Eating Well and Lookin' Good

Well, I've been on radio silence for a full week, but it's time to get back to business. My head is still spinning from all the events that took place in Boston, especially Friday's day long manhunt (my girlfriend, Lindsay, heard the explosions in Watertown from our apartment....true story.)

In my efforts to get back to some sense of normalcy, I've been working as much as I possibly can and focusing on the fact that summer (yes, that season filled with warm days) is right around the corner. Thus, as everyone is now thinking about how they look in their swimsuits, I've been talking to many of my clients about their diets. After several conversations, I've noticed a trend. In trying to eat "healthy" many people forget one of the key components of a successful diet: how do you look?

April 17, 2013 By: Alex Tanskey Comment

Staying Strong in Boston

I'm really not sure what to say.

For as long as I can remember, I've tried to not to take anything too seriously. Which, if you know me, has made me the king of many "too soon" jokes (for those that don't know what that means....it's when someone tells a bad joke, and everyone goes, "wow, too soon!") However, the tragedy at the Boston Marathon has really had me at a loss for the past few days.

While I grew up an hour north of New York City, I will simply say that I was way too young to fully comprehend the events of 9/11. Now, it's simply not fair to compare one tragedy to the next, but I do know that the combination of being older, finally having my frontal cortex fully developed, and being geographically closer to this attack really made this tragedy that much more different to me.

It's probably been overstated in the media the past few days, but if there's one positive we can take from this tragedy, it's the amount of heroes and good samaritans that were present in the face of danger. I will always vividly remember watching the coverage and videos of this past Monday on my TV, simply in awe of how many people responded by helping, and NOT fleeing the scene. While I am thankful I was 4-5 miles away, I can only hope that I would have responded as bravely and courageously as all of the individuals we've seen.

While it's natural to be angry and searching for answers, this picture of Mr. Rogers has truly inspired the way I've been looking at this entire tragedy:

We use the term "hero" very often, and probably a little too frequently. But, I'm sure that the term "hero" can definitely be applied to those that were at Copley Square at 2:50 PM on Monday. They are the ones who truly earned that title.

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April 09, 2013 By: Alex Tanskey Comment

Highlights of the First 6 Months

It's currently 70 degrees outside my apartment, baseball season is well underway, a new season of "The Voice" is on NBC, yet today is a great day for another reason...

It's the 6 month anniversary of this blog!

Now, I'm not one for big celebrations (seriously, you'll probably never find someone who dislikes throwing their own parties as much as me), but I thought it'd be a great time to pause, reflect, and review my past few months of writing. Also, for those that are new to this blog, I figured it's a great chance to highlight some of my previous posts.

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April 06, 2013 By: Alex Tanskey Comment

You're Tight For a Reason

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.

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April 02, 2013 By: Alex Tanskey Comment

What You Want vs. What You Need

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.