Mindset Matters – Three Tips for Working Through Tough Times in Injury Rehab
I sincerely believe people can achieve almost anything that they put their mind to. And often the hardest part of the process is just that—putting your mind to it. When struggling with a goal, we all talk to ourselves in our heads, and often those voices are negative: ‘You can’t even balance on one foot for 10 seconds.” “You can’t walk two miles without pain.” “Your left shoulder isn’t nearly as strong as your right.” You will have ups and downs while rehabbing from an injury or surgery, and mental strength will help you to
Deadlifting Part 1 – Why You Shouldn’t Deadlift Until You’ve Mastered the Hip Hinge
Out of all exercises in existence, the Deadlift might be the purest display of full body strength because it stresses just about the entire musculoskeletal system from head to toe. There’s something about pulling heavy weight off the ground that gets us feeling all macho-like. The Conventional Deadlift begins by flexing at the hips and gripping the bar with an overhand grip (setup), and moving the hips from flexion into extension while keeping a neutral spine. There are several variations that work the body differently, like the Romanian Deadlift, Hex
What Are Macronutrients & How Do You Count Them?
PART I If you are involved in the health or fitness community, chances are you have heard of the term “counting macros”. Counting your macronutrient intake can be beneficial in many ways. It can help promote weight loss or weight gain and can help you achieve your specific goals. Keep in mind that everyone is different and what works for you may not work for someone else. In order to be able to count your macronutrients, you first must understand what macronutrients are. Macronutrients are substances required in relatively large amounts in
Consistency is Key
By Steve Zarriello As we roll into the New Year, many people will be taking on the challenge of starting a new fitness journey. Everyone that’s looking to make changes has already been evaluating what they’re going to do to based on what they’ve heard from friends, family, and colleagues. “This is the best kind of workout, I’m in the best shape of my life doing them”. “I lost X amount of pounds working out at this place!”. “This diet is the best, I’ve never had results like this before!”. “Everyone
Pull-ups
The pull-up is a challenging but beneficial vertical pulling exercise. Many people fall into the bad habit of trying to get as many done as they can without reaping the full benefits of the exercise because they allow their form to suffer. For a correct pull-up follow these tips: -Start just short of a dead hang, with the arms fully straight but not letting the shoulders shrug up toward the ears -Keep your core tight and avoid swinging as you pull up -Stick your chest out toward the bar and
1/2 Kneeling Landmine Press
The 1/2 Kneeling Landmine Press is an ideal alternative to overhead pressing, especially for anyone who struggles with maintaining neutral spinal posture. When done correctly it promotes good upward rotation of the scapula and lumbopelvic/anterior core control. To perform the Landmine Press correctly keep these cues in mind: -Squeeze your abs and the glute on the pressing side to stabilize the hips and lumbar spine -Start with some space between the elbow and the side, then press the bar up in a "Half U" pattern -Keep a neutral "double chin"
3-Position Dumbbell Shoulder Raise
If you want to increase muscle size, you need to increase your training volume. There are many ways to do that for your shoulders, but I particularly like this one because when it's done correctly it not only helps with the gainz, but it does so without putting excessive strain on the rotator cuff and labrum and actually helps to stabilize the shoulders
Getting to Know your Joints part 2 – Anatomy
Getting to know Your Joints Part 2 - Anatomy In part 1 of this blog series we touched base on the nuts & bolts of what joints are and how several factors can positively & negatively impact their health. We also went over joint stability and joint flexibility and factors that impact both. These are all topics I will glimpse over again soon but for the sake of this post I want to dig deep down into the skeletal level. There are three different types of joints in the human body. Fibrous joints
Alternating Dumbbell Lunges
When executed properly the lunge is a very beneficial single leg exercise that provides a challenge to even the strongest individuals. The dumbbell lunge challenges not only leg strength but also grip and core strength when done with heavy enough weights or for high enough reps. There's also a lateral hip stability element to the lunge in that it requires some balance side to side and gets some good eccentric glute activation on the lead leg when done under control and with the right amount of external rotation. We use
Getting to Know Your Joints Part 1 – Intro
Getting to Know Your Joints Part 1 - Intro. The premise of these blog posts will be for me to explain the strucure and function of our joints. I also will provide details and video demonstrations describing the science behind several 'prehab' and strengthening exercises for different joints, enjoy! How often do you think about the current health status of your joints? Whether you're an elite weightlifter, athlete, a regular gym-goer or a sedentary individual, an array of musculoskeletal misfortunes can pop up out of nowhere. Simply stated, joints are where two