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Since I wrapped up the Training Clients with Obesity series here this week and I’ve been super busy I’m just going to share a couple quick things with you today before I skip out for the weekend.

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1.  This week I had my first article posted on the Personal Trainer Development Center site that is run by my good friend Jon Goodman.  Here’s a snippet of the article:

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Personal training is a unique profession in that we are charged with the development and implementation of programs that can impact people’s weight, body composition, performance, injury status, emotions, and health.  Yet, as a profession we struggle with the fact that  people just don’t take us seriously.

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Heck, I’ll even admit that when a friend or family member tells me that they’ve hired a personal trainer my first reaction is to cringe (at least on the inside).  Trying not to jump to conclusions I usually ask a few questions until I get a feel for the background and, more importantly, the methods the trainer is using to bring about results.  And all too often, I am disappointed to hear that my initial response was appropriate and that makes me sad for our profession.

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While there are probably many possible reasons for this, I think that a major part of the problem stems from the fact that many trainers are researching health and fitness exclusively from the same places as those they are supposed to be trying to help.  To make matters worse, many of those trainers have no objective method to determine whether the methods presented in the materials they are reading are valid or are just pseudoscientific hype fueled by money and marketing.  In short, a lot of us are falling prey to the same mistakes as the people we are trained to serve.  No wonder nobody takes us seriously!

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You can read the rest of this article HERE.

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2.  Crunches may be good for your spine?

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In recent years there has been a definite trend away from repeated flexion based movements (i.e., crunches) in the training of the abdominals due to the suspected risk of injury to the spine.  But a brand spanking new review written by my good friends Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfeld presents pretty convincing evidence that perhaps flexion is not only less risky than we thought, but that some repeated flexion might actually be good for us.

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I’ll be the first to admit that I was pretty solidly on the anti-flexion bandwagon, but since reading this article I’m very much reconsidering my stance to the point where I think it is reasonable to include some (although limited) flexion based work for the core.  I’d also consider those interested to check out Brad Schoenfeld’s latest post called “Do Crunches Cause Poor Posture?” that I think dispells yet another fitness myth.

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I can’t wait to see the waves that this new article is going to make in this industry.  :)

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3.  Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body is coming!

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Last year I reviewed a product from my friend Rick Kaselj called Muscle Imbalances Revealed and it was absolutely stellar!  Rick had pulled together a bunch of really smart guys to put together several presentations examining muscle imbalances in the lower body and how to deal with them.  With Mike Robertson, Dean Somerset, and Eric Beard on the project was an obvious winner from the start.

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Finally, a year later, Rick has put together yet another rock star cast including Dean Somerset, Tony Gentilcore, and Dr. Jeff Cubos to talk about muscle imbalances in the upper body and I couldn’t be more excited.  In fact, as I write this I’ve got my advanced copy of Tony Gentilcore’s corrective strategies video cued up to go in another browser window and I’m pumped to watch it (which is why I’m typing so fast and there are probably a ton of typos in this post).

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The bad news is that the product actually won’t be released until August 9th.  The good news, however, is that Rick is giving away two free reports (one video and one text) called “8 Steps to Unravelling Your Muscle Imbalances” that you can access right now!   If you’re interested in scoring some free swag (who doesn’t love free stuff?) you can pick it up HERE.

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And that’s it for me.  Have a great weekend!

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Thoughts?  Comments?  Leave them below.