"If you could only do one exercise what would it be?" I seriously HATE that question. It instantly tells me that whoever is asking it is SUPER lazy. Why? Because why would you only do one exercise when you can do ANY and ALL of them? BUT If there was only one exercise I could do it might, MIGHT be the kettlebell swing. Why? Mostly cause it's boss as all hell. Other than that, it's probably the best example of highly user friendly, easily applicable, total body, explosive strength. "Strength and conditioning professionals may use both kettlebell swings and explosive deadlifts to increase deadlift strength and vertical jump power." - Effects of … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Goblet Squat
January 8, 2020 by
Squat: The King of All Exercises That's what the squat has been called. Why? Well, a good, heavy, squat works, well, EVERYTHING. From top to bottom: Upper Back: Gotta keep the mid back (rhomboids), lats, traps TIGHT AF through the movement to maintain upper torso stability. <---you NEED to be LOCKED INTO the bar. You DO NOT want to be balancing the bar on your upper back. Grip: At least in the back squat and Kettlebell Goblet Squat. Better be CRUSHING the bar to tighten the whole body and help keep that bar in place. Core: Lot's of people who have never squatted anything relatively challenging will tell you, "squats don't work the core" Those … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Half Kneeling Chaos Pallof
December 20, 2019 by
"Get Your Core Tight" What the hell does that actually mean? It seems to mean different things to different people. The old school powerlifter means, "Push your belly out into your belt" The functional fitness, physioball, guru means, "Pull your belly button to your spine" The "I don't really know what that means" weekend warrior means, "Round over, perform a half crunch and try to flex your 6 pack abs" So What the Hell Does "Get Your Core Tight" Actually Mean? To me, it means create, and maintain a neutral hip/ spine/ ribcage alignment regardless of the magnitude and direction of forces applied to you. ie. Maintain the Pillar. Your Core As a Coke … [Read more...]
Chaos Training: Bees Knees or B.S.
December 13, 2019 by
"Better learn to get tight, real f**cking fast, or you'll lose some teeth" - Matt Wenning That's the best way I've heard chaos training ever described. If you've been around here for a while you should know by now that i'm not really a fan of unstable surface training for strength, power, hypertrophy and really all things awesome. Occasionally, it can be used as a deload, to strengthen "stabilizers" and just be a change for monotony. But it ain't gonna do much for you long term. The fundamental issue with unstable surface training, The Ground Moves and joint centration becomes a beotch, force needs to be diverted from power production to joint … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Split Squat Row
December 5, 2019 by
Is the Split Squat Row THE MOST Sadistic Exercise I Know? Lots of people (myself included) do half kneeling rows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKPGzxMbfHU They're great. They train: Stability Glute activation Lats Anti-rotation and most importantly half kneeling rows put all those things together into one brutally efficient movement for training stability and bracing. But eventually you can't row any more weight, there's just too much on the stack, it pulls you forward and it becomes impossible to maintain position. Truth is, half kneeling rows for more advanced athletes are not even close to being the best "back" exercise for … [Read more...]
Do Movies Ever Change the Game? Part 2: Cloudy Blood, Fuel and Boners
November 20, 2019 by
"Doesn't Cloudy Blood Scare You?" The Game Changers has done an incredibly good job at capitalizing on the fact that, You Don't Know, What You Don't Know. Before we go on, we need to agree on at least one fact, We're ALL a complete ignoramous when it comes to most things. So before we start to think about why something is true, we should instead think about, How much do I actually know about this subject? What relevant information could they be leaving out? Is this claim falsifiable? Those are pretty much the basis for the scientific method. So when you see a scene like this: Immediately after hearing about vascular endothelium and vasodilation … [Read more...]
Do Movies Ever Change The Game? Part 1: “Middlemen”, Athletes and Leucine
November 13, 2019 by
"Have you Seen Game Changers?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSpglxHTJVM Yes, I have. Its a very good MOVIE. Lets get that straight, it's not really a documentary. Much like Westside vs The World It's a MOVIE. For entertainment purposes. It's not exactly an evenhanded, scientifically accurate, look at the world of the "Plant Based Diet" And by "Plant Based", those in the movie seem to mean Vegan or Vegetarian. TheIssue with These Types of Sciency Movies. You only know, what you know. Which also means, You don't know what you don't know. So the obvious question is, How do you KNOW if the STORY you're told is TRUE? Before I get into … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Tall Kneeling Behind the Back Kettelbell Holds
October 28, 2019 by
Confession time, I really like it when I program a new exercise and the client gets a kinda sick look on their face and goes, "This is one of those things that looks really easy, but I know wont be" Yep, makes my day. And Tall Kneeling Behind the Back Kettlebell Holds despite their innocent appearance can be like torture for many. Why So Awful? If you have a craptastic bracing system you're gonna suffer. And guess what? Most of ya's got a craptastic bracing system. What the Hell is a "Bracing System" Anyway? Your bracing system is how you stack the body to create and absorb maximal tension through the system. The goal of bracing is to limit (prevent) … [Read more...]
