1 legal stimulant anyways…..;o)

Does it work? Yep.

Does it have benefits? Absolutely.

But, there are limitations, and this nice summary helps explains some of them.  Be sure to check out the links for even more astoundingly thorough information and research!

Better yet: sign up for Examine.com’s Supplement-Goals Reference, hands down the best, most researched, UN-BIASED supplement resource in existence.

Deadlift Mastery: Paused Deadlifts – Adam Pine

 

I heart paused deadlifts. I’ve written about them myself HERE. I feel they provide a tremendous amount of benefits and serve as a perfect accessory movement when needed.

Adam can deadlift 700+ lbs, you should listen to him.

CategoriesUncategorized

Registration Is Now Available For Elite Training Workshop: Boston

“Be a better coach.”

That’s the slogan of the Elite Training Workshop, and it’s 100% spot on.

I’m super excited to announce the date for this year’s Elite Training Workshop: Boston.

When: Saturday, August 1st 2015.

Where: Champion Physical Therapy and Performance located in Waltham, MA

Why: Because I said so!

In all seriousness, there aren’t many events geared towards fitness professionals which 1) purposely stay small in order to keep things more personable and 2) include both a lecture and hand-on component as part of its itinerary.

This is an event where you’ll not only have the opportunity to learn from some of the top coaches (and minds) in the field of Star Wars trivia, giving hugs, personal training, strength & conditioning, physical therapy, business, and marketing…but you’ll also have chance to use this as an opportunity to network and build your own “inner circle.”

Who’s Presenting: Well there’s myself. I’ll be discussing program design. More specifically I’ll discuss some “big rock” themes I feel many fitness professionals overlook. For better or worse, far too many coaches and trainers are more interested in writing “entertaining” programs rather than programs that are effective.

I’ll also be coaching people up on deadlifts. So there’s that.

And there may or may not be an impromptu dance-off. Come prepared.

Artemis Scantalides will covering a topic titled “Debunk the “Bulking” Myth and Help Your Clients Build Self-Efficacy For Success.” 

Mike Reinold’s (who’s facility is hosting the event) topic is “Integrating Corrective Exercises With Performance Enhancement.

And then there’s Ryan Ketchum who’s topic is titled “Accelerated Fat Loss Strategies.”

Cost: What I like about ETW is that they go out of their way to make these events very affordable. For the price of what it would cost to go to a really nice steak dinner for two ($149, early bird special), you can gain over six hours of information and knowledge that will help grow your business and client base.

And yes there are CEUs/CECs available.

Registration: You can sign-up HERE.

As noted above the Early Bird Special is currently in play and will run until the end of June. Lets do this.

CategoriesUncategorized

I Was Nominated For Something. You Should Vote For Me.

I don’t normally do this but……

…..Holy s*** I was nominated for something!

It wasn’t for an Oscar.

It wasn’t for a Tony Award, as ironical as that would be.

It wasn’t for a Grammy.7

And it definitely wasn’t for anything like “best looking deadlift” or “best last name for a strength coach” or “most likely to kick Batman’s ass” or “owner of cutest cat on Earth.”

It was, however, something unexpected and something I think is pretty cool.

My website/blog was nominated for the 2015 Fitness Blog Awards (in the category of Bodybuilding and Strength) by the website Muscle & Strength.

The last time I was nominated for anything was back when I was a junior in high school for Prom Court.

I didn’t win.

It’s a long story, I don’t want to get into it.

Those fuckers.

Nevertheless, while I can’t sit here and say what, exactly, I’d “win” for winning – other than bragging rights (?) – as the cliche goes, it’s an honor just to be nominated.

As noted on the site:

“The awards are designed to recognize and promote fitness bloggers who create great fitness content that helps others reach their personal health & fitness goals.”

That’s pretty awesome in my book.

[According to the representative who contacted me from the site, in order to be placed onto the ballot you had to be nominated, and those sites which garnered the most nominations were then placed on the final tally.]

So here we are, and thank you to everyone who nominated my site.

What Now?

1. I kind of feel like one of those contestants on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. I want to win (or at least get into the top four) just to say I made it that far. Except, you know, with less back-stabbing, cattiness, hot tub make-out scenes, and final rose ceremonies.

2. If you have a few spare moments (and you agree with the nomination)8 you can cast your vote HERE. You just need to scroll down a bit and place a checkmark in the appropriate box.

[Cue Jedi mind-trick here]

“You will vote for TonyGentilcore.com”

Voting started yesterday and will continue until May 15th.

You can vote everyday.

3. What’s more, the more often you vote, the more likely you are to win one of ten $50 gift card prizes.

And a hug from me.

–> GO VOTE <–