Flashback a year to January, 2014. I'd been blogging for less than 6 months, and I wasn't sure if anything was really going to come of it. Sure, it was fun and all, but my readership was about the size of a chihuahua, and I was feeling pretty guilty writing when I should have been studying for my Master's.
Then, on the morning of January 17th, everything changed. I woke up to discovermy first T-Nation article had been published. Suddenly, I had a flurry of new admirers. People were looking to me as an expert. It was on that day I realized I was no longer just another blogger. I was a fitness writer — a subtle but important distinction in my mind, and one that was further solidified withmy second T-Nation article a few months later.
Do you still static stretch before you train/compete?
The research, although contradictory at times, begs you to reconsider, especially if maximal strength and power are important to you.
Follow the link below to read my latest article, titledBenefits of Static Stretching Stretched out of Proportion?,for Greg Nuckol’s newly launched site, Strengtheory.com. As a bonus, you'll also find Episode 2 of the Fitness Pollenator podcast on the same topic at the bottom of the article!
CrossFit is cool and all, but I'm not a huge fan of everything about it. Same with bodybuilding and powerlifting. So why not take the good from each of these modalities and ditch the unremarkable? In my guest post for James Cerbie and the awesome folks over at Rebel Performance, I explain how I go about doing just that. The post is titled Minus the Fanfare: Blend Methodologies for Well Rounded Performance. Here's the link: http://rebel-performance.com/minus-fanfare-blend-methodologies-well-rounded-performance/
I met Karl Safran, owner and operator of No Bull Training in Huntingdon Valley, PA, for the first time two years ago when he came to lecture at NTPI Philadelphia. From the minute he started talking, he had the entire class hanging on his every word. The way in which he broke down human movement was like nothing we had ever heard before. So simple, so elegant, so exciting.
From that day forward, I knew I had to learn everything I could from Karl. Over the following three months while still in school, I went to No Bull Training once a week to shadow Karl. As soon as I got home from these visits, I would race to my computer to type up all the things I'd learned that day.
After I graduated from NPTI, I was fortunate enough to work for Karl for several months before going back to school for my Master's. The time I spent at No Bull was invaluable to my growth as both a trainer and a person. Karl taught me so much, not only about training, but also about life.
I got a chance to catch up with Karl for the third episode of the Fitness Pollenator Podcast. We chatted about what "functional training" means for him and his clients, who his biggest influences have been, and the importance of mindset when it comes to training.
You don't want to miss what he has to say.
