Top Posts

I started this site back in August of 2008. Since then, hundreds of posts have been published here. Naturally, there’s a good bit of info in the archives, and many times, good posts get buried – never to be seen again.

So, on this page, I wanted to provide a directory of the best content on this site in case you’re new here or if you missed some of the good ones in the past. You’ll find it broken down into categories below.

The Top 10 Most Popular Posts

 

These are some of the highest-traffic, most shared, and otherwise most engaging posts in the history of this website.

Note: a couple of them may appear elsewhere on this list. Let’s just say that they were that big of a hit!

How to Rapidly Increase Your Pullup Numbers in 3 Months or Less (over 1 million views!)

The 2 Pounds Per Week Rule and How to Burn Fat Faster

The 5 Minute Plank For Core Strength, Stability, and Rock-Hard Abs

15 Ways to Prevent and Heal Muscle Soreness

The Right Way to do the Plank Exercise

Kipping Pullups VS Deadhang Pullups (Part 1)

The Right Way to do Pullups and Chinups

Be careful who you talk to about CROSSFIT…

The Complete Clubbell Review

The Definitive Guide For Going Barefoot

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/benmciver/

10 Must-Read Articles on Physical Living

Traffic stats aside, these are some of the all-around best posts on this website that really embody the spirit of PhysicalLiving.com. If you want to know what this site is really all about, then take some time working through these.

Epic 500th Blogpost: 100 Fitness Lessons I’ve Learned About What’s Really Important

15 Lessons I’ve Learned From 15+ Years of Fitness About What Really MATTERS (Do This Stuff to Succeed)

Are you missing any of these 15 critical fitness secrets?

5 Easy Ways to Accelerate Aging and Reduce Your Expected Lifespan – GUARANTEED!

Nature Deficit Disorder: The Top 10 Reasons To Go Outside

Too Much Sitting = Too Bad For Your Health

Natural Movement Doesn’t Come Naturally: You Weren’t Born Perfect

How to Love What You Do – Plus 100 Ways to Disguise Exercise

How Sitting is Killing You and What to do About it

How to Win The War on Health in the Workplace

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aandres/

John’s Top 10 Favorite Posts

Just some personal favorites here. A handful of these were very popular, too.

10 Things Your Genetics Won’t Do For You

No More Sugar-Coating The Truth

The “Beg For Mercy” Extreme Fitness Workout, and why I dare you NOT to do it

That Glorious Day When My Gym Kicked Me Out For Working Too Hard

The 7 Crucial Elements Of A Balanced Physical Training Regime

5 Things That Helped me do the Impossible: Lessons From Banging a Drum

How to Lose a 5k Road Race

Make Things Happen

A twisted ankle, questionable bullfrog hallucinations, a swamp beaver rescue squad, and how it relates to your health and fitness

5 Fitness Hacks to Help You Get Fit While Brushing Your Teeth

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/

The Top 10 Most Controversial Posts

I know it’s hard to believe, but I’ve covered some pretty controversial topics over the years. And to this day, I still get the occasional message from someone commenting on a post that is years old – just because they feel the need to put me in my place. Naturally, three of the most controversial posts deal with CrossFit. Speaking of which…

What about CrossFit? Tuesday Q+A with John Sifferman

Be careful who you talk to about CROSSFIT…

CrossFit at its Worst – Don’t Try This At Home!

Kipping Pullups VS Deadhang Pullups (Part 1)

The Kipping Pullups VS Deadhang Pullups Debate Finally Put To Sleep (Part 2)

The pros and cons of Barbell Training: testing the tried and true training tool for strength training

Strength Training For Women: Why Women Don’t Bulk Up From Strength Training

Don’t Buy Russian Kettlebells Until After You’ve Seen This

My Beef With Primal Fitness

A Creationist’s Response to the Primal Lifestyle and Evolutionary Fitness

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ice5nake/

The Top 10 Most Under-Viewed Posts

Here is a small collection of posts that did not go viral, but that I think deserve a looksee. Maybe they got buried in the archives too quickly when I was posting quite frequently, or they just didn’t get the exposure I expected. Either way, I think these posts deserve another look.

3 Things That The Health and Fitness Gurus Don’t Want You To Know

How An Often-Ignored Training Strategy Can Improve Your Fitness Results Overnight

How to Prevent Overtraining, Avoid Injuries, and Still Crush Your Workouts

The Massive Public Health Problem That Nobody Is Talking About

The Hypertrophy Training Formula and How to Build Functional Muscles From the Inside Out (sample workouts included)

Gym Training Doesn’t Compare to the Real World: Lessons From 10 Years of Manual Labor, and 5 Tips for Breaking Free of the Gym Environment

25 Reasons Why You’re STILL Not Losing Weight And What To Do About It

The Anatomy of a Jump

Secrets of Progression and Variation: the two principles of highly effective exercise programs by John Sifferman

The Top 10 Exercises to Get a Strong and Shapely Butt

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rossap/

10 of the Best Posts on Strength Training

This blog originally started on the topic of “Real World Strength Training.” And over the years, the Strength Training Category has grown faster than any other. And these posts are among the best ones.

The Right Way to do Pullups and Chinups

The Right Way to do the Plank Exercise

5 Beginner Level Burpee Exercises

Tuesday Q+A: How to Achieve Greater Squat Depth – video tutorial on proper squat form for a deep squat by John Sifferman

The Top 10 Exercises You Should NEVER Do

Bodyweight Training for Functional Leg Strength

Single Leg Squat Practice: How to Master Any Exercise or Movement Quickly (using the Pistol Method)

Why Doing 3 Sets of 10 is DEAD

The Ballistic Plank Exercise For Rock-Hard Abs

Women can’t do Pull-ups? Watch them.

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gregorwinter/

The Best-of-the-Best Posts for Runners

I was originally reluctant to post content on running-specific topics on this site, but over the years, it turns out that these have consistently been some of the most popular posts I’ve written. In fact, I nearly gave myself a hernia trying to narrow this category down to just 10 posts. So, I’ve included a few more.

Finally, A Logical Explanation For Why 50-75% Of Runners Get Injured + The 7 Building Blocks of Becoming a Strong, Resilient Runner

100 Lessons I’ve Learned From 10 Years of Running

3 Exercises In 5 Minutes: No More Knee Pain When Running

How to Run Better for the Perfect Run: 5 Things That I Do Differently Now That I Know Better

Persistence Hunting and Endurance Running: 5 Ways to Run Effortlessly

How to Run Every Single Day For One Year

Learn the Skill of Barefoot Running

An Unconventional Guide On Strength Training For Runners

The Definitive Guide For Transitioning To Barefoot Running

The Holy Grail of High Intensity Interval Training

How To Supercharge Your Long Distance Runs With The NEW Anti-Comfort Zone Paradigm

Running For Dummies, Idiots, Nitwits, And Other Normal People Like You And I

What I Love Most About Running

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaneda99/

Inspirational Stories, Motivation Tips, and Mindset Hacks

If you need a little “pick-me-up” or a friendly nudge to just GET THINGS DONE, then check out these posts.

16-Year Old Girl Totally Shatters The Plank World Record

Success is a Skill

Why New Year’s Resolutions = Fail

Another Plank World Record That We Can All Learn From

1 Weird Trick To Help You Muster Up The Motivation To Workout – Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

How to Use And Benefit From Inspirational Stories Instead of Archiving Them in the Depths of Your Brain to be Lost Forever

Why Certain People Are Hard-Wired to Hate Exercise (and what to do about it)

One Simple Mindset Hack That Keeps Me Going When I Feel Like Quitting

How Fitness Professionals Stay Motivated To Train (Hint: We Don’t!)

How to Model Physical Success in Other Areas of Your Life

The One Thing That 10 Completely Different People From All Walks Of Life Are In Agreement On About Your Potential

Advice to Those Who Are Waiting For The Time to be Just Right

The Top 10 Most Popular Product Reviews

I’ve published dozens of product reviews on this site over the years, and below, you’ll find the ones that were the most popular.

The Complete Clubbell Review: Everything you ever wanted to know about clubbells – the world’s best club swinging tool for strength training.

The Clubbell Mass Evolution – Complete Review – The Clubbell Mass Evolution is the premier clubbell-based, muscle building program. There are other clubbell training programs out there, but this is the first one that is exclusively for building lean muscle mass.

The Clubbell Flow Evolution – Complete Review – The Clubbell Flow Evolution is a health-first clubbell training program that is meant to help people enact positive lifestyle change through the conduit of physical transformation. It is a user-friendly, plug and play fitness training program that caters to an individual’s skill and conditioning level to help them burn fat, build muscle, and improve strength and conditioning while also developing the character qualities they desire to embody on an every day basis.

TACFIT 26 Review: First Impressions –  Scott Sonnon’s new-and-improved TACFIT 26 program is a comprehensive, plug-and-play tactical fitness program that will help you develop a high standard of fitness by burning stubborn fat, building functional muscle, injury-proofing your body, and improving your conditioning level using a variety of movement-based exercise and conditioning skills via several unique training protocols that were specifically created to address the tactical needs of various service personnel and military operators.

Primal Stress Review: First Impressions – Scott Sonnon’s new Primal Stress program is a comprehensive, plug-and-play bodyweight training program that will help you develop a high standard of fitness by burning stubborn fat, building functional muscle, injury-proofing your body, and improving your conditioning level using a variety of movement skills and training protocols that were specifically created to build resiliency and toughness while fostering a sense of strength and empowerment.

TACFIT Warrior Review: Reinvent Yourself One Workout at a Time

The Shapeshifter Body Redesign Program – Complete Review: The Shapeshifter Body Redesign Program is a plug-and-play, follow-along bodyweight training program that integrates a broad range of workout, diet, and lifestyle training methods into one comprehensive system to help you transform your body in six weeks.

Review of the Xero Shoes Huarache-Style Minimalist Sandals (aka Invisible Shoes) – A Comprehensive Product Review of the Xero Shoes Minimalist Footwear for (Almost) Barefoot Running, Walking, Hiking, Yoga, and More!

The Most Comprehensive Joint Mobility Training Program Is Now FREE!

The Complete Shake Weight Review

Here I am “reviewing” a new tent.

The Top 10 Guest Interviews

This was a very difficult list to narrow down because I’ve been able to interview so many bright and interesting people over the years. But of all my interviews, these were the ones that made the cut for the Top 10. In no particular order…

Interview with Ross Enamait about Achieving a High Standard of Fitness

Interview with Scott Sonnon about TACFIT – The Premier “Tactical Fitness” System

Interview With The Legendary Strength Coach Dan John – Build World Class Strength With These Expert Tips From Dan John

Interview with Coaches Steer & Murdock About Bodyweight Burn – Learn How To Leverage Bodyweight Training To Burn Fat And Get Lean At Home In This Insightful Interview With The Bodyweight Coaches, Adam Steer And Ryan Murdock

Interview with Scott Sonnon: the Creator of the Circular Strength Training System

Interview with Shane Heins about Clubbell Training for Building Muscle

Interview with Jeff Kuhland about MovNat and Natural Movement Training

Interview with Chris Highcock about Fitness, Strength, and Becoming HillFit – A Candid Discussion About Fitness for Hiking, Backpacking, and Hillwalking With One of the Most Down-to-Earth Fitness Authors on the Net

Interview with Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton about Running Barefoot

Interview with the Men Behind TACFIT Firefighter about Fitness for Firefighters and Those with Physically Demanding Professions

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/41stfiresbrigade/

The Top 10 Best Workouts and Programs

This is a fitness site, and workouts and programs have been in the mix since the very beginning. Here are some of the best ones in the archive.

How to Rapidly Increase Your Pullup Numbers in 3 Months or Less

The 5 Minute Plank For Core Strength, Stability, and Rock-Hard Abs

Replace 10 lbs of Fat with 10 lbs of Lean Muscle in 4 Weeks using this Simple Workout Program

4-week Sample Strength Training Program for your Workout Routine: Using Only Dumbbell Weight Training and Bodyweight Exercise

My Top 5 Favorite Pullup and Chinup Workouts

Natural Movement Outdoor Strength Training Session: Outdoor workout video tutorial

4-week Sample Free Weight Training Program for Your Strength Training Home Workout Routine – by John Sifferman

Beyond Burpees – 3 Ground-Engagement Bodyweight Workouts

This Workout is not CRAZY, INSANE, or EXTREME… but it works.

Burn Fat, Build Willpower, and Get Healthier With This EASY Walking Program

pullups
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marine_corps/

Honorable Mentions

These posts have been included on this page for one reason or another, but didn’t necessarily fit into any of the categories above. Don’t miss ’em!

How to Relieve ANY Type of Stress and Relax Yourself Instantly With This Simple Breathing Trick

Heal Your Aches and Pains and Prevent Injuries with this Joint Mobility Super-Package

Figure Out Exactly How Much Sleep You Need With This Simple Self-Test

The #1 Doctor-Recommended Thing You Can Do For Your Health That No Drug Company Executive Wants to Admit

Body Hacks For A Longer, Better, and Stronger Life

Learn the Squat Creep Exercise For Stronger Knees and Ankles

How to Hot-Wire Your Nervous System For Instantly Better Strength and Conditioning Performance

Training Tips From The 3-Hour Plank World Record Holder

A Direct Message To Those Who Proclaim That Exercise Makes You Fatter

What Really Works (part 1)

What Really Works (part 2)

Sequential Recruitment of Muscle Fibers For Maximal Muscle Gain

Disciplined Training VS Creative Expression

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/livingfitnessuk/

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