Thompson Plyler - Elite New York Personal Training

I will not bother you about this again for a while. You followed me to learn about fitness, not to hear nerd stuff. I've started a Dungeons and Dragons podcast called Dice City. The first episode landed today. If you're a fan of D&D or you're kind of interested and maybe want to look into it, check it out.

Webpage: http://dicecitypodcast.com/episodes/
page: https://www.facebook.com/dicecitypodcast/
iTunes Store Page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dice-city-podcast/id1289558215?mt=2

I hope all of you are still fit, on the way to fit, and otherwise doing well! See you in Dice City, I hope.

The real secret to amazing abs.
Here's the long and short about ab training: don't waste your time. Too pat? Okay, here's the long version:

http://bit.ly/AbTrainingTruth

Some very heart-warming words from the Governator about failure and trying recently posted to Reddit. Brought a tear to my eye, no lie. Happy Monday!

Context: http://bit.ly/1N12wxp

The number on the scale is a poor way to measure your health, happiness, or love.

"If your life is worth living, it's worth recording."
-Anthony Robbins.

One of my most hard-charging firefighter candidates recently sent me a message exclaiming her excitement at the nearness of her graduation date, and I urged her to try to journal the process. I think it's a shame that most people are so averse to maintaining a journal, because there's so much soft value and so much measurable value in the act.

http://bit.ly/1EiaFqQ

Down with Girly Fitness Bu****it! (excellent article by Jessi Kneeland)

"There are a lot of popular fitness sites and social media accounts where pretty, peppy girls post smoothie recipes and quick little workout routines and fitness challenges for you to follow along with, like “3 easy moves for a sexy back” or “7 minutes to toned thighs.”

I’m calling bu****it on them."

Hell yes. Great read.

http://bit.ly/1C9bPbB

Fascinating article about the powers and effects of exercise in a very unusual situation. One twin exercises; the other doesn't. A great read.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2015/03/04/one-twin-exercises-the-other-doesnt/

I've learned a ton browsing reddit.com/r/fitness over the years, and I was elated when I saw the best advice their collected into a single infographic. Lots of credit and love to the folks at greatist.com who put this together.

Reports of a snowpocalypse were greatly exaggerated here in NYC. My heart goes out to the people on the rest of the northeastern seaboard who are under two feet of snow, but if you're here and enjoying a snow day, GO OUTSIDE!! There's not much better cardio than a vigorous snowball fight.

I see the New Year's crowds are thinning out. I also see a lot of rejoicing from fitness enthusiasts on the net because they're getting "their" gyms back. Screw that. Everyone needs fitness. EVERYONE. If you've stumbled in your 2015 goals, welcome to another Monday!

No need to embroider something Socrates said first. Get to work!

Wonderful food for thought, ladies.

You Wouldn't Believe How Much the "Perfect Body" Has Changed in 100 Years In other words, if Beyoncé lived in the 1920s, she may have been overlooked by big shot agents.

Welcome to 2015! We all know that some of you reading this are doubling down on fitness for the new year. You want to hit the beach like a cannonball of vascular steel. First, the greatest impediment to forward momentum in fitness and nutrition is YOU. You can ALWAYS do bodyweight work. You can ALWAYS turn down nasty food. That's nice to say, but in the real world we are all subject to peer pressure to some degree (if you don't give a single s**t about what your friends think, why are they your friends, right?), and not everyone will support your efforts to achieve success in your fitness goals. The friends we choose are reflections of our personal reality/narrative, but we are also components of theirs. They chose us, and we fill a role in their reality, in their understanding of the world. When we change anything drastically, be it through a job, through fitness, or numerous other endeavors, we are also changing their reality: we are not who they thought we were. Know all this when you encounter haters on your fitness journey and use it to guard against the trap of lethargy they would use to ensnare you into the patterns you have mutually found too comfortable for too long.

(comic credit: www.penny-arcade.com)

Happy birthday, brothers. Semper Fidelis.

http://gregnuckols.com/2014/10/08/the-science-of-steroids/

Steroids are a touchy subject in the fitness industry for a lot of reasons. First, they are illegal for most people to use or distribute, and second they are banned in nearly all sports. This has a few consequences. First, it's really hard to have an above board conversation about their pros and cons because there is so much social stigma attached to their use. Following that, that means that for the folks who are bound and determined to use steroids, they have relatively few reliable resources they can turn to for meaningful information about safe, effective steroid use. I'm of the belief that less information is rarely, if ever, a good thing.

I've never taken any steroids or performance enhancing chemicals outside the pre- and post-workout supplements I ingest. I don't even like taking headache medicine, so actually altering my hormone profle with an external agent would be a real stretch for me. I would also urge any client of mine to eschew steroids. That said, I think everyone has their own path to reach their goals in the gym. Steroids are like making a deal with the devil in their own way, but they DO get results.

The article I've linked is one of the better ones I've read lately about steroid use, and I admire its even-handedness. What you do with the information therein is up to you.

http://gregnuckols.com/2014/10/08/the-science-of-steroids/

My friend, Dan, recently turned me on to a podcast called Hardcore History, and I have been frothing at the mouth recommending it to anyone in earshot. If you like history and typically listen to podcasts during your workout (or your commute or your lo******ng. Whenever you listen to podcasts is your business), this one is mandatory.

http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/

Personally, I didn't get much into history until I was well into my 20s. In my school years I was never able to dive into the different events as an unfolding narrative, and the thicket of names and dates just seemed like more details to memorize in the unrelenting tidal flow of my studies. As I've grown (debatably) more mature and watched current events take shape throughout the world, I am more and more impressed with the need to understand What Happened Before so that I can make sense of why global actors make the moves they make.

That doesn't make it any easier for me to follow history, though. Sometimes the books historically literate people recommend are justa DRAG.

Dan Carlin is not a historian-- something he is careful to repeat several times-- but he is anything but a drag. His Hardcore History podcasts overflow with passion, but the depth of his research means that the 'casts never overflow completely into the realm of entertainment, this despite being always entertaining.

I can't recommend Hardcore History enough. Check it out!

http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/