No quippy, I'd like to think, witty, intro to this one. The Front Rack Reverse Lunge, it's a bitch boss exercise. If you do it, it'll make you better That should be enough. But I have to find something semi-interesting long winded to say I guess, so here goes. Why Reverse Lunge in The First Place: Easier on The Knees: Initiating the movement by sitting back into the hips activates the musculature around the hips (glutes, hams etc) preferentially. This means you're FAR less likely to ram the femur into the kneecap (you can, it's just much more difficult than in forward lunges). Initiating into the hip also helps to lessen the chances of a … [Read more...]
Size Matters: How Your Muscle Does What it Does.
June 27, 2018 by
"That's What She Said" - Michael Scott What a way to start a science article, with dick jokes... Am I right? What the hell are we talking about? The Henneman Size Principle "The Size Principle of motoneuron recruitment stated that for any net excitatory input to the motoneuron pool, motoneurons were recruited in an orderly fashion, always from small to large." - Assessment of Size Ordered Recruitment Say Whaaaa? A quad isn't just a muscle. Well it is. But really a quad is a collection of motor units. Motor Unit: "A motor unit is a motor neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates. It consists of both a neuron (nerve cell responsible for … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Single Arm Dumbbell Bench
June 21, 2018 by
No, I don't change the dumbbell magically half way through the movement. Just took pictures of the bell in different hands. Time for a Story Kids: Long Ago in the Way Way Back Time Lil Roy went to his (probably 2nd) Strength and Conditioning seminar evvveeeerrrr. It was the 1st Annual Mid Atlantic Sports Symposium, or at least I THINK that's what the name was. Any who, it at George Mason a year after they made the Final Four and it was Hosted by Todd Hamer. *I've been to LOTS of these things through the years and could totally be wrong about the following facts, it coulda been a different seminar, but the essence of the story is the same. This isn't a … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Kneeling Squats
May 22, 2018 by
Long, Long, Ago.. In a Distant Land, Circa 2014 There was this dude. Jaret Grossman. At the time he was putting out these, fairly well done and if not enjoyable, tolerable motivational YouTube fitness videos. Little did he, or we, know at the time that 2 of the stars of his videos, both, virtual unknowns at the time would become fitness superstars. One was Marc Megna The other was future instafamous duck butt sensation Jen Selter And just to cut to the chase she's had a LOT of influence on the whole fill your ass with cement in a Miami hotel room cause that's not sketchy at all fitness culture that's been around since circa … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Offset RDL
May 16, 2018 by
Sometimes I think, "WOW that would be a GREAT exercise." "I wonder why no one has done them before? I'm so smart." Then I search the YouTube and learn. People already do it. Have done it for years. I'm not that smart and mostly. THERE IS NOTHING NEW IN EXERCISE. Except Tri-phasic training, that was legit new. Its ALL been done before. So when I had a false ephipany and thought, "Offset RDL's would be a GREAT exercise. I'm glad I thought of them." I hadn't. Within 3 days, I saw a video of them on the Instagram. Silver Lining: That's kind of a good thing, finding that other people do actually think these are worthwhile. Why? Because that … [Read more...]
Half Kneeling: It’ll Fix What Ails Ya.
May 9, 2018 by
Q: What Makes Everything Harder? A: Half Kneeling... Do it in half kneeling and it's harder. Shoulder Press Corner Press Cable Row Pallof Press Do them in half kneeling, go ahead, use less weight... Its harder. Why? In the words of Gray Cook: "Tall and Half Kneeling Positions force you to OWN your position" In My Words, "You Can't Half-Ass, Half-Kneeling" When in Half-Kneeling it's really tough to hide your weaknesses with NO LOAD. Add even minimal loads and there's no denying it. Half-Kneeling is an Inherently Unstable Position. Yes, it tries to put you on your ass. Unless you align, activate, brace and move with solid, effective … [Read more...]
Wrist Wraps Do as Much For Elbows as Wrists.
May 3, 2018 by
Wrist Wraps = Healthy, Happy, Wrists And Elbows Elbows Yes, elbows. Wrist Wraps do Two Obvious Things: 1: "Cast" your wrist in place so the hand and forearm stay aligned. This ABSOLUTELY helps you LIFT MORE WEIGHT. 2: Keeping the wrist aligned also keeps a LOT of stress off the wrist joint and helps keep the wrists happy and healthy. Already covered #2 in this article: Bent Wrists, Loose Grips = Fire Elbow and it Sucks But the less obvious benefit is: Wrist Wraps Protect You From FIRE ELBOW Wait But What: It's all connected, nothing functions in isolation and: What Happens at One Joint Affects ALL Other Joints Maybe the effect is small, but there is an … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: “The Worlds Greatest Stretch” AKA Groiners W/ Rotation
April 25, 2018 by
"The Worlds Greatest Stretch" Pretty sure I first heard that term applied to this exercise in this book. Circa 2005 (and the book was 2-3 years old then). Fun Fact: Core Performance was the 2nd real "training" book I ever bought. The first was Functional Training for Sports. Core Performance is a book that, unfortunately, I didn't recommend for a long time. It has a really heavy focus on movement, mobility, and "integration". At the time I read it I was 22-23ish and bulletproof. So I was like, "WTF is all this "movement" about, you gotta smash some weight". Well, what I didn't have was experience, perspective and humility. 1) I should have known, at … [Read more...]
