Want to put great fitness content on our radar? Post on Facebook and include #PTDCBestSubmission. 

Best Content of the Week

We all know there's a lot of BS in our industry. But how good are you at recognizing it when you see it? In this week's best article, Tom Venuto helps you fine-tune your baloney detector and stand firmly on the side of science and evidence, and against the hucksters and con artists selling magic and snake oil.

Ted Ryce's Legendary Life Podcast is also working the BS beat this week, with everyone's favorite meme-generating doc, Spencer Nadolsky. Nadolsky, a physician who specializes in treating obesity, corrects disinformation about everything from fat loss and fad diets to lipids and heart disease.

Alex Cartmill, the head coach at the Online Trainer Academy, tackles a different kind of misinformation: the idea that we need to make ourselves miserable to achieve or maintain a photo-ready physique. We all have to pick a spot we can live with on what he calls the Freedom Spectrum. If you prioritize a specific level of fitness, you have to sacrifice the freedom to indulge in some things other people feel they can't live without.

— Esther Avant

Best Article

How to Avoid Health and Fitness Scams: The Baloney Detection Kit -- Tom Venuto, Burn the Fat Blog

As long as people demand shortcuts and loopholes, there will always be health and fitness scams. Venuto quotes from The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan to help you counter claims that are simply too good to be true—and to avoid falling for them in your own practice. 

— Shane McLean

Best Video

Should I Change my Diet and Training During my Menstrual Cycle? -- Layne Norton

Have your clients mentioned that their monthly cycle affects their strength or energy levels? Have you noticed it in your own training? If so, you may wonder if it's something you should consider when programming for female clients. In this five-minute video, Layne Norton explains the research on performance at different points in the cycle.

— Esther Avant

Best Social Media Post

Posted by Alex Cartmill on Thursday, August 13, 2020

Fitness goals involve tradeoffs. The more ambitious the goals, the more we have to sacrifice to achieve them. The key, Cartmill writes, is to understand how important those things are to our happiness. If the answer is "very," you need to adjust your goals accordingly, and stop beating yourself up over your choices. 

— Christina Abbey

READ ALSO: Four Steps to Help Your Clients Find Their "Why"

Best Podcast

An Obesity Doctor Tackles Myths and Truths of Fat Loss, Fad Diets, Biohacking, Cholesterol, and More -- Ted Ryce with guest Spencer Nadolsky

In this info-packed episode, Dr. Nadolsky talks about his social media presence (you've likely seen or shared one of his memes), the science behind keto and carnivore diets, the nuances of cholesterol, and why dietary polarization so closely resembles political polarization. 

— Mike Howard

More Great Fitness Content 

Learning to Love Yourself Along the Journey -- Nicole Hagen with guest Dezi Abeyta

How to Regain Foot Mobility -- Tim Anderson, Original Strength

The Rock Lied: It Does Matter! -- Bryan Krahn, bryankrahn.com 

Five Rules of Weight Loss -- Steve Kamb, Nerd Fitness