When I first started personal training in 2012, breathing drills were all the rage in every avenue of fitness. You couldn’t read a training-related article without the opening line being some derivative of, “Did you know that we take over 20,000 breaths per day?” Belly breathing was the key to maximal strength, the diaphragm was …
Four-letter words are usually the ones people don’t like to be called. But in the case of lifters of a certain age, the most dreaded word is three letters long. “Old” isn’t exactly a curse word, but when it comes to lifting heavy things, the window of opportunity to make progress closes sooner rather than …
Greg Nuckols of Stronger by Science once said, “If you need your warm-up routine to be more than 20 minutes, you need to be in physical therapy, not in the gym.” I’m paraphrasing, but people tend to get carried away with this whole warming up thing, especially if you’re healthy and injury-free. I’m speaking specifically …
It may not feel like it with up to 2 feet of snow in Massachusetts today, but baseball season is right around the corner. This week’s Technique Tuesday features a drill we use with our pitchers to work on thoracic flexion and rotation during the follow through position. Many thoracic mobility drills work on rotation in …
Technique Tuesday: Thoracic Flexion and Rotation for Pitchers Read More »
Most people foam roll by simply rolling back and forth over a muscle to try to loosen it up. Sometimes this just doesn’t cut it, especially the bigger and stronger you get. Big muscles are often tight muscles and they need something a little more intense. If you’re serious about improving range of motion during …
The warm up is the salad of exercise. It’s not very exciting, but you know it’s good for you and you should probably have it before you get to the meat and potatoes. Luckily, with the increased popularity of functional training, a thorough dynamic warm up is commonplace in most gyms. But there’s a good chance you’re …
The Squat to Stand drill is one of my favorite warm-up exercises to help groove a nice squat pattern. However, some people have a hard time getting into the bottom position. Either they can’t keep their chest up or they can’t reach down and grab under their toes. This week’s Technique Tuesday shows you two …
As far as warm-up drills go, Bird Dogs hit a little bit of everything: core stability, hip extension and shoulder flexion primarily. For that reason, it’s one of my favorite exercises to get the body ready to move heavy weight. But Bird Dogs are hard to master and end up looking more like Flopping Fish …
The Bench T-Spine Mobilization is one of my favorite mobility/stability drills. It does a little bit of everything: gives a good stretch in the lats and triceps, teaches good anterior core stiffness and grooves a hip hinge pattern. However, it’s not completely obvious how to make the movement more challenging. Look no further. This week’s …
Technique Tuesday: Progressing the Bench T-Spine Mobilization Read More »
Usually I prefer to cry in the corner by myself between sets of deadlifts (it’s historically been the most challenging of the powerlifts for me), but this week’s Technique Tuesday covers what to do between sets of heavy pulls. Our primary goals between sets of the deadlift are to: Mobilize the hips Activate the abs and upper …
Technique Tuesday: What Should You Do Between Sets? (Deadlift Edition) Read More »
