#1: Stop Wearing a Dri-Wicking Shirt to Squat In. These shirts are slick to begin with, so the bar slides down your back, but then they push the sweat to the outside of the shirt and making it even slicker. Heavy Bar + Slick Shirt = Moving bar From http://www.jerzees.com #2: Use Dumbbells or Pushup Handles Instead of Hands Flat on the Floor for Pushups. Putting the hands flat on the floor puts a LOT of pressure on the wrists and is uncomfortable as hell, so quit doing it. Use the damn pushup handles or dumbbells (especially if they're the hex kind). Using handles allows you to keep the wrists straight and crush the handles. This takes pressure off of the … [Read more...]
Pushup? Yeah, That Isn’t a Pushup…
September 5, 2013 by
Fun Fact: TV personalities, fitness celebrities, and hell, the Army, do miserable "make your eyes bleed" pushups. Here's how this goes: http://youtu.be/_3NnWasBz00?t=35s Starts at about 35 seconds... Then everyone in the audience claps and the people on stage go... "Ohhhh, you guys are so great!"... http://youtu.be/SPMbzRlP4Oc Starts at about 8 seconds..... But....Ummmmm, theses "Pushups"....well, they suck. Even "Army" or "Military" style pushups suck these days: Pic Stolen from Army.com Point is: There are LOTS of REALLY Sh@TTY pushups being passed off as good ones.... Sometimes the movement is just too difficult and someone lacks upper body and … [Read more...]
How to Use a Gym Tampon
July 25, 2013 by
It's Not on the Back of Your Neck..... That's Dave Draper squatting with Ahhhnold. When you can squat like him, I will no longer question your use of a tampon when squatting. Where it will just screw up your squat.... But it can be useful if used in some "unconventional" ways. Preventing burns during TRX pushups: http://youtu.be/iw2pi4tW7t8 Make sure you have the TRX fully deployed, if not the bar pad will put pressure on the clip and it'll deploy it's self.....mid rep, and that's not cool. Controlling Humeral Position During Rows and Presses: When you do a rowing or pressing exercise you should aim for a neutral Humerus position, limiting Humeral … [Read more...]
Improve your Squat: Free The Ankles
July 23, 2013 by
Squatting is making a comeback in a BIG way. You don't hear as much of the, "Squatting destroys your knees, back, shoulders, etc" that you used to. And the squat racks at my gym are actually, predominantly, used for......wait for it.....wait for it....... Squatting Not curls. Which I think is: Awesome. Primarily the result of the influence and popularity CrossFit has gained. Fact is, before CrossFit was everywhere and everyone was hugging Rich Fronings nuts, which are probably 100% jacked. The rack was an empty, lonely, wonderful place reserved only for those with intestinal fortitude, pride and self-respect knowledge about how to train and … [Read more...]
Daily Preventative Maintenance
July 10, 2013 by
If You Only Had 10 Minutes a Day To Feel Better, What Would You Do? Let's get one things straight: the body ADAPTS to the loads applied. Stolen from http://acommondilemma.wordpress.com Do something---->Signal is Sent out----> Body Receives Signal and Reacts (Adapts) Sh@ just doesn't "happen"... Your tight spots, lack of range, sore spots etc have occurred, in large part, as a response to the signals YOU'VE sent out. True, genetics play a role, some people are naturally tighter. looser, have deep vs shallow hips sockets and all that. True, you could have had a traumatic/ culminating event....ie a car crash or fall etc, that caused change … [Read more...]
Tissue Tolerance: Why You’re Injured and How Not to Be.
July 2, 2013 by
Injuries happen,but they Don't have to. Stole this pic from www.vessports.com Fact is, eventually, you will get injured. If you're training hard, it's easy for something "freak" to happen, but the fact is these "freak" accidents usually are not all that "freak" and have a root cause. What this means is: YOU Could Have Prevented Your Injury. This isn't always the case. http://youtu.be/oR3N21Snnpg Not much you can do there, except not play the game. And that's usually the case with HARD TISSUE injuries. Most soft tissue injuries muscle, ligament, tendon, however, are preventable. This is especially true in the gym where we have control over the … [Read more...]
10 Sites For Fitness/ Training/ Awesomeness
June 27, 2013 by
Where do you get your Info? I get asked that just about EVERYDAY. So I figured I'd compile a list of the sites I visit just about everyday to have knowledge bombs dropped on my mind. *This is in NO WAY one of those Nut-Hugger, "50 top trainers", posts that people make because they need more site hits so they send it to one of the guys on the list who actually gets hits and puts a link to it on his next blog or newsletter. I could give 2 sh@ts about that, this is just a list of some of the places I go for info on the wild world that is the interwebzzz. 10. StrengthCoachPodcast.com The SC Podcast is 5 parts; really great information and 1 … [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...]
