by Tony Gentilcore, CSCS, CPT.

As I write this I'm sitting in the caf at a local Borders on a Friday night in downtown Boston (yes, I am THAT cool). I like to come here every so often to browse the new release section and to just relax. And by "relax," what I really mean is perusing the Kama Sutra and asking the hot girl a few tables down from me with the Boston College sweatshirt on if she's ever heard of the flying wheelbarrow. [SLAP].

Sitting in Borders on a Friday night can be an interesting experience. I often find myself easily distracted because I have a nasty habit of eavesdropping on other people's conversations. Take the two women sitting across from me.

Woman #1: "I just don't understand. I started this diet I read about in People Magazine that all the celebrities are using. All I've eaten today is a carrot, some yogurt, and this piece of cheesecake and I still haven't lost ANY weight. It must be the carrot."

Woman #2: "No kidding. I read in this other magazine that I have to perform three hours of cardio a day in order to lose weight. I'm spending hours at the gym and feel like crap. By the way, this cheesecake is to die for. Want seconds?"

Tina Todd Figure Competitor, Fitness Model

by Chad Waterbury

There are many essential elements that should be included in any effective training program. Obviously, you've got to be smart when choosing movements. I usually favor compound movements, but single-joint movements have their place. Regardless of your movement selection, though, it's imperative to have a progression plan in place.

It's very difficult to make any substantial progress unless you know how to force your body to do what it's not used to doing. A training program is only as good as the planned progression that's included in the program. The problem is, a progression plan often isn't included.

You must force your body to do what it's not used to doing.

As a guy who writes programs, I can understand why a coach might not prescribe a progression plan. Here are a few reasons.

by Jimmy Smith

Who really enjoys doing warm-ups? It can be hard enough to prepare mentally for a grueling workout without worrying about getting your body geared up for the task, too. Warm-ups are rarely fun and often tedious, but we know they're extremely important.

So since you have to do it anyway, why not get the most out of your warm-up?

No, no, no, and definitely no.

In our facility, we try to use a different warm-up each training day. We've used some very interesting ones, but I have to say one of my favorites is a mobility complex that my good friend Brian Grasso showed me.

The original version was a demanding ground-based, total-body, multi-planar complex consisting of four movements done continuously for 6-8 repetitions each. It promoted mobility of the hips, thoracic spine, and anterior shoulders, while also improving scapular stability. All this is achieved while developing the proper motor patterns needed for the lifts ahead.