It's early Monday morning, and I hope everyone's weekend was as awesome as mine.  Not only was my face melted by Eric Church at Country Fest on Friday, I decided yesterday that I should go for one of my 2012 goals: the 400 pound deadlift. 

Now, I should preface the following by saying that it's not a good idea to consistently test your 1 rep max as it's extremely taxing on your body and central nervous system.  Plus, the risk of injury is always going to be higher when you're pushing yourself with heavier weights.  I'm a big fan of getting a "sort of" max every few weeks or months to see where you stand, while still keeping a rep or so in the bank.

Hooookay so, you'll have to forgive me if today's (or rather, this week's) post is a bit short, as I'm heading to Country Fest at Gillette Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, and Eli Young Band are all going to be there, and I'm about as excited as a 5th grade girl waiting to see her first Justin Bieber concert. (The slight difference being that Country Fest will be filled with about 300 times more rednecks than a Bieb concert.)

That said, I stumbled on this blog post the other day:  Sitting is the Smoking of Our Generation.  Go ahead and read it, I'll wait for you.

No, seriously.  I'm waiting.. 

Ooooooh boy, it has been A WHILE since my last blog post.  My bad! 

The reason, as you could probably guess, is that I've been busy with clients even though we're in the midst of vacation season (which is always a good thing).  Also, I'm known as the "nutrition guy" where I work, and was recently asked to revamp the nutrition tips that we hand out to clients.  While most of my free time this week was devoted to that, I decided that I should also post them to this blog.  After all, if you're one of the lucky ones who's reading my blog, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to view this list of nutritional awesomeness.

I do want to mention that my girlfriend, Lindsay, helped me compile this list as well (have I mentioned she already has a masters in nutrition communications....and is now getting her doctorate?)   And so without any further ado, here are our 6 tips, and I hope they help!

Every now and then something really grinds my gears.  Now, we all have our quirks, like when someone doesn't use a blinker, when someone doesn't eat their pizza crust, or when a bro doesn't wipe down his bench after practically giving it a bath in his sweat.  But, one of my biggest pet peeves is the use of one single term, "cardio."

A few months ago, I ranted about the difference between a workout (which is just meant to exhaust you), and training (meant to make you better).  It's a key difference, because anyone can make you sore and tired....but it takes discipline, effort, and a plan to make you better.

It probably comes as no surprise that I detest "cardio" to such heights.  I never use that word, because once again, it tends to imply that you're not really training for anything in particular.   Anyone can go hop on a treadmill or bike for 45 minutes and move their body....but what are you really working towards?  

It's confession time: my name is Alex, and I'm a bit of a nerd.  Now, I doubt you often find people who brag about that, but being able to lift heavier things than most of the population has a way of making you comfortable with admitting certain details about yourself.

So, what's responsible for my nerdom?  Well, it's actually my new found love of books, which is something I wouldn't have touched about 2 years ago.  I really can't read enough, and my "Wish List" on Amazon always tends to stay above the 15-20 book threshold.

One book I recently finished is The One Minute Manager, where they state that 20% of your efforts are responsible for 80% of your results.  I'd like to argue that nowhere is this more true than in the gym.   The deadlifts, squats, pushes and pulls that make up your program are your 20%....everything else is just gravy.