Coach Sal: Challenging the Nonsense

It’s a cliche, but it’s true! As we get back to a regular activity level it’s important not to overdo and do too much too soon. Increase your exercise frequency and intensity incrementally not exponentially, especially if you have kids getting back to sports

Stop wasting your time doing Planks. They make you ‘better’ at nothing except doing Planks.

Review of the ‘8 Purposeful Elements’ everyone needs to include in every workout and discussion regarding the important difference between ‘Purposeful’ and ‘Functional’ training.

This podcast recommends everyone read the book The Poor Misunderstood Calorie’ and discusses in more depth some of the book’s concepts. It’s a Kindle bargain at $2.95!

In this podcast I discuss why body composition is more important than body weight.

In this podcast I discuss why body composition is more important than body weight and how body comp provides a better ‘snapshot’ of your state of health and fitness.

Calisthenics are a great mode of exercise and can be adapted in any number of ways so they are suitable for everyone, regardless of conditioning level.

Discussion of the presentation ‘There’s No Such Thing As Cardio,’ which is available on the Internet.

Discussion about the how there is no such thing as ‘Cardio’ exercise. Properly performed, resistance exercise can result in improvements to Cardiovascular Fitness, more efficiently and effectively than ‘Cardio.’

In this episode I discuss the difference between ‘performance’ and ‘fitness’ and why everyone’s training program should be performance-based.

Everybody needs protein, so here are some suggestions as to how you should make sure you’re getting enough of this vitally important macronutrient.

I explain why you and your kids need protein and help you to determine how much protein you need.

A brief discussion with some ideas for how to stay on a schedule during this ‘Shut Down.’

A brief discussion of the importance to stay on a productive schedule and stay active during this ‘Shut Down.’

Discussion of the book ‘Why We Sleep,’ along with recommendation that everyone read it.

Sleep is the foundation on which the other pillars of a healthy lifestyle stand. Discussion of some of the key takeaways from Matthew Walker’s must read book, ‘Why We Sleep.’

Coach Sal introduces himself to Sports Academy clients by telling them about his background.

A few tips for improving your daily shopping and nutritional decisions.

Enjoy the special foods that come with the Holiday Season. Wait until January if you want to make a change to how you eat. Don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to ‘go on a diet’ now.

Meat isn’t bad for you. Highly processed food, laden with chemicals, is. Fake Meat is another scam and not healthy.

Politics is playing a role in the nutrition debate and public health is the worse for it, and will continue to get worse unless people take more interest.

Popular fitness company #CrossFit drops Facebook because Facebook, without explanation, deleted a user page with 1.65 users dedicated to the hi-fat/low-carb diet. Agenda-driven health and nutrition types are now using censorship to silence opposition.

Agenda-driven diet and nutrition advice has done more to damage the public health than any other element save cigarettes. As tobacco use drops, this bad diet advice will continue to do damage in the future. The meat is bad, fat is bad, cholesterol is bad agenda is not just based on bad information; these positions are flat out lies.

The New York Yankees have started the season off with a bang. Unfortunately for them it’s not winning games, but losing players to injuries. It’s their training.

Going beyond mere body weight issues and other superficial dietary matters, ‘Grain Brain’ will tell you how what you eat effects your brain in the short and long term. A must read!

‘Why We Sleep,’ is such an important book that I want to spend more time discussing how detrimental lack of sleep is. Please read - or listen to - this book!

If you think you can get by on 6 hours of sleep per night, or that you can catch up on lost sleep, listen to this episode and get a teaser for just how wrong you can be.

The book ‘The Thinking Body,’ was written by Mabel Elsworth Todd almost 100 years ago, and is better than 99% of the exercise books currently available. Get it and read it. More than once.

Just like at Thanksgiving, now is the time to enjoy holiday food and drink and not stress about it. Also, don’t fall into the New Year’s Resolution trap. Make changes if you must, but don’t tie this to the calendar.

Here are 3 books that you should find interesting and thought provoking. One each from the worlds of exercise and nutrition and one, a non-fitness book, that provides info that’s applicable regardless of the field of endeavor.

I know some of you may have worried that something bad happened to me because I dared to eat anything and everything I wanted over the Thanksgiving weekend. Alas, I am still here.

Eating should be a pleasurable experience so this Holiday Season eat the foods that you enjoy. And if you feel the need to make changes to your eating habits wait until January 2nd!

To help overcome Range of Motion and/or confidence issues, elevate the heel of base leg to help and improve Single Leg Squat Performance.

Here are a couple of variations that can help improve Pistol Squat performance.

Using a Counterbalance and Counterweight can help improve your Single Leg Squat technique.

A good starting point for single leg training is the Eccentric Skater Squat.

Single leg training progressions - if done correctly - can help reveal and correct movement issues and imbalances.

Ankle Range of Motion is one of the most important determinants in how an athlete moves. Most athletes have poor ankle ROM.

Athletes today - young and old - have worse movement skills than ever before.

Beyond the 30/30 Deep Squat Challenge, he are a few reasons to get into the position.

The Deep Squat Challenge is a fantastic way to improve posture, range of motion and ultimately performance.

The term “Superfood” is the product of sales and marketing, not science. @EUFIC

Earlier this summer the gym I belong to broke out a tire flipping machine to compliment the fancy indoor tires they already had. Nonsense!

A young football player died at the University of Maryland as a result of an off-season workout. Everyone associated with this tragedy should be fired.

There are still way too many Strength & Conditioning coaches who think heavy lifting produces speed.

Using higher level of coordination in training sessions increases transfer to sport/activity.

When you look at the legit research there are very few nutritional supplements that are worth taking.

Nutritional supplement hucksters use all manner of tricks to get people to buy their products. Bonafide research usually isn’t one of them.

Training one muscle group at a time is an inefficient and counterproductive way to #exercise, whether with free weights or machines.

There isn’t a machine in the gym that’s as good as doing good old fashion ground-based multi joint exercises. #Exercise #Health #Fitness

Of all of the bad #exercise machines you can use, the Smith Machine is the worst.