Not long ago, I was a pitcher in college and thought I knew everything about strength and conditioning.  Oh, how wrong I was.

Since my career change, I’ve often thought back to my high school and college career and how I would have tweaked my own training to be tailored to pitching.  It should go without saying that I know a lot more now than I used to, but by no means am I the “know-it-all” I was before.

Hooookay so, you'll have to forgive me if today's (or rather, this week's) post is a bit short, as I'm heading to Country Fest at Gillette Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, and Eli Young Band are all going to be there, and I'm about as excited as a 5th grade girl waiting to see her first Justin Bieber concert. (The slight difference being that Country Fest will be filled with about 300 times more rednecks than a Bieb concert.)

That said, I stumbled on this blog post the other day:  Sitting is the Smoking of Our Generation.  Go ahead and read it, I'll wait for you.

No, seriously.  I'm waiting.. 

It’s time to bust a myth.  This time, I’ve got my crosshairs on one of the most fabled exercise components of all time – static stretching.  For a quick clarifier, static stretching is when you’re either sitting or standing, and in a fixed position for longer than a few seconds to “stretch” your muscle.

Now, why do we stretch?  Is it because it feels good?  I’d have to say that what “feels good” depends largely on the body part.  In fact, I seriously contemplate headbutting a concrete wall (like The Situation on Jersey Shore) so that I don’t have to stretch my hamstrings.

It's confession time: my name is Alex, and I'm a bit of a nerd.  Now, I doubt you often find people who brag about that, but being able to lift heavier things than most of the population has a way of making you comfortable with admitting certain details about yourself.

So, what's responsible for my nerdom?  Well, it's actually my new found love of books, which is something I wouldn't have touched about 2 years ago.  I really can't read enough, and my "Wish List" on Amazon always tends to stay above the 15-20 book threshold.

One book I recently finished is The One Minute Manager, where they state that 20% of your efforts are responsible for 80% of your results.  I'd like to argue that nowhere is this more true than in the gym.   The deadlifts, squats, pushes and pulls that make up your program are your 20%....everything else is just gravy.

As if New England didn't receive enough snow last weekend, I opened my shades this morning, and found what?  Yes, more frikken snow.  Seriously, it's like it's the middle of winter or something.....

Anyway, hope everyone had a great past few days.  While asteroids were falling all over earth during the weekend, I was busy "getting my nerd on" and making my way through a large chunk of reading.  As such, I'm able to share a few articles that I thought would be great for everyone to read.