Know where you come from..and RIP Larry Scott

"You can't know where you're going unless you know where you've been." Will Smith in Hitch Unfortunately, this is too often the case when it comes to Physical Culture in Merica' these days. Everyone has or is THE Thing of the Minute. The new and improved version. It's ground breaking, different, more efficient. And usually, it's more of the same and none of the above. P90X? They used to call that body-weight circuit training. Muscle Confusion? Wasn't that Weider Principle #102, variety. CrossFit? Again, circuit training, only this time we're using more complex modalities and lots of barbells. Shaun T? That Mary Franklin not only got himself some Hip … [Read more...]

The Kettlebell Swing, It’s not a Squat/ Front Raise and it Doesn’t go Overhead.

The Kettlebell Swing: What are swings about? What's the purpose? A. Loaded hip hinging and  FORCEFUL hip extension. http://youtu.be/VP8Jhjcxj78 RKC, HKC, Strong First...it doesn't matter who teaches it and the nuances, some hinge more, some less, regardless, it's about hip hinging and extension. Whats hip hinging? It's engaging/ creating motion from the hips...or pushing the HIPS back without creating motion at the low back. http://youtu.be/cu6XobuUQkU What does hip extension look like you ask? See that arrow? It's pointing out the FULLY extended hip.  It's about using your ass to bring the hips into a fully locked out position. Think hips … [Read more...]

Is It a Keeper or Throw em’ Back?

There are NO new exercises. It's just new to you. TRX? Olympic rings have been around for....over a thousand years. Kettlebells? Only.....about 200 or so. Because of this exercises come and go in popularity and I've been around long enough to have been through an entire cycle of this. Case in point: The Olympic lifts from owresource.com When I first started training people the Olympic lifts were THE way to develop power and you saw the Clean and the Snatch included in popular fitness magazines and at conferences people had entire lectures about them. Then the pendulum swung the other way and NO ONE used the Olympic lifts anymore, they … [Read more...]

Whats Old is New….Not really, you’re just late to the party…..

Awesome video I got from the equally awesome Strength Performance Network. http://youtu.be/kcTBm6_K5ws That's sooooooo weird no Bosu balls, Bender balls, agility ladders or other bullshit sales pitch piece of crap, not even ZUMBA. Just REALLY strong dudes who, by the way, had excellent flexibility (without Yoga) getting strong by........... ........... lifting weights............ heavy ones............ on a barbell............ That's weird cause I thought you had to have at least 3 swiss balls for every barbell in your gym...and barbells are all old fashioned and non-functional... "But wait!"... Proclaims "Functional Training Guy"- THANK GOD, It's the … [Read more...]