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Today I’m going to take a quick break from my Training the Obese Client series to share a few quick updates.

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1.  I am super stoked to announce that my grad thesis work is now published as my very first peer reviewed article in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.  Of course, as some of you know, I left my grad program after completing my study (due to my father’s passing) and my colleague Dan Moore wrote up the piece on my behalf.  You can check out the abstract HERE.

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Basically, what we were able to demonstrate is the eccentric contractions are not better for strength or muscle growth than concentric contractions when the mechanical work is matched.  Take that dogma!  :)  I’m excited to hear the discussions that this article will surely stir up in the weight training community.

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2.  Just yesterday I had the opportunity to speak to a room full of internal medicine residents on the role of exercise and activity in obesity management.  This was really exciting for me as I think it shows that physicians are slowly starting to recognize evidence based fitness professionals as a legitimate part of healthcare.  But more importantly, at least a small number of physicians that will shortly have their own practices now have an appreciation for the role of exercise in weight management (which, of course, relates to other weight related health problems as well).

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3.  Recently the legendary Tom Venuto asked me to do an interview for his site and it turned out to be a monster.  In fact, it was so long it ended up being a two part interview and I honestly believe it is one of the best I’ve done on the topic of research and its application to fitness, fat loss, muscle gain, and performance.  You can check out part one HERE and part two HERE.

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4.  I recently got shipped a Travel Roller by Adam Wood.  I’ll do a more complete review on this shortly, but if you’re into foam rolling you can probably just do your self a favor and pick one up now.  They’re awesome!

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5.  Last week my buddy Eric Cressey emailed me a video he recorded on the elbow, related muscles, dysfunctions, and treatments.  Long story short, it wasn’t created with the intent of selling it.  It was recorded for a few staff that weren’t able to be present, but it turns out so well that he decided to sell it.  It runs just under 30 minutes, but the information is rock solid.  As this is obviously an area where Eric is well versed and very comfortable, the information is presented with ease and you’ll grab lots of superb information from this video.  And it is only 10 bucks!!!

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More to the point, half of all proceeds will go to a charity called Youk’s Kids which provides things for at risk children, sick kids, and a whole host of other great things that you can read about HERE.  So…for only 1o bones you get yourself some excellent information and get to support sick and at risk kids.  I highly recommend this product and think it is totally worth checking out.  You can pick it up HERE.

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6.  This week I hope to wrap up my obesity series and move on to some other exciting stuff I want to cover.  I also have some great guest posts coming as well.  I’ve got one on getting strong by strength coach Sam Leahey, a stellar interview with fitness pro Rachel Guy, and an absolutely epic 4 part series on dealing with the psychological elements of behavior change by Chi Chu (who also wrote a great review here on Gary Taubes book Why We Get Fat).  So stay tuned.  Knowledge bombz to come!

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7.  Finally, anyone that knows me well knows that I’m a social media addict.  If you’re not following me on Facebook and Twitter you should definitely feel welcome to friend me up and share in the lively discussions that take place on my status updates and such.  Also, if you’re on Google+ you can now find me HERE as well.

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