Before I get into today’s meat and potatoes I wanted to take the opportunity to suggest some new movies I think some of you will like.
As most of you who read this blog consistently understand, I’m a huge movie nerd. I’d venture a guess that if I wasn’t a strength coach I’d probably try to figure out some way to become Kate Beckinsale’s cabana boy watch movies for a living.
Sort of like a more jacked version of Robert Ebert – except instead of something mundane like a star system or something trademarked like a thumbs-up/thumbs-down review (ALA Siskel & Ebert), I’d rank movies using a ” loaded” barbell system.
A barbell with no plates = god awful (Pain and Gain,The Hangover II, anything with the word Twilight in it).
From there, the more plates added onto the barbell dictates its level of badassery.
Ahhh, a guy can dream right?
Anyways, two movies I’ve watched recently that I felt were fairly decent and worthy of 3-4 plates were:
The former stars Brad Pitt as a hitman for hire and has some of the best cinematography I’ve seen in any film this year. Coincidentally, there was a movie that Pitt did a few years back with the same director called The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which I felt was another highly UNDERrated film that didn’t get much fanfare despite being nominated for two Oscars (Best Supporting Actor – Casey Affleck, and Achievement in Cinematography).
A fair warning: It’s more of a dialogue based movie and doesn’t really have a lot of shoot em-up scenes despite the title. All I’ll add to that point is that I LOVE good dialogue and Pitt’s closing monologue is epic!
The latter movie – A Place Beyond the Pines – is one that Lisa and I have been meaning to see for a few weeks now. I mean, it’s Ryan Gosling – the man can do no wrong after Drive.
We finally had the chance to go see it yesterday. This film teams Gosling with director Derek Cianfrance, who also directed Gosling (and Michelle Williams) in a Blue Valentine (arguably one of the most depressing yet unflinchingly real films on the heartache of relationships), and while I wanted to really, really like this film, I had to give it a solid B- because it’s so freaking long.
The acting was superb – kudos to Bradley Cooper by the way – but there were a few plot points I felt didn’t jive, and while I appreciated the storyline (the first act focuses on Gosling’s character, the second on Cooper’s, and the third on their two sons, I don’t want to give away the “twist”), I felt it was a teeny tiny bit far reaching.
Nonetheless, if you’re looking for two non-Iron Man 3 movies to watch relatively soon, maybe these will be up your alley?
Talking Shop: Video Interview with Tony Gentilcore – Harold Gibbons
I had the pleasure of sitting down for a Skype video interview with my pal Harold Gibbons last week where we discussed everything from why Yoda would make such an amazing strength coach to the fitness writing process. And lots of other stuff in between.
If you’re looking for an hour to kill while you’re sitting there at your desk hating life and think listening to my sultry voice would help pass the time, then I’d highly recommend slapping on a pair of headphones and give it a listen.
This was easily of the funnest interviews I’ve ever done.
And look! There’s a dragon in the background. Sweet!……;o)
I’m about as adept at olympic lifting as I am at playing poker. Which is to say, I’m god awful. Speaking truthfully I don’t have a lot of experience with the OLY lifts which is why I generally steer clear of them and point people in the direction of guys like Wil whenever someone is interested in dabbling a little bit.
Even if OLY lifting isn’t your bag this was a fantastic post which digs into some common mobility restrictions. Check out the t-spine drill!
On an aside, for those who are interesting in OLY lifting, I’d highly recommend Wil’s Complete Olympic Lifting DVD.
I just realized it’s been a good 5-6 weeks since I’ve done one of these, which is just completely unacceptable. Part of me feels like I’m doing a disservice to everyone by “wasting” a day to post about random shit.
I mean does everyone really care that I watched every minute of the Golden Globes last night?
Hell yeah you do!
1. If you missed them – all sorts of shenanigans went down. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did a bang-up job hosting. While I didn’t get my panties all up in a bunch like a lot of people did when Ricky Gervais hosted last year, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a breath of fresh air to see that they didn’t go out of their way to “roast” all the attendees.
While on one hand I think if you’re making upwards of $10 million+ to pretend you’re someone else on screen, you should be able to suck it up if someone wants to bust your chops a little bit.
On the other, I don’t necessarily feel someone deserves to be humiliated in front of millions of viewers.
Nevertheless, I was happy to see my boy (as if I know him?) Quentin Tarantino win Best Screenplay for Django Unchained, and was equally as happy to see Ben Affleck (Ben freakin Affleck!) win Best Director (and Best Picture) for Argo.
I’ve had my qualms with Ben in the past. Namely for marrying my long-time crush (from her Alias days) Jennifer Garner, and you know, for making all of us suffer through Gigli.
But I have to say, he’s completely redeemed himself. I was really impressed when he made his directorial debut with Gone, Baby Gone back in 2007. I was dumbfounded when The Town came out.
Many – myself included – felt Gone, Baby Gone might have been some kind a fluke; beginner’s luck if you will.
But when The Town came out two years ago, anyone who loves movies could tell that he had a knack for this directing thing.
With Argo, he’s easily established himself as one of the A-list directors in H-town. And, giving credit where credit is due: the guy’s grown on me as an actor as well.
If you haven’t see it already, I suggest you do it ASAP.
I read the other day that he’s in cohoots with Jason Bourne Matt Damon to make a movie based off the life of Whitey Bulger. Which basically means that if they decide to film in Boston (which I don’t see why they wouldn’t), the entire city is going to go into apeshit mode.
OMGOMGOMGOMG – it’s going to be awesome.
The other highlights from last night: Wolverine can sing! He won for Best Actor in Les Miserables. I haven’t seen it yet (mainly because I pee standing up), but stranger things have happened and I’ll most likely check it out soon.
The Oscars are next. See you in a few weeks.
2. One of the more common questions I receive on a somewhat regular basis is Tony are those your pecs or cinderblocks you have underneath that shirt? Tony, what’s your beef against Olympic lifting?
Presumably many are under the assumption that because I don’t discuss OLY lifting that much – or that I never program it – I’m adamantly against it.
Au contraire mon soeur.
This couldn’t be further from the truth!
For starters, as a strength coach, I’d be the worst one in history if I was somehow opposed to the OLY lifts. I think it goes without saying that they’re an unparalleled tool to help build explosiveness, power, and overall athleticism.
Thing is: I don’t have a lot (if any) experience with them. As such, I don’t really go out of my way to coach them, or include them in any of my programs, because I’d be a walking ball of fail if I tried. If anything, I’m taking a huge bite of humble pie by admitting that I don’t feel comfortable as a coach including OLY lifting in my programs.
This isn’t to say that we don’t have other coaches at CP who have more hands-on experience with them and are more comfortable around them. But for me, I think I’d be doing my athletes and clients and disservice by pretending that I know what I’m talking about.
Besides, we make do with various med ball drills, sprinting drills, and the like, which get the job done.
Considering we don’t necessarily know how long we have each athlete for, it makes much more sense from a time-efficiency standpoint to utilize less “coaching intensive” protocols.
Sadly, there are quite a few coaches and trainers out there who don’t have the same mentality as myself. Instead of admitting their weaknesses, they pretend to know what they’re talking about at best coaching people with god-awful technique, and at worst……hurting someone.
That said, recognizing my weaknesses as a coach, I’ve started to delve a little deeper and started to read and watch various texts and DVDs on Olympic lifting. It’s a whirlwind for sure, but something I feel will help make me a better coach in the grand scheme of things.
As luck would have it, I was sent an advance copy of Will Fleming’s Complete Olympic Lifting DVD a few weeks ago, and it’s been awesome.
The problem isn’t deciding whether or not to incorporate these lifts into our programs. It’s getting your athletes to properly execute them.
And THAT’S what’s helped me the most.
It takes you through the process of assessing, teaching and fixing the Olympic Lifts (and their variations) in a simple, straight forward way you can begin implementing immediately.
No technical jargon. No fluff. No scientific text. No cowbell.
If you’re like me, and the thought of OLY lifting makes you cower in the corner sucking your thumb, I’d highly suggest checking this fantastic resource out.
It’s on sale this week for 40% off the regular price, which is a steal if you ask me.
3. For more of universal flavor, and because bootcamps are now all the rage in the fitness industry, Mike Robertson, along with Jim Laird and Molly Galbraith have just released a 30-minute webinar as a precursor to their Bootcamp in a Box product coming out later this week (Tuesday, Jan. 15th in fact).
This is a product geared towards bootcamp owners that want to run a smarter and safer bootcamp.
I know all you hear right now is blah, blah, blah, just another bootcamp product to throw onto the “not interested” list.
But what differentiates this from all the other similar products there is:
I personally know Mike (as well as Jim and Molly) and know they’re all passionate about the type of information they put out there, and won’t allow themselves to put out a poo-poo product.
This is a DVD and manual which gives you – on a platter – an entire training system that you can use with your bootcamp clients.
It entails 6-months of done-for-you programming, progressions and regressions for all the major movement categories, and they’ve literally taken any guesswork out of the program.
For what it’s worth, many of the principles covered are things we’ve incorporated into our own Excellence Bootcamps at Cressey Performance
Like I said, the 30-minute webinar is FREE, and will give you a better idea of what the system entails.
4. And lastly, I want to touch on the whole training women while they’re pregnant topic. I’ve personally trained a handful of women through their pregnancies, and I’m currently training two as I type this.
Well, I mean not literally as I type this, but you know what I mean.
I definitely have some strong viewpoints on this topic – and I do want to share them in more detail – but I’d be curious to hear what other’s have to say (or think).
For me there’s a massive dichotomy between what I do and what most (not all) of the research says we should be doing.
While it definitely comes down to the individual, their comfort level, listening to their body, as well as their past training history, I find it asinine that there are physicians out there (and even more articles) that suggest that “training” should revolve around light walking and what mounts to arm circles.
For me, when I’m working with someone who’s pregnant, it’s about preparing them for something a helluva lot more significant than lifting pink dumbbells or anything I’ll ever have to do.
In my eyes, if they’re able to grow and push a human being out of their body, they’re capable of lifting a barbell off the ground.
Sometimes even over their head. Repeatedly. GASP!!!!!!!!
But again, this definitely doesn’t apply to everyone. I understand that there are subtle training modifications that should be addressed trimester to trimester, and there are times where extenuating circumstances come in to play as far as complications are concerned.
In my experience, however, these are few and far between and I often feel like we’re being overly cautious.
Now, I’m not insinuating that someone carrying child should go out and try to hit deadlift PRs on a weekly basis or snatch a mack truck over their head. But I’m certainly in the camp that feels we can offer a lot more than “go walk in the treadmill.”
Like I said, I’d like to jump into this topic with more detail, but I wanted to throw out a “feeler” to see if anyone would bite and offer their insight on the matter.
