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Every so often I get the question “Mark, how is it that you are such a genius and are  also so incredibly good looking?  It is so damn unfair.”  Okay…I think the question goes more like “What are you reading these days that you think is worth sharing?”

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As you can see, these two questions are almost exactly the same.  In any case, below are a few things I think you should definitely check out.

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1.  Categories of Weight Training

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If you’ve not been following Lyle McDonald’s latest series on types of weight trainining (from depletion, to hypertrophy, to maximum strength) you are absolutely missing out.  Do your self a favor and start HERE to read part 1 and then click your way on through the entire series.  Included in this series is possibly one of the best summaries on training for hypertrophy I’ve seen in a long while and almost completely in line with my own thoughts.

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2.  Hypertrophy Specialist Interview

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Along the same lines, I think you should definitely check out this great article by Bret Contreras where he interviews Brad Schoenfeld about his recent review on hypertrophy in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.  I still don’t agree with the assertion Brad made in his interview about the impact of acute hormone changes on muscle growth, but the rest of the interview is pretty solid.

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3.  Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies to Increase the Adherence to Exercise in the Management of Obesity

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At first glance the title of this article probably makes it look like a snooze-fest, but it is actually one of the best review articles I’ve read on weight loss in a long time.  It comes from the Journal of Obesity (where the articles are free by the way) and it talks about many things relating to success with weight loss and maintenance.

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Trust me when I tell you that if you are trying to lose body fat or help others do so then this article will teach you something.  I personally grabbed a bunch of studies from the references too that I’ll be reading in the near future.

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The big picture though, is that this article reinforces my belief that long term fat loss has less to do with what type of exercise and nutrition plan you use and more to do with the psychosocial factors that help or hinder your consistency in executing whichever plan it is you choose to follow.  If you address these you’re more likely to be successful than if you buy the next fat loss product that comes up on Twitter (which should occur in the next 3.5 seconds).

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4.  Best NEW blog in my RSS Feed

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 Ben Bruno is really smart and his blog always contains some great vids of people training hard and getting it done.   Moreover, this is a great example for young guys just gettting started in this field on blogging of how it is done. 

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If you’re a young coach or trainer start blogging now and build your readership as you learn.  You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to pretend to know everything.  Just be humble and share your thoughts as you learn.  Acknowledge when you’re wrong and updating your ideas.

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I waited far too long to launch this blog and feel like I’m finally coming into my own over 10 years into my career.  Don’t do that.  Read Ben’s blog, enjoy the content, then get to work.

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5.  Interview with Tony Gentilcore

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This is a great interview with the funniest man in fitness where he talks at great length about many of the things that make a good trainer…and other things that make trainers like Jillian Michaels suck.  Perhaps more importantly (or at least MY favorite part of the article), Tony mentions me as one of the fitness professionals that people should take notice of.  You hear that Men’s Health?  Huh?  Huh?

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In all seriousness, when guys like Tony take time out to mention me I feel flattered and it is great to know that my work is starting to be appreciated by some of the bigger names in this industry as well.  I almost cried a little tear of excitement.  Almost.

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And that’s it for good reads.  Before you go make sure to drop a comment on yesterday’s post to score yourself some FREE protein.

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Oh…and since I’ll be giving away tons of free stuff over the next couple of months make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter on the left, my RSS feed, Facebook, and Twitter so you don’t miss out.  You snooze, you lose.

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Today I’ve got some random thoughts clogging up my brain and need to dump them onto a page before they slip away.  Here they are in very random order.

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1)  Recently I had a discussion with Bret Contreras about a client I had several years ago who was experiencing lower back pain.  At the time, I was reading Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson’s stuff and got my client to stretch his hip flexors, strengthen his glutes, strengthen his abdominals, etc.  What I failed to realize that this was the solution for those with ANTERIOR pelvic tilt and/or extension based pain.  My client had POSTERIOR tilt that was made worse with flexion.  I actually made his pain worse!

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I later worked to strengthen his hip flexors, lengten his rectus abdominus (think cobra stretch), lengthen his glutes, and stretch the hamstrings.  Fixed the problem in short order.

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Take home lessons:

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- Assess your client and make sure that the method you are using is the right one . Eric and Mike had a great protocol, but I was using it on the wrong person.  (My fault, not theirs)

 - If you’re wrong, admit it and make changes accordingly.

- You will almost certainly learn something after talking with Encylopedia Bret-annica.

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2)  Speaking of Bret, he posted a great interview with my good friend Aaron Schwenzfeier.  Aside from having a name that is impossible to spell (I always cut and paste it when I have to write it) Aaron is a wicked smart dude and I’ve been following his stuff for over a year.

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Recently THIS POST by Aaron caused quite a stir in the comments on my Facebook page and I’m curious to hear what you think.  Should we have some sort of mimimum standard for physical fitness to graduate high school as we do with other more academic subjects?

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3)  I have been lucky enough to recieve a sneak peek of Eric Cressey’s new product that is to be released next week.  I’m only a few pages in, but a brief scan has led me to believe that this is going to be a great product for anyone interested in gaining strength AND looking the part.  I’m hoping to be able to lure him on here to ask him some questions about the new program in the near future so if you’ve got anything you want me to ask Eric about getting wicked strong let me know in the comments below.

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4)  I am also currently reading Movement by Gray Cook, playing with my new Rotator, and reviewing Rick Kaselj’s Muscle Imbalances Revealed product that also features Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, Eric Beard, Kevin Yates, and Dean Somerset.  On top of that I’ll possibly be checking over the lit review on Mike Robertson’s upcoming product as well.  Suffice it to say that I’ve got a lot going on these days on top of my usual chaos. 

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The good news is that after I’m done checking out a product I’ll be able to share my thoughts with you.  The bad news is that with some many things to review, I might start to be percieved as one of those internet marketer types who is strictly in it for the Benjamins (that’s dollars for all of you who aren’t down with my gangsta lingo).  So let me reassure you right here and now that you will NEVER see me endorse a product that I do not support or at least think is worth reading, watching, or purchasing. 

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I honestly figure that this should be obvious since I’ve openly bashed the very popular book Crush It in this post and questioned the even more popular Functional Movement Screen.  To me it should be pretty apparent that I don’t just jump on the affiliate bandwagon to score a few bucks.  But if I do like a product you’ll see a glowing review from me because I consider it part of my responsibility (as someone who has access to a lot of these products) to separate the good products from the garbage.

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Moreover, if I post an affiliate link from I’ll let you know so you’ll have to option to purchase directly from the person who created it if you prefer.  Of course, my family might go hungry if you don’t buy it through me…but don’t feel guilty if you go the other route.  *cough, cough*  I feel so weak… 

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Bottom line: You’ll always get the straight truth from me and I won’t put my name behind something that sucks…unless it is a really good vacuum.

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5)  My wife and I have b en reading some funny stuff at a site we’ve discovered recently and I think THIS is the funniest article on the site.  I laugh so hard that it makes me pee a little every time I read it.  On the other hand, my wife thinks THIS article is funnier.  Which one do you think is the best?  Note: Don’t read the stories if you’re easily offended.  The guy is a little abrasive…and by “a little” I mean “a lot”.

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6)  This is AWESOME!

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 So I’m all over the map today.  Throw down your comments and let me know your thoughts.  Heck, if you’ve got something else on your mind let’s hear it.

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This week there was a great discussion on StrengthCoach.com on pre and post workout nutrition between myself and some other very bright minds (note that I’m suggesting they’re bright and I’m just…well…me).  This just highlighted for me, as I’ve mentioned before, that if you’re not on the StrengthCoach.com forums you’re truly missing out.  Here are my top 5 reasons why I love SC.com.

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1 – The forums are top notch

You’ll get to interact with people who are veterans and the brightest young minds in this industry including Mike Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove, Mike Robertson, Nick Tumminello, Bret Contreras, Patrick Ward, Carson Boddicker, Jeff Cubos, and so many more that they’ll probably kick my ass for leaving them out (sorry guys and gals).  In many cases, these guys and gals have been there and done that and they’re more than happy to take the time out to help young coaches and trainers.  This alone is worth the cost (which is small by the way).

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2 – Charlie Weingroff.

If you don’t know.  You will.  The guy is seriously a brain with legs…really strong ass legs.

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3 – Web traffic

If you’re struggling to get traffic to your site, go here, join in the discussion, and if you’re not a total tool your site will get hits because people will want to hear more of what you have to say.  That is not to say that you should go here and spam with your blog info (you’d probably be deleted anyway), but if you network with the best you’re bound to get traffic as a side benefit.

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4 – Smart people know who you are.

I can’t say how cool it is to have one thread with my videos as a “sticky” in the “Best of the Forums” section.  When Mike Boyle knows who you are, then you’re a badass.  That is an official rule.   (Note: It is my blog so I make the rules)

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5 – If you don’t belong to SC.com then you will be forever stuck in mediocracy.

Just kidding…sorta.

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(In the interest of full disclosure, the link to the StrengthCoach.com above IS an affiliate link.  I will get a couple quarters if you sign up through me that I’ll put into my daughter’s college fund.  If you’d prefer to sign up directly through the site you can do that too.  Whether I make a dime or not I still think it is worth it.)

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If you’re a member of SC.com and want to add to the list feel free to do so in the comments section below.  If you’re not a member…get ‘er done.  Hope to see you there.

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Last week’s Friday blog was kinda fun and since I think Fridays are pretty awesome, I figured I’d post more awesome stuff.

1.  First off, if you happened across the Consumer Reports article a while back about the toxic ingredients found in many protein powders it may have left you a little spooked about using these in your daily routine.  Fortunately, my good friend Nick Tumminello recruited nutrition guru Alan Aragon to share his two cents on the issue.  Check out Alan’s guest blog on Nick’s site HERE.

2.  My friend Bret Contreras wrote an excellent blog post recently on load vector training.  Absolute MUST read.  Check it out HERE.

3.  Last week I posted a video of Emily Azevedo doing an incredible feat of strength, but this week I also wanted to add an incredible video of my friend and colleague Neghar Fonooni (who also happens to be the long term girlfriend of Joe Sansalone whose Prone Y videos I posted a few weeks back).  Consider this more inspiration for young women wanting to train.  Simply badass!

3.  And since we’re talking about badass stuff here, watch Damien Walters kill it in this video.   I know he’s got a more recent one, but I still love this one the best.

Have a great weekend!

If I haven’t already said it enough, StrengthCoach.com is possibly the best discussion forum on the internet for fitness related information.  If you’re not a member you’re missing out.  Just sayin’.

In any case, a few weeks back there was a discussion on the forum about shoulder packing that resulted in one of the most interesting discussions I’ve seen in a long time.  My good friend Bret Contreras has summarized the discussion HERE.

As great as the discussion was, the best part for me was the videos produced by forum member Joe Sansalone.  Take a few minutes and check them out.  Next time I’ll reveal some of my own thoughts as well as a discussion I had with Joe himself.

Feel free to share your thoughts below!