Brain Food #10 - Post Snow-ma-geddon thoughts, monster videos, and some nutritional goodness

This is what 4 days of cabin fever does to you!

Snow-ma-geddon...I found that on a former athlete's Facebook page (props to Michelle Fuzzard) earlier this week and thought it was fitting to describe this past week. The 5-8 inches of snow on Sunday/Monday totally screwed up Chattanooga. Wait...that's not right...EPICALLY SCREWED...much better! Businesses closed, schools were let out for the WHOLE week, and the Southern world ground to a screeching halt for a few days. Ironically, the cheering and jubilation over a few extra days off and comparing sledding bruises quickly soured into a massive epidemic of cabin fever. For a feverish day or two, the South became the North! My snarkey, snow grump self (as I was coined by my scornful fiance) was highly amused by the switch.  Imagine if we got this 3-4 times a year? Haha...

Anyways, here are few random thoughts that occurred to me throughout the week hereto known as Snow-ma-geddon...

1) When working out at a wimpy commercial fitness gym and confronted by the routine displays of foolishness, you really need some good music to keep you going if you are at all serious about what you are doing. I saw a guy the other day doing tricep pushdowns on a cable stack at one such facility. Normally, this is a perfectly useful and routine exercise. However, this guy chose to straddle a Bosu trainer like he was riding a pony bareback to do his tricep pushdowns. Just picture that in your mind...it was epic! Suffice to say - I can't really write down what went through my mind when I saw this because I am trying to keep this blog clean. If you know me though, you can probably take a guess at what it was and it wasn't pretty. Anyways, all I could do was heap scorn upon him in my mind and turn up Papa Roach's "Getting Away with Murder" to keep blasting through my lift.  If you need some instant adrenaline, I highly recommend this song.

2) As Chattanoogans started to dig out of the snow Monday/Tuesday, I actually saw a poor,snow-crazed, business owner desperate to open up trying to clean off his walkway with a household dustpan and broom. 5-8 inches of snow with a dustpan - I just had to laugh as I drove by. Dear unknown business owner - you made my day!

3) I have been doing alot of thinking lately about where I need to take my programs (and clients) in the future. As I pondered what I could do better for 2011, something jumped out at me - I had been getting too tricky with my stuff at times in the past year. While staying ahead of the pack on program design has always been a source of pride for me, I was making it really hard on myself to write programs. I guess I got too worried about variety in the process rather than focusing on the process itself. This dawned on me because I inadvertently went more basic with my programs over the last two months due to being busy with opening my new building. The results of the more basic programming? I haven't tested yet but all of my clients are rocking right now and appear to be making great progress. I am pretty certain some records are going down soon.

The lesson I learned from all this? Our young athletes need well designed but basic performance programs. My programs definitely met the first condition but I lost sight of the second some. In a sense, I was traveling down the right road but I was taking some unnecessary turns and pit stops along the way. My goal has been and always will be to ensure that our clients are getting stronger, staying flexible/mobile in the right areas, and being functionally fit for their sports. However, a good program needn't be complicated to achieve these goals. Shame on me for that but it's getting corrected going forward. Make no mistake - my programs are going to be top notch but I am stripping them down for 2011. 

We are going back to the basics - the down and dirty stuff that no one else likes to do. You can have your lame ladders, corny cone drills, and cookie cutter weight routines. My crews pull heavy deadlifts, blast real chin ups and push ups, and push the Prowler. To their competition: watch out - they're coming for you!

Prepare to be INSPIRED by these Strength Related Videos!!!

This Mike Robertson blog features an amazing collection of videos that you really just need to watch for your own sake. They feature some of the strong humans ever to walk the planet including strong men, power lifters, and weight lifters. You won't be disappointed but be prepared to get sucked in!

Get Your Wasabi On!

This article discusses the anti-cancer properties of the Wasabi root or Japanese horseradish. Who knew that this wicked hot stuff was a health food? Read this article and you will too.


Does caffeine dehydrate you?

This is short little post from Charles Poliquin that discusses effects of caffeine on your hydration status - the answer might surprise you.