Six Nutrients for Better Recovery and Well-Being
When thinking about making changes to our diets, we often think about eating to gain muscle or to lose fat. However, there are many other reasons to alter our diets that don’t involve a change in weight at all. Current estimates state that about 70% of the standard American diet consists of processed foods (1). While frozen fruits and vegetables are included in this statistic, the majority of those foods are nutrient-poor choices that result in major vitamin and mineral deficiencies that can leave us with muscle cramps, fatigue, difficulty
4 At Home Hip Openers For Golfers
Having proper hip mobility is an important piece to any golfer’s game. A golfer who has tight hips can develop compensatory movements. If this happens, surrounding areas usually pick up the slack, resulting in injuries and increased pain. Establishing and maintaining hip mobility allows for golfers to have a smoother turn in their backswing and downswing. It also helps increase power by allowing for the optimal rotation needed during the golf swing. Heavy resistance band stretching is a great way to develop better hip mobility. This technique will stretch both the
The Fitness Puzzle – Which Piece Are You Missing?
When it comes to fitness goals, most people end up falling short of where they would like to be. Part of that is the lofty expectations that people have, and part of it is our “instant gratification” society where people want a quick fix. But take out the people who expect to lose 20 pounds in a month, and there are still plenty of others who make a commitment to diet or exercise and never see the results that they would like. It’s often something that the individual doesn’t realize
Get Stronger by Pushing Through the Wall
If you’ve tuned into any of the Olympic Trials recently, you have surely seen some of the incredible performances that athletes have left on the competitive stage. While these athletes have undergone thousands of hours of physical training, these phenomenal performances go deeper than just physical training. Athletes, like Sydney McLaughlin, the most recent 400m hurdles world record holder, are not impressing the world by staying within their comfort zones. When practicing to push their bodies to their limits, athletes must also practice pushing their minds to those same limits. The
Your Guide To Golf Fitness
Each year the average golfer takes their clubs out of storage from a long hiatus and heads to the course to “dust off the cobwebs.” Some of us succeed, and for the rest of us, we never get rid of the rust. We often blame our equipment for our on-course woes, but never take into consideration WHO is swinging the club. Instead of spending unnecessary money on the newest hardware, why not dedicate time to our bodies? Having a golf fitness program is a great way to work on specific
Stay Strong, Stay Fast
Delay Age-Related Decline with Speed Development Training Techniques for speed development can be employed by people of all ages, with minimal equipment, in order to boost overall physical health and delay age-related muscular changes. What is speed development? In simple terms, it is training to produce a maximal amount of force in a minimal amount of time. This type of training produces a different effect on the body compared to generating moderate force over a long-duration activity. As the human body ages, overall muscle mass declines, and fast-twitch muscle fiber declines more rapidly
Baby Steps: Quality Post Rehab Fitness
Small Quality Baby Steps In today’s world we want everything in an instant. From what we eat to our online orders, we want things as fast as possible. This same principle applies to us after an injury or when we’re suffering from pain. We all want the fastest route to the state we were in prior to the injury or pain, but what many people fail to realize is that getting things quickly comes at a cost. The cost when it comes to post rehab training is that if we
5 Training Tips for In-Season Athletes
A common misconception is the belief that athletes should stop training entirely while they are in-season. It’s always a headscratcher when an athlete I’ve been working with is steadily progressing, then I get the “hey coach, I’m going to stop training because my season is starting” message. Of course, collegiate athletes heading back to school who have their specific strength programs are an exception. This usually applies to adolescent and high school athletes whether they are single-sport or multi-sport athletes. It’s foreseeable that in-season athletes schedules will be hectic due
It Really Is A Lifestyle Change
"It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change". Sound familiar? That's what everyone that just started a new diet says because they've started to see results and like what they're seeing. Then they realize that it's taking away from their enjoyment of going out to dinner. Then they can't have what they want at a cookout. Then they want to have a few drinks while they're out playing golf. And soon enough they've given up on it and are heading back to the weight they started at. That's a diet,
Does Your Behavior Match Your Goals?
As a strength and conditioning coach, I work with a variety of people who have lofty goals—including losing weight, hitting a certain body fat percentage, playing a D1 sport in college, or passing a municipal physical performance test. Many people are clearly focused on their goal and act accordingly; they plan ahead, they complete training sessions no matter how tired or busy they are, and they take charge of all of the details outside of the gym (sleep, hydration, nutrition, stress management). Others clearly have some type of internal conflict, because their