Never Use Lifting Straps. They weaken your grip and make you a P.U.S.S.Y I used to say that...a lot. It was like gospel. I was right then and I'm wrong now. Mostly because I was young and dumb.... See, the problem with youth and/ or inexperience is that you're young and have no experience. <---I know, that's really deep. The problem with being young, as it pertains to sports and physical stuff, is you can do really stupid sh@t, often, at high volumes, and intensities and recover almost immediately. You're like a metaphorical, living, breathing Wolverine... Stole this pic, please don't sue me Marvel This means you don't really learn from the … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: McGill Side Plank With Band
November 3, 2015 by
Planks are really good for you. IF you do them correctly they can help teach and train a few very important concepts.. 1. Pillar Strength/ Bracing 2. True "Core" Activation 3. Core Endurance Abzzz 101: The "core" isn't just meant to look all awesome on the beach with your bros when your tan is banging and you're trying to pick up bitches.... bro... It's also supposed to stabilize your spine and protect you from hoop, compressive and shear forces. You know, keep you from breaking the first time you pick up a kid, have to carry groceries, or push a car out of a snow rut...<-----all of these are secondary to the more bro(ish) use listed above, … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Band Good Morning with Band Around Knees
October 14, 2015 by
Ohh low backs, how you ruin our lives.. Truth is, it's not our low backs fault. It's our fault: we develop faulty movement patterns and then unknowingly do things that exacerbate the issue. In this case it's the ability to hinge at the hips. This is mostly comes down to 2 factors: #1: Initiating Movement at the Low Back #2: A lack of Glute Activation Once we can initiate movement from the hips and turn the glutes on everything else falls in line and you might actually start loading your hips instead of your low back. But I Already Know How To Hinge: Maybe you don't... It's fairly common for experienced exercises to overreach lower back to create a … [Read more...]
Maybe You SHOULD Do Yoga
October 8, 2015 by
Last time I wrote this hand grenade about why Yoga might not be the best option for you. And subsequently watched my subscriber list get decimated. So I guess some folks got all butt hurt...or they just don't like me and think I write like poop. Either way, here's why you might actually want, hell, you NEED Yoga in your life. The #1 Reason, By Far... Yoga Teaches You How To Breath..... Again Yes, you breath wrong, at least for the situation. You're Waaay Too Damn Stressed......ALL THE TIME. In modern life we worry about too damn many things. Mortgage Car bill Grocery bill Fights with the significant other Bosses Subordinates The cable … [Read more...]
Learning the Hip Hinge, When You’ve Got no Hips
June 9, 2014 by
Chances Are, You Suck At This You're probably either doing the stiff knees: got it from Sparkbmxtraining or the rounded low back This is from CliftonParkchiro or both.... See Wha' Had Happen Wazz You're all like the Tin Man. [Tweet "You can't move from the hip, hell you don't even know what a hip is..."] We gotta change that, cause without some hips you're gonna (probably) get some big time fugazi awesome feelings in your lower back. Now this is what hinging the hip looks like: From Bodybuilding.com Hips back Shins Vertical Chest "up" Straight line shoulders through hips Lower back in neutral I know what you're thinking, it's … [Read more...]
Doing it Better: Shoulder Pressing
June 25, 2013 by
You Probably Shouldn't be Overhead Pressing... Super Strong...but serious Lumbar Compensation here. I allow only about 10% of my clients to overhead press, and even then it's limited. That means 90% are foreboden from ever putting a weight over their head. Jim Wendler and Mark Rippetoe be damned. Fact is the vast, vast, vast majority of people I've trained should NOT overhead press for one or many of a variety of reasons: Lack of subacromial space. Poor humeral/ scapular rhythm (scapular depression). Poor Thoracic extension. In my experience most people (Not ALL, jackass) just can't overhead press correctly without grinding tissues down and creating … [Read more...]
Doing it Better: Rows
March 5, 2013 by
Hard truth: We NEED, as in MUST HAVE to function, more rows in our workouts. Too much of these things: Pushing Sitting Desk Work Bad Posture Have left us with Desk Jockey Syndrome. One major component of which is a weak back, especially in the pulling muscles. Muscles like the Lats, Rhomboids, Posterior Delts, and Lower Traps that just are not doing what they are supposed to do, or at least not to the level they are supposed to do it. How do we start to fix this? SCAPULAR RETRACTION and SCAPULAR DEPRESSION.....ie. pulling the shoulder blades back and down. http://youtu.be/BU3eHNtyNCc What exercises are great at … [Read more...]
Doing It Better: Spotting
February 26, 2013 by
You spot like a jackass Don't take it personal, you're just like everyone else cause they spot like a jackass too. Plain and simple, 99% of people spot wrong. Yes, even the guy at the gym who goes around not really lifting but spotting everyone: DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING... In reality there are only 3 ways to spot someone: At the wrists/ hands for dumbbells Around the ribcage/ chest for squatting At the middle of the bar #1. Spotting Dumbbells Ever seen this before? I know you have because that's how the vast majority of people think you're supposed to spot dumbbell exercises. Hell, some of the certifications even teach it that … [Read more...]
