It may seem like it takes a spectacular event of epic proportions to draw me out of my blogging cave, and while that may or may not be true, this is certainly a noteworthy announcement. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that what I’m about to drop on you is going to be a game changer in terms of the way that fitness information is disseminated to the masses.

Ladies and gentlemen of the interweb, I’m proud to present to you the brand spanking new Fitmarker.com – the brainchild of my homie JC Deen and the one who is well-known in these e-streets as The FitJerk.

The reason I like this site so much is simple – it puts the power in the hands of the end-user. Think about it for a moment: would you rather be forcefed information of questionable quality without any say in the matter, or would you like to play a critical role in deciding what content gets the frontpage worthy thumbs up or the Spartan kick of doom, destined to never see the light of day? That is the premise of this site: if you find a particular piece useful you can “bump” it, and if you think its whacker than an air sandwhich, you can “dump” it.

While this may be a great tool for the personal trainer or strength coach to use in order to get their work in front of the eyes of people who need it, the real winner here is the general fitness enthusiest who is so bogged down in the guagmire of crappy (or even harmful) information out there that they end up doing nothing at all out of sheer confusion. Just like anything in life, the cream rises to the top, and it is my firm belief that this will become a straight up smorgasbord of thoroughly researched, helpful and applicable information that people can actual use.

But enough with the hype. Its clear that I love the concept and implementation, and I think you will too. Give Fitmarker a test drive here – you won’t be disappointed.

The JP Fitness Summit was the brainchild of Jean-Paul Francoeur, who happens to be a modern renaissance man and one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. Each year a group of industry professionals and forumites descend upon a pre-determined U.S. city and talk fitness, life, and everything in between. This is their story.

Lou Schuler, the man, the myth, the legend, kicked off the day of presentations and set the bar for everyone else to follow. Lou’s talk focused on how a fitness enthusiast’s foray into the world of exercise and diet can be likened to the archetypal hero’s journey commonly found in mythology. I loved his talk for several reasons. First of all, it connected the English Literature part of my soul to my role as a fitness professional – didn’t see that coming! Secondly, he had pictures…of light sabers. Anytime that what I and millions of others across the globe are doing on a daily basis can be tied-in with images of light sabers and cheesy special effects noises, you’ve got my vote. Lou’s ability to connect the mundane to an epic hero’s journey while at the same time managing to not make us feel small and insignificant, but empowered and inspired, is why I loved his talk so much. I see what you did there, Lou, and I approve. High five!

Next up was the brofessor himself – Alan Aragon. If you’re don’t know who he is, you betta ask somebody! I don’t remember who introduced me to him, but all I know is that the end result was me turning down a night of debauchery to sit in my apartment on a Friday night and read as much of his research review as I could before surrendering to sleep’s sweet, sweet embrace. Now, before you assume that I am just an anomaly in the Matrix with an exceptionally high level of nerdery in my blood, let me say that this could easily happen to you! The way in which Alan writes his research review makes it easily palatable, and, dare I say, fun to read. Even if you aren’t into the nuts and bolts of the research, he provides you with enough brief take home points at the end of a section to make it worth your $10 a month. Check it out here.

But I digress.

In his presentation, Alan brought out the sledgehammah and demolished many of the dogmatic teachings that run rampant in the fitness world today in just 12 short slides. Not one to leave his audience hanging, he made sure to provide us with simplified, easily implementable solutions when it comes to goal setting in terms of body composition and macronutrient intake. He wrapped it up by highlighting a client of his who he prepped for a fitness contest in just 37 days while having him continue to consume allegedly dirty, filthy foods such as dairy and fruit.

Bringing us in to the pre-rib homestretch was Ryan Zielonka, who took the audience through his own fitness journey, detailing how he went from a short, ball of a man (his words, not mine!) to a lean individual and what he learned along the way. Out of all the presenters, I enjoyed Ryan’s talk the most, if for no other reason than his conversational style of presentation. He was able to poke fun at himself while at the same time conveying the message that he understood the big picture of weight loss and body transformation and wasn’t bogged down in the minutia. Given the nature of his talk, I find it funny that they had him lead us into lunch, where I unlocked the cage of my inner fattie and let him loose.

The next man up is going to do to the world of glute training what Sir Mix-A-Lot did to the rap game – Bret Contreras. Bret was the first person to go rogue in terms of his prepared presentation and spoke straight from the heart on some issues that had nothing to do with his presentation, and I loved every minute of it. Bret covered his concept of load vector training, which is just a sassy way of saying the direction of the resistance relative to the trainee, and how it relates to glute training. I can’t possible do him justice in such a short review, so please check out this exhaustive e-book on the subject.

And then there was Nick Tumminello. Nick’s conveyed the why and how-to’s of foam rolling and self myofascial release. As a trainer I thought I knew all that I needed to know on the subject, but Nick dropped some certified cerebral cocktails on the crowd and I would say that he was right up there with Alan in terms of providing information that anyone would be able to take home and apply immediately. He certainly has a unique approach that differs from what I’ve read and have used during my internship, so be sure to check out his website where you can preview a variety of his products to see if any of them fit your need state.

In the past when I’ve attended seminars, the environment seemed very sterile, often to the point of feeling like a press conference. You come in, sit down, listen to some smart people talk, ask a few questions, give dap to your fellow man and then you’re outta there in enough time to catch the first episode of the Golden Girls marathon on the Hallmark Channel (or so I hear). While I always walk away having learned something new, this kind of presentation leaves much to be desired in terms of interacting with the presenters. The JP Fitness Summit is an entirely different beast – homie don’t play that! There is simply no other seminar like it. Every night we while we were in Kansas City, there was an opportunity to go out on the town as a group and hang out with no pretentious barriers up between anyone. Honestly, where else are you going to be able to eat ribs with Lou Schuler and Nick Tumminello, talk Lord of the Rings with Alan Aragon and Ryan Zielonka, and have a gun showdown with Bret Contreras? Answer: only in your nerdiest dreams.

The next JP Fitness fun train is leaving the station May 2011, so make sure you’re on it, or regret it forever.

     A recent study out of Australia that can be found in the American Heart Association journal Circulation has some released some pretty disturbing and shocking findings. According to the study’s lead author, David Dunstan, just 1 hour of face to face time with the television carries an 18% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and an 11% increased risk of death from all causes.

        The study also found that watching more than 4 hours of television a day increased the likelihood of death from all causes by 46%, and cardiovascular disease in particular by a face slapping 80% percent. And here is the kicker: the link between television and death still persisted even after factoring in diet and exercise as variables. I know that I have readers all across the world, so instead of speaking about the United States and leaving it at that, I’ve included a user-friendly map where you can find out how your country measures up in terms of television consumption:

     Now I’ll be completely honest with you – I don’t have access to the entire study. I have no idea how well it was put together nor how valid these claims are, but I do know one thing: sitting on your booty for upwards of 40 hours a week can’t possibly be good for one’s health. We are constantly being forced to do more and more with the same amount of time that we’ve always had, which usually means lots of sitting. When you think about it, most of us are simply moving from chair to chair throughout the day – from the chairs in our offices, to the seats of our cars, right on home to log some more cushion time.

     The main take away point from this study isn’t that television is the devil, but that we need to, as the great prophet Ned Flanders would say, stop being so gosh diddily-darn inactive. As humans we are designed for movement, and if we weren’t — this is clearly backed up by endless hours of scientific research on the process of evolution — we would just be limbless egg-shaped people with heads. Even then we would be forced to roll around a lot to get where we were going, and would probably be awesome break dancers to boot. But I digress. Movement is crucial to our overall health, from the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism, the reduction of postural imbalances, muscle group (i.e. hamstring) inflexibility, and an entire host of other benefits that we may not even be aware of yet.

     Personal story time: I’m what you would call a FBJ – Facebook Junkie for those not in the know of my own ridiculous in-head language – to the point where if Facebook were crack, and they were casting for a New Jack City remake, I’d be their Pookie. I took the leap and deactivated it for a couple of months, which drastically reduced my internet sitting time, so now all of a sudden I have more time for walks, rock climbing, archery and motosurfing.

     So, here is my challenge to you: take a look at your life and identify one cheek-to-cushion vice of yours. After doing that, explore your options and see how you can turn it into something more active – or better yet, substitute an hour of that activity out for something more movement based. For instance, if you like watching television, at the very least stand up and move around every now and then while doing so. An even more awesome idea is to do some jumping jacks, pushups or a wide variety of other exercises during the commercial breaks, although my favorite is to act out a scene from the movie you’re watching – Enter The Dragon, Weekend at Bernie’s and Flash Dance are particularly dope.

     If you take the findings of this study to its extreme conclusion, between American Idol, Youtube and World of Warcraft, we are all gonna die! But it doesn’t have to be that way at all. As long as you have at least once functioning limb, there are always options for movement, even during a busy work schedule. Take for instance my friend Josie who, instead of sitting down all day while on the job, took to the stairwell throughout the day to repeatedly show them who the boss was. You can check out her hilarious telling of this account here.

     That’s it, y’all. Have a great weekend wherever you are, and get moving!

     When Michael Boyle took to the stage, his message was simple: want to reduce ACL injuries? All you need to do is commit yourself to a sound training program because in the end, that’s all ACL reduction is – good training. All presenters touched on the fact that training in itself is great from a corrective exercise standpoint, and Mike’s talk just hammered the point home even further. To take the words from his mouth, ACL injury “prevention” programs often consist more of packaging than new concepts, and is a way into the head of the AT, PT or female coach.

     While its true that females are at a greater risk of injuring their ACL, it is by no means a gender specific injury. Out of 100,000+ ACL tears every year, 30,000 of them are experienced by high school age females. Since changing an athletes gender isn’t going to do diddly hoo ha in terms in injury prevention, the only sensible thing to do is focus on the one thing that is in your control – good training strategies to reduce the likelihood of injury.

 ACL Injury Reduction Strategies

• Active Warm-Up

• Power & Stability/Eccentric Strength (Landing Skills)

• Strength Development – 1 Leg

• Change of Direction Concepts

• Change of Direction Conditioning

• Nutrition

      Mike made a point to mention that you can’t just pick one of these strategies and hope to reap the benefits – you must incorporate them all. Since he does a better job than I ever could of explaining his logic behind these steps, be sure to check out some of his products here.

 

An example of single leg strength.

     Having been privileged enough to work with Eric and the rest of the Cressey Performance crew as an intern for 3 months last year, a lot of his presentation was a welcome refresher to what goes on at their facility on a daily basis. With that said, I was also able take away a host of new coaching cues as well as a better understand of the sweet science behind medicine ball programming.

            Eric kicked off his presentation by highlighting which populations could benefit from including medicine balls into their overall training program, which included rotational sport athletes, unicorns, The Hulk, and wacky wavy inflatable men. While the inclusion of this type of training can be extremely beneficial for the aforementioned rotational athletes, the point that I’m trying to make here is that almost everyone has something to gain from tossing a heavy rubber ball around, especially the general fitness population.

            As a trainer, keeping things interesting for your clients while at the same time keeping them healthy and moving towards their goals is essential, and the medicine ball helps accomplish all of these goals. Looking for a low impact alternative to include in your fat loss training? Give a medicine ball medley at the end of your session a try. Could I interest you in a fun and exciting way to improve your mobility while simultaneously releasing the ever-growing rage that has been festering in your soul? Find a non jagged wall (preferably not in your home), a ball and go nuts. Eric highlighted many of the areas that can be improved upon by implementing a soundly designed medicine ball session into your day, including ankle, hip and thoracic spine mobility as well as scapular, glenohumeral, and core stability – all of which everyone should be concerned with.

            Now, for rotational sport athletes such baseball pitchers, the when and how often to incorporate medicine ball works depends on several variables, one of which is the time of year (I.E. – early off-season, mid off-season, late off-season, and in-season). For instance, Eric conveyed that during the early off-season, the total volume of throws is kept between 120 and 160 spread over 2 or 3 sessions, but during the mid off-season when it’s time to get down to business that number increases anywhere from 240 to 360 throws before tapering off again in the late off-season.

            The most interesting “bwahahaha” moment that I took away from his presentation was the concept of using medicine ball work as a means to bridge the gap between absolute speed and absolute strength. Eric used himself as an example – his sport is power lifting in which he has spent his time on mainly on the maximal strength side of the spectrum, but if he wanted to try and transition to being a professional pitcher, he knows that he would have to start moving towards the speed side of things. Well, that and throwing a lot of balls. For pitchers, who usually spend all their time on the absolute speed end, Eric did a fantastic job of showing how incorporating medicine ball training into their program can serve as an efficient bridge in terms of reaping the benefits of not only being fast, but fast and strong.

            Eric’s presentation was very video heavy, so sadly this is one of those “you would’ve had to have been there” sort of things. For those of you who missed out, be sure to check out his website (especially this article) as well as his Youtube page for medicine ball videos. I didn’t dub him the Magnificent Massachusetts Medicine Ball Magician for nothing!