Free Motion Squat Machine: http://instagram.com/p/XcqTpNPFUC/ Want to learn how NOT to squat correctly?......Do this. Why it's jacked-up: You're feet are out in front of you and your hips and back are locked into the pad. It teaches you to hinge from the knees and NOT the hips. Hell you physically CAN NOT hinge the hips. This means ALL QUADS, very little glute (only if you get low enough), and NO hamstrings. Ask someone to squat and 99 out of 100 times they break at the knees and move forward. In a good squat you should break from the HIPS and sit BACK into the motion. Think about it this way: If you had to take a crap in the woods you wouldn't sh@t on … [Read more...]
Get your Psoas (Pronouced So-As) Right
March 29, 2013 by
The Psoas is one of those "muscles of the minute". Just like the Glute Medius, Vastus Medialus and Rhomboids before it, right now EVERYTHING is somehow linked to a Psoas dysfunction issue. This isn't true....but it kinda is. In the last 2 years I've had more and more clients than ever with Psoas issues. But what is true is that the Psoas is waaaay more important than we used to think and in a lot of people, especially Desk Jockeys, it's either not doing its job, it's tight as hell or both. Either way it can and probably is contributing to your back pain and/ or anterior hip pain. Especially if you sit all day. What and where the Psoas is: It's a muscle … [Read more...]
RandomThoughts on Strength Training
March 26, 2013 by
Lets get some things straight: 1) Exercise Intensity: Percentage of 1 Rep Maximum..... It's a scientific, numerical, value...not a "feeling" about how "tough" a workout is. 2) Max Effort Training is about training at or above 90% of your 1 Rep Maximum. It has NOTHING to do with the "effort" you "feel" you are putting out. It's all about the relative intensity of the exercise. It's a NUMERICAL VALUE....if you can't put a MEASURABLE NUMBER on it...it's not Intense. Therefore, your 3 hour Zumba class, unless measured through the use of heart rate monitoring and judged against maximum hear rate, was not intense. Now that, that's out-of-the-way. 3) Max … [Read more...]
Beach Season is Coming….Fat Loss Workouts
March 22, 2013 by
Workouts are NOT the most important thing for 99% of the population when trying to get Beach Ready. Diet is.....but you knew that already. You can workout all the time but if your diet sucks you'll just be a "fat guy with big forearms". None the less workouts are really important because without them you end up skinny but with no muscle...you're just a fat guy with small forearms smaller fat person but still a fat person. In the Biz this is called "Skinny Fat" Let's face it, no one want to be "Skinny Fat". Skinny, but a high percentage of fat and almost no muscle. This IS NOT the goal. So we have to program workouts that will maintain or even … [Read more...]
Beach Season Is Coming… Fat Loss Eating 101
March 19, 2013 by
Look, it's March...that gives you PLENTY of time to be Jacked, if not TAN, by the unofficial start of summer... Memorial Day. But there are some rules you have to follow: (in order of importance) Nutrition Diet Food Intake Macronutrient Breakdown Workouts Doing "other" stuff...just moving around more Hopefully you've used your powers of deduction to ascertain that.. WHAT and how much of WHAT YOU STUFF IN YOUR FACE IS IMPORTANT. Like, very....for realllzzzz. Basic Nutrition Rules: 1. Don't eat sh@t. Stick to: Lean Meats Vegetables Fruits I know some people are all like, "Don't eat fruit, it makes you fat". How many fat … [Read more...]
Exercises You Should Do:
March 13, 2013 by
Here are 3 somewhat unconventional exercises that would be well worth your time to include in a program. One Arm Floor Press: Upper Chest Builder Extraordinaire http://youtu.be/JQcMBZj9Yc0 This exercise DESTROYS your upper chest more so than just about any other pressing exercise. Key Points: At Set Up: Legs Straight out, knees flat. Press your heels into the ground. Shoulders "packed" pinched together and pulled down(chest up). Push the "open" elbow into the ground. Crush the dumbbell. Forearm straight at start, elbow at 90 degrees. Pressing: Drive the shoulders down Press OVER the chest No Rotating On the Way Down: Soft … [Read more...]
Train Yo’ Core Right….
March 8, 2013 by
This is Bad......Like REAL bad.....Like OMG DO NOT do this, bad. STOP DOING CRUNCHES, SITUPS and TWISTING MOVEMENTS! They're destroying your spinal discs and either leading to back pain or setting you up for pain in the future. The "Core" is meant to work as a corset around the quite unstable lumbar (low back) spine providing a "bracing" effect to transfer force though the hips and or shoulders. The Lumbar Spine is not meant to be a loose, unstable, creator of motion no matter what you're trainer, doctor or yoga instructor says.... If you need a more in-depth explanation just go here, here or here... What you should do: Focus on making the "Core" a … [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...]
