Low Back Pain Its a real mother. Over 80% of ALL people (Americans) will experience Low Back Pain (LBP) in their lifetime. LBP is the #2 cause of disability and the most common reason for work days lost. There are about a bazillion causes for low back pain. Those reasons range from genetic to catastrophic injury to many people just do consistently stupid things (myself included) that aggravates their back. The worst part is, they rarely even realize what they're doing is the root cause of their pain. Fundamentally, people with low back pain tend to share a few movement strategies, TOO MUCH low back movement. Lack of Gluteal Activation/ Reliance/ … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: 1 Arm TRX Plank
August 6, 2020 by
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
June 24, 2020 by
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: Half Kneeling Chaos Pallof
December 20, 2019 by
"Get Your Core Tight" What the hell does that actually mean? It seems to mean different things to different people. The old school powerlifter means, "Push your belly out into your belt" The functional fitness, physioball, guru means, "Pull your belly button to your spine" The "I don't really know what that means" weekend warrior means, "Round over, perform a half crunch and try to flex your 6 pack abs" So What the Hell Does "Get Your Core Tight" Actually Mean? To me, it means create, and maintain a neutral hip/ spine/ ribcage alignment regardless of the magnitude and direction of forces applied to you. ie. Maintain the Pillar. Your Core As a Coke … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Split Squat Row
December 5, 2019 by
Is the Split Squat Row THE MOST Sadistic Exercise I Know? Lots of people (myself included) do half kneeling rows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKPGzxMbfHU They're great. They train: Stability Glute activation Lats Anti-rotation and most importantly half kneeling rows put all those things together into one brutally efficient movement for training stability and bracing. But eventually you can't row any more weight, there's just too much on the stack, it pulls you forward and it becomes impossible to maintain position. Truth is, half kneeling rows for more advanced athletes are not even close to being the best "back" exercise for … [Read more...]
Winter is Coming: Get Ready to Ski.
September 19, 2019 by
I Have NEVER Skied. Fun Fact: I train a whole bunch of skiers. More Fun(er) Fact: They don't need "Ski Specific" training to improve. People that sell you "sport specific" are often charlatans who don't actually know what sports specific means. And NO sport specific DOES NOT mean the movement kinda sorta LOOKS like the sporting movement. Sport Specific: For an exercise to be classified as "sport specific" it MUST, in the same motor regime, accurately replicate similar joint angle velocities as the sporting movement its self. Most Fun Fact: In my experience, the "training" most skiers (and weekend warriors as a whole) do, isn't training at all. It's … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Side Plank
August 27, 2019 by
I'm Pretty Partial to Obliques. I think they're pretty important. Essentially, obliques "tie" the ribcage to the hip. "Core abdominal musculature plays a critical role in nearly every baseball-related movement as it is heavily utilized for maintenance of posture, throwing, swinging, twisting, pivoting, running, and jumping activities. These muscles, especially the internal and external obliques, help transfer forces along the kinetic chain from the lower extremities to the upper extremities." - Epidemiology and Impact of Abdominal Oblique Injuries in Major and Minor League Baseball Anatomical Role of the Obliques If you read an anatomy book it'll tell … [Read more...]
Lats are Core: Engage the Lats to Create TRUNK Superstiffness.
June 20, 2019 by
"You've Got a 400lbs Squat cause You've Got 600lbs Legs. But 400lbs Abs" - Louie Simmons, Via Dave Tate See, the key to lifting big weights, athletic performance and staying injury free is, in part, moving the correct thing, at the correct time. The forgotten (or more often ignored) part of that statement is... NOT MOVING WHAT SHOULDNT MOVE. or more accurately Not ALLOWING What Shouldn't Move To Move. This part of the equation is EQUALLY and maybe MORE important. If stuff starts moving, under heavy loads, at high velocities or positions of great instability/ challenge. YOU'R DONE And in my opinion probably exponentially exposed to tissue … [Read more...]
