It's been ​well documented on this blog that I'm not big fan of static stretching (in fact, you can read that here).  But, if you were to watch one of my sessions with a client, sure enough, you'd see a few movements that *look* like stretching.  

Now, before you write me off and chant "liar, liar, barbells on fire," ​allow me to provide my reasoning.  For many people, the reason they're tight has nothing to do with that muscle or body part.  Rather, it's weakness in their surrounding parts.

​It's the first week of April, and you know what that means: tax season.  Fortunately, I've already filed mine (with the help of my Dad), so no late, number-crunching nights are in my immediate future.

Oddly enough, tax season reminds me (as most things do) of some of the parallels to strength and conditioning - sometimes, what you want to do, is not always what you need to do.  Sure, I want to tell the IRS to keep their grubby hands off my money, but for a list of reasons, that's not a sustainable strategy.

Ok, so how does this apply to the gym?  Well, as some of you know, there are few things that I hold as close to my heart as the deadlift.  In fact, I believe the order goes: eating dead animal flesh, country music, deadlifting, and The Bachelor. All ensuing masculinity jokes aside, I recently had to put all my deadlifting on the shelf, as I realized that doing some form of hip-dominant movement every workout (like the deadlift) was what I wanted, but not necessarily what I needed.

I had a conversation with a client the other day that simply can't leave my mind.  As he was clearly out of energy after our workout, I asked what he had eaten before our hour-long session.  After some heavy panting and wiping of his brow, he told me that he had only eaten "a few pita chips" before coming to the gym.

After telling my client he needed to put some "gas in the tank before the car is used," he told me that he didn't want to eat much more than those chips, since, as he said, he was watching his calories.

Wait....what the what?????​

Yes, that happened. Now, what's the problem with counting calories?  While it may work for some, it's time-consuming, difficult, and terribly inaccurate.  (Warning: epic rant below.)

Florida Gulf Coast.  If you watched your share of college basketball this past weekend, then you know how that school completely ruined my March Madness bracket, along with many, many others.  However, I couldn't be happier for that team as they played both games like they were on a Nerf hoop, and they produced a hilarious/terrible, highlight/rap video.

So, while this weekend went on to prove that I know absolutely nothing when it comes to sports prognostication, it made me think that just like March Madness, not everything in the strength and conditioning world always goes according to plan.  Most notably, how most people try (and fail) to do a proper pull up.

Besides push ups, pull ups are pretty much the bane of most people's existence (at least, in the gym).  Now, you can make the case that pull ups are tough (they are), and that a pull up is scientifically/biomechanically harder to do for a woman than a man (it is)​. But, I'm tired of excuses, so how does one go about, you know, actually doing them?

Well, it's official - spring has sprung!  Of course, if you live in the New England area, the 6 inches of snow/sleet/rain/cold miserable mess that we received yesterday doesn't exactly lend itself to feel like a new season.

But, in the fitness industry, the beginning of spring also marks the time of year where everyone tries to get in "bathing suit" shape.  Now, besides working hard at the gym (which, of course, I'm all about), the more important aspect is a proper diet....and that's where it all gets interesting.  All day long, we're bombarded by health claims, new diet trends, and we're left alone to try and make sense of it all.  So, what actually is "eating well" and how does one define "good nutrition?"