Blood pressure is vital for life. Without blood pressure, your body would not be able to send oxygen and nutrients throughout the body or remove waste. Blood is able to flow through your body because of the difference in pressure. Blood pressure is dependent on 2 mechanisms: The heart creates maximum pressure when it pumps blood out. The physical properties of your arteries are important to maintain that pressure…
Power development is not just for the athletes, everybody in some capacity displays power. To keep it simple, power is strength and speed, or to put in a physics equation, Force x Velocity. It is the ability to recruit a lot of motor units into movement, and being able to do it quickly. A great example of the display of power in everyday life is when you trip and instead…
Recovery matters more than you think when it comes to your training. The topic about recovery isn’t talked about as much, because it’s not a sexy topic. For real, it’s not as exciting as getting that new PR on a lift. Though it’s not exciting, it’s probably one of the most important aspects of your training that you are not focusing on. I once fell in this trap of working…
What is a squat safety bar (SSB)? Very simply, it is a bar that has two handles sticking out in the front and surrounded with padding for the upper back/ neck region and shoulders. The bar is also cambered, meaning the bar on the ends is lower than the middle. This helps move the center of gravity more forward compared to a straight barbell squat. You might be wondering why…
Do you have to use a barbell when deadlift? The quick answer is no, and you will probably be better off using a trapbar for your deadlifts. The trapbar, also known as hex bar, is a hexagonal shaped barbell, and you are inside this hexagon to perform an exercise like the deadlift. The barbell has become this fitness tool that has become almost essential for many lifters. The barbell has…
Hinging at the hip in another movement pattern that is essential to your health. Like the squat, it is a movement that we learned as little kids and overtime we lose the skill due to lack of practice and movement. The hip hinge is a movement in the hip while maintaining a neutral spine. This is an important skill to have because it can spare the low back from extra…
In the last blog I talked about how squatting is important for your health. Today I want to help you be better with your squat form. Squatting involves multiple joints and muscles to complete the task. You want to make sure that you are moving with good form, having improper form can lead to tight muscles, joints, and even injury. I would like to help avoid this and…
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…
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…