You Should Do This: Quarter Squat Hip Abductions

Your Hips are Weak. Probably super weak. Especially this muscle: The Glute Medius Or "High Glute" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmwLJ1OQKJM&feature=emb_title Role(s) of the Glute Medius: Truth is, the Glute Med plays several different roles. The primary function of the GMed is position, movement and load dependent. "Hip and knee kinetic and kinematic variables related to the development of dynamic knee valgus would appear to be influenced by gluteal muscle strength and EMG activity. The level of influence varies across single leg squatting and landing tasks and would appear superficially to differ between genders, though this was not … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Hips Off Dumbbell Bench Press

Hips Off Dumbbell Bench Press I'm willing to bet you don't create enough tension when you press. I know I don't. How do I know this? Just go to the gym and watch folks bench press. You'll see lots of wiggling around, feet tapping and moving, knee coming in and out, hips up and down. But watch the strongest, smoothest bench. What do you see? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLrecJPciy4 None of that, usually. There is always that dude who is a freak, has craptastic technique and is waaaaaay stronger than almost everyone else. But we call those people freaks, lucky, outliers and wasting lots of potential if they just got their shit … [Read more...]

Spring Ankle to Fix Your Weak Feet

For a long time I've realized, People Lack Foot Strength and generally just have F-ed up feet, Collapsed arches Flat Feet Bunions Immobility Plantar Fasciitis Heel Spurs Lack of motor control And so much more!!!! I cant tell you how many people I've recommended foot mobility and strengthening exercises to. I can tell you how many people have taken the advice/ homework and consistently done them.... Keep in mind, things like foot exercises need to be done regularly, as in EVERY DAMN DAY. Why So Often? You're loading your feet all day, every day. They're the product of how you've lived loaded them To create change in these tissues you're going to … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Slider Side Lunge

Slider Side Lunge Most of what we do in the weight room occurs in the astral plane sagittal plane. These are forward/ back ward movements like squats, lunges, bench press, pullups etc. This makes sense. Much of life occurs in this plane too. Most, not all. A LOT of life occurs in the other planes too. Transverse and Frontal and the truth of truths is that MOST things actually occur in a combination of ALL these planes of movement. Muscles coordinate actions across joints to control the movement creating the desired outcome. Well, anyone who has done literally ANYTHING even mildly athletic knows.... NOT Allowing Movement is Just As Important as … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Single Leg RDL

The Single Leg RDL might be my favorite lift to prescribe. Not most RX'd (thats how the cool kids used to write prescribed circa 2015), favorite. It's almost like a right of passage. When it shows up on your program it's like you've graduated from padawan learner to Jedi apprentice. But you ain't no Jedi..... Not yet. Does this mean everyone gets SLRDL's? Nope. Sometimes it's not a good fit for that person. Sometimes Single Leg RDL's are not worth the trouble and investment in time to pattern correctly and load effectively. But for many, many clients of mine, "You're gonna get em, you're gonna do them, and YES, they will suck" Single Leg … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: 1 Arm TRX Plank

1 Arm TRX Plank Planks are really good. They do lots of good stuff for ya. But you don't do them, at least, not enough. Or, you unfortunately saw something like this, This is super impressive, from a competitive standpoint. Just not a useful from a "fitness" standpoint. Your friend at the gym told you they hold a plank for: insert insanely and mostly useless length of time here _______ and you thought, "WTF is the point? If I need to waste a whole day just hanging out on my forearms?" "Not So Fast My Friend"- Lee Corso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVAc3q-7qPQ Yes, that really is mostly just, hanging out off your low back and doing a whole lot … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Plank Row

Plank Row Know how I kinda harp on: Posterior Chain You can never have enough Ass, Abs and Upper Back Lats are core Today we're going to beat #3 to death, again... Lats Are Core   First things first, the "lats" cover a HUGE swath of the body: "Latissimus dorsi is a unique muscle in terms of its anatomical design. It is a relatively thin, fan-shaped muscle, and is one of the largest in the body in surface area, covering a significant portion of the back. It assumes widespread medial attachments to the spinous processes of the lower six thoracic vertebrae, lumbar vertebrae, and sacrum, as well as to the ilium via the thoracolumbar … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Nordic Quads

Nordic Quads Three words that strike fear into the heart of any client..... Glute Ham Raise... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGH6SIk15x8 this shit is INSANE, they ain't that easy... Tyreek Hill runs VERY fast. His hamstrings are VERY strong, eccentrically/ concentrically, repeatedly, huh... "subjects who produced the greatest amount of horizontal force were both able to highly activate their hamstring muscles just before ground contact and present high eccentric hamstring peak torque capability." - Sprint Acceleration Mechanics: The Major Role of Hamstrings in Horizontal Force Production just saying. Usually GHR's look more like … [Read more...]