Stalling out achieving your training goals? Work out with a partner. How many times does this happen to you? I stare at the squat rack while picking up my phone, I tweet something meaningless about John Coltrane, then check my email, back to twitter. I stroll to the water fountain for a drink, then waltz back through the gym and say hello to my peeps on a scenic tour to the rack. Six minutes have now passed between sets. I finally settle under the bar and step out, the weight steadily attempting to crush me like an accordion. I… I’ve had extraordinary success with my current weight lifting routine because it is one I can maintain with regularity. There is no substitute for consistency as it relates to workouts. A few sit-ups, pushups and pull-ups done several times a week invariably beat the most intricate, elaborate exercise program done on and off. A slow and steady climb like the one you take to the top of a roller coaster is the aim. If you start and stop with your programs, the big scary drop is inevitable. I’ve always loved the feeling of having weights in my hands. Something… Peer into the locker of most professional athletes, and you’ll find a plethora of legal powders and pills promising larger muscles, speedier recovery and increased energy.  Some of these magic elixirs even claim to improve reaction time and memory.  Supplement companies make equally empty suggestions to the general public that may be even more egregious. The supplement industry is estimated at a $30 billion per year. Because of their popularity in athletic circles, I’m asked which of these products I recommend more than any other question. My advice, as you might have come to expect, is to skip the… One of the best catalysts to jump start your 2014 healthy living program is removing soda from your daily eating plan. Whether your goal is to lower body fat, improve vitality or just generally be healthier, replacing the sugary, carbonated artificially flavored beverages with water will drastically increase your chance for success. Everyone knows that soda has a lot of sugar. If you’re drinking three 12-oz cans a day, you’re consuming 116 grams of refined sugar with absolutely no nutritional value. That’s the same amount of sugar found in 7 cups of blueberries. The blueberries would also provide 100%… Major league baseball training rooms are a popular spot for guys looking to get their daily drug fix. The drug of choice? Advil. Over the course of 162 games, plus spring training, plus the post season, an inflamed muscle here and there is impossible to avoid. I have clear recollections of taking 12 Advil a day for weeks at a time. Hundreds of throws, swings of the bat, face first slams into dirt, full speed collisions with the wall – my body hurt so badly that I felt I had no choice. A couple of ibuprofen would take the… Last year, I began weight training with my two sons. My family often makes friendly wagers on football games. In this case, I had a bet with my older son, Chase, about Peyton Manning’s performance with the Denver Broncos when he returned from neck surgery. My terms were simple. For two months, Chase would accompany me to my weight lifting sessions. I won the bet. Three times a week, Chase and I (along with my younger son, who came along for moral support) awoke at the crack of dawn and worked on the major power lifts. Chase was 13… I’m asked often about the health benefits and effectiveness of energy drinks. I can gracefully answer the first part of the question. The nutrition label on a Rockstar or Monster can tells me all I need to know – stay far, far away. The effectiveness part is a little trickier because once I read how unhealthy these beverages are, I chose not to drink them. Because I have not tried the energy drinks on the market, I can’t speak to whether or not they “work”. I do have one energy enhancer – black coffee. I’ll refrain from enumerating every…