I know most of you have already hit the road or are soon initiating your plans for Thanksgiving, so I hope everyone has a great time with family and friends. Here are a couple random thoughts before I get my own eat on this weekend: 1. SAPT Thanksgiving Lift. Tomorrow at 8am. I've been looking forward to this since, oh I don't know, 364 days ago when the last one ended? As I mentioned, along with the video footage on Monday, please feel welcome to join us, even if you're not an "SAPTer." We don't bite, I promise. We even wrote a few sample workouts and conditioning options for those of you looking for something different.

So, come on out and wobble before you gobble.

2. Exercise Selection. Is it really the most important programming variable?

The other day I got thinking about, how (correct me if I'm wrong), it seems that most people tackle their training merely by choosing which exercises they are going to do. When in fact, I would argue that this is a short-sighted approach given that exercise selection is only ONE variable when it comes to intelligent program design. And, I will go so far as to say that choosing the exercises is pretty far down the list of primary factors to consider.

Programming for athletic performance, fat loss, muscle gains, etc. is much more than just picking which exercises to do on each day of the week. For example, when I write programs, the actual exercise choice is usually the last thing I put down on the paper! I'm not going to delve into detail here, but it's an idea I have for a future blog post.

3. Pizza is now considered a vegetable? I read this post by Tony Gentilcore earlier this week, and, if anything, it just made me sad. In short, the government as mandated that pizza can be served in schools as the one serving of veggies each day for the children. I'm not going to rant here, but I may or may not have thrown myself in front of a school bus after finding this out.

Juliet (of HeyJoob) then brought up a great question: "Where is the line drawn between the government supporting its economy/freedom vs. the health of its people?"

However, I would argue that the gov't isn't even supporting its economy in this case, given that we'll have millions of kids with diabetes, needing health care, in the next decade or two.

Okay, maybe I just went back on my promise and ranted a bit. I apologize, I'm better now.

Before I go though, watch the video below by Jamie Oliver if you haven't watched it already...it is THE best speech on obesity I've ever seen:

^^^Seriously, watch Me^^^

4. Sarah had a fantastic post yesterday on both life and training lessons she has picked up over the past thirty years. You would be remiss not to read it if you haven't yet.

Click Me ==> 30 Years, 30 Lessons <== Click Me

5. Speaking earlier of exercise selection, Rob Adell snatches 319lbs. Makes you think twice about obsessing over a sub-par bench press when there are people throwing 319lbs over their heads, right?!?!

Oh, and this kid is only 20 years old:

THAT's how to demonstrate athleticism and power, and THAT is an example of someone who should be performing a barbell snatch.

6. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.