CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 4/22/16

First things first: I received a shipment of freshly minted TG “Because Heavy Things Won’t Lift Themselves” t-shirts this week.

My cat looooves them.

Don’t worry, I’ll knock $5 off any shirts with cat hair on them….;o)

The first round resulted in some high-praise, and I’m pretty sure will be featured in NYC Fashion Week later this year. Or, I don’t know, maybe not,

Either way, they’re badass and you should totally get one.

How to Order

**Note: t-shirts are Next Level brand made with tri-blend material.[footnote]For optimal pec and bicep showiness.[/footnote] Women’s sizes are available (M, L)

1) You can go HERE and order directly from me.

  • The advantage here is you get to see my remarkable penmanship (I hand-write each address). And that’s pretty much it.
  • The disadvantage is that there’s no international orders.

or

2) You can go HERE and order via TheLoyalist.com.

  • Here you get more options of the material you’d prefer (cotton, tri-blend, t-shirts made from the belly-button lint of Ryan Gosling), sizes, as well as varying apparel options (sweatpants, sweatshirts, tank tops, etc).
  • And international orders are TOTALLY acceptable here.

Staying In Your Lane – Luke Worthington

I applaud any fitness professional who goes out of his or her’s way to broaden their expertise repertoire. However, there’s a dangerous precedent that many teeter on where now we have personal trainers providing “shitty physical therapy” (<– to quote Nick Tumminello) and not staying in their lane.

This article by London-based trainer, Luke Worthington, hits the nail on the head.

“Bad” Exercises Made Good – Michael Mullin

I can’t tell you how many times I receive messages from trainers and fitness enthusiasts alike whenever they come across pictures like the one above, and inevitably write me a message along the lines of “WTF I can’t believe a trainer would have a professional athlete do something like this!”

Lets hold off on the pitch-forks and understand that CONTEXT is everything. Nice post by Michael on this one.

Dispelling the Dysfunctional Kneeling Push-Up – Dr. John Rusin

Sure, they have a time and place…but truthfully I’ve always hated the kneeling push-up (or “girl” push-up).

I feel they set a poor precedent out of the gate and their connotation speaks to”oh, you’re a girl, you’re fragile, we’re going to do “girl” push-ups.”

Screw that.

PS:

I’ll be in Philadelphia this weekend (Sunday, April 24th) at War Horse Barbell presenting The Shoulder: From Assessment to Badass workshop.

If you have nothing better to do – or are sick of eating cheesesteaks – spots are still available, and you can go HERE to sign-up.

Also, Dean Somerset just put his stellar resource – Post Rehab Essentials 2.0 – on sale ($50 OFF regular price) from now through this Sunday. Easily one of the best resources on assessment and “corrective” exercise programming out there today. Check it out HERE.

Categoriespodcast

Appearance on the Strength Doc Podcast

I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited onto several podcasts in recent weeks, and all of them have been unique in the sense of their general flow, topics covered, and conversational approach of each host.

Earlier this week I was invited onto the Strength Doc Podcast with Dr. John Rusin.

It only makes sense our world’s would eventually cross paths. Doc and I have a lot in common.

1) We’re both bald.

2) We’re both jacked.

3) And we’re both doctors. He = a doctor in physical therapy. Me = a doctor in being awesome. Same difference.

John’s a very smart guy, genuine, and someone who’s been providing a ton of excellent content over on T-Nation for the past year or so – to the tune of 1-2 articles per week at times.

The two of us had been going back forth about coming onto his show and the stars finally aligned earlier this week. Funnily enough, after recording the show he was like “dude, I’m so back logged and a head of schedule that my plan is for this to go live sometime in February.”

Later on that day he emailed me and was like, “I sent this to my guy (who’s a strength coach and physical therapist too) to be edited, and he’s so hot on it that we’re pushing it to THIS Friday.”

Me: “holla.”

Being invited onto the show was an honor in of itself. But even more of an honor was the unsolicited remarks I received afterward from other coaches who listened in on the episode:

“Tony I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying your interview with John!”

“Great job on the podcast man!”

“Tony, after listening to your podcast it’s safe to say we’re BFFs.”

At the end of the day I just try to come across as someone who’s genuine in his own right, transparent (not pretend I know all the answers), and as someone who gives a shit about this industry.

I seem to be succeeding.

I’d love for you to take a listen, and, if you enjoyed the episode, please give Doc some love on iTunes and toss him a 5-star rating. He deserves it.

iTunes: HERE

Direct Download (non-Mac users): HERE

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 7/24/15

Only ONE week left until the Elite Training Workshop – Boston is held on Saturday, August 1st, featuring myself, Mike Reinold, Artemis Scantalides, and Ryan Ketchum.

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 does there schtick 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.”

If you’re looking for some practical information that you’ll be able to use for yourself or with your clients, and earn CEUs to boot then this will be a great opportunity.

Click HERE for more information.

Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop

 

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

It’s like a travel Cirque du Soleil show, except with no tents, flashy acrobatics, animals, or ripped half naked dudes contorting themselves into pretzels. Unless, of course, Dean decides to take people through one of his epic warm-up routines.

He’s a supple bastard. It’s deceiving.

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, honor Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill in some fashion. I mean, it was 20 years ago this month that that album was released.

Yep, I feel old.

CEU’s will be available for all workshops.

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

ST. LOUIS (in September, the EARLY BIRD rate is still active, but will end soon!)

CHICAGO (I’ve never been, and can’t wait to explore.)

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

Why the Fitness World Needs Tracy Anderson – Lee Boyce

Funny story on this. An ex-athlete of mine sent me a message the other day on Facebook linking to this article with a note “Really? Is this guy serious?”

I wrote back, “Lee’s my boy. It’s total tongue in cheek. He’s one of the good ones.”

It’s an older article – I can’t believe I missed it the first time around – but it’s a good one!

Squat Depth: The Final Answer – Dr. John Rusin

This was a great article by Dr. John (<– hope it’s okay I call him that), and it falls in line with many of my own thoughts on the topic.

Basic rule to follow: different squatters squat differently. Don’t be an a-hole and think there’s only ONE best way to squat.

How to Teach the Clean for Maximizing Athletic Power – Eric Bach and Loren Landow

Coaching the OLY lifts is definitely a weak spot for me as a coach, which is why I often refer out whenever an athlete or client wants to learn them.

But after reading this article and watching the videos I’m pretty sure I’m ready for 2016. See you in Rio de Janeiro everyone!

BONUS STUFF (Because, Why Not?)

HERE’s an article I wrote on Active.com on muscle soreness and whether or not you should be sore after every workout.

HERE’s an article I wrote for Stack.com that re-ran on Men’s Health on why I feel benching with your feet in the air is moronic for most guys most of the time. There’s a time and place for it, but then again there’s a time and place for sticking your finger in an electrical socket. I guess.

The trailer for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s (21 Grams, Babel, Birdman) next movie, The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, looks siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.

I’m predicting winner for Best Cinematography right now.