I figured since this year is coming to an end it would be well worth going back and looking at some of the best blog posts from the last calendar year. With so many great posts I am sure that I am going to leave a few out, but either way here are ten of my favorite posts.

4 Reasons You Must Understand Corrective Exercise and Post Rehab Training by Eric Cressey

Corrective exercise, and more specifically understanding corrective exercise, has slowly become must know knowledge for any half decent personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach. Being able to recognize and then correct bad posture or poor movement quality, as well as training athletes post rehab is something you’ll have to deal with on a daily basis. The more you know about corrective exercise the further you’ll go in becoming a great strength coach.

Bulletproof Your Body by Tony Gentilecore

In the same realm of the previous post by Cressey when it comes to building a healthier body. Tony gives you a breakdown of ways to assess numerous prone areas of the body that could use some corrective exercise and exactly what to look for when performing the exercises. I guarantee that if everyone went through this assessment everyone would find at least one area of their body that needs a little TLC.

My Turning Point by Alwyn Cosgrove

Alwyn breaks down the turning point in his career as a strength coach. Since that turning point he has run a very successful training studio outside of Los Angeles as well as becoming one of the most influential strength coaches in the country. I’d say he’s done a pretty good job and is someone who most of us could learn a little something from.

Are you Daily or Occasionally? by Martin Rooney

This was a very recent post by Martin, but I thought it was a great post. We all look at people who are very successful and wonder how they got to the point at which they are currently at but what we seem to always overlook is the long road and hard work that it took them to get to where that point. Then when they break down how they got to where they are, like Martin does in this post, you realize that these people work their asses off everyday, not just a couple of days a week or a couple of weeks a month.

Deadlift by Mike Robertson

A must read for anyone that has any type of interest in deadlifting (which should be everyone for the most part). As Mike himself called it, “a dissertation on deadlifting”. I personally am not a great deadlifter and could still look back at this every once in a while to continue to learn a little more and become a better deadlifter…it’s still a work in progress though.

Weight Training Programs: 7 Ways to Get Strong(er) by Eric Cressey

Soapbox Time: Some Things I Hate About CrossFit Part I and Part II by  Unknown CrossFit coach

A very interesting post (or two) from an unknown CrossFit coach. For anyone that isn’t on the CrossFit bandwagon and don’t plan to be anytime in the near future, this is a must read and it’s not from a CrossFit basher, it’s from one of their own so you don’t have to worry about a major biased opinion or agenda. I’m not a huge fan of CrossFit by any means, but I won’t be getting on my soapbox anytime soon.

ACL Prevention is Just Good Training by Michael Boyle

One of the hottest topics in strength and conditioning is the reduction of ACL injuries, especially in female athletes. As any athlete will tell you, ‘ACL’ are the three letters they don’t want to hear when it comes to injuries and most strength coaches feel like they’ve taken a pretty good kick in the balls when one of their athletes goes down with an ACL injury. With so many thoughts and theories on how to reduce ACL injuries, I think Mike Boyle gives a pretty good (great) breakdown of how we should be training our athletes.

Back Friendly Training by Ben Bruno

With so many people having back issues I feel this was a great read for anyone that doesn’t want to throw in the towel on lower body training because of it. Furthermore, Ben himself has had his fair share of back issues in the past and has first hand found ways to continue to make progress in his lower body strength training. A great alternative to the traditional squat and deadlift based lower body strength programs.