Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I need some inspiration along my journey.

Pretty much every day, if I can get it, in fact.

I usually turn to blogs for that inspiration, for whatever I’m doing. When my wife and I need inspiration for unschooling, we look to blogs. Same thing for blogging, writing a novel, simplifying my life, quitting smoking, anything.

Lately my journey has been focused on fitness, and of course I’ve turned to some of the best blogs out there to give me my daily dose of motivation.

Today I’m presenting some of the best of those fitness bloggers — the ones I truly treasure. I’ve asked each of them to list their favorite fitness blogs (up to 5 of them) so that we could benefit from what they read. Of course, everyone’s list is subjective, and there are lots of other great ones out there (share yours with me on Twitter). And of course, there’s some overlap among their favorites.

I need to give a nod to my sister, Kat, for introducing me to many of these blogs. She’s a personal trainer and nutritionalist, my running partner, one of my best friends, and definitely one of my fitness inspirations. Keep rocking, Kat!

Next week, I’ll feature these same six bloggers but ask them a different question: best tips for getting lean.

1. Mark’s Daily Apple. Mark Sisson shares his unique philosophy of “primal living in the modern world”, and while he wasn’t the first to advocate a return to the diet and activity style of our primal ancestors, he’s become one of its leading proponents and spreaders of the idea. In fact, he wrote the book: The Primal Blueprint. He’s a must read, even if I ocassionally disagree with him (on vegetarianism and endurance running, both of which I do for reasons other than health). Here are Marks’ favorite fitness blogs:

1. Theory to Practice.
2. CrossFit.
3. Fitness Spotlight.
4. Conditioning Research.

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2. Fitness Black Book. Rusty Moore advocates the “Hollywood” type of fit body, rather than the “bodybuilder” type. Meaning: slim, athletic, sexy. Nothing wrong with that, in my book. And Rusty delivers, with great posts on different types of workouts and eating, breaking down conventional wisdom, and showing us how to stay fit year round. Here are some of Rusty’s favorites:

1. Fitness Spotlight. Mike O’Donnell had a site called “IF Life” a while back (about intermittent fasting). Scott Kustes had a site called “Modern Forager” about healthy eating and healthy fats. On their own, these were two of my favorite fitness blogs. When they joined forces over a year ago and formed “Fitness Spotlight”, it was a complete No-Brainer…this site rocks for great info!
2. Conditioning Research. Chris over at “Conditioning Research” is like the news source for the fitness industry. He is really dialed in. My guess is that he has a million “Google Alerts” set up and other tools for him to stay on top of what’s happening in health and fitness. His site is the first with the story A LOT of the time.
3. Adonis Lifestyle Podcasts. John Barban is a gentleman who was Head of R&D for a large supplement company. He was also a professor of Strength and Conditioning for the Florida Gators. I like to listen to his podcasts from his blog as I work online. I have a pad of paper and jot down notes for future posts and content for my blog. I consider this like a weekly lecture and always have more clarity about a subject after he talks about it. Incredible info.
4. Feel Good Eating. Marc is a guy who lives in a beautiful part of the world…Naples, Florida. He has a small little blog that is just filled with amazing low carb recipes (with awesome photos). I love his blog, because it is 100% pure. He simply does it for the enjoyment of sharing and connecting with people. I am not sure what he does, but he looks like he does very well in his chosen career and just does this blog for the love of the subject matter. I am not against blogs that make money (I make a full-time income from FBB)…I just love these little “pure” blogs.

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3. Zen to Fitness. Chris writes about a lot of common-sense fitness topics — or maybe they’re just common-sense to me because we have similar philosophies. Either way, great stuff. Here are his favorites:

1. Mark’s Daily Apple. An obvious one but great content consistently.
2. Theory To Practice. Extreme workouts, good discussion and regular input.
3. Arthur Devany. The pioneer of evolutionary health/fitness.
4. Fitness Spotlight. Overall a real winner, packed with great articles on a good level for every kind of reader.
5. Turbulence Training. Great workouts and podcasts from Craig.

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4. Fit and Busy Dad. Chris Lopez lives in Toronto and shares some great tips, workouts, and strategies for dads (actually all parents and anyone who is busy) who want to get and stay in shape. Great videos, fun to read. Here are some of Chris’ favorites:

1. Jason Ferrugia.
2. Brad Pilon.
3. T-Muscle.
4. Turbulence Training.
5. Ross Training.

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5. Fitness Spotlight. This is an excellent blog jointly written by two bloggers — Mike O’Donnell and Scott Kustes — who previously had blogs I enjoyed separately. Those two blogs — the IF Life and Modern Forager — seemed to have been abandoned when they created Fitness Spotlight, but those losses are more than made up for with the new blog. Excellent fitness and health articles throughout the week. Since I like both bloggers, I’m featuring both of their favorites here.

Mike O’Donnell: I have cut down on my blog reading, but the ones I do keep around and check up on once in a while on my reader are:

1. Mark at Mark’s Daily Apple.
2. Rusty at Fitness Black Book.
3. Stephan at Whole Health Source.
4. Ross at Ross Training.
5. Chris at Conditioning Research.

Scott Kustes:

1. Mark’s Daily Apple.
2. Robb Wolf.
3. PaNu.
4. Whole Health Source.
5. Speed-Endurance.com.