The ability to squat is a fundamental human movement that you have been capable of doing since you were toddler. It is much more than just an exercise, it is a skill that is necessary to perform certain activities. Losing the skill to squat will make life harder as you age. So what is a squat? Essentially, a squat is a movement where you sit down and stand back up.…
Your feet matter more than you realize. I will not go heavy with the anatomy but here are some numbers for you about the feet. There are 28 bones, 33 joints, 112 ligaments, 13 extrinsic muscles (superficial/surface) and 21 intrinsic muscles (deep muscles). The foot has a rigid structure for weight bearing and it has a flexible structure to conform to uneven surfaces. This makes sense when you look at…
What is progressive overload? To keep it simple, it is a trackable increase of stress on the body to generate a goal-oriented adaptation. Without this trackable stress on the body you can expect to hit a plateau with your results and not see any changes. This is because you are not giving the body a reason to change or adapt. I will give you an example, let’s say you go…
Cardio sucks. Sorry to all the cardio bunnies out there who love it, but seriously cardio sucks. I know others feel the same way about it, and like them I used to believe cardio was this activity you did to get your heart rate up, breathing heavily, dripping sweat, and looking at your time to see if you are done. What I have come to learn is that there…
America has a movement problem. The lack of movement in Americans is one variable on why we also have an obesity problem. 43% of Americans are obese and the leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease (CVD). With obesity on the rise, it is associated with an increase of anxiety, depression, and risk of CVD related deaths. When I said we have a movement problem, it is because on…
Motivation is a great way to get started with your fitness journey, but it is unsustainable to rely on it. When you rely on motivation alone, what will happen is inconsistency of your plan. You can have the greatest plan for yourself, whether it is nutrition or exercise, but if you are inconsistent with that plan you will not see results. That is why you need to create a plan…
What is strength? Before we talk about all the benefits of strength training we should talk about what strength is. First, I want to say that it is not your 1 rep max on a lift. Strength is much more than just lifting weights. A great well known coach, Pavel, defines strength as the ability to generate force under given conditions. I like this definition because in life we are…
The New Year is here, and with the New Year brings new goals to achieve for the year. Now let me ask you this, how many of you are actually making new goals? What I mean is, are you setting a goal that you have used in the past because you didn’t achieve it the year before? There is actually a reason why most people do not achieve their…
Unilateral training is when you are training using one limb or one side of the body compared to lifting weights with both limbs at same time called bilateral. Example of a bilateral exercise would be a squat, lifting with both legs, and a unilateral exercise would be a rear foot elevated split squat. Mike Boyle, a well known strength coach in MA likes to categorize his unilateral leg exercises. The…
Mobility training is easily confused with flexibility, but there’s a difference, and I would say mobility should be more focused. So, let’s define what mobility is and how it is different from flexibility. Mobility, best described as the active range of motion and flexibility is the passive range of motion. Mobility of a joint requires flexibility of the muscle surrounding that joint, and strength or active control during movement through…