Hip mobility is important for many different reasons but two trends that you will tend to see with a loss of mobility in the hips are: 1. Low back pain2. Knee pain For those two reasons alone it should encourage coaches and trainers to put an emphasis on hip mobility in their program...

The draw-in maneuver (hollowing) is commonly taught as a technique to activate the abdominals in order to stabilize the spine. In reality, this not a very effective technique for achieving spinal stiffness for a few reasons. First, drawing in the abdominal wall (belly button towards the spine)...

MMA guys, along with most combative sports, walk around with Neanderthal like posture. Because we try to have hunch back posture (shoulders elevated and rounded, chin tucked, rounded upper back) when we box and kick box, we should pay extra attention to our posture outside of training. Having...

Plyometric High Intensity Interval Training? Huh?? Plyometric training and HIIT are two very opposing concepts. Using plyos as a conditioning tool is one reason they get such a bad rap. It’s the same thing I wrote about with Olympic Lifts. Repetitive jumping is a great way to develop...

Q: There are conflicting views at my gym between the trainers on whether the toes should be turned out or straight ahead during a squat. What is your view on this topic? A: Many Coaches and trainers say that during loaded squats it is best to have the toes turned out 7-15 degrees. I completely...

Oh boy……This one is gonna stir the pot. How pilates became so popular, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the pretty girls in Lycra pants that do it or the fact that you can stay in one spot for an hour and call it exercise? Or, maybe it’s the list of lies and false...

Hunch back posture is not only predominately found in the “Computer Man”, but it seems to be a plague among kids and even athletes. Everywhere I go I see people with rounded shoulders and a head popping forward as if they were a rooster strutting it’s stuff for a hen. The...

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine. He was asking if I had ever heard of prolotherapy. His girlfriend is having back problems and is getting shots of prolo. I don’t know much about prolo so I won’t act like I do but I will give some feed back on what I have heard: Note:...

With all the fitness gimmicks and BS out there, I figured I would start a “Gimmick Exposed” feature to this blog. I may get some hate mail or get lynched in a dark alley at some point……..but oh well. Let’s start with the most recent piece of crap I’ve seen,...

Q: I recently pulled my quad while sprinting. This is a re-occurring problem. Along with my quad, last year I also pulled my hamstring twice. Is there anything I can do to hopefully prevent it happening again? A: With any injury, one of the first things we do is look for a weak synergist. When...

Trying to increase range of motion at the lumbar spine is DANGEROUS. I haven’t really written in depth on this because I honestly forget that people don’t already know this. It is a subject that has been written about extensively, so I did not want to beat a dead horse. But I continue to...

Q: I am a powerlifter and have recently had to stop squatting because of severe shoulder pain. What can I do to train around the pain? A: When someone’s shoulder is hurting during a back squat, it is usually a sign of shoulder impingement (external rotation + abduction). Depending on the...

One of my favorite quotes from Mike Boyle is “A bad program done well is better than a good program done poorly”. This holds so much truth. You can have the best program with the best exercises but they are close to worthless if the execution of the exercises are sloppy. As coaches we...

Okay, more like 8 but 10 sounds cooler 1. The draw-in method (belly button towards the spine, TA activation) is not a good method to support spinal stability. In fact it de-stabilizes the spine. Your spine will buckle if you choose to draw-in while your body is under significant load. People...

Every day, sciatic nerve pain debilitates thousands of people. Many people just deal with the nagging pain in their butt (literally) and push on through their day. There can be several reasons for sciatic nerve pain (many of which we will not discuss here) and finding relief can sometimes be...

I’m sorry, I just had to post this. I was reading an article on back pain on the Internet. It started out pretty good and was citing Stuart McGill’s work. Then it took a turn for the worse. Half way through, I have a feeling the author started to consume illegal drugs, prescription...

I get many pre-knee surgery and post-knee rehab clients. For the most part these people come to me in order to still get a training effect around the existing injury. The things we first look at are: 1. Eliminating knee dominant exercises that present ANY discomfort. Many times this is all of...

Q: I read that too much flexion of the spine is bad for you. Is this true? And if so, does this mean crunches and sit-ups are bad too? A: According to Stuart McGill (the leading spine researcher in the world), absolutely. First let me tell you something about Stuart. When Stuart talks, you...

Would you like to shorten your hip flexors? Would you like to cause burning back pain? Would you like to create a posterior herniated disc? Or maybe even pull your rib cage closer to your pelvis so you can look like a cave man? Well then do I have a solution for you!! You can have all this and...

Answer me this: Why would you lift light weights? Why would you lift a weight for 10 reps that you could actually lift for 20 reps. Lifting light weight does not make sense. Jessica Beil lifts heavy weights. Does she look big and bulky? I think not!!! The truth is, it is harder than hell to...

Q: My neck seems to always feel tight. What are some good stretches for me to do? A: I really don’t have any of my clients do neck stretches. As trainers, it is out of our job description and can be very dangerous. Definitely have a “Qualified” physical therapist check it...

Sorry! There is no such thing as spot reduction! Put the fork down! ...

You here this one being preached by the personal trainer that got certified over the weekend. If he sees you squatting to deep, he starts crying and pulling his hair out. Question: Do babies squat past parallel? Don’t they play with their toys in a full ass-to-grass deep squat? “I...

Got pain? Take a look at the type of footwear you have. Check out the heels. You too guys!! It’s not only women that wear high heels (well, drag queens too). Men also wear them. Look at all of the crazy so called athletic shoes like Shox!! One of the first things that I do with my clients...

This is that age old myth that you must do a half hour to an hour of that stuff they call cardio. Not only is this a waste of time but it hardly yields a significant calorie burn (don’t even try to give me the old, “it burns more fat calories”! That is BS and a half truth). If you want...

This is the one that you hear blaring through the microphone in the group exercise room. I’m not sure where this one got started but it falls right smack under the ridiculous category. Do your knees ever go past your toes when you walk up or down the stairs? Or when you get down on the...

It is all to common to hear individuals complaining of consistent knee pain. Medial, lateral and anterior knee pain can be the result of many things, contact and non-contact injury related. But two commonalities among 95% of the athletes and clients that I work with is the lack of mobility in...