Stretching used to be the cure-all for every communicable diseases physical ailment. However, stretching has become a ten four letter word the last decade or so, and that's a good and bad thing. People swore stretching would: alleviate soreness keep soreness away improve muscle length improve "tightness" heal injuries prevent injuries improve performance Well, now we know that some of those are true some of the time. Like most things in life it comes down to CONTEXT. The how, what, why and when. Case in point; stretching does help to improve muscle length, if you have a statically tight muscle. But Stretching in the short-term decreases … [Read more...]
Is It a Keeper or Throw em’ Back?
May 14, 2013 by
There are NO new exercises. It's just new to you. TRX? Olympic rings have been around for....over a thousand years. Kettlebells? Only.....about 200 or so. Because of this exercises come and go in popularity and I've been around long enough to have been through an entire cycle of this. Case in point: The Olympic lifts from owresource.com When I first started training people the Olympic lifts were THE way to develop power and you saw the Clean and the Snatch included in popular fitness magazines and at conferences people had entire lectures about them. Then the pendulum swung the other way and NO ONE used the Olympic lifts anymore, they … [Read more...]
Stop Doing This: The Kipping Pullup
May 9, 2013 by
Would you go to the gym with the express intent of injuring yourself? Probably not. However, if you're doing kipping pullups that's exactly what you may be doing. I can't tell you when you'll get hurt but I can tell you, if you do kipping pullups long enough you WILL get injured. First Things First: Stop Doing this Incredibly Stupid Movement Second Things Second: The kip is NOT MEANT to be an exercise. It's meant to be a SKILL used in the COMPETITIVE SPORT of gymnastics. The Kip <---- overly simplistic explanation of how/ why it works and is viable for competitive gymnasts -----> is a way to use the entire body to generate momentum horizontally which … [Read more...]
Book Review: The Charlie Francis Training System
May 7, 2013 by
Charlie Francis reached the peak of his coaching career when his athlete won a gold medal in the 100 meters at the 1988 Summer Olympics. THE single most highly regarded achievement in the world of sports among physical preparation coaches. Why? Cause everybody runs...and the guy who wins the 100 at the Olympics is, THE FASTEST MAN IN THE WORLD and that sh@t matters. Problem was that athlete was Ben Johnson.....yeah, THAT, Ben Johnson. The one who got disqualified for steroid use. So now you're all like, "How is he so great? His athletes used steroids and steroids are evil tools of cheaters. Righteous, virgin athletes like Lance Armstrong, Arnold … [Read more...]
Good “Chefs”, Bad “Cooks”
May 2, 2013 by
I spent last weekend at the Central Virginia Sports Performance Seminar on the University of Richmond campus. It was once again the best collection of speakers at ANY seminar or conference in ALL of North America, yes Canada, I'm throwing you a bone. When you have two days of people like: Dr. Natalia Verkhoshansky- The daughter and long time right hand of Dr. Yuri Verhkoshansy (the greatest sports scientist EVER). Dr. Michael Kalinski- Head physiological biochemist for the USSR doping program among other prestigious appointments. Henk Kraaijenhof- Maybe the greatest living olympic sport coach in the world. Dr. Michael Yessis- One of the worlds foremost … [Read more...]
How to get Happy Gilmore Distance
April 18, 2013 by
Want to hit the ball like Happy Gilmore? There are 2 rules to follow: Have awesome technique. Get REALLY strong. Truth No matter how strong you are and what training program you're doing, if your technique sucks, your golf swing will suck ballzzzz. If this is the case, go get a good coach to clean up your technique. However, if you have good technique, you NEED to be strong. None of this circus, side-show, BS that get's thrown around when people talk about training golfers. Yes, this is incredibly difficult but also incredibly stupid. Golf is a Power/ Strength sport, NOT an endurance game and NOT a "balance" game. I know a round takes 4-5 … [Read more...]
Foot and Ankle Care for Runners
April 16, 2013 by
Running can be really bad for you. It's roughly 1,500 steps in a mile.... Hello, overuse injury! Sh@t can literally scar your heart and kill you....I'm actually being serious here. http://youtu.be/Y6U728AZnV0 But, that's the extreme, chances are you're just gonna go run a couple of miles a few times a week and be miserable tell people how awesome it is, but we all know that's a lie. Creds to weheartit.com Even the inspirational posters say it sucks..."It won't stop hurting"...???????? The only place where you'll see people running and having a good time are TV commercials and fitness magazines. When was the last time you actually saw someone running … [Read more...]
Knees OUT!…Or You’re ASS Ain’t Doing It’s Job
April 11, 2013 by
I spend approximately 99.5% of my day hugging puppies yelling: KNEES OUT! This Should NEVER happen: But does all the time. It's really bad... For Comparison: This is really good. So what's going on in the first photo? Short Answer: Your Ass is broke.....as in, it's not working.. Long(er) Answer: Glutes act as an external rotator on the Femur (upper leg bone) and they are not strong enough to: Rotate the Femur out. Stabilize the hip. How do we know this? The knee collapses toward the midline because when it does the glutes stretch at the top of the Femur, when the glutes (or any muscle) stretches it FIRES. When muscles fire, they … [Read more...]
