With 2012 coming to an end really quickly, I wanted to showcase some of the best received articles I’ve written, and also some of YOUR favourites. When I polled my Facebook friends for their favourite articles, they came up big.

2012 was a pretty massive year for me. Between writing and training clients in person, I was able to put on workshops and presentations in New York, Toronto, Tulsa, Calgary, Edmonton, and also set up connections for some really big presentations and workshops in 2013. In addition, I was able to continue putting articles up on T-Nation.com, and was even able to add the credential of “As Featured in MEn’s Health” to my repertoire.

To be completely honest, very little of this wouldn’t have been possible without the ability to build an online reputation, which means this blog has been a major driving force in my business development, sense of self, and a way to form some very meaningful relationships with you, my readers. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has read, liked, shared, not liked, commented, contributed to, or in any way formed an opinion of me and this site.

So with that said, let’s go with some of the most viewed articles on this site this year.

1. Planks are the Magic Bullet for Hip Stability

 

Only written in October, this article shot up through shares on Facebook and through Reddit quickly to become the most viewed article on the site written this year.

2. Some Reasons You Should Stop Stretching Your Hip Flexors

 

One of my most controversial articles that talks about why stretching isn’t all that beneficial if you have to continuously do it. The true sign of insanity is doing the exact same thing again and again and expecting a different result, right?

3. 75 Ways Deadlifting Just Plain Rocks

 

I was pretty much girlie-giggling the entire time I was writing this post, in to be honest it flowed pretty easily. I think it took me about an hour or an hour and a half to complete the entire thing.

4. 6 Benefits of Creatine: 3 You Probably Knew, 3 You Probably didn’t

 

A guest post from the creators of Examine.com, this one was a real eye-opener to me as well.

5. Why Hipsters Aren’t Great at Weightlifting

 

If you haven’t seen the recent episode of the Simpsons where they completely tear apart everything stereotypically derived from hipsters, find a copy of it now, and get ready to laugh your ass off. In this article, I offer some pseudo-science-y information on how wearing skinny jeans and listening to music no one else is up on yet can decrease your ability to be massive in the gym.

6. T-Nation Article: Stretching Doesn’t Work

 

Technically not on this site, but one I wrote that was REALLY well received by everyone who read it, shared it, and commented in the Live Spill, I had to mention it. Plus, it was just put out on Friday too, which makes it so fresh and so clean clean.

Some of YOUR Favourites

As I mentioned, I polled my Facebook friends to see what they liked this year. If you want a chance to contribute to stuff like this, all you have to do is add me as a friend, or subscribe to my updates. They’re both great ways to stay in the loop on the social scene, plus that way we can be friends on Facebook and walk past each other on the street like we don’t know each other. All the kids are doing it these days.

20 Best Quotes/Knowledge Bombs from Personal Trainers & Physical Therapists – Nick Tumminello

Nick’s a smart trainer who always looks at the other side of the coin when it comes to fitness, health and training, and I really respect his desire to keep digging and find better ways to get things done. He compiled a list of awesome quotes from people who may or may not have a blog or internet presence, and who gained relevance through things like published books, speaking at conferences or seminars, and generally being awesome at what they do.

I Hate the Functional Movement Screen – Coach X

This article did a great job at ruffling a few feathers, but also pointed out a major hole in a lot of programs that are designed just to correct movement dysfunctions. At the end of the day, the person has to be able to perform under load, and a screen like the FMS, which is very useful, will not be something that can be used to give all the information necessary. But then again, it was never designed to be the end all be all of assessments, but a screen to get a lot of information in a short period of time.

The Hip Hinge – Jeromie Preas

I try to teach the hip hinge to every client, whether that involves a very basic wall tap or more advanced conventional deadlifts, or somewhere in between. It’s a crucial movement that this article goes over very effectively.

Conditioning is a Sham – Mark Rippetoe on T-Nation.com

Along the same vein as the FMS article, this one talks about how the body has to be loaded, and what we do in the gym doesn’t necessarily transfer over to stuff we have to do outside of the gym. As an example, walking on concrete all day long won’t make you better at hiking a mountain, even if it does help to develop your cardio system.

Lift to Lose Weight – Andrew Heffernan on Experience Life Magazine website

This was posted in Experience Life, and talks about how if you want to lose body fat, you have to do some form of resistance training, and the heavier the better. Endless hours on the cardio machines have their place, but to get the kind of results people dream about, you have to toss around more plates than the host of a Greek wedding.

The 6-Week Sprinting Solution – John Romaniello on T-Nation.com

Instead of spending 3 hours reading a copy of In Style and watching the Lord of the Rings on the stairmaster, why not get better results in a fraction of the time by running so fast you rip a hole in the space-time continuum? For a state of metabolic flux like no other, designed to get you cut, strong and fast, check out this article.

The Cause of Low Back Pain – Nick Tumminello on Livestrong.com

Nick takes on the often dogmatic approaches a lot of people take to dealing with low back pain, often quoting soft research or anectdotal evidence of their aunt Bertha’s success with a chiropractor. While there are often practitioners who do great work, Nick breaks down a lot of the research on what helps and what has minimal effect when it comes to working with low back pain individuals.

Blue Steel and the Hero’s Journey – John Romaniello

Zoolander was an epic movie of pop-cultural significance for today’s society, and has its’ roots in story-telling structure that goes back centuries. The Hero’s Journey is a concept as old as told stories and myths themselves, consisting of a set formula of events that when mixed with fantastic one-liners and awesome characters like Hanzel (He’s so hot right now), it creates an epic blog post that has absolutely nothing to do with fitness, on a fitness site.

Intermittent Fasting in 100 Words – David Dellanave

IF is one of the big buzz topics in the industry right now. Dave does a fantastic job of concisely summarizing what it is and what it’s supposed to be used for. I’ve tried the 16/8 method of IF before, but not eating for a whole 16 minutes is pretty difficult, even with those 8 minutes of complete freedom.

I’ve Got 99 Problems but My Shoulder Ain’t One – Fred Duncan on EliteFTS.com

Anyone who can make a Jay-Z song into a fitness article is okay in my books. The often paradoxical concept of building shoulders by using staple shoulder exercises that may actually cause the shoulder to hate you forever is something that seems to give a lot of people fits. This article does a great job of cutting through the clutter and figuring out a simplified way to build boulders for delts without helping your physio make their boat payments.

Now while these were all fantastic articles as recommended by my Facebook friends who saw the status in their feed, what were some of your favourites from the year? Drop a comment below, preferably with a link so everyone can bask in its’ glorious gloriousness.