It's hard to get excited about core training.  I always prefer to lift heavy things, post about it on Instagram, and then eat a ton of vegetables.

And if it's a Monday night, that's all followed by a healthy(?) dose of "The Bachelor."

But core training is valuable.  While no one has ever said the words "Brah, you just killed those dead bugs!!" it's about time we started thinking that way.  When performed correctly, proper core training will provide injury prevention, get us out of pain, maximize our strength, and optimize our performance.

I never paid much attention to conditioning.  I thought it was an easy concept to understand.  Do some cardio once a week, hard intervals if you can, and you'll be in shape in no time.  Except if you wanted to build muscle - then don't do any cardio, ever.

And now?  I'm eating my hat.

Thanks to people like Joel Jamieson, our industry has actual science to combat the #broscience.  It's this actual science that's made me change my mind on everything above - we actually need much less interval work; more long slow cardio; and that a proper conditioning plan is incredibly detail oriented.

Below are the three biggest takeaways that anyone can implement immediately into their own programs.

I've never been someone who struggled with the overhead press.  I might be terrible at other press variations - namely, the bench press - but I'm somewhat of a freak when it comes to putting heavy weights overhead.  

So when I fell short of completing the Beast Tamer in August, I finally realized what the overhead press is like for normal people.

But becoming a Beast Tamer is one of my lifetime strength goals. I decided I could 1) give up or 2) work to press the 48k (106 lb) and make it look easy.  Naturally, I chose the latter. 

The more you know, the more you really don't know.

That's one of the many things I've learned from being a continuing education junkie. What used to look like a straightforward fix is no longer that way, as I've refined both my eye and education.  

One stark example is the lateral weight shift on a squat.  This compensation often takes the form of someone's knee caving in, a lateral bend to one side, or someone shifting their entire pelvis over one foot.  If you're me, you have all three.

This pattern doesn't have anything to do with one leg being stronger than the other.  And you can't just coach someone out of this compensation by using a band between their knees, or using a (bigger) band to pull their hips to one side.  It may make the person more aware of the issue, but it doesn't completely FIX it.

That's because the problem is neurological, not physical. So much like the movie "Inception," you need to go deeper.