Florida Gulf Coast.  If you watched your share of college basketball this past weekend, then you know how that school completely ruined my March Madness bracket, along with many, many others.  However, I couldn't be happier for that team as they played both games like they were on a Nerf hoop, and they produced a hilarious/terrible, highlight/rap video.

So, while this weekend went on to prove that I know absolutely nothing when it comes to sports prognostication, it made me think that just like March Madness, not everything in the strength and conditioning world always goes according to plan.  Most notably, how most people try (and fail) to do a proper pull up.

Besides push ups, pull ups are pretty much the bane of most people's existence (at least, in the gym).  Now, you can make the case that pull ups are tough (they are), and that a pull up is scientifically/biomechanically harder to do for a woman than a man (it is)​. But, I'm tired of excuses, so how does one go about, you know, actually doing them?

Well it’s already December 22nd in a few time zones, and the world has kept spinning. Congratulations to us all!

Anyway, today's post is a bit different from mynormal topics, as I wanted to put together a list of lessons I learnedthroughout the past year.  Forgive me for getting a bit nostalgic, but Ifigure it's only fitting given the time of year.  Enjoy!

Well ladies and gentlemen, it is that time.  No, it’s not Christmas morning yet.  Instead,  it's time to share a few good articles I’ve come across during the past week.  My mistake if you were expecting another, expertly penned blog post by myself, but I find that sharing a few other articles breaks up the monotony of my own voice.

First up, and obviously most important, is the fact that Gangnam Style made YouTube history this weekend, becoming the first video to ever eclipse 1 billion views!  While I won’t drop the video into this blog post, you can always click here to relive the glory.

Have you noticed how Omega-3 is now in everything?  Seriously.  Eggs, juice, milk, margarine, pasta, bread, and my personal favorite that's just around the corner...ice cream.  I get it, I really do.  If people aren’t getting enough Omega-3’s, from their bad diets, let’s just fortify everyone’s diet so that it's no longer an issue.

Or, you know, people could actually EAT SOME FRIKEN FISH.

​You’ve seen them in the gym.  Bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, shoulder raises, seated leg press.  Well I’m here to say “no more!”

Why?  Because corrective movements aside, performing anything but compound movements with free weights is cheating yourself.  Sure, I could list all the reasons why isolation movements suck (lack of carryover to everyday activities, they fail to use multi-joint movements and muscles that rev up your metabolism, inefficient use of your own time, etc.), but I have a feeling it’d put you to sleep.  Suffice to say, squat and deadlift variations, as well as heavy pushing and pulling, should serve as your protein, carbs and fat every time you feast on the gym.