I don’t mean to rub it in, but I had an awesome weekend this past weekend. While I know a lot of people don’t consider Columbus Day anything to celebrate, Lisa and I took full advantage of the national holiday, left Boston for what’s become our annual Autumnal Adventure, and headed up to Vermont to spend time in the Burlington area.
We were able to spend some time with Lisa’s cousin, but the main impetus behind the trip to Burlington was to head to the town next door – Shelburne – to visit Shelburne Farms and crush some cheese.
OMG the cheese is sooooooo good.
We spent half the day on the farm immersed in the cheese making culture, and it was worth every…..single….. minute. We observed the happy animals, watched as the cheese was being made, and of course we were able to eat tons of free samples.
^^^^^^^ I even took some time out to play the poop guessing game. I was 3 for 8.
Burlington is also Ben&Jerry’s territory, and as someone who LOVES ice-cream, it’s fair to say that I spent a good portion of our getaway in insulin coma.
Nonetheless, now that we’re back in Boston, it’s back to business as usual (no more cheese for a while), and to kickstart the new week I wanted to share a few things with everyone that I thought you’d find useful.
In anticipation of his new product – The High Performance Handbook – being released NEXT week, my good friend and business partner, Eric Cressey, is taking all of this week to release a bunch of FREE videos to help build the anticipation.
Many are familiar with his flagship resource, Show and Go, and this promises to up the ante in every way possible. I know Eric has spent close to a year fine-tuning his latest endeavour and I’ve seen first hand the results that it’s elicited (many of the CP staff, a year’s worth of interns, as well as clients have already done the program in its entirety).
In any case, in today’s video (starring yours truly!!!) Eric discusses different ways of looking at upper body training and why bench pressing isn’t the end-all-be-all-holy-grail of everything.
A few weeks ago I linked to a video (see below) that was sent my way by the guys over at Bos Creek who, unlike a lot of companies who are downright shady and just say the right things in order to move product, actually go out of their way to supply high-quality, humanly raised, GMO-free meats.
Based in Montana, the guys at Bos Creek just get really excited about meat – and who can blame them!? Whether it’s beef, bacon, roast chicken, or pork, they’re dedicated to providing top-notch meat that not only tastes fantastic, but is raised the right way.
They’ve recently started a Kickstarter Campaign to help spread the word and garner a larger audience for their grass-fed beef jerky, salmon candy, and smoked pork loin.
Did you hear what I just said?
GRASS-FED JERKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Giving full-disclosure: I receive absolutely nothing for saying anything about this. It’s not like I’m getting any kick-backs, or say, a year’s supply of bacon (cough cough: hint, hint).
On the contrary, I just feel it’s a solid company going out of their way to provide a high-quality service. And considering many of you reading are carnivores (glorious, glorious carnivores), I figured any chance I could take to point you in the right direction regarding where to buy some meat would win me a few gold stickers for the day.
1. To start I want to remind everyone that TODAY (Monday, Sept. 9th) at midnight is the last chance to take advantage of the early-bird special for the 2nd Annual Cressey Performance Fall Seminar.
As I noted a few weeks ago, 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.
The entire CP staff will be presenting alongside a few special guests, and it’s sure to be an eventful day. Which reminds me, Note to Self: don’t forget to drop off your Jedi cloak at the dry-cleaners and to call and touch base on that smoke machine.
Click HEREto see a full itinerary on presenters and topics.
Or, if your mind is already made up and you’re coming:
2. A since I’m reminding people about stuff, lets not forget that there are spots still available for the workshop that Dean Somerset and I are running up in Edmonton the weekend of October 19th.
Much like what we did in Boston, this workshop is going to cover the gamut from assessment to corrective exercise to exercise technique to, I don’t know, maybe we’ll throw twerking under the microscope.
It’s designed to be more of an “intimate” affair because we want people to have as much access to the two of us as possible. Without being creepy, of course. It’s definitely geared towards the personal training and strength coach crowd, but even if you’re an exercise enthusiast they’ll be a TON of applicable information.
I know some may be taken aback by the title and think that I’m endorsing an “easy way out” book, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
As Jen notes, “it’s about be being perfect 100% of the time. Exercise, eating healthy, and losing weight don’t have to be such a burden. You don’t – and I’d argue shouldn’t – have to feel like you’re following a set of strict or severe rules. In fact, quite the opposite: When you focus on doing things that are fast, easy, effective, and yes, even enjoyable, you’re more likely to repeat them.”
That’s what Shape-Up Shortcuts is all about. It’s not a book showcasing how to not exercise (the programs in this book will make you work!) or how following some pseudo-science “cleansing diet” will have you lose 17 lb in two hours and make you shit rainbows.
It’s about giving you ample ammunition to stop making excuses. That exercise doesn’t have to be a chore, and that it can be fun.
As an example, you can check out pg. 168 where I break down the Ultimate Kettlebell Workout. It involves deadlifts, swings, lunges, and even heavy farmer carries.
Sha-ZAM!
If you’re looking for something that will give you a bunch of useful tips and insights on how you can become healthier AND sexier, well, look no further.
4. I gotta say: Last week’s guest post series by Luke Serwinski on our food quality really struck a chord with not only me, but tons of other people as well. There was a ton of great feedback from Luke’s commentary, and it was really nice to see the message spread throughout various social media networks.
If you missed them I’d highly encourage you to check them out:
One of the cooler things to happen after the fact was a comment that was left in the comments section by someone who’s involved with a start-up company that goes out of their way to sell humanly treated, 100% organic meats.
The name of the company is Bos Creek and after watching their video I have to say I was A) hungry, and B) definitely interested in reaching out to them to touch base on ordering some delicious meat.
For more information you can also visit their site HERE.
Of course this flies in the face of my non-eat meating readers (sorry!), but for everyone else – which will be the vast majority anyways – I truly feel there’s a lot to be said about where our meat comes from. And to a lesser thought about – albeit equally as important extent (for me at least) – how our food is treated is becoming more of a talking point and something that’s gaining steam.
Either way, it’s something to think about and if it strikes your fancy, I’d suggest checking out the video above.
5. Last week I put a message up on my Facebook wall asking people for any advice they could give on kettelbells and what I should look for – especially in terms of how many I should get and at what weight.
I got a TON of feedback (a BIG thanks goes out to everyone who chimed in), and as it happened I ended up touching base with a woman who was selling her Perform Better Competition bells. What’s more, she was actually going to be in the city – less than two miles from my apartment – for Dr. Perry Nickelston’s Rock Tape Workshop at Reebok CrossFit Back Bay.
Some of you may recall a podcast I did for the good doc’s Stop Chasing Pain Podcast – HERE – last year, and to say I’m a huge fan of his work would be an understatement.
So I ended up killing two birds with one stone yesterday and picked up my new set of kettlebells (a pair of 12s, 16s, 24s, and 28s) AND I got to visit with Doc.
Outside of the baller t-shirt I was wearing, you may be wondering what the heck is up with my right hand? Why is it all taped up?
Well, as I noted above, Perry was running a workshop on Rock Tape geared toward fitness professionals – mostly PTs, ATCs, chiropractors, and the like – and how to use it to help get people out of pain. For those familiar with the concept of kinesio tape….it’s the exact same thing.
Except Rock Tape is catered to the more rugged, athletic crowd.
Anyways, knowing I was there to pick up the KBs, Perry took the opportunity to use me as an impromptu guinea pig to demonstrate to the crowd how to tape up your hands so that they don’t end up looking like they passed through a meat grinder for long-duration KB use.
And yes: sorry for the vertical video. I know that that’s internet faux pas. Deal with it……;o)
6. And lastly, everyone knows I have impeccable fashion sense. Exhibit A: helllllllo? Transformers t-shirt above!
Not to mention this bad boy which features a deep sea diver punching a great white shark in the face.
I was fishing at the time. I seemed appropriate.
Lisa has been DYING for me to get fitted for a suit for about as long as I can remember. As many of you can relate, buying clothes that actually fit can be a cumbersome endeavor when you actually have an ass and hamstrings (and a chest that’s much wider than your waist).
Like most guys, though, getting fitted for a suit ranks right in between going to the dentist and getting kicked in the balls as far as I’m concerned.
After we picked up the KBs yesterday, Lisa and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and decided to walk around the city for the day.
And goddammit we happened to pass by a Men’s Warehouse. As much as I tried to divert her attention – babe look, a shoe sale!!!! – as soon as Lisa saw the sign she went from casual walk to Mach 5 jet fighter status.
Two and a half hours later, I was a reinvented man. I ended up getting two form fitting, tailored suits and I looked gooooooooooooood. And Lisa was thiiiiiis close to doing a cartwheel outside of the store.
A much appreciated kudos goes out to Men’s Warehouse located in the Galleria Mall in Cambridge.
Now if you excuse me, I need to go test drive a few Aston Martins……;o)
from the truth.
