While it’s technically not something you’ll be able to read while you’re sitting there at your desk pretending to work, I just wanted to remind everyone out there that today’s marks the LAST day that Spinal Health and Core Training: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Health, Fitness, Rehabilitation, and Performance is on sale for $100 off the regular price.

While I’d like to sit here and say that this DVD will add 50 lbs to your deadlift almost instantly, make you strong enough to wrestle a great white shark (with one arm), and increase your IQ so high that NASA will hold a ticker tape parade in your honor, that would be embellishing things just a tad.

I mean, it’s pretty much common knowledge that it’s impossible to put a great white into a half-nelson. So it’s not like I’m fooling anyone here.

All kidding aside, I really feel this is going to be a game changer for a lot of fitness professionals out there and will undoubtedly place you a step above the rest with regards to anatomy, assessment, corrective exercise, program design, and a plethora of other things like understanding when to progress (or regress) clients with back pain, how to integrate appropriate core exercises, and maybe even more important, how to coach the exercises correctly!

Spinal Health and Core Training

All of the guys involved – myself, Rick Kaselj, Dean Somerset, and Dr. Jeff Cubos – put a lot of work into this seminar and provided over 12 hours worth of information and knowledge bombs that, in our eyes, will make anyone who watches it a verifiable Robocop when it comes to working with athletes and clients with back injuries.

Diet Book Review: Wheat Belly – Dr. Yoni Freedhoff

I thought this was a fantastic review by Dr. Freedhoff on the best selling book, Wheat Belly, by William Davis, M.D.

It seems like every few weeks a new diet book comes out throwing something else under the table – in this case it’s wheat.

Now, I’m fully aware the gluten intolerance – and all the nastiness involved with it – exists.  And I’m also fully aware that people tend to overemphasize highly processed foods like breads, bagels, and pasta in their daily diets – even if they’re “whole wheat/grain” (and presumably under the guise that they’re healthier options) – and develop a killer “wheat/pot/food” belly as well as a raging case of type II diabetes to show for it.

On the flip side, though, there are still plenty of people out there who do eat whole grains and wheat (as well as many of the other foods which Dr. Davis poo-poos on) without any issues what-so-ever.

Admittedly, if given the choice, I’d lean more towards the camp of telling people to omit much (not all) of the grains and whole wheat products they eat – my gut and experience just tells me that most people are better off that way.

But at the same time I understand that pointing the finger at one thing is a bit naive and sensationalist; and that what works for one person, may not necessarily be the right choice for the next – especially in the long-term.

Thanks to people like Dr. Freedhoff, it’s a bit easier to tone down the stupid.

Are We Creating Monsters – Dr. Justin Rabinowitz

In light of all the talk surrounding the increased incidence of concussions and the dangers to one’s health that are a result, I thought this was an interesting commentary of the role the strength and conditioning community plays.

Now, just to be clear:  I am in no way insinuating that we shouldn’t “hold back” in our efforts to make our athletes (and clients) bigger, faster, and stronger (that’s what we’re paid to do)……..

…..But is there ever a time – and have we reached that point – where enough is enough?