Posts categorized in:
Injury Prevention
Bodybuilding Back for Healthy Shoulders
A common theme I see in the gym is when people mindlessly blow through their upper back work. Whether it’s rows, chins, or even something as simple as a face pull, people don’t put in the focus necessary to really develop the muscles surrounding their shoulder blades. At best, you’re leaving some upper back development […]
Continue ReadingMastering Tripod Foot
One of the hottest topics in the training world today is barefoot training. Is barefoot training magical, like a Pegasus or Unicorn? Can you really just kick your shoes off and your lower extremity injuries heal themselves?
Continue ReadingGrab Your Balls!
A New Perspective on Activation By Jim Smith, CSCS, RKC Over the last 3 years I have made a huge change in the programming for my athletes. The warm-up that was once a formality has now become the center for the entire program. Why? Because it is that important! When I started focusing on the […]
Continue ReadingKnee Pain Basics Part 3
Coaching Your Way to Healthy Knees! In this final installment of our knee pain basics series, we’re going to cover specific things you can do in your training sessions to maximize your knee health. If you’ve been living under a rock the past two weeks and missed the first two installments, be sure to check […]
Continue ReadingKnee Pain Basics Part 2
Programming and Training Thoughts to Reduce Knee Pain In Part I of our series, we discussed my core philosophy behind knee pain, and how to address it from a theoretical standpoint. In case you missed it, check it out via the link below: Knee Pain Basics, Part I In our second edition, we’re going to […]
Continue ReadingKnee Pain Basics Part 1
How To Get (And Keep!) Your Knees Healthy for a Lifetime Today we’re going to cover the basics of knee pain – whether you’re an end-user, a trainer/coach, or somewhere in between, I hope this piece gives you an understanding of my core philosophy behind long-term knee health. Rule #1 – Do No Harm! Are […]
Continue ReadingUnderstanding Your Abs
There’s been tons of talk lately about the abs, and even more specifically, the rectus abdominis (RA). After all, everyone wants that lean, sexy six-pack before summer hits, right? Here’s the problem: We’re still caught up in outdated training methods, and not focused on what science has brought to light over the past 5-10 years. […]
Continue ReadingRe-Building the Reverse Hyper
As everyone knows, I’m a huge fan of powerlifting. It has provided a great link between my athletic career and my love of strength training. More importantly, I feel like the sport has molded me into the person I am today. One of the most influential people for me when I was starting out was […]
Continue ReadingDistance Running – Is It Healthy?
(Note from MR: This week and next I’m going to rehash some of my most popular newsletters to-date. If you aren’t already a subscriber, be sure to fill out the form on the right-hand side and get tons of free stuff!) A few days ago, I reviewed a NY Times article which espoused the benefits […]
Continue ReadingJoint Mobility AND Stability
By now, everyone should be familiar with Coach Boyle’s Joint-by-Joint approach to training. In fact, I thought it was so great I tried to take it a step further in my Mobility-Stability Continuum article. (Just watch out for the NSFW pictures – I don’t get much say in what T-muscle promotes in that regard!) But […]
Continue ReadingKnee Stability After Knee Surgery
The other day, Bill and I were having a discussion at IFAST about training clients after knee surgery. If you read a lot of the research out there, it leads us to believe the following: 1 – If you’ve had an ACL tear, even with surgery and rehab, you could be at increased risk for […]
Continue ReadingCase Study: Lateral Epicondylitis
I’m going to start a new feature section for the blog that I think you’re really going to enjoy. I know many of you are interested in what we are doing that gets results. As such, I’m going to start writing up case studies of clients in our gym that had great success with our […]
Continue ReadingREAL Mini Marathon Training
Today, I’m pissed off. How can I be pissed, you ask? I’m two days out from vacation. I shouldn’t have a care in the world! Today, all I wanted to do was write my Random Friday blog post, as I had about 8-10 great points to throw in there. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Today, I’m going to […]
Continue ReadingAvoiding Knee Pain in the Gym
After training clients and athletes of all shapes and sizes over the years, it’s no wonder why so many of them end up with knee pain. Many are left with the impression that they have genetically “bad knees.” Others simply assume that they will no longer be able to do the extracurricular activities that they […]
Continue ReadingOlympic Lifting for Average Bros, Part I
The winner of our “Rock the Vote” blog post, we’re going to discuss the best ways to integrate Olympic lifts into your training program. What I’m actually going to do is spread this out over numerous blog posts, as it’s a pretty expansive topic. DISCLAIMER: I’m not a world-class Olympic lifting coach. I’ve spent a […]
Continue Reading