Soooo…..I’m a couple weeks late. So what?! Well, here is a few key things that I learned in 2009. I guess some things were learned, some things were reinforced, and some things I knew but I just didn’t know I knew it. This was originally supposed to be one post long, but after I copied it into WordPress and saw that the word count was over 2,000 words, I decided that I should probably split it up into a couple different posts…3 to be exact. So, lucky for all of you, you will have 3 consecutive days of reading my masterpieces. Right? RIGHT?!?!

So, here’s some brand new stuffs I learnded…

Z-health. I can’t say much about it here because I have a several post series coming up very soon about this. Let’s just say that it goes against a lot of “traditional and accepted beliefs” of strength training and performance. It also makes you look very very very very weird to anyone watching you do joint mobility drills. There is a better than average chance I will film myself doing these just to show you how ridiculous you look. BUT! It works. So it’s worth it.

Carbs are NOT the devil. I know, I know. You can go back to any number of posts in the nutrition section and find where I’ve stated the exact opposite. But that’s why I’m writing this now, to set the record straight! Last summer when I did my 6-pack ab challenge with Jimmy Smith, I was eating carbs. Last spring when I was purposely gaining weight, I ate a shit-ton of carbs. And now, while I’m on maintenance mode, I’m still eating carbs. The “secret” is knowing ‘what kind’ and ‘when’ to eat them. There’s a post on that planned for some time this year too so I’ll eave it at that. I will say this though, and it’s highly opinionated, I still think bread is a horribly horrible carbohydrate choice unless you’re trying to gain weight.

There are a couple of gyms/trainers here in Minneapolis that do sports performance training. Last year when I was mulling over this decision, I did do some searching with The Googles to see if there were any hardcore/warehouse gyms in the area. I found a couple smaller clubs focusing on Powerlifting and/or Weightlifting and two sports performance places, but they weren’t really offering the services and/or atmosphere I want to provide. They also really suck at marketing, which is why it took so long for me to even find them. But through Mike and Twitter, I am finding out that there are quite a few independent trainers offering these services. I have no idea what their client base is, but either way, any “extra” trainer in the area is just more competition. I’m not worried about it, because, again, they’re not offering a DeFranco or Ferruggia type atmosphere, but maybe there’s a reason that there isn’t something like that yet. “Proceed with Caution” comes to mind.

Something I thought I knew, but now I don’t…

Foam Rolling.(You’ll have to sign-up for my email notifications if you want the password.) Early on in 2009 I had discovered it and thought it was the greatest thing since sliced peaches. Sure, it hurt like a son of a bitch, but hey, if some of the top coaches in the nation tell me to do it, goll damner, I’m gonna do it! And then I met Mike. And then Mike was foolish enough to let me continue to lift with him after our powerlifting competition. In doing so, I have been systematically extracting data from him. Data that he normally charges $110/hr to give away. After some demos, a couple months of practicing z-health concepts, and tricking him into giving me some sneak peeks at upcoming products and materials, I have decided that foam rolling isn’t neccessary. One of the three key concepts of z-health is joint mobility, and I now believe that to be far more effective than foam rolling for mobility work.

And thus concludes Part 1. Check back tomorrow for Part 2!