Last weekend, I attended the annual Fitness Summit in Kansas City. This is my fourth year in a row, and it’s officially a tradition. I always look forward to this weekend because it’s so much fun.

For me this isn’t just an event to further my education. It’s an excuse to hug the necks of people who are dear friends, previous clients, and those I’ve developed new friendships with over the wonderful Internetz.

This year I decided to take a few of my friends in Nashville, who know very little of the online fitness space, with me.

For them, it was an eye-opener, mainly from the standpoint that making friends, and connections is everything to your business. But they also learned that those connections transcend any business endeavor, and can blossom into amazing friendships.

What’s even cooler is all of these people share a similar mindset – which is to put your clients/customers/audience first, and everything else is automatically taken care of.

Anyway, the reason I’m writing this post today is because I was inspired by all those around me and also because Dick Talens wrote a post titled Why The Fitness Industry is Broken [1] and it gave me a lot to think about. So this is more of a reflection, and my take on a few things I see and wish to change about the industry as a whole. [Read more...]

Stress. It’s something we all deal with on a daily basis, whether we think much about it or not. Some of it’s good, but a lot of it, not so good.

Stress can help us in various ways, making us stronger as we adapt to new stressors. The first thing that comes to my mind is weight training.

Placing a barbell on your back and squatting it is a form of stress. Our ability to cope with that stress, and thus resurface stronger a few days later, is all about what we do outside of the gym. Sleep, rest, eating well, and the general chilling out can go a long way in making the most of this stress.

On the other hand, stress can bring us to our knees. Even in the literal sense.

It may be an injury caused by a weak link in the system (underdeveloped muscles, weak ligaments/tendons, or crappy leverages).

Or it could be an overuse problem.

Other times, it’s an issue with moving at a pace you’re not yet equipped for. [Read more...]

They say ‘with age comes wisdom,’ and sure enough, the more I experience, the more I realize and understand just how important certain life lessons can be. I’m honest when I say I try to take as much away from them as possible, but it’s not always easy.

Back in October, I found myself boarding a plane for a less-than-24-hour trip to the east coast to meet with a doctor I’d only known from the internetz.

Some might call me crazy for this, and I may be beyond saving when it comes to my sanity. However I’ve come to the realization – and the personal acceptance – that I make many decisions on a whim, and so far, the consequences have been positive.

Anyway, back to the trip… So for anyone who doesn’t know, I’ll spill the beans now.

I’ve struggled with an official hypothyroidism diagnosis since 2008.

I’ve been to a handful doctors, many of which wanted to put me on various drugs in an attempt to solve the problem.

Back during my original diagnosis, I didn’t really care too much about alternative remedies, such as optimizing my diet, or improving my lifestyle (quality sleep, better daily routine). I was in such a bad place mentally, that all I wanted was relief. To further elaborate on said state, read my story at the ChangeBlog.  [Read more...]

Last week, I spent some time hanging out with friends in Los Angeles. It was probably my last vacation of the year, but man oh man… I am surely recharged and ready to finish out 2012 with a bang.

It was a nice break from the ordinary, and I got to see someone I haven’t seen in over a year.

As you might imagine with there being so much to do and see, the last thing I wanted to do was spend all my time in the gym.

As a result, I only trained once in 5 days.

Despite my lack of training, I still wanted to make the sessions I was able to get in as effective as possible, so I turned to a Rest-Pause method I like to use that I learned a while back from Børge Fagerli’s work.

Today I want to share with you exactly what we did and it only took us about 30 minutes from start to finish, including our warm ups.

The goal is to do 4 main movements.  I’ll show you the routine, and then I’ll explain the technique. [Read more...]