Bad strength training equipment and poisonous food.

Greg and I did a beginner kettle bell seminar last night at Matrix Strength and Fitness in North Andover for my old friend Art McDermott. When I say old, I don’t just mean we have been friends for a long time, I mean he’s old too. Just Kidding, he’s not much older than me, wait that means he’s old. You might recognize his name; I re-post a lot of stuff from his newsletters.
Art is a great guy and runs a great gym. I’m happy that he trusted us to teach his staff and clients basic kettle bell use. As a matter of fact, I am urging you click this link and read this article.
It is from Art’s newsletter today. Art is a great nutritionist too and he spends a lot of time doing research online to find the latest studies and spread the word.

On another note, one of my equipment vendors sent me this link and asked me what I thought of this piece of equipment.

Don't buy this.

I am horrified at the crap that companies make. Anyone who knows anything about Olympic Weightlifting knows that the bar path is not straight up and down. It is more like an S. Why oh why do people try and reinvent the wheel in the name of safety and profit? I can give you my opinion that all of the machines on this site are a waste of time. You can get doing real cleans and snatches as well as jumps and plyo pushups and medicine ball work for thousands of dollars less that this machine.
When the vendor asked me my opinion, I told him that I would only take one if it was free and I could have it melted down to make 100 pound plates out of the steel.
That’s all for today kids.

What the hell is with the Turkish Get Up?

Get ups, you love them or you hate them.
Why do so many in the strength community bash them?
I love them.

1. Let's start out with this list of things about the TGU:
2. The TGU hits almost all of your major muscle groups.
3. It also requires tremendous stabilization from your torso. 
4. They require a great deal of flexibility in the hips. 
5. They improve mobility//stability in the shoulder. 
6. They get you strong in unusual ways.

 Get ups are one of our foundation exercises at TPS. WE frequently see people who have extremely poor hip flexibility and shoulder issues and weak upper backs from sitting at a desk all day. The get up can FIX all of these issues. One exercise that can fix a whole host of orthopedic issues? Really? Really.

TGU's can also make you brutally strong when loaded properly. Standing up from a prone position while holding a foolishly heavy weight overhead requires a large amount of strength, everywhere. Go ahead and see, grab a 32kg kettlebell and do a few get-ups properly. Bet you can't.

Think you're a badass, try this!

 Adding in TGU's to your training will open your hips and restore mobility and build strength, they will strengthen your upper back and restore strength and stability to your shoulders, and they will build a bullet proof midsection. They are a true wonder exercise.

So why are they so bashed in certain "strength" circles?

I'm not sure but I have a few ideas.

First, a bunch of people in the strength community think if it's not pulling, pressing or squatting it's bullshit.


This just isn't true. Yes you must pull, press and squat but you CAN do other exercises. Adding in the get-up will address weak links and eliminate them.

Second, most people just don't know how to do them OR teach them. Just because you can't do an exercise is no reason to say it sucks. You have no idea how many professional "trainers" that I have seen that can't do or teach a squat or deadlift right in the past 20 years in this industry. Not one of them has ever said that pulling and squatting sucks. Don't even get me started on overhead pressing and benching. Those are two exercises that are done WRONG more than most by professional "trainers".

Does your trainer have a squirting flower and a tiny car?

Third, get ups are HARD to learn and hard to do right. When we have big, strong guys with mobility issues a lot of times we see them try something, have trouble with it and say it sucks. Ego gets in the way. They just don't want to look weak in front of the boys and just go back to squatting because they are good at it. Her is a tip: find something you suck at (make sure it's good and not fluff) then get good at it.  bet you'll see some improvement in your lifts.






Try using your shoe when doing a getup. It teaches balance and alignment. Don't let it fall!

Watch my boy Gray teach you how to dot. TGU

Stop bashing and start getting down with the get up.