You Should Do This: Half Kneeling Chaos Pallof

"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...]

You Should Do This: Half Kneeling Corner Press

  Fun "Fact" (actually its an "informed opinion" based on the personal experience of yours truly: The Vast Majority of People Should NOT Overhead Press. Not everyone, not all, but most. Wait But What? "The Shoulder Press is A Foundational Movement" I agree, its great when done correctly. It strengthens the shoulders, triceps, upper chest and core, strong enough, even the legs. But most can't do them correctly. Don't believe me? Walk by just about any group exercise class doing shoulder pressing and you'll see: Overarched backs The weight out in front of the body Elbows out at 90 degrees only using 50% range of motion. Most people … [Read more...]

Half Kneeling: It’ll Fix What Ails Ya.

Q: What Makes Everything Harder? A: Half Kneeling... Do it in half kneeling and it's harder. Shoulder Press Corner Press Cable Row Pallof Press Do them in half kneeling, go ahead, use less weight... Its harder. Why? In the words of Gray Cook: "Tall and Half Kneeling Positions force you to OWN your position" In My Words, "You Can't Half-Ass, Half-Kneeling" When in Half-Kneeling it's really tough to hide your weaknesses with NO LOAD. Add even minimal loads and there's no denying it. Half-Kneeling is an Inherently Unstable Position. Yes, it tries to put you on your ass. Unless you align, activate, brace and move with solid, effective … [Read more...]

Put Your Barbell, Not Baby, in the Corner…

Cause Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner... Except Swayze....he can https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypKSbnYOrwE But you can and should put your barbell in a corner. I do Often. Angled Barbell training (sometimes they call it the Landmine training, but that's all not cool anymore even though it was fine for a long time) THANKS PC POLICE! Any who, angled barbell training is one of those things that looks super douche(y) but it's actually kinda cool. Why I likes it a lot: It gives common exercises a slightly different feel It's easy to switch exercises It's easy to change weights How to do It: <----pay attention. Getting the setup correct is … [Read more...]