CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: The Fitness Summit Edition

Another week of “stuff to read,” another edition inspired by an eventful weekend of fitness industry shenanigans.

This time around: The Fitness Summit

Pictured (L to R): Pete Dupuis, Dr. Susan Kleiner, Bret Contreras, Dr. Erika Mundinger, Tony Gentilcore, Jeannine Trimboli, David Dellanave, Dean Somerset, Lou Schuler, Dr. Mike T. Nelson, Alan Aragon, Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, Sol Orwell, Nick Tumminello

I had the honor of being a first-time invitee last year (I even wrote about my experience HERE), and was thrilled I was invited back for the 2015 edition.

Lets take the insanely good speaker line-up out of the equation1 and note that, as a testament to the event itself, many of the attendees would constitute as an all-star line-up in of itself.

People like Greg Nuckols, Jen Sinkler, Andy Morgan, Eric Bach, Alicia Fetters, Bryan Krahn, Armi Legge, Mark Fisher, and many, many more made the trip to Kansas City to learn, mingle, eat what’s probably some of the best BBQ on Earth, and swear like sailors for two days.

If anything The Fitness Summit is a social event as much as it’s a learning event (and believe me there was a TON of learning). The uniqueness and appeal is the accessibility of the speakers to the attendees (which included 150+). It’s not as if the speakers speak and then jet off to their hotel rooms or sequester themselves at the “cool table” with all the other speakers.

Quite literally the entire weekend is designed and meant to be an informal party and networking extravaganza.

And based off how many people were wearing sunglasses on day two, plenty of people let loose….;o)

Ahem, cough, cough Alan Aragon cough, cough.

Kidding aside: I’ve never seen one human being bro-knuckle more than Alan Aragon. The man is a machine.

All of this to say: THANK YOU to everyone involved for (always) making it such an amazing weekend. Special kudos go to the Bromberg brosefs – Nick and David (in addition to their parents) – for organizing the event. THANK YOU to the speakers whom I’m always learning from and for considering me a colleague.

THANK YOU to everyone who introduced themselves and for taking the time to say such nice things to me. It means so much knowing that people enjoy and respect my work and appreciate the efforts I take provide a bit more integrity – however small – to this industry.

And THANK YOU to Southwest airlines for two seamless, turbulence-free flights.

This week I wanted to highlight some articles from some first-time presenters at The Fitness Summit this year. Some (or all) of them may be familiar to you – if so, my bad – but nonetheless, it’s my hope to direct you towards a few new resources that you might not otherwise have the chance to check out.

Power Eating – Dr. Susan Kleiner

It was a real fan-boy moment treat to have the opportunity to listen to Dr. Kleiner speak this past weekend because her seminal book, Power Eating (now in its 4th Edition), was one of the very first nutrition books I ever read when I started out in this industry.

At a time when carbohydrates are being tossed into the same category as ISIS, sub-prime mortgage loans, and Nicholas Sparks movies (< – rightfully so), it’s awesome to listen to a voice of reason like Dr. Kleiner – especially as it relates to ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE!!!!

Low-carb, and worse ketogenic diets, are horrible if athletic performance is the driving force, and this book is one of the “go to” resources I use to help drive that point home.

Sex Sells (You Out) – Jeannine Trimboli

Anna Sidorova 2014 Curling Champion, AKA “hot Winter Olympic Babe”

I really enjoyed Jeannine’s presentation this past weekend as she spoke to a topic that I often discuss here on this site with regards to the mainstream media and the unrealistic, sexualized messages it relays to women interested in fitness.

This article serves as a perfect overview of Jeannine’s message.

Ask Ann: Why Is My Shoulder Blade Grinding, Popping, and Achy – Dr. Ann Wendel

Full disclosure: Dr. Ann Wendel did not speak at The Fitness Summit (although I’m a big fan and she’s fully qualified to do), but for the life of me I couldn’t find an article written by Dr. Erika Mundinger (who DID speak).

She presented a superb presentation on SI joint dysfunction and maybe I can entice her to write a guest post on my site down the road (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

This article was the last one she linked to on her Twitter account (HERE), so that’s the best I can do.

It’s an article written by a doctor, shared by a doctor. And since I have a doctorate in being awesome, I approve of this article as well.

CategoriesMotivational

Why The Fitness Summit is THE Fitness Summit

As I type these words I’m cruising at about 39,000 feet above the ground on my flight back to Boston from Kansas City after having attended The Fitness Summit over the weekend.

I feel somewhat sick to my stomach because 1) I’m not what you would call a “fan of flying” and 2) the two pounds of burnt ends I ate last night from local KC BBQ staple, Arthur Bryant’s, isn’t doing my digestive track any favors.  Nor are the three servings of ice cream I devoured.

Embarrassingly enough, after my second serving of ice cream I was approach for an impromptu photo-op during the social last night by one of the female attendees and I had to make sure that my face wasn’t covered in Cookies-n-Cream.

It wasn’t.  I think.

And that, in part, is what makes The Fitness Summit THE Fitness Summit.  It’s just like-minded people coming to together to do nothing more than hang out, geek out about fitness, perform a Predator hand-shake or two, and simply, unapologetically be themselves.

For the record:  I won.

When I was first contacted by the Brombergs (brothers Nick and David, who organize and run the event) to come and speak at this year’s Summit I kind of felt like I was one of those characters from the movie The Social Network getting their first invite to Final Club shoved underneath their dorm room door.

When I got the email I felt equal parts trying to resist the urge to pee myself a little and running outside my apartment down Beacon Ave and high-fiving every stranger who crossed my path.

While neither of those two happened, I was pretty excited (and honored) to say the least.

You see, I’ve always been somewhat enamored with The Fitness Summit.  I was vaguely familiar with its “grass roots” beginnings in Arkansas when it was known as the JP Fitness Summit and was nothing more than an annual gathering of forum members and the Grand Master, Lou Schuler.

As the years passed it slowly grew, with more and more people making the trek to Arkansas, and, along with Lou, other well-known fitness trainers, coaches, and/or writers.

Fast forward to the last few years – it’s now known as The Fitness Summit, it takes place in Kansas City, and has grown into one of the “go to” fitness events of the year.

This year’s panel of presenters.  Front Row (L-R): Galina Ivanova Denzel, Alan Aragon. Back Row (L-R): Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, Lou Schuler, Roland Denzel, Han Solo, Jen Sinkler, Dr. Mike T. Nelson, David Dellanave, Nick Bromberg, Bret Contreras, Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, Bryan Krahn, Dr. Cassandra Forsythe

I broke my Fitness Summit cherry this year and was was invited to come speak – unbeknownst to myself, given I was slated to speak last, as the “main speaker” (no pressure) – and, well, it was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to go back.

Unlike a lot of fitness seminars, symposiums, conferences, and soirees, The Fitness Summit isn’t about making a profit.

The organizers are happy to break even, and while the presenters are compensated (and treated like gold), it isn’t about the money, or selling product, or egos,  or anything like that.

It’s about the people.

The Summit itself has a very friends-hanging-out-with friends vibe to it.  And, to be honest, the highlight of the entire weekend isn’t so much the abyss of knowledge bombs being dropped by the presenters – and there were many – but more so the networking, shenanigans, and “informalness” of it all.

Some highlights:

1.  Again, I can’t stress how amazing the people are.  On top of the presenters, the attendees themselves resembled a fitness industry All-Star team.  What’s more it was so cool to finally put a face to some of the names I’ve grown familiar with over the years. So many people approached me to introduce themselves and to tell me how much they enjoyed my work.

My head grew maybe thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much over the weekend.

2.  Getting an impromptu deadlift session in with Bret Contreras. HERE’s my 465×3, and HERE’s Bret’s.

Afterwards Bret turns to me and says, “Tony, I’m not kidding, you have the best deadlift technique I’ve ever seen.”

And then we both went into the garage to practice karate together.

3.  Dr. Spencer Nadolsky describing his first “non-sexual vaginal approach” was CLASSIC!  In short:  while in med-school he described his first Pap Smear, and how the woman whom he was testing looked him, in mid-approach, and said “you have beautiful eyes.”

HAHAHAHAHA.

4. Me getting trolled by Alan Aragon during the Expert Panel.  I look at it as a right of passage.  Thanks for taking it easy on me Alan……;o)

5.  Louie Guarino’s and Dean Somerset’s calf off.  Yes, that happened.

6.  And, one of the coolest things – for me anyways – is seeing so many women showing up!  The audience was roughly split 50/50 as far as male/female ratio and I think that kicks ass.

 To sum it all up:  I can’t wait to go back.

And, GFY Mark Shields (sorry, a little Fitness Summit inside joke).