EUGENIZATION.

So in having dinner with Dr. Warden and the Evil Russian last evening (with our respective better halves), Paul Chek’s name came up. Dr. Warden asked me what I thought of Paul Chek, and I had to fight my impulse to say,”That guy is an absolute maniac and he’s going to hurt someone one of these days.” You see, my first introduction to the enigma that is Paul Chek was in my undergraduate studies - a classmate goes to me, “Hey, check this out,” and proceeds to show me a picture of Paul Chek doing squats on a Swiss ball with a barbell loaded to 135.

Not a great first impression.

But as with Ken Hutchins (of Superslow), what initially repulses me eventually draws me back and I consequently visited Mr. Chek’s site, read his materials, and even considered (at one point) becoming certified as a C.H.E.K. Practitioner (ah, to be young and foolish again). So he began not to represent what was evil in the fitness industry, but was, to me anyway, a brilliant guy who got a couple of things mixed up.

I think what I like about him the best is his emphasis on a holistic approach to sports performance and movement. I’ve always been interested in pursuing Tradititional Chinese Medicine (alas), and that Chek’s assessment and rehabilitative models closely resemble those of TCM. But I think where I agree with him most is his assertion that aerobic training as performed by 95% of exercisers is completely and utterly useless.

But actually, I don’t think I told Dr. Warden that. Oops.