I planned on recording a bunch of videos this weekend, and I epically failed on that.  To rectify my mental lapse, I’ll just show you other people’s videos!  I’ve included links to a few posts as well, if you’d like to check those out as well.  Before we get to the videos, however, I’ll give you a wind down of  my weekend:

On Friday night, I was given an early birthday present by my girlfriend, and she certainly wins an award for this.  A converted cardio queen, she’s been listening to my functional training rants and decided to further my education/shut me up by getting me Charlie Weingroff’s “Training=Rehab, Rehab=Training“.  I’m not sure when I first ‘discovered’ Dr. Weingroff, but I have gotten a lot smarter listening to is interviews and reading his blog.  I can’t wait to sit down with a notebook and start watching this 12+ hour DVD set.  Maria took it upon herself to watch some of the discs on her own before giving it to me, which makes her even more awesome, and now smarter than me.  My schedule will slow down the watching process, but it’s pretty sweet that she finds this stuff interesting.  (In other relationship-related news, she pulled a trap-bar deadlift PR of 135lbs for 4 after just over 3 months of training.  This totally earned her a high five and a sweet shirt from EliteFTS.)

I can honestly say that my levels of geekdom are higher every day, and I’m super excited to watch this DVD set.  When I’m not staring at a screen scribbling notes down, I’ll be scribbling notes while reading my new “Children’s Exercise Physiology” textbook, which I also picked up from EliteFTS.  It was less than cost from Amazon.com, and they threw in a free magnet.  Neat!

One last thing before we get to the videos:  I had my first experience with Spike energy drink today, and it was, well, a let down.  Spike has long been praised by the host of The Fitcast (Kevin Larrabee) as his go-to energy drink, and it just didn’t give me the kick that I expected.  It certainly gave me some energy today, but regular coffee seems to work better.  ( I just drank a cup of Italian Roast from Tully’s, made on my Keurig.)  I’ll be sticking with coffee if I need a boost during the day, and Jack3d as a pre-workout when I need a kick in the tush.

Now, let’s get this show on the road:

We start with this fake video from The Onion detailing the latest information from the FDA:” Just eat a goddamn vegetable!”  My hatred of salad makes my promotion of veggies amusing, but I’m always amused at how many people eat pseudo-health foods or just make outright poor nutrition decisions.  If you need to snack on something, eat something raw that’s hopefully a nut, fruit, or vegetable.  I’m all for splurging when the time is right, but as a nation we really need to reel in the quantity and quality of the foods that we’re eating.

Changing pace, I found the following video on the YouTube channel of strength coach Joe Hashey, and it contains exactly 62 examples of lower-body unilateral exercises.  As you know, I’m a huge fan of unilateral lifts, so I think that this video is gold for a number of reasons.  The most important is that it shows progressions and regressions for each exercise that is demonstrated, making it easy for you to find a variation that’s suitable for you.  There’s something in here that everyone can do!  Secondly, due to the shear size of the list, you’ll never run out of a lower-body exercises.  While this is not an exhaustive list of variations, it still can provide you with years and years of exercises to choose from, prohibiting you from getting bored with any one exercise or ‘too good’ at them.  Watch the video, find something you like, and try it at your next workout!

Next, we have a hilarious extremely serious video from pro-golfer Ben Crane about how he prepares for the PGA tour.  Ben demonstrates some cutting edge training techniques using foam rollers, BOSU balls, physioballs, and balance trainers.  I may try implementing some of these techniques in my own programming once golf season approaches.

On a more serious note, here’s a video of 20-year-old Pat Mendes performing the heaviest snatch by an American, ever.  Pat’s 20; the US might have some international promise at Olympic Weightlifting!  Listen to  Pat right before he drops the bar, he let’s you know what’s up.

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever accomplish what Pat did in that video; I know that it’s never something that I’ll do.  However, you should be training like an athlete, and one of the best things you could be doing for your body is squatting.  I found the following video of powerlifter Rebekah Lair performing speed squats on YouTube, and you need to watch it.  While Rebekah has a good squat, the real reason I like this video is because of the cues that her coach gives her.  They’re simple, direct, and reinforce the basics of squatting.

Next, I bring you an awesome video that gives you a view into the University of Virginia Men’s Basketball strength and conditioning program.  The video is awesome because Mike Curtis details his philosophy and approach to his position, and as I watched it I found myself nodding and agreeing with everything that he said.  His explanation of how sports medicine, physical therapy, and strength and conditioning integrate shows the field is progressing in a scientifically sound direction.

Finally, I leave you with three ‘core’ exercises that challenge you in a variety of ways.  Remember, the core isn’t just your ‘abs’, it includes your hips and your shoulder girdle.  Developing coordination and stability through your torso is big component of ‘core’ training, and these three exercises do the trick.

The first is a side plank with row from strength god coach Mike Boyle.  It’s easy to figure the exercise out from the video:  Perform your side plank in front of a low cable station, and stay tight as you perform your rows.  This is an awesome exercise that will train abdominal and scapular stability simultaneously.

The next video is from the bad-ass girlfriend of Jason Ferruggia, Jen Grasso.  You’re about to see her perform some deceptively hard superman pushups, which adds an anti-rotation/anti-extension component to the push-up, and does a great job of frying your triceps.  I found this video during the week, and used it to call out my friend Bryan for wussing out on trying these; needless to say, he tried them during his next workout.  (Since I mentioned Jason Ferruggia, you should really read THIS awesome article that he wrote.)

Finally, I leave you with a video from Brendon Rearick of two lateral crawling variations.  I used the first version (sans pushup) during a finisher today, and it felt awesome.  The more I learn about primitive patterns the more I like them,and I plan on using more variations like this in my training and programming.  Watch this great exercise, go back and watch the videos you haven’t watched, and think about how you can use some of the things you’ve learned in your own workouts to be healthier, move better, and feel better.  I promise I’ll post some of my own videos during the week!