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If you’ve followed my blog you know that I tend to look at training and related products with a very critical eye so you know I don’t just get behind anything.  But today with the anticipated release of Accelerated Muscular Development 2.0 my buddy Smitty (a.k.a., Jim Smith, CSCS or Smitty McSmitterson as I like to call him) sent me a really cool video  and I figured you could really appreciate the content.

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If you’re seriously doing everything you’ve been told in the gym but are still get minimal results then this is definitely worth checking out.
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Accelerated Muscular Development  <—-  FREE Video

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This 16 minute video reveals Smitty’s single biggest secret to getting dramatic results, plus…

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- His simple 3 step formula that guarantees a perfect workout every time

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- Why your technique may be hindering your results and how to fix it

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- How to drastically reduce nagging injuries that limit results and wear you down
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- Why Autoregulation is essential to your success
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- And more…
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So click on over to Accelerated Muscular Development to check out this awesome video then swing by again and let me know what you think.

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I apologize for the lack of updates this week as it has been a crazy one for me.  However the week has ended on a tremendous note with my sister and her husband having her first child making me an uncle to their beautiful girl Keira Grace!  At the same time, we’re ramping up for Cadence’s first birthday party this weekend so the days have just flown by.  I can’t believe it has been a year already!  I am so blessed. 

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In any case, I have just a few things to throw down in random fashion for you today:

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Happy Thanksgiving to my American Friends

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With all of my American friends and family celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend I want to wish everyone a Happy Turkey Day.  Although we’re not formally celebrating Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend (we celebrate in October because November is the month we build our igloos for winter and tune up our dogsleds for winter) I think this serves as a reminder to take a moment today to be thankful for all of the positive things we have in our lives and even for the challenges that we’ll have the opportunity to overcome.

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Free Brainy Gear Swag

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Last week I offered up a free Brainy Gear t-shirt courtesy of Alan Aragon and that has now been officially awarded by random draw to Trey just for dropping a comment on the blog.  Congrats Trey!

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Christmas Gifts for Fitness Fanatics

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This week my friend Leigh Peele put together a great list of Christmas gift ideas for fitness enthusiasts that is definitely worth checking out.  If you’re looking for stuff to ask for, this is a good place to start.  Check it out HERE.

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FREE Rotaters!!!  Comment and share to get ‘em!

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Several months ago some guy on Twitter named Chris Melton and I were having a discussion about shoulder internal rotation deficits when he mentioned that he was the co-creator of a product called The Rotater.  I asked him about it.  He sent me one.  A true bromance was born.

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If you’re unfamiliar with the Rotater, it is basically “a patented shoulder prehab, rehab and stretching tool that allows a patient or athlete to passively self-stretch internal & external shoulder rotation to increase shoulder function, range of motion and performance.

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When combined with our Strong Arm attachment, the Rotater becomes a mobile rotator cuff strengthening machine as well.”

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I have to admit that initially I was concerned about movement of the shoulder blade instead of just movement at the shoulder joint during stretching, but having played with the Rotater for a few months now I can honestly say that pinning the scapula in position by leaning into a wall or lying down on the back for some of the stretches basically solved that issue.

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Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the Rotater is a magic bullet for shoulder health.  Y still have to do your t-spine mobility work, scapular stabilization drills, and all of the other things your know you should be doing for shoulder health, but I truly believe that the Rotater is a great addition to your arsenal.

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As a result, I recently asked Chris if he’d thrown down a Rotater for my Christmas giveaway so you could experience this for yourself.

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He said “NO”.

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Instead of giving away one Rotater he said that he would give away THREE Rotaters AND a strong arm attachment for each!

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So check out the Rotater HERE…and then drop a comment below letting me know that you want one.

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But since there are three of them I’m going to wait until we’re over 100 comments on this one before I do a draw.  So if you want to score yourself one of these babies you’re going to need to drop a comment below and then share the holy hell out of this post on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever social media you’ve got.  Once we reach 100 comments I’ll do a draw and you might just grab one of them for yourself.

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On your mark, get set, comment, and share!

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The draw for this item is now closed!  <—- Thanks for participating.

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1.  Get Your FREE T-shirt

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Don’t forget to comment on my last post before midnight EST tonight (Friday November 19th), to be included in the drawing for a FREE Brainy Gear t-shirt courtesy of Alan Aragon.

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2.  MIR 2.0 – What Has Changed

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After giving away a free copy of my friend Rick Kaselj’s Muscle Imabalances Revealed last week I had several people email to ask me about what exactly is new about the 2.0 version.  When I asked Rick to sum it up, he told me he’d already done so HERE.  Personally, I think that the addition of the “Training Myofascial Lines for Back Injuries” presentation is worth the cost by itself since this is a HOT topic in the fitness world right now.

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Truth be told, the one thing that  I find most awesome about this product isn’t just the material available now though.  I love the fact that if you’ve previously purchased the first version of Muscle Imbalances Revealed you automatically get access to MIR 2.0.  In other words, every time there is an update to the product (i.e., Rick learns more stuff or gets another smart person to contribute) you get the update for free.  I think this it a total score considering most fitness pros would just create another product and you’d have to purchase that as well.

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If you’re interested in getting Muscle Imbalances Revealed complete with ongoing updates you can pick it up HERE.

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Have a great weekend!

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So it is now November 17th and since the start of this month I’ve already given away 2 tubs of Nitrean protein powder, Advanced Techniques in Glutei Maximi Strengthening by Bret Contreras, Muscle Imbalances Revealed by Rick Kaselj, and as of Monday I awarded a copy of Bulletproof Knees by Mike Robertson to Bobby for dropping a comment on that post.

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Since my initial list of giveaways was announced I figured I should let you know that I’ve also added the Strength Training for Fat Loss DVD by Nick Tumminello to the mix and yesterday I got word from Mike Boyle that he’s going to throw down a free copy of his new book for the giveaway as well.  Keep your eyes glued to this blog and make sure to sign up for my newsletter (left side of the page), RSS Feed, Facebook, and Twitter to make sure you don’t miss an opportunity to score some FREE STUFF.

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And since I’ve been in a research geeky kind of mode this week, I figured I’ll thow down a FREE t-shirt courtesy of Alan Aragon today.  Alan quite simply has an incredible research review that I think EVERYONE should subscribe to, but that is beyond the point.  Today, I’m putting up one of Alan’s brand new Brainy Gear t-shirts up fror grabs.

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Simply drop a comment below letting me know you want one (and which one you think is the most awesome) and your name will go into the hat for a free shirt at the end of the day on Friday.

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What are you waiting for?  Get at it!

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I’ve obviously been a crusader looking at the usefulness of the Functional Movement Screen and to date I think I’ve been pretty fair in my reviews of the research on the topic.  However, a friend of mine recently flipped me the following information (which I can only assume is from some kind of Functional Movement Screen newsletter) and it downright pissed me off.  Check it out!

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Weekly Update!
13 October 2010

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FMS returns this week to some unofficial reporting by Mr. Linwood Cook. Mr. Cook found the results to be:

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After week # 5 in the NFL, Functional Movement Screen NFL Teams had a win 64% win rate, or .6444.

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The NFL Teams who do not use the Functional Movement Screen, their win rate of 45%, or .4478.

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As of Week # 5 that is a 20% better win rate for NFL Teams using the Functional Movement Screen on a regular basis.

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Thanks Mr. Cook!

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Here are some great NFL studies that help support stats just like these!

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And then they go on to link the study I discussed yesterday and this study that I reviewed previously.

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While the win/loss percentages were obviously more observation than anything, I resent the fact that whoever is producing these emails is backing up these observations with studies that are completely unrelated to performance measures in any way.

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I feel terrible for the young fitness professional who has no formal instruction in research methodology and is perhaps too intimidated to read journal articles so they are at the mercy of those who market to them.

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While I certainly have no beef with presenting the research that has been done, I think that presenting it in this way is downright shady.  We bash supplement companies all the time for taking research out of context and bending statistics to make them look more favorable than they actually are.  How is this any different?

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I’ll elaborate on this more when I eventually write my final post on the Functional Movement Screen as a whole, but for now I will say that I think the FMS offers some good things that I think could be of use to any fitness professional.  But I also think that how the FMS is marketed (as seen above) is sometimes out of line with how many professionals are actually using it.

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Do you think I’m way off base here?

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