​Looking for information on ​how to get your CSCS certification?

So you can become a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist?

Without wasting months of your life studying for the CSCS exam?

If so, you're in the right place.

LAST UPDATE: MAY 20, 2019

It has been 6 years since I originally passed the CSCS exam and have gotten recertified twice.

​About a year after successfully taking ​it, I wrote a detailed piece on how to nail the CSCS ​exam like a boss. 

At 3000+ words, it quickly turned into the best damn CSCS exam prep article (even if I say so myself) on the entire Internet. I still receive reader emails thanking me for the tips that helped them get their CSCS certification to this day.

One of the biggest issues I remember - shared by many candidates I've talked to - is that info on how to prepare for the CSCS exam is damn hard to find online.

I was watching Seinfeld last night.

Specifically, the episode titled "The Barber".

Jerry needs to get a haircut in order to look nice for an upcoming bachelor auction.

His regular barber, Enzo, has been butchering Jerry's hair for 12 years. But Jerry doesn't have the cojones to go see another barber because Enzo calls him his "most loyal customer".

So Kramer (Jerry's quirky neighbor) recommends Jerry go see Enzo's nephew, Gino - who gives better haircuts - on Enzo's day off.

To Jerry's surprise, Enzo shows up out of the blue, gives him a forced haircut... which turns out terrible, making Jerry look like a 5-year-old kid.

This all sounds very familiar to me.

No, not the horrible haircut part.

(I *never* have a bad hair day... thanks to my Mediterranean genes)

But the loyalty aspect.

You see, many athletes stick with a workout program or particular style of training for years.

(often forever)

Not because it's the most effective way for them to train.

Or even a particularly useful approach to getting stronger.

But out of some sort of strange obligation.

If your current training fails to produce the gainz you're looking for, why not try something different?

You don't want to stay loyal to a workout plan that delivers mediocre results.

Especially one that butchers your body.

And leaves you feeling small and weak like a 5-year-old.

Give this program a try now:

http://www.NextLevelHockeyTraining.com

​Who knows?

​It could be just the right training plan​ you've been looking for.

Yunus Barisik

"Maybe I'm too old."

"And too soft."

"I've lost too many steps to compete at this level."

"Damn, I'm getting my ass kicked by these youngsters."

If you have ever uttered such horrible words... you should be ashamed and embarrassed.

Chris Chelios played in the NHL until the ripe old age of 48.

Jaromir Jagr became #2 on the all-time scoring list at 44.

The Finnish Flash, Teemu Selänne, scored 40 goals the season he turned 40.

And Gordie Howe played his final pro game, so he could step on the ice with his son Mark for one last time, at 51.

Yet somehow you're too old to play in some beer league where the rest of the guys, while 10+ years younger than you, also work mundane office jobs sitting in a chair hunched over for ten hours a day, hit the booze on weekends, and are physically far from being in pro shape?

Out of all the pathetic, estrogen-laden excuses I've heard over the years, the age excuse takes the cake.

Personally, I'm a much better athlete now after having reached 30 than I was at 16 when I was ranked among the 50 best soccer players for my age group in my country. And I intend to keep training hard and getting better until the day I keel over.

So if you've got any pitiful age-related excuses running through your head...

Feeling sorry for yourself having let the 9-5 corporate life get the better of you...

Thinking you can no longer do the things you used to when you were younger...

Boo-fucking-hoo.

You're out of shape and deserve what you got.

The question is:

What are you gonna do about it?

I know what I would do if I were you:

Start lifting for real.

So you come back stronger next year.

And take all 'em young fools half your age to school.

In shape they can't hold your jock.

Here's how:

http://www.NextLevelHockeyTraining.com

Yunus Barisik

I bumped into a very interesting study that depicts the effects of sleep on athletic performance.

Athletes from several different sports at Stanford University underwent a sleep extension period with a minimum goal of 10 hours in bed each night.

Check out what happened to athletes who did so over the course of 5-7 weeks...

Swimmers:

* Improved their 15-meter sprint times by 0.51 seconds

* Reacted 0.15 seconds quicker off the blocks

* Improved turn time by 0.10 seconds

Football players:

* Average 20-yard shuttle improved from 4.71 seconds to 4.61 seconds

* Average 40-yard dash decreased from 4.99 seconds to 4.89 seconds

Tennis players:

* Average sprinting drill time decreased from 19.12 seconds to 17.56 seconds

* Hitting accuracy including valid serves increased from 12.6 to 15.61 serves

Basketball players:

* 282-foot shuttle runs improved from 16.2 seconds to 15.5 seconds

* 10 free throws shot from 15 feet improved from 7.9 to 8.8 successful shots

* 15 three-point attempts improved from 10.2 to 11.6 successful shots

Another study by the same research group on elite male cyclists shows the negative effects of sleep restriction. With athletes who slept only 4 hours per night for three days in a row:

* Maximal aerobic power decreased 2.9%

* Time to exhaustion decreased by 10.7%

If all that number-crunching makes your head spin, here's the big takeaway:

Athletes who spent 10 hours a night between the sheets ran faster, reacted quicker, and hit or threw a ball with greater accuracy.

And those who got only 4 hours of shuteye fatigued faster and saw their performance take a dive.

An obvious conclusion from these research findings:

Sleep more. Play better.

For more athletic performance-boosting tricks, visit:

http://www.NextLevelHockeyTraining.com

Yunus Barisik