As the year winds down, many of us take some time to reflect on what we’ve done over the past twelve months and set resolutions for the coming one. We might vow to eat better, work out more, or spend more time with our loved ones. While all of these are great goals to have,...Read More

The Pareto Principle, sometimes called the 80/20 rule, is an observation that there is an unequal distribution between inputs and outputs. For example, 80% of car accidents are caused by 20% of drivers or 80% of sales come from 20% of customers. The truth behind the Pareto Principle is not in the exact distributions (not...Read More

This Wednesday, our country will be honoring our brave servicemen and women through Veterans Day. On this day, we give thanks and recognition to our veterans who have given so much to protect our country. Many will be celebrating by volunteering, giving remembrance, and spending time with our heroes. You can even pay your respects...Read More

Medication non-adherence is when a patient, either intentionally or unwittingly, fails to take a prescription medication as prescribed. Seeing as how 70% of Americans take at least one prescription medication and over half take at least two, it is worrisome that between half or more of them fail to take their medication properly, if at...Read More

The other day I was at the grocery store and noticed a pretty large number of shopping carts that had been left out in the parking lot instead of put back into the return corrals. I began to consider why people don’t put them up and how this might apply to health and fitness. I...Read More

I have a running question that I like to ask people early on in their fitness journey:  “How long do you have to train to look like you’ve been training for 10 years?”  This can be formed into other similar questions as well: “How long does it take to develop 20 years of training knowledge?”...Read More

During my time playing college football, we would have meetings every Sunday to review the previous game. We had three big boards in the team meeting room: one for offense, one for defense, and one for special teams. Each board tracked different metrics for each group. For example, the offensive board tracked yards gained and...Read More

The recent spread of the Coronavirus is having global impacts across many spectrums of life. While the disruptions to our daily lives can be frightening and frustrating, there are many lessons we can learn from this event. The question is whether or not we as individuals, communities, or as a nation are willing to change....Read More

David discusses 4 mindset shifts that will change the way you allocate your time. https://www.instagram.com/tv/B88lP2oA_LN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkRead More

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B82OlPQlECw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkRead More

If you max out your IRA contributions each year starting at 20 years old, by the time you reach 65 you will have earned over $1.4 million in interest at a return rate of 7%. If you wait till 30, your interest drops to around $620,000. If you wait till 40, it drops down to...Read More

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B8OOTKrgXN-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkRead More

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B74JCaUAvIM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkRead More

What is a fitness hero? A CNN article titled Why Are Fewer Americans Trying to Lose Weight? shared research results showing that the number of Americans trying to lose weight is decreasing despite dramatic increases in the number of people who are overweight and obese. Researchers stated several reasons for this lack of alignment including...Read More

Next year is fast approaching and with it, a theme of clear vision. 2020 means being able to see clearly what is in front of you without blur or distortion. With that in mind, I wanted to share our vision for next year with all of you.  The Current State of Fitness The other day...Read More

At NBS Fitness, our process for getting new clients integrated into the facility is through a No Sweat Intro. It’s just a conversation to get to know you, learn about your goals and struggles, and share with you the best way we can help. During the conversation we’ll ask you what your “Why” is. We...Read More

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about my experience in the Boy Scouts of America growing up. I was a scout all the way through high school when I got my Eagle Scout. I love the idea of young boys and teens developing life skills under the guidance of adult leadership...Read More

This past week I saw where someone posted on a local message board on Facebook that they were looking for some help with weight loss. There were a few suggestions for trainers or local gyms, a lot of suggestions for MLM products, several medical-related suggestions (ie gastric bypass), and one guy simply said eat less...Read More

Human beings are emotionally-driven creatures. Our emotions have a major influence on our decision-making and can even overpower our logic, coercing us into making decisions we know are not the right ones. This happens in our fitness and health decision-making as well. We see it every day as fitness professionals. Clients will have a bad...Read More

Human beings are emotionally-driven creatures. Our emotions have a major influence on our decision-making and can even overpower our logic, coercing us into making decisions we know are not the right ones. This happens in our fitness and health decision-making as well. We see it every day as fitness professionals. Clients will have a bad...Read More

A recent article by the NY Post showed that American’s waste around $18,000 a year on non-essential expenses. Purchases such as cable, Netflix, eating out, music streaming, subscription boxes and impulse purchases slowly add up to take a large share of the average American’s spending power. This helps to show how the average household has a credit...Read More

I had breakfast with a friend the other day. He started asking me very specific questions about how to implement intermittent fasting. My response was not what he expected. I asked him what was the longest period he had followed a healthy nutrition plan and been consistent with training. 5 years? No. 1 Year? No....Read More

Over the last decade, I’ve gotten to witness and participate in the pursuit of health, fitness, physique, and performance of a lot of people. I’ve seen success, failure, given a lot of advice, and learned a lot in the process. One thing I’ve learned is that everyone struggles. Some people struggle more or less in...Read More

In 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to ever walk on the moon. Since the beginning of space travel 536 humans have been into space and 12 have walked on the moon. A total of 18 people have died during launch, flight, or entry. Putting a man onto the moon is an incredibly complex...Read More

I recently joked that I wanted to give a speech at a high school graduation in which I would site a bunch of depressing statistics about their likelihood to get divorced, dislike their jobs, go on anti-depressants, get addicted to social media, and be obese. I guess it’s not really a funny joke but laughter...Read More

I find that many people often need to be reminded that fat loss secrets don’t exist. As I was considering this article, I knew that right off hand many people reading are thinking, “yeah man! The charlatans preying on desperate people with magic pills suck!” Yes, they do suck. That’s a boring topic to me though, and one...Read More

Who depends on you? Who depends on you to be healthy, fit, and strong? Who might depend on your physical abilities thirty years from now? Tomorrow? Today? Who depends on your mental and emotional health? Who depends on your example? Now is the time where everybody reevaluates their life over the previous year and vows...Read More

The holiday season kicks off with Thanksgiving, a holiday characterized by spending time and enjoying good meals with friends and family. It is meant to be a time of grateful reflection and thanksgiving for all that we have. Ironically the following day is Black Friday which is a time spent in consumer chaos, away from...Read More

During one wellness presentation, I asked a group of people what they thought was the average amount of weight gained during the holiday season every year in the U.S. Some people on the far end guessed an average of 10-15 pounds. Others had a little more conservative guess of about 5-7. The answer is closer to about one pound. With...Read More

I’m about to go on my first cruise next week. Some people desire to be beach-ready physique wise for cruises and I don’t really care for it, but I am planning on coming back and starting my plan to get lean right after. Why? I want to perform better, sure. Being at a stable weight...Read More

I’ve had many people over time ask me what the best diet is. I am a “dietitian” after all so I should know, right? There is usually combination of shock, disbelief, and/or disappointment when I tell them that none of them are. The expectation among beginners in health and fitness, though with good intention and...Read More

Donald Trump is President, Amazon is delivering groceries to your house using drones, and Drake is the top musician in the world. What does all this point to? Zombies. Yep, for sure the zombie apocalypse is on the horizon and if you’re not prepared for it, you’re not going to make it. Luckily for you,...Read More

Over the last several months, Steve and I have been working hard to become debt free. In an effort to reduce our monthly expenses, in January, I sold my jeep and “bought” a less expensive car. After driving the car a couple of months, I decided I didn’t care about the car enough to warrant...Read More

Sometimes life can get a little crazy and that can make getting training in more difficult than before. This doesn’t mean that we can’t get training in, just that we have to make some adjustments to do so if it’s a priority in our lives. If training isn’t a priority then it will get dropped....Read More

I had a writing prompt earlier this month that has turned into a conversation piece between me and nearly everyone I have run into and has led to some fairly interesting reading as well. “In your more dire situations, what life rules do you cling to in order to guide your behavior to the best...Read More

At the very beginning of any life change, we tend to look at the end picture and all that it will entail before we decide if it will be worth it.  Once we have decided that it is, we often find ourselves with a wave of motivation to start moving all the big rocks in...Read More

Let me ask you something. Have you ever sat and daydreamed about something that you were going to do, or perhaps something that you may have already done but you wanted to revisit that place so you thought about it in you head? I’m sure you have. Maybe you were about to go on a...Read More

This article was inspired by a sermon by Jason Cook of Fellowship Memphis on February 4th. I’m writing this article for myself to remember, some of you may enjoy it as well.  Regardless of your religious beliefs, the Bible offers great lessons about how we should live our lives. Stories from the Old Testament provide...Read More

With the new years comes the idea of new year’s resolutions and with resolutions we see a broad spectrum of approaches. I know I have seen social media posts that range from big goals and big changes to one small action done daily to people who say they don’t need the New Year to spark...Read More

The plot of zombie movies is pretty basic: human kind slowly gets taken over by lifeless creatures that turn each person they bite into another zombie and the small percentage of surviving humans are struggling to survive. It’s a scary concept but clearly fiction; definitely not something we have to worry about….right? Well, I’m here...Read More

9 Keys to Strengthening our Affiliate (community) I recently read this e-book, Always Be Caring: The 9 Ways to Strengthening Your Affiliate Community  written by Ben Bergeron. The material was written specifically for gym owners and coaches, so during my recent turn presenting during our monthly CE sessions, I delivered my best interpretation of it...Read More

While some of you may recall and others may not, “Inspire some Intimidate the Rest” use to be our slogan for NBS Fitness. Now, I could see how having this as your business slogan could lead one to believe that we are in fact an intimidating gym full of intimidating meat heads. However, that being...Read More

What is failure? Failure is inevitable. Failure is life. Show me someone who doesn’t have a bag full of failures that they can pull from and I will show you someone who hasn’t done anything worth a damn. Failure is an opportunity to learn from your mistakes, to do it better the next time. Failing...Read More

Let me ask you a question. Do you ever find yourself getting distracted from doing the things that you need to do to become the best possible version of yourself? I know that for myself, it is a never-ending struggle to stay on track towards reaching my goals and even completing simple tasks, such as...Read More

I used to say that anyone who can physically squat a thousand pounds surely doesn’t have any mental weakness but much like many other definitive statements that I have made, I’m about to challenge this one. I first began lifting back in 7th grade. As I started puberty, I shot up in height very quickly...Read More

Do you have anything in your life that you are working towards right now? Have you ever set goals and reached them because it gave more of a purpose to what you were doing? If you train, do you train with a purpose? Do you have a reason for the things that you put yourself...Read More

Lives are Changing! I recently pulled a few of our CrossFitters aside and asked them to share how CrossFit has changed them. It seems dramatic, I know, but CrossFit has truly made such positive change in so many lives. I hope this inspires you to make the changes you need to make to improve your...Read More

Puzzled We were fortunate enough to enjoy some much needed time with our grandson last weekend. Jackson is absolutely our greatest joy and we treasure our time with him. During our customary trip to Target on Saturday, he picked out a 1000 piece puzzle for us to do together. I always enjoyed putting puzzles together with my children...Read More

Seriously. One easy trick allowed me to have the most productive year of training I’ve ever had. I am now in the best shape of my life, the leanest I have ever been, and the least injured I have ever been. And the greatest part is you can do it too! Whats the secret? I hired a knowledgable professional...Read More

At Mid-South Spine and Sports Performance, our motto is Prepare. Perform. Prevent. We truly believe that the services and content that we push for at Mid-South Spine and Sports Performance are a direct reflection of this motto. If a service does not reflect at least one aspects of this motto, then it is not one...Read More

Don’t you just love a catchy title. Catchy, effective, and truthful. If we’re going to define “fat” as having more body fat than the ideal amount for health (ie overweight/obese) then at least 2/3 of the population falls into that category. That number is also on the rise, by the way, which means there is...Read More

I have been training for 17 years, I have been in the fitness industry for 10 years, and I have owned a gym for 5 years. Along that time frame I have helped over a thousand people in training, nutrition, and life. I have watched people succeed, fail, struggle, bounce back, do awesome, do terrible,...Read More

Your mind can help you or hurt you On any given day in any given situation, our mind will set us up for failure or success. A negative mindset in social situations may go something like this: “what if they don’t like me”, “I hate what I’m wearing”, “Why am I here, this is stupid”. Sound familiar?...Read More

I may be slightly biased in my opinion on this subject but 17 years of training and 10 years in the fitness industry has influenced my ideas on what constitutes a solid gym from a gym that sucks. I am sure there are more than just five ways to know if your gym sucks but...Read More

In the wake of yet another report of insurance hikes set for 2017, more and more people will find themselves asking one question: Why are health care costs SO HIGH? Now I know “tis the season” to start getting all political. I know everyone wants to begin blaming the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) or the top...Read More

I’m lucky, I have perspective. In the fitness field I’ve worn or wear many hats and that has allowed me to participate and witness many things. It has allowed me to meet and know many people. I’ve had the chance to watch people both fail and succeed, to witness people give up and persevere, and to...Read More

**TRANSPARENCY ALERT: I have done each and every one of the actions I am about to list.  I have done entire training cycles of these extra little bits of action and they have stalled my progress, frustrated my coaches, and probably made me an annoying friend.*** Now, with that said, the reason I am sharing...Read More

Life is about so much more than the Gym.  It’s easy, as a personal trainer, to get tunnel vision and believe that you have everything figured out when in fact you’ve become complacent in several important facets of life.  I have divided my life up into 5 areas that I refer to my sacred geometry...Read More

              So many places to start here so let us just pick a few and jump right in!  “I am a mom; I don’t have time to exercise anymore.  I can’t fit in everything I have to do all day let alone find the time to go to the gym and train.”  Bull.  That is...Read More

When a meet is approaching there are three questions that you will always be asked.  The first question is are you ready for the meet?  The second question is how did your training go this cycle?  The final question is what is your goal for the meet?  I’m sure that there are more questions that...Read More

In the past years, I have been able to really dive into the gut of fitness industry.  Between hosting powerlifting meets and strongman events at NBS, continuing to compete in physique shows, and doing media coverage of national/pro level physique shows, I have been privvy to the backstage antic of many competitors.  One thing that...Read More

In today’s age of trigger warnings, social pressures, and fragile self esteem, people struggling to incorporate fitness into their lives have turned to a commonly used self preservation tactic known as playing the fitness victim. It is characterized by a complete lack of responsibility with a good dosing of helplessness to taste. If you or someone...Read More

Recently, I stumbled across a social media shout out to my strength coach from the University of Iowa, Chris Doyle. The post was meant to congratulate him on a story about a recent pay raise that he had received after an undefeated regular season last year. Basically showing respect to his success and hard work....Read More

  How committed to your goals are you?  Do you whimsically hope for something good to happen, or do you go out and let nothing come between you and what you want to accomplish.  Our bodies naturally, like water, follow the path of least resistance.  If you allow your body to remain at rest then...Read More

“The Power Of Habit”  by Charles Duhigg is a book that sat in my Amazon wish list for a long time before I pulled the trigger and bought it.  While the book made a lot of great points, I wont ruin it by giving you a summary.  Instead, I got to thinking about how the...Read More

Beginner Background Earlier today I was joking with a member about some of the silly things I did when I was a beginner and I thought all of you would appreciate some of these stories as well. I started training the summer between 7th and 8th grade. Around this time my testosterone levels were starting to increase...Read More

A few weeks ago, me and another member were having a conversation that I have long had with myself about knowledge and learning. This conversation was particularly about nutrition and human performance, but I would argue that it can be applicable to becoming better at your craft, regardless of what it may be. The conversation at hand...Read More

One of the things that I love about powerlifting is the passion that people have for the sport.  From training to competitions there is no shortage of passionate people in powerlifting.  People love this sport, they love the way they feel when shattering a personal record or reach a goal that they’ve been working on...Read More

Body image wasn’t something I thought I would ever write about.  Not because I don’t have thoughts about it or have no experience with it, because I certainly do.  However, I think its SUCH a hot topic for people and there’s almost no way to address it without upsetting someone.  As my reach has expanded...Read More

I can’t say that I’ve seen everything but after 16 years of training and 10 years in the fitness business I can say I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen people of all shapes, sizes, and background succeed, fail, and everything in between. One thing I hear many people talk about is motivation. Whether they claim...Read More

First off, as a disclaimer, I’m not going to sit here on my high horse and talk about all the things I know or do that you should know and do too. I’m a pretty big on the concept that one of the best ways in invoking a change is to go ahead and own the...Read More

Dealing With Disappointment On April 30th I took to the platform to put my hard work on display for everyone at the King of The Spring Meet at NBS Fitness.  This was my second powerlifting meet and I was nervous as this was the first competition that my family would be able to see me...Read More

Summer is coming up and it’s time to show off those beach bods. But what if you’re struggling to get the physique you want? These 5 reasons may be why: You don’t actually want it What a way to start an article right? But I think it’s important that we address the obvious elephant in the...Read More

Behavior, Attitude, or Technique (B.A.T.).  Which of these three elements of your life is letting you down and preventing you from reaching your goals?  This is a method that was introduced to me by my brother Shane.  He saw that I wasn’t reaching my goals like I wanted to and he informed me that I...Read More

     By most standards, 2015 was a losing year for me: I bombed out of a powerlifting meet for the first time in April.  I re-focused and set my sights on Strongman Nationals.  Despite months of preparation, I walked out with a disappointing third place.  I immediately switched gears and spent 15 weeks meticulously...Read More

Are you a beginner? I bet you don’t think you are but you are. See, being a beginner has nothing to do with how long you’ve been training and I’d even argue that it doesn’t have as much to do with your abilities and performance either. Instead I believe it has everything to do with...Read More

I recently read the book “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” by John Ratey. The book talks about the positive chemical, hormonal, physical, and psychological effects that exercise can have on the brain. As well as how exercise can have specific positive effects on learning, depression, anxiety, aging, menapause, and pregnancy....Read More

I recently had a client respond to the question “Why do you want to lose weight?” with the confusing answer of “I don’t want to do a bikini contest”. I realized that with her being in a gym that has a high amount of high level fitness athletes along with today’s constant social media fitness model...Read More

Almost exactly a year ago I decided to change sports from powerlifting over to bodybuilding. This decision was primarily influenced by a crappy year of powerlifting competition and a slew of injuries. In March, one of my vertebrae moved while squatting 825 for my second attempt at a competition. This caused my back muscles to...Read More

Last night I was sitting around with a group of friends from the gym and they were commenting about people who had left the gym, quit training, etc. Unfortunately, that’s just the way it goes sometimes. Training, losing weight, building strength, being healthy are conceptually very easy. It is the mental and social aspect that...Read More

Jennifer competed in her first figure competition this past June. I sat her down for interview to check out what she thought about the whole process. Take a listen to what she had to say…  Read More

If you ask my grandma, “bodybuilder” and “powerlifter” are synonyms. We all lift weights and wear spandex and eat food.  Tomato, tomahto. Yeah, I know, she’s wrong.  I know she’s wrong because I have recently taken a little time out from powerlifting to pursue a little time in physique sports.  Over the past six months...Read More

When I first started training at the age of 14 in 1999, I would go up into my family’s “play” room and do all the exercises in a book my dad had given me from when he was a kid (from the 1960’s). I had no clue what I was doing and just looked at...Read More

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Aim for the moon and if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”? Well, that’s a pretty stupid phrase, especially if you’re an astronaut. I don’t agree with setting goals, only reaching them. The fitness realm is rife with bullshit goal setting. I am sure anybody can name at...Read More

Do not take this as me telling you how to live your life. I’m 26, not married, and don’t have any kids. For most people, that’s enough of an excuse to disregard anything I might say. But if you’re in the same boat as me or open minded enough to listen to what I have...Read More

We’ve all heard, said, or been told the phrase “You can do it!”. But is that phrase really fair? I mean, is it fair to place that type of responsibility on somebody? You see, by inferring that somebody “can” do something you are also inferring that they can “not” do something, and that the differing...Read More