I’m at ten days post-op now and just went in to see the doctor for a follow-up appointment. One thing he said really stuck with me: apparently I will be at my weakest point around fourteen days after ... Continue Reading
Do You Have a Healthy Relationship With Your Workouts?
We have many relationships in our lives as athletes. Relationships to teammates, coaches, and even to our workouts themselves. Sometimes our workouts are our best friends, and sometimes we feel like the ... Continue Reading
Hard Work Is Worth the Sacrifice (Athlete Journal 39)
First off, I celebrated my twentieth birthday this week! It’s really weird not being a teenager anymore. At first I was a little scared of leaving my teens because it made me feel really old. I ... Continue Reading
Use Play to Become Fitter and Stronger for Longer
As far as I'm concerned, there are two essential elements to the longevity of an athlete’s training. Many of you might be expecting me to say variety, recovery, or regulation. But they are none of these. ... Continue Reading
Training vs. Testing (Athlete Journal 96)
There is a pattern I’m often guilty of falling into (and you might be doing this, too) that relates to constantly testing your limits in training, as opposed to actually just training. Let me explain what ... Continue Reading
What Firefighters Know About Asking for Help That You Don’t
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. The three scariest words you will ever hear as an emergency responder. It means a firefighter is in distress and most likely has a very small window to be saved. Intervention ... Continue Reading
The 3 Elements of Training and How to Order Them
De La Soul said that three is the magic number. When I look at training I see lots of threes. I see flexibility, strength, and endurance as pillars of a training plan. I see push, pull, and legs as a ... Continue Reading
Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy: Can It Help You Recover Faster?
What do Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Hines Ward, and Cliff Lee have in common? Other than being some of the top athletes in their respective sports, all of them have undergone platelet rich plasma (PRP) ... Continue Reading
Simple Tools to Improve Your Meditation
These past eight weeks, we have focused on eight different styles of meditation. We've touched on everything from classical loving kindness meditation to modern practices of heart rate meditation. The ... Continue Reading
The Worst Thing You Can Say to a Child Athlete
Recently, my gym launched a kids grappling and MMA program. Starting with students as young as three years old, we begin with no contact, but use lots of activities that are designed to teach the ... Continue Reading
What to Do (and Not Do) on Competition Day
Nowadays more lifters than ever are entering weightlifting competitions. Accordingly, many of these people are new to competition and they may or may not always know what is the best course of action on ... Continue Reading
Why Do We Train? Finding Purpose in Movement
Every now and then in a fitness program you have to stop what you are doing and think, "What am I really training for anyway?" Are you registered for an upcoming competition of some sort (CrossFit, ... Continue Reading
Tournament and Training Success (Athlete Journal 25)
On Saturday I made the three-hour drive down to Richmond, Virginia to compete in the US Grappling Brazilian jiu jitsu competition. Although the drive was a little longer than I was expecting, it was a ... Continue Reading
Interview with MacKenzie Arrington of Grappler Gourmet
I recently interviewed Chef MacKenzie Arrington and he shared with me his journey to creating one of the hottest new online resources in the BJJ community - Grappler Gourmet. Being the chef at the gym ... Continue Reading
5 Athletes to Watch in CrossFit and the NPFL
There was a time when Lindsey Valenzuela was not a household name in the world of functional fitness. Now, she dominates both CrossFit and the NPFL (not to mention the world of weightlifting where she ... Continue Reading
Running Is the Killer App of the Human Body
Modern cavemen are all the rage. Paleo-eating guys with beards trying to reconnect with their inner savage. But are they missing the most important step? Why We Evolve If you really want to be an ... Continue Reading
CLA Does Not Improve Cardio, Endurance, or Power
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has been a popular supplement for controling insulin and blood sugar from some time, but it has recently come under fire in the scientific community because of inconsistent ... Continue Reading
6 Cheap Ways to Turn Couch Potato Kids Into Ninja Warriors
Summer is here, and for many of us, that means kids are home from school. If you’re finding it challenging to get your workouts in with little ones running around, there’s a simple solution: make your home ... Continue Reading
How Do You Place a Value on Expertise?
One of the things I love about having some longevity in Brazilian jiu jitsu and the attendant lifestyle is that I am in a position to help people. Many of the questions people ask me, whether technical, ... Continue Reading
The Role of Testosterone for the Female Athlete
There are a few things us women have in common with men. Today we’re going to talk about one commonality in particular – testosterone. There are a few things us women have in common with men. ... Continue Reading
Does Having More Fat Help You Burn More Fat?
People who have lost a lot of weight often note it gets harder drop more weight after the initial loss. A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research examined one reason why that ... Continue Reading
3 Reasons Americans Should Love Soccer and 3 Reasons They Don’t
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve most certainly noticed that it’s World Cup time. To some Americans the World Cup is cause for celebration, while to others it’s rather annoying or perhaps a ... Continue Reading
Sole Sisters: Forming Lasting Bonds Through Running
No one person is going to fill every need you have. I don’t care if you have the best husband/wife/partner in the world, he or she can’t be your everything. While I’m not currently in a relationship, I am ... Continue Reading
5 Workout Remedies for When You Feel Weak
What do you do when you’re all set to workout but you’re feeling weak or experiencing low energy? What happens when your training schedule says it’s a big workout today, but you’re just not feeling it? ... Continue Reading
