Let me start off by first saying holy shit.  I went to go see the new Leonardo DiCaprio flick Inception last night and am definitely deeming this movie ultra badass.  It is the best original new movie that I have seen in a while.  I was instantly captivated, the visual effects were intense, the action non-stop, and yes, I had Sourpatch Watermelons.

Now back sharing some of the things that I have been focusing much of my attention on lately such as your ass, training barefoot, and high intensity cardio.

1. Your Ass - If you have been working with me or seen me training lately you have probably seen me doing/teaching glute bridges and hip thrusts loaded with a barbell.  I haven’t done years of research so I have been referring to the guy that has.  More specifically Brett Contreras, The Glute Guy.  Unlike a Starbuck’s Mocha Chip Frappuccino, here is an article you should ingest that goes straight to your ass here.   Although we definitely need well rounded training, the glutes are an integral part almost any exercise that you perform.
2. Barefoot Shoes- It’s been about 2 weeks since I started wearing and training in my Evos and I have noticed a marked difference in my stability, balance, and ground power when doing explosive exercises.  The barefoot explosion began recently when the book Born to Run was published urging runners to get back to nature and run without sneakers.  In my opinion, if we were meant to have more support and cushioning in our feet then we would have evolved that way.  Shoes are necessary to walk around but how much support do we really need?  Here is an article by Martin Rooney talking about how to transition and other benefits here.
3. Turkish Get-Ups - One of the most recent exercises that I have been trying to master is the ever popular Turkish Get-Up.  This exercise is performed as a sequence of movements beginning in the supine position with a weight in one hand and arm extended above your body.  The objective is to come to a standing position by controlling your core and shoulder stability and the reverse the sequence to return to the floor.  I fell in love with this exercise when I realized the numerous benefits that this one exercise provides such as core stability, T-spine mobility, shoulder stability, hip mobility, body awareness, and the list goes on.  Here is a post by Mike Robertson with explanation and pictures.  Read Me.
4. High Intensity Cardio - After all of my recent posts about interval training, metabolic circuits, and tabata intervals there is absolutely no reason that you should still be doing long boring cardio sessions.  Think about what you want, the change you want to create in your body and realize that there is no easy way.  If exercise was easy then everyone would be a model or an athlete and have an ass like Jessica Alba.  Well, maybe not the guys.  But seriously, make your workouts challenging and keep the intensity level high because your here to work out not hang out.
5. Soft Tissue - Now I’m not talking about what happens when someone bursts in the room and *ahem* ruins your workout.  I’m talking about your fascial tissue that covers your entire body from head to toe.  Over the past few months I have been getting in deep, literally, foam rolling and doing soft tissue work to allow my body to function and move better.  Soft tissue work not only prevents injuries due to overuse or tight tissue, but it creates a better environment for your muscles to “work” during your workout thus giving you better results.  Thomas Myers has done brilliant research on this topic and his book Anatomy Trains is by far the best on the matter.  Before each workout I spend at least 5 minutes rolling from head to toe and then follow that with some key stretches for my hips, glutes, hams, and shoulders.  I have been training hard for years and can honestly say I have never felt better.

Now that I’m done checking out your ass I think I am going to end this post…and get your mind out of the gutter.