So, no beating around the bush, I'm pretty mentally beat from this week. Between finishing up the last week of wedding prep, visiting various labs for bloodwork, moving to a new home, getting ahead of things for when I'm on my honeymoon, and staying on top of my daily responsibilities at SAPT, I'm definitely going to crash hard tonight when I finally get to sleep. Not to mention a lot of things have happened over the past month (my car rolling across a parking lot being one of them) in my life that can be summed up by this poster:  

I'm kidding (kinda), given that I really do have a lot, and I mean a lot, to be thankful for. However, currently all I desire is a lollipop for my brain, so I thought that some of you may want a lollipop, too, as it's the end of the week.

This being said, this post is going to be completely random. It may not even have much to do with training, but hey, sometimes people want a healthy dose of entertainment, right? Let's get to it.

1. This is why we teach strict, dead-hang pullups performed with good form at SAPT....

...as opposed to kipping pullups, as shown in the video below. Keep your form locked in, kids:

2. Under Armour underwear is the greatest thing I've discovered since learning that the arrow next to the gas symbol tells you which side of the car the gas tank is on.

Anyway, last month I felt compelled to order the outrageously priced underwear from Under Armour, and let me tell you, it is FANTASTIC.

I mean, talk about feeling tranquil and luxurious, all day long. I'm tempted to make a quick change to our wedding registry and replace everything with under armour underwear...it's just that good. They really hit the nail on the head with that product line. Yes, they're expensive, but worth every penny.

3. I finally began training like I would train one of the athletes under our roof at SAPT.

What? What do I mean by this? Well, as counterintuitive as it may seem, even strength coaches struggle when it comes to their own programming. After all, the toughest person to program for is yourself (as I've written in the past, this is one reason why it's wise to have someone else write your program). As some of you know, I've had some pretty persistent shoulder pain, and over the last five weeks I FINALLY manned-up and trained using a similar approach that I would give one of our athletes should they be exhibiting similar symptoms.

Namely, I've taken out a LOT of the pressing volume and added in a LOT of horizontal pulling. For example, this is what my upper body session looked like this past Tuesday:

A1) Bent-Over DB Row, 5x8/side A2) Neutral-Grip DB Press, 3x6

B1) Seated Cable Row, Pronated Grip, 4x10 B2) Tempo Pushup, 3x10

C1) Cable Face Pull w/External Rotation, 2x12 C2) Anti-Rotation Press and Hold, 2x3x :10 per side

*Notice that the total "pulling" volume was 104 reps, compared to the "pressing" volume which was 48 total reps.

And what do you know? My shoulder is feeling WAY better, and I've added some much needed strength to my upper back. Funny, as things didn't get better until I stopped training like a doofus and did what I knew I should deep down all along.

4. No matter if you're a cat person or not, you have to admit this is the cutest thing you've seen all week: Yeah, I realize the some of the gents in the crowd may be screaming for me to have my man-card revoked, but I wanted to give something to the ladies in the crowd...what can I say.

5. This is what it looks like to not care, whatsoever, about what other people think of you.

This is pretty funny; thank you Ben Bruno for finding this. Maybe I'll add this exercise in for people as a warm-up before their isolation lifts:

That will do it for today. Hope this helped pass the time in your respective work place and have a great weekend!