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Just wanted to pass along a really great article written by Paul Caldwell titled, “Training Versus Talent.” In short, Paul states:

Over the course of working with hundreds of clients from different backgrounds and sports, I’ve noticed a disturbing phenomenon. I’ve become even more aware of this phenomenon since I started scouting and training athletes. More often than not, the “talented” players don’t put forth a fraction of the training effort that their less talented counterparts do.

I couldn’t agree more with this assertion. Every week at CP, we get new athletes who walk through the doors who are often the athletic stars of their respective school. A fraction of them believe, falsely, that they can “get by” with talent alone. For whatever reason, they feel that because they’re already fast or strong (relative to their competition), that they don’t have to train hard (if at all).

For these athletes, I kindly show them our CP high school leaderboard where they’re shocked to find out that they wouldn’t even make the top 13 in any category (front squat max, 3 rep chin-up max, broad jump, vertical jump). Matter of fact, I also point out that there’s a 97 lb teenage girl in Texas who is warming up with their max.

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If given the choice between athlete A, who has been named to countless all-star teams (but has a piss poor work ethic) and athlete B, who may not be quite as talented (but has the work ethic of an ox), I’d prefer to coach athlete B every time. Of course, all of this is pointless if said athlete happens to be former Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard.

In this case, I’d definitely prefer to coach her. And by “coach” what I really mean is offer to dry her back off for her. What can I say, I’m a philanthropist.

I came across a “blurb” on Yahoo a few weeks ago regarding shady food labels and it’s rather astonishing the extent that food companies will go to dupe people into thinking they’re eating healthy food. Terms such as lite, low-cal, or free of trans fat are often deemed “good choices” by many consumers and mistakenly thought of as a guilt free pleasure. Well, I’m here to tell you that if it sounds (and looks) too good to be true, it probably is. A few examples…….

When it comes to comfort food, has it got to be Kraft’s Macaroni and Cheese? Look twice. Like many boxed food mixes, the confusing label lists two sets of nutrition stats — and the first one is for the dry mix only. Unless you plan on eating your mac-cheese mix straight from the box, the prepared version (made with margarine and 2% milk) adds an extra 15 grams fat and 150 calories per serving to the figures on the label.

My Thoughts: Pretty sneaky if I may say so myself. But I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean, any “real” man knows that eating his mac-cheese straight out of the box is the shizzle. What could possibly be more manly? The only thing I can think of is hunting deer………………..with a tank. Bonus points if you do it while wearing a camouflaged lumberjack suit. Even more bonus points if you use the tank to run over Pete Wentz’s eye liner, which is conveniently located on his face.

Just downed a tall (23.5-ounce) can of AriZona Mucho Mango juice blend? Brace yourself. The sugar hit is 75 grams, not 25, as a glance at the label suggests. And the calorie hit is 360, not 120. That’s ‘cause one serving is only 8 ounces — you’re supposed to save the remaining two-thirds of the can for two more drinks.

My Thoughts: If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times………..”ditch the calorie containing beverages from your daily diet!” You never listen to me. It’s like I’m a ghost. And don’t even get me started on the fact that you never compliment me anymore. Did you notice my new haircut? Yeah, I didn’t think so. I hate you! Runs away crying

Sometimes you really need a cookie, right? Happily, the nutrition label on your favorite brand says 0 grams of both, fat and trans fat. That’s good enough that you can deal with the sugar guilt tomorrow, right? Sorry, but 0 doesn’t mean zero. It means less than 0.5 gram per serving. Sure, that’s not much — unless a serving is, say, two Snackwells Chocolate Mint cookies and by midnight you’ve finished the whole box.

My Thoughts: Another great example I like to use here is fat-free cooking spray. Most people will literally cake their pan with fat-free cooking spray, thinking that because the label says 0, it must be healthy. Think again. A serving size with most containers is 1/3 OF A SECOND; and there are roughly 550-570 servings per container. I’ve watched some people spray their pan for 10 seconds, which if we take the info given to us above, equates to approximately 10-15 grams of fat. Ten seconds equals 30 servings. 30 servings will elicit anywhere from 10-15 grams of fat (remember 0 really means 0.5 grams or less).

My good friend Eric Cressey just released his new book titled, Maximum Strength.

Do yourself a favor and buy this book. As the back of the cover states, “most of the 23 million American men who lift weights do so to get bigger; unfortunately, many of them are going nowhere with watered-down bodybuilding routines that don’t help them actually get stronger.”

I’ve long stated that if people focused more on strength and actually getting strong(er) that the aesthetics will follow. Start training more like an athlete, you may actually start to look like one. Weird how that works, huh?

In Maximum Strength you’ll get 16 full weeks of top notch programming that will not only get you a helluva lot stronger, but I’m willing to bet you’ll shed a significant amount of fat as well, and girls will be less repulsed by you. It’s a win-win situation.

Think of it this way – what you have been doing in the gym just isn’t working. Chances are you still have a spare tire around your mid-section and your bench press hasn’t increased since the last time David Hasslehoff was sober; which by my calculation was around 1994. Following a body-part per day split for three sets of ten is just going to keep leading to less than spectacular results. Not to mention you’ll still be weaker than a baby’s fart. Oh snap! Click here and thank me later.

Note: Eric was kind enough to include me in his acknowledgments page for his book. To celebrate my very first acknowledgment in a nationally published book, I’d like to give an acknowledgment to my acknowledgment:

Tony Gentilcore would like to thank the following individuals whose invaluable help and complete awesomeness made this acknowledgment possible: Optimus Prime, Sgt. Slaughter, Dirk Diggler, Kate Beckinsale, Papa Smurf, and that random chick whom I made out with at that party back in college. I don’t remember your name but I…….wait what? Okay, okay you called me out on it. We didn’t so much as make out as hold hands. Alright fine! We didn’t hold hands either, we just talked. And by “talked,” what I really mean is that I said hi and she rolled her eyes at me and laughed. God, I suck.

Nothing witty to write today. I’m off to Vegas in literally 10 minutes and just wanted to say that I won’t be updating my blog till next week. Vegas is currently taking bets on whether or not I piss my pants during the plane ride. Also, if I happen to cross paths with Criss Angel, I’ll kick him in the shins.

A quick good luck goes out to Steph, who is running her second Boston Marathon today.

Toodles!

Click the play button below and close your eyes.

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I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t figure out if I was listening to a human being or an elephant giving birth to a mack truck. Poor Terri Hatcher.

And speaking of things that make your ears bleed, just the other day I overheard some personal trainer explain to his client that “you don’t need to train the core- doing heavy squats and deadlifts is all you’ll need.” While I applaud the fact that he’s advocating squats and deadlifts (that’s refreshing actually), to say that those two movements alone are all a trainee needs to train his or her “core” is a gross understatement.

Matter of fact, as Alwyn Cosgrove pointed out a few weeks ago in a presentation he was giving on “21st Century Fitness Programming,” push-ups are actually superior to squats and/or deadlifts in activating the rectus abdominus and external obliques. This according to a McBride, et al, 2006 unpublished study.

Push-ups tend to get thrown under-the-bus and deemed too easy or too wimpy to include in any programming. I often find this comical since most trainees I come across can’t even perform ten push-ups, let alone perform them correctly.

Push-ups are a staple in most of the programs that I write. I like the fact that push-ups are a closed chain movement (hands do not move) and allow for a bit more wiggle room for the scapulae (shoulder blades) to move. Conversely, bench press variations are considered open chained (hands move) and “fix” the scapulae into one position, which isn’t a great scenario for those with a history of shoulder issues. Side note: it’s been said that roughly 90% of all shoulder pathologies can be attributed to some form of dysfunction in the scapulae. I’ll often replace all benching with more rowing variations, and a healthy dose of push-ups.

And as Alwyn mentioned in his presentation, push-ups are also a great way to train the core. One of my favorite variations are band resisted push-ups:

This is Nancy last Saturday performing her squats to a 12 inch box. What’s cool about this video is the fact that it was Nancy’s first time using the “big wheels,” (AKA: the 45 lb plates). She started training at Cressey Performance earlier this year and up until that time, had never lifted a weight in her life. Now she’s banging out 135 lbs on her squats like it’s her J.O.B. And yes, I realize that the squats are a liiiittle high. It was her first time using the wheels, so cut her a break.

This is a woman who while on vacation a few weeks ago e-mailed me to let me know that she still trained while she was there and that she would be making it back in time for her training session later on that week; she didn’t want to miss it. I like using Nancy as an example because it just goes to show what a little attitude along with a kick-ass training environment can do for someone.

I mean the first day Nancy walked into the facility she was all about kittens and rainbows. Now she’s kicking homeless men in the teeth when they ask her for spare change and cussing like a sailor around the high school kids. Just the other day I had to send a note home with little Danny because he went home crying after Nancy called him a candy ass for not adding more weight to the bar. Sorry Mrs. Fisher!