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Training Tails: Build the Body You Want, Save a Puppy

I’ve always been an animal lover.  Growing up as a kid I spent a lot of time with my dog, Daisy.  We did everything together.  She’d follow me back and forth in the side yard as I hit a baseball from one end to the other, we’d go fishing together, she’d even greet me everyday at the end of my driveway when the schoolbus would drop me off.

She was the best.

Wherever I was, chances are she’d be right by my side.

I have a lot of fond memories of various pets growing up, but Daisy and I definitely had a special bond and it’s something that I still cherish to this day.

It’s funny how we as humans connect with animals – man’s best friend in particular.  I mean, I still get teary eyed whenever I watch classics like Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows, and my mom always loves re-hashing the story of when I was a youngin watching Lassie Come Home, and crying incessantly that Lassie would never make it back to her family.

SPOILER ALERT:  She did.  And I’m pretty sure I crushed some ice-cream after the fact.

Heck put on any movie or tv show or read THIS story where an animal gets killed or injured or lost and my heart breaks.

Throw on a zombie flick, however, and show a human-being getting ripped to shreds and I’m running around giving people high-fives.

FYI:  the clip above is from Dawn of the Dead (2004), arguably one of the best zombie movies ever made.  ZOMBIES!!!!!!

Anyways, back to animals.

Strength coach Chris Smith asked a bunch of us a while back if we’d be willing to write some unique content – an article, brief program, anything! – for a little project he had in mind to help benefit a local animal shelter in his neck of the woods in NY.

Having adopted a pet two years ago – our cat, Dagny, who can be seen HERE is all of her “cutest cat ever” cuteness – I was more than happy to contribute to such a great cause.

Chris ended up recruiting some other big whigs in the industry – John Romaniello, Joe Dowdell, Ben Bruno, Dean Somerset, Sean Hyson, David Dellanave, to name a few (and there are 20 programs or articles featured in all) – and ended up with a 150-page ebook of quality fitness and health content.

And the cool thing?  ALL (ie: every cent) of the proceeds go to the Tuff Tails Animal Rescue.

So not only do you get a compendium of top-notch fitness content, but you also save a puppy somewhere out there at the same time.

Come on: There’s no way you can resist that!

For those interested in more information about the book, please click the link below.  And thank for your consideration!  Really.

===> Save a Puppy, For the Love of God! <===

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: Are the Oscars Over Yet Edition

I had every intention of getting up this morning and writing a killer post on rest/pause training, but last night’s telecast of the Oscars kinda put a damper on that.

Not surprisingly, I ended up watching all 17 hours of the show, and needless to say didn’t get to bed until pretty late.

And while I understand that admitting I love to watch the Oscars places me in the stratosphere of ultimate nerdom, at least I don’t play World of Warcraft….;o)

A few candid highlights:

1.  Really glad to see that Silver Linings Playbook didn’t win for Best Picture.  If it had won, I would have likened it to the travesty of when Shakespeare in Love won for Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan.

Yes, that happened over 15 years ago and I’m still bitter about it.

I love quirky, off-kilter movies (Moonrise Kingdom, anyone!), but this one in my opinion was vasty OVERrated and I don’t really get why it has gotten so many accolades.  Sure, hats off to the film makers for making an effort to bring mental illness to the forefront, but when Lisa and I went and saw this back in the fall (before everyone hopped on the bandwagon and it became “cool” to say you went to see it), we were both pretty meh about it.

Lisa almost wanted to walk out.

Anyways, I was happy to see Argo take the award home.  After being snubbed by the academy for a Best Director nod (although the guy who ended up winning, Ang Lee, for Life of Pi, 100% deserved to win), it was great see Ben Affleck get some recognition.

2.  Really happy to see that my boy Tarantino took home the prize for Best Screenplay.

3.  In watching a bit of the pre-show I couldn’t help but wonder:  if we put as much scrutiny into solving our national debt issues as we do into best dressed, we’d probably accomplish something.

For the record, Lisa’s pick for best dressed went current woman George Clooney won’t marry, Stacy Kiebler:

4.  Seth MacFarlane’s opening number “We Saw Your Boobs” was pretty freaking funny.

Note to Self:  Tony, if you haven’t already, make it a point to watch every movie he mentioned.

 5.  I couldn’t help but notice that 90% of the guys who won for behind-the-scenes stuff like Sound Mixing, Cinematography, Editing, etc all had creepy long hair like the villain from Die Hard:

So yeah, I was up late, slept in, and since I’m running short on time this morning I figured I’d start the week with my list of stuff to read:

Intuitive Training for Fitness – Andrew Heffernan

Some days you feel like a rockstar, and on others, the second you wake up you feel like you’ve been run over by a mack truck.

While I can count on one hand the total number of times I’ve skipped a scheduled training session my entire life, for many, they’ll use any excuse possible to get out of going to the gym.

The slightest hint of a headache or a hang-nail, and they’re hightailing it to their couch instead of the squat rack.

While there are certainly cases were heading to the gym if you’re not feeling well is more counterproductive than anything else, I’d argue that you can still get a heckuva training effect if you just tweak a few things here and there.

This article sheds some light on that very notion.

10 Reasons Squats Are a Terrible Exercise – Chris Smith

I’m embarrassed to say that when I was originally sent this article from someone else and read the first few paragraphs, I thought it was serious.

Apparently I forgot to eat my bowl of sarcasm flakes that morning.

This was an absolutely HILARIOUS post by Chris, and while the article itself is very entertaining, the comments section is borderline addicting.  Grab a chair, maybe prepare some popcorn, and enjoy!

Act of Sportsmanship – If This Doesn’t Make You Teary Eyed, You’re the Spawn of Satan

Okay that’s probably a bit drastic, and I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.  But for all of those people reading (like me) who generally go out of their way to avoid watching the news because of its incessant negativity, this story is quite the contrast.

Just awesome – nuff said.