#strengthtraining

The Ultimate Ankle Mobility Routine

Ever wonder why……….. Your heels always come up on a squat? Your feet excessively turn out when you walk or run? You develop that nasty bunion on the inside of your big toe? Your knees are always cranky? You’re constantly spraining your ankles? These is all related to ankle mobility. Your feet and ankles are your foundation, everything starts from the ground up. Yet, no one ever wants to train their ankles because it’s not sexy and it’s super boring. Well it’s time to address

How To Stay Injury-Free When Getting Back Into Fitness

A funny thing happens every February when it comes to people working out. No, I’m not talking about those who give up on their New Year’s resolutions. I’m referring to the insane amount of people who start developing nagging aches, pains, and eventually injuries. It never fails. We’re super motivated and start thinking “I’m going to do cardio everyday, stop eating all carbs, and take every exercise class I possibly can!” Sound familiar? But come February, I start getting ca

What Is Steady State Cardio and How To Use It

It doesn’t matter if you're a certified gym rat or just getting back into fitness, trying to lose weight or looking to improve sports performance, steady state cardio should be at the center of your routine. So what is steady state cardio and why does it matter? Stick around because I’m going to get into everything steady state cardio, including how to get into the steady state zone, what exercises will get you there, and how often you should do it. WHAT IS STEADY STATE CARDI

How To Speed Up Muscle Recovery With Mobility Training

Muscle recovery is a topic that I’m asked about on a daily basis by clients with questions like “what is it and why is it so important?” Or “What’s the best way to recover after a hard workout?” And since I specialize in mobility training, they also want to know if we can use it as a tool to accelerate muscle recovery. So let’s dive in to what muscle recovery is and how you can use mobility training as your secret weapon to recover faster. WHAT IS MUSCLE RECOVERY? Contrary to

4 Surprising Benefits of Walking

I hate to admit this, but I used to be one of those people at the gym who would see someone walking on a treadmill or the track and instantly think, “Why would they waist their time doing that???” I, like so many others was of the mindset of, if it’s not brutally hard, why bother? When I started learning how cardiovascular training actually works, I realized that walking is one of best forms of cardio exercise as well as the most overlooked. And the best part???? It’s free!

How To Increase Overhead Flexibility & Mobility

You know overhead mobility and flexibility is crucial for lifting, sports, and everyday life but do you feel like no matter how much you stretch, foam roll, smash, or massage gun your shoulders, it’s like your running into a brick wall at the top? Then check out today’s coaching because I’m going to show you why all those modalities aren’t cutting it, and more importantly…I’ll show you what you can do to finally make some permanent changes in your overhead mobility. WHY YOU H

10x Your Overhead Flexibility With This

Have you ever put your arms overhead for something and realized how sticky they felt? Or have you been in yoga class and dropped into Down Dog, only to realize that yours looks nothing like everyone else’s? It’s time to blast through those roadblocks with this simple sequence you can do that will make your overhead flexibility the envy of every yogi and lifter out there. But first, have you heard? We’ve got the Healthy Shoulders 10 Day Challenge coming up, where I’m going to

How To Deal With Shoulder Pain From Benching Or Push Ups

How many times have you gotten done benching or doing push ups, and felt that nasty ache right in the front of your shoulder? If you feel like your only option is to ditch these exercises all together, stick with me because I’m going to show you why it’s happening and how you can get it to go away…for good so you can go back to hitting that big weight. WHY BENCH PRESSING OR PUSH UPS CAUSE SHOULDER PAIN That nasty pinch or ache right in the front of your shoulder is the result

Relieve Shoulder Pain With This Sequence

Are you sick and tired of your shoulders always feeling inflamed? Have you finally realized that you can’t do banded rotator cuff exercises to get rid of your shoulder problem? If you’re reading this, then my guess is you know what I’m talking about. For years I would do hundreds of these a week hoping it would make my shoulder problems go away but the truth is, that’s an old school way of doing things…and why we can’t get relief. Luckily, training and rehab has evolved, so w

Avoid Hip Pain In Your Deadlift With This Alternative

Have you ever felt that pinch in the top of your hip when trying to do conventional deadlifts? It’s like the lower you try to get your hips, the more painful it gets. This is caused by a hip mobility issue that’s pretty common where there’s weakness in internal rotation. WHY DEADLIFTING CAUSES HIP PAIN When you lack internal rotation of the hip, you essentially have a lack of space inside your hip joint capsule. As your femur (thigh bone) moves up toward your chest for hip fl

Chin Up Alternative For Elbow Pain

Do you love banging out sets of chin ups but every rep causes the inside of your elbow to burn more and more? That’s got mobility issue written all over it, specifically lack of supination. The good news is that you can still work on those chin ups with a really simple modification that won’t irritate your elbow. It’s basically an alternative grip that takes stress off of those elbows. WHAT CAUSES ELBOW PAIN Elbow pain doesn’t just magically happen. The majority of the time p

Save Your Shoulders With These 2 Bench Press Alternatives

How sick are you of being told to stop benching because your shoulders are always hurting? There’s gotta be another way to give your shoulders a break without giving up benching completely, right? You’re in luck because in today’s coaching, I’m not going to tell you NOT to bench…I’m going to give you a couple of alternatives to keep your bench gains while you’re working on that shoulder mobility. FIRST THING’S FIRST You need to realize you have a mobility problem going on in

Alternative To The Overhead Press For Shoulder Pain

Shoulders always achey after overhead press day? Don’t want to give up overhead pressing because you know it’s the only way to get those boulder shoulders??? Well the good news is there’s a better way and I’ll show you how with an exercise alternative for the shoulder press that will allow you to keep making those gains without causing pain. TODAY’S EXERCISE In today’s coaching, I’m going to let you have your cake and it eat too by showing you how to do landmine shoulder pres

How to Break Through Deadlift Sticking Points

Everyone knows getting off of the floor is the hardest part of the deadlift however, what most don’t realize is that it’s a lack of hip flexion strength and mobility that makes getting off the floor so brutal. In today’s coaching, I’ll show you how to make your setup a position of strength, not weakness, so that bar flies off of the floor with ease. GET COMFORTABLE If you want to produce more force off the floor, you must make the bottom of the deadlift more comfortable. Your

Hip Pain When Squatting? Try This Alternative.

Have you been squatting and every time you try to reach depth, you feel that stabbing pinch right in the front of your hip? For years I kept hammering into this pinch thinking it would eventually go away. Or even worse, I hooked a super band around my hip trying to pull my femur head out. Yikes. I wasn’t going to stop squatting though. And lose any of the gains I’ve worked so hard for because of that silly pinch? Heck no! If this sounds like you then check out today’s coachin

How To Break Through Overhead Press Plateaus And Lift More Weight

Is there anything better than being able to overhead press what most people are squatting? In my opinion the overhead press is the truest display of upper body strength however, we’ve all plateaued at some point in this exercise. Stick around for today's coaching because I’m going to show you a quick exercise to help you build more control and force production so you can break through that plateau on your overhead press. BUILD COMFORT AND CONTROL Unfortunately, most of us don

Simple Front Rack Position Alternative For Wrist Or Elbow Pain

Let me know if this sounds familiar…you love front squats, but the thought of them makes your wrists and elbows cringe. Unfortunately, these moves require an extreme amount of wrist and elbow mobility which is why today, I’m going to show you an awesome alternative to the front rack position so you can still get your front squat game on, without all of the agony! If you’re thinking I’m going to show the variation where you cross your arms over your chest, then shame on you, b

How To Squat Deeper And Get Out Of The Hole

Everyone wants to not only have a big squat, but a deep squat… am I right? Today, I’m going to show you how to not only get deeper in your squat safely, but also how to increase force production in the hole so you can finally blast through that pesky sticking point. DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT Being comfortable in the bottom of a squat is crucial for pushing big weight. This part of the lift is where you have the least amount of mechanical leverage and is also where most injuries t

Movement Alternative For Lunging With Ankle Pain

Who would have ever thought you could get pain in your ankle from doing lunges, right? Well if you have an ankle mobility problem, it’s most definitely going to happen. Don’t worry. I’m going to show you how to perform lunges without that ankle pinch so stay tuned. The reason for the ankle pain during lunges is you’re letting your shin go too far forward without having the ankle prerequisites to do the job. This is putting a strain on your ankle, asking it to do something it’

How To Break Through Bench Press Sticking Points

I love benching but there’s nothing worse than that damn sticking point where the bar seems the heaviest. That’s why in today’s coaching, I’m going to show you my mobility hack for building strength in this exact position so you can smash right though that stubborn sticking point at the bottom of your bench. A BIG BACK = A BIG BENCH What most people don’t realize about the bench press is how much upper back is involved. A big time powerlifter once told me that you can tell ho