A Philosophy of Strength and Health

Fabulous! Dan Thacker, one of the Crossfit Valley Park owners, guides his 4:30 class through some Hexlite deadlifts during their workout yesterday. These women are grooving good lifting mechanics--lower extremity strength and mobility in the context of gravity and with awareness of the pelvis and lumbar spine. This is what Hexlite is all about. I want to make body awareness, alignment, mobility and strength available to everyone.

These two volleyball athletes are 2 years apart in age and grade (senior and sophomore), yet they are worlds apart from the standpoint of physiological development. One can stand and place his hands above the 8 ft net; the other (last name Hercules--no kidding!) can just about walk under the net without ducking. But even Chris (aka The Thin Man) doesn't have to shave very often yet. He's just starting to go through major hormonal changes; though tall, he still has a great deal of physical development left. The opportunity to red shirt at USC will benefit him greatly. Our current hodgepodge system of sport in the US tends to reward early physical maturation and forget about those that reach their physiological prime a bit later in life. All young athletes deserve and need fundamental movement skills and physical competencies. All deserve to learn the fundamental skills of a sport, rather than be pigeon-holed into one position at age 13 because we have no idea where they ...

It's a sunny spring afternoon in STL and this video clip and music from the Crackyflipside's YouTube channel hits the spot. For you weightlifting groupies, this dude has some of the best video out there of elite lifters--lifting in slow motion and sometimes with trajectories. Now where's my margarita?

I am re-blogging Vern Gambetta's blog post from today because it is so simple, yet speaks volumes: Stimulus threshold is the optimum training load required to elicit an adaptive response. There is a different stimulus threshold for each capacity, in the same manner there is a different time to adaptation for each capacity. There is an art and science to this. But the simple rule of thumb is that it is optimum not maximum that we are seeking. I encourage anyone who coaches or rehabilitates people to read his blog, Functional Path Training . Better yet, apply for a spot at The GAIN Apprentorship this June. So many people fail to grasp that frequent maximal efforts in training are often not optimal. While a few thrive, many more fail to thrive and often end up burning out or breaking down in the process. These are the ones we don't see in inspirational videos.

CBC had a 2 pt lead with 14.2 seconds left in the game. Ryan was fouled on a defensive rebound. Double bonus for CBC. Made the first one and Oakville called a time out. Missed the second one and Oakville's Josh Noblitt came down and hit a killer 3 to tie the game and send it into overtime. He was 6/8 from 3 pt land in the game. A Columbia Tribune reported captured the final 14 seconds of the 4th quarter on video. Ouch. CBC was cold from the field all night. 3/17 from 3 pt land. From my point of view, it seemed like they struggled to play as a team down the stretch when the pressure was on. Maybe the credit should go to Oakville for playing great defense. They had a plan and worked it to perfection--keeping the game close and hitting shots when it counted. Ryan had 15 rebounds but only 7 points. And he missed a key free throw at the end of regulation. His teammate Seth Jackson had 15 points, but was also called for at least 2 player control fouls in the second half...

The kid came to play Saturday (read the entire article here ). Led by a dominating inside game from senior center Ryan Pierson, and junior swingman Seth Jackson's inside/outside penetrating and floor play CBC defeated highly-ranked Webster Groves for a resounding 69-57 Class 5 quarterfinal victory. CBC (22-8), which, will be making its first trip to Columbia since it's 1997 Larry Hughes-led edition was there will face Oakville in the Missouri Class 5 semifinals Thursday evening at Mizzou Arena in Columbia at 6:50 p.m. "It feels great to be going to state and representing CBC for the first time since 1997," Pierson said. "Our goal was to try to get the ball inside and we did and then when they concentrated on me inside our guards and the rest of the guys stepped up and took over." CBC fell behind by five points early but led by four points at 15-11 after one quarter but Pierson asserted himself in the second quarter and opening half with 16 points on 8 of ...

Articles like this NYT article really frustrate me. No wonder so many in the US are confused. The "Health & Fitness" sections of our newspapers and websites are full of information that is often vague, confusing and many times just wrong. Nutrition and exercise science are not always good at leading us to effective, practical information for obtaining physical health. Reductionist scientific methods are poor at explaining how complex, multi-level systems work. There are so many variables involved at so many levels. In the end, it is all about our behavior and the choices we make. When we are armed with the right information, we can make powerful changes in our biology. We don't have to be slaves to it. For food, so much of the issue is about quality, not quantity. Most people don't appreciate the effect food really has on our body. It doesn't have to be that way. Small behavior changes and better choices can lay a foundation for long-term behavior ch...