Hope everyone is enjoying their St. Patrick's Day weekend!  Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly if you know my schedule), I actually worked both days this weekend to cap off what's been a busy past few days.  That said, you can probably figure out that my St. Patty's day celebrations this year were very tame compared to previous ones....which is probably a good thing.  Anyway, I figured it's been a while since I last posted an edition of weekly good reads.  Enjoy!

One of the many great things about where I work is that I'm surrounded by kettlebells (and other, large heavy things) all day long.  Aside from being in my own personal playground, it probably comes as no surprise that I'm constantly trying to think of ways to use them that will get my clients stronger.  In fact, feel free to think of me as a mix of Ivan Drago from Rocky 4 and a mad scientist.

Having said all of that, I wanted to share my latest solution to making people strong: the Kettlebell Floor Press.

(Beware: epic post looming)

I'm not quite sure why, but the standard push up doesn't receive a whole ton of love these days.

Blame it on the fact that guys would rather bench 300 pounds, that push ups are a physiologically tough exercise for women, or that hipsters would rather starve than physically exert themselves, but I can't remember the last time someone didn't groan or roll their eyes when I told them to drop down and give me 10.

(Ok, maybe I don't actually say that.)

Before I go anywhere with this post, I just want to ask one simple question:​ what is the deal with the "Harlem Shake?"

I like to think that I appreciate internet humor as much as the next person....but, where did it come from?  Why for 30 long seconds does everything get really, really weird?​  And, more importantly, is this something we have to worry about for much longer?

If you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, here are the members of the Miami Heat performing their own version (my favorite character being the "horse-tronaut" in the background)​:

To put it simply, weight machines are a waste of time.  ​

Now, before you start breathing fire on your keyboard and pledging your allegiance to the United States of Nautilus, I urge you to hear me out.  Many of the reasons machines are praised by the larger population are the exact reasons why you should not be using them, and in fact, they are hurting your own physical development.